Moscow is designated as a city.
A capital city ( or simply capital ) is the municipality exercising primary status in a country , state , province , or other region , usually as its seat of government . Moscow . Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth . By its territorial expansion on July 1 , 2012 southwest into the Moscow Oblast , the area of the capital more than doubled , going from 1091 to , and it gained an additional population of 233,000 people .