 
the soviet union is the largest country in the world. 
it covers more than 8,500,000 square miles, or about 1/6 of the total 
land area of the earth. 
the soviet union is larger than the united states and canada combined. 
the ussr is spread over two continents, europe and asia. 
it stretches from the arctic ocean in the north to the black sea and the 
mountains of central asia in the south; it extends from the pacific ocean in 
the east to the baltic sea in the west. 
another way to look at russia's huge size is to look at the following 
facts. 
there is a three-hour time difference between new york city on the 
atlantic coast and los[angeles on the pacific. 
in russia there is almost a 12 hour difference between leningrad on the 
baltic sea and vladivostok on the pacific ocean. 
when the sun is rising in leningrad it has already set in vladivostok. 
russia was not always a large country. 
during much of its early history it was a small country in eastern europe. 
it was completely surrounded by land owned by other countries and was 
hundreds of miles from the open sea. 
in the 16th century russia began to expand until it reached its present 
size. 
the soviet union is located far to the north of the equator. 
its most southern point is 35 north latitude; the entire country is 
farther north than los[angeles. 
some of the most important cities are farther north than new york. 
new york city's latitude is 42 north, moscow is 55 north latitude, and 
leningrad is 60 north latitude. 
