The north-west of Russia is located in the beautiful and harsh taiga regions. More than a quarter of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Russia are located in the northwestern region. The territory of the region and the population make up about 10% of the corresponding indicators of the country. Administratively, the region practically coincides with the Northwestern Federal District of Russia (the Kaliningrad region is not included in it).
Saint Petersburg is the northern capital and the surrounding satellite cities that are part of a single municipality, many of which, together with St. Petersburg, have historical significance. Of the latter, Kolpino, Kronstadt, Peterhof, Pushkin, Sestroretsk, Zelenogorsk, Lomonosov and Pavlovsk should be singled out.
Mostly Russian. There are also speakers of Finno-Ugric languages (Karelians, Komi, Vepsians, etc.)
The main airport in the North-West of Russia is Pulkovo (St. Petersburg). There are also large airports in Murmansk (Murmashi), Arkhangelsk (Talagi), Naryan-Mar, Vologda and Cherepovets, Syktyvkar, Pskov (Crosses). The only regional center of the North-West that does not have an airport is Veliky Novgorod. In Soviet times, this airport existed (Yuryevo), then disappeared. St. Petersburg is also the largest railway junction in the region.
Most of the Northwestern Federal District is located in the European
North. The climate is temperate and subarctic. The air has high
humidity. A small amount of precipitation falls, but due to low
evaporation, they contribute to the formation of a large number of
swamps, lakes and rivers. An important climate-forming factor is the
washing by the seas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, which is why the
climate is characterized by relatively warm winters and cool summers in
the north-west of the district, and severe winters and relatively short
but warm summers in the north. The climate of the federal district is
favorable.
The territory of the district is predominantly flat,
located in the zone of mixed forests, taiga, forest-tundra and tundra.
About 50% of the forest resources of the European part of Russia are
concentrated in the district.
Full-flowing rivers flow on the
territory of the district, part of the lowland rivers is of navigable
value. The largest rivers are the Northern Dvina with its tributaries
the Vychegda and Sukhona, as well as the Pechora. Also on the territory
of the Northwestern Federal District, mainly in the western part, there
are numerous lakes, including the largest lakes in Europe - Ladoga and
Onega. The Northwestern Federal District has almost half of the water
resources of the European part of Russia.
In the south, the
Northwestern Federal District borders on the Volga Federal District and
the Central Federal District, and in the east, on the Urals Federal
District. The district has access to the Baltic, White, Barents, Kara
seas.
The Northwestern Federal District occupies an advantageous
geopolitical position - it borders on Finland, Norway, Poland, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus.
One of the subjects of the district
(Kaliningrad region) is an exclave that does not have a land border with
other subjects and the main territory of Russia (although it has one
with other states).
The Northwestern Federal District unites 3 economic regions:
Kaliningradsky, Northern and Northwestern.
The main oil and coal
production is concentrated in the Komi Republic. Usinskoye and
Vozeyskoye fields provide about 88% of oil production in the region. The
main gas production falls on the Vuktylskoye field, which provides 90%
of the federal district's gas. Oil and gas reserves are available in the
Kaliningrad region, as well as in the shelf zone of the Barents and Kara
Seas.
The main branches of industry
and agriculture of the district:
mechanical engineering, including
radio electronics, instrument making, shipbuilding
fuel and energy
complex (extraction of oil, gas, coal, shale, power generation)
harvesting and processing of wood
ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy
food and light industry
shipbuilding
production of building
materials
fishing and fish processing
electric power industry
transport and logistic
The machine-building complex of the
federal district includes instrument and machine tool building,
electrical engineering and the production of a wide range of equipment
for agriculture, shipbuilding and defense engineering. Assembly plants
of such major automobile brands as BMW, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Infiniti
are located in the district. The Northwestern Federal District ranks
first in Russia in the construction of sea and river vessels.
The
largest enterprises of the Northwestern Federal District: OJSC
Severstal, OJSC Power Machines, OJSC United Shipbuilding Corporation,
OJSC Ilim-Pulp, OJSC Yantarenergo, OJSC Apatit, Kola Mining and
Metallurgical Company, OJSC Sevkabel.
Valuable fish are caught in
the Barents Sea: cod, herring, sea bass, etc. Fish processing is carried
out by fish processing plants in Murmansk, St. Petersburg and
Kaliningrad.
The power industry of the district includes two
nuclear power plants - Leningrad and Kola, large thermal power plants,
hydroelectric power plants and many small power plants and boiler
houses.
The transport system of the district is highly developed, which
includes all types of transport: sea, river, rail, air, road and
pipeline.
The largest ports of Russia are located in the district
- Ust-Luga, St. Petersburg, Murmansk and Primorsk. The Murmansk port is
mainly associated with the transportation of energy resources, both from
Russia and from other countries, in particular Norway, along the
Northern Sea Route.
A large railway junction is the capital of
the district - St. Petersburg, from which the main lines to Kaliningrad,
Moscow, Helsinki, Minsk, Kiev and many other cities originate, providing
foreign economic relations with other federal districts of Russia and
other countries.