From Dacha to Winter Palace, from Easter Eggs to Kremlin, here is a photographic alphabet of everything we love best about Russia. The Russian Federation is a vast land of forests and steppes, deserts, rivers, lakes and big cities. Over centuries of splendour, revolution and change, our country has produced some of the greatest scientists, sportsmen and women, writers, dancers and composers in the world.
As you turn the pages of this book, you will see many of the things which make Russia so special: its fine palaces and churches, its musical and cultural traditions, its magnificent scenery and spectacular winter landscapes – and you will also see the food, the sports, as well as ordinary Russian people going about their everyday lives.
The perfect introduction to a fascinating country.

A is for Astronaut. Russia was the first country in the world to send a human being into space. In April 1961 Yuri Gagarin made his record-breaking flight on board the spaceship Vostok 1. He spent 108 minutes in space and orbited the Earth once. The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova,in June 1963 on the spaceship Vostok 6. She was in space fornearly three days and orbited the Earth 48 times.

R is for Russia, the biggest country in the world. The Russian Federation stretches from the Baltic Sea in the west across Europe and Asia to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south. Much of Russia is covered in forest and open spaces or steppes, but we also have mountains, deserts, rivers and big cities including our capital, Moscow. During her history of splendour, revolution and change, Mother Russia has produced some of the greatest scientists, sportsmen and women, writers, dancers and composers in the world.