Dialogue 1

Russia

- Hello, how are you?

- Hi, frankly speaking not very well. I have to write a report about Russia.

- Really? But it is not very difficult. I can help you. What do you know?

- Ok, first of all – Russia is one of the largest countries in the world.

- Good! It is washed by twelve seas and three oceans. And Russia borders on Mongolia, China, Finland and Norway.

- And do you know anything about mountains, rivers and lakes?

- Of course! The main mountain chains are the Urals, the Caucasus and the Altai. The longest rivers are the Volga, the Ob, the Yenisei and the Lena. And the largest lakes are Ladoga and Baikal.

- Have you heard that Baikal is the deepest lake in the world? And its water is the purest on earth!

- Excellent! I hope you know the capital of Russia?

- Sure! It’s Moscow! And the current population of Moscow is about 10 million people, and the population of Russia is more than 150 million people.

- So, and now let’s speak about its political system. Russia is a presidential republic.

- Yes, the president of Russia is Medvedev. He was elected by the people for 4 years. But Russia is also a parliamentary republic.

- The government consists of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The President controls each of them.

- And I’ve read that the legislative power is exercised by the Federal Assembly. It consists of two chambers: the Council of Federation and the State Duma.

- The executive power belongs to the Government, or the Cabinet of Ministers. The government is headed by the Prime Minister.

- The judicial power belongs to the system of courts. It consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and other courts.

- And I am sure that you know that the national symbol of Russia is a white-blue-and-red banner!

- Thank you very much for this useful information!

- Not at all. See you later, goodbye!

- Bye-bye!