what was the capital of russia before moscow
Saint Petersburg Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27 [O.S. 16] 1703. On 01 September 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd (Russian: Петрогра́д, IPA: [pʲɪtrɐˈgrat]), on 26 January 1924 to Leningrad (Russian: Ленингра́д, IPA: [lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat]), and on 07 September 1991 back to Saint Petersburg.[10] Between 1713 and 1728 and in 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow.[11]
Geography of Russia The republics include a wide variety of peoples, including northern Europeans, Tatars, Caucasus peoples, and indigenous Siberians. The largest federal subjects are in Siberia. Located in east-central Siberia, the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) is the largest federal subject in the country (and the largest country subdivision in the world), twice the size of Alaska. Second in size is Krasnoyarsk Krai, located west of Sakha in Siberia. Kaliningrad Oblast, which is a noncontiguous constituent entity of Russia, is the smallest oblast. The Republic of Ingushetia is both the smallest republic and the smallest federal subject of Russia except for the three federal cities. The two most populous federal subjects, Moscow Oblast (with Moscow) and Krasnodar Krai, are in European Russia.