Is Moscow a Country?

Moscow is sometimes regarded as an island in Russia. The status of being a capital has a powerful influence, and even the second capital - St. Petersburg - seems worlds apart. It is impossible to stop moving in Moscow, this great city of stress, high speed and eternal traffic jams. By comparison, other places, like St. Petersburg, seem more stable, more calm, more polite. Other Russian cities offer a calmer existence too, since life in the provinces lacks the pace of Moscow.