Moscow, city, capital of Russia, located in the far western part of the country. Since it was first mentioned in the chronicles of 1147, Moscow has played a vital role in Russian history. It became the capital of Muscovy (the Grand Principality of Moscow) in the late 13th century; hence, the people of Moscow are known as Muscovites. Today Moscow is not only the political centre of Russia but also the country’s most populous city and its industrial, cultural, scientific, and educational capital. For more than 600 years Moscow also has been the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Murmansk is a young, strong and very unusual city with the great potential for sustainable development in the near future. It is the largest Russian city beyond the Polar Circle, with a population of about three hundred thousand people located on the coast of the ice-free Kola Bay. Here begins the Great Northern Sea Route, which makes the city the most powerful northern port in Europe, not only trade and fisheries, but also touristic. This is the place, where there opened the gates to the Arctic, its almost inexhaustible mineral and biological resources. Murmansk is the administrative center of the region with well-developed social, economic, engineering and transport infrastructure. There are more than a dozen of educational institutions, providing training of highly qualified personnel for all economic sectors not only in the region but also in Russia.