The Russian Federation is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,400 km² (6,595,600 mi²), it is the largest country in the world, covering almost twice the territory of the next-largest nation, Canada. It ranks eighth in the world in population. It shares borders with the following countries: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with the United States, Canada and Japan.

Republic of Kazakhstan – situated in Central Asia. Kazakhstan borders on Russia in the north, China in the east, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the south, from the west its coasts are washed by the Caspian Sea.
Area of the republic is 2717300 km². The Capital is Astana. Population: 16846800 (1998).
Biggest cities: Almati, Karaganda, Chimkent.

Azerbaijan is a country in the South Caucasus, at the crossroads of Europe and Southwest Asia, with a coast on the Caspian Sea. It has frontiers with Russia in the north, Georgia in the northwest, Armenia in the west and southeast and southwest, and Iran in the south. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (an exclave of Azerbaijan) borders on Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the north-west.