The Republic of Karelia is located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its total territory is 172 400 square kilometres with a population of 800 000 people. The capital of the Republic is Petrozavodsk situated on theshore of Lake Onega. Karelia is a land of blue lakes and green forest.

Forest covers almost 15 million hectares of the territory in Karelia. Nearly 90 percent of the forest is pine and spruce, the most valuable timber on the world market. It is not by chance that timber makes up more than 70 percent of the entire export. Karelia has preserved unique forest biocenosis. Over 5 percent of the Republic’s whole area is declared national parks and nature reserves.There are over 61000 lakes, 27000 rivers and 29 reservoir storages.

The countryside and the climate of Karelia are influenced by the largest freshwater European reservoirs– Lakes Onega and Ladoga together with the salt-water body of the Arctic White Sea. Lakes and swamps contain about 2000 cubic kilometres of fresh water. Karelia is rich in cultural and historic places visited by thousands of tourists.