Welcome to Karelia!
Karelia is a region in Northwestern Russia, known as the country of lakes. It has a strong cultural connection with Finland, with the ethnic Karelians closely related to the Finns. Much of the Finnish national epic Kalevala was collected here.
The Republic of Karelia (Russian: Респу́блика Каре́лия, Respublika Kareliya, Karelian: Karjalan tazavaldu, Finnish: Karjalan tasavalta, Veps: Karjalan Tazovaldkund), or Karelia (Russian: Каре́лия, Ка́рьяла, Karelian: Karjala) is a republic of Russia situated in Northern Europe. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of 172,400 square kilometres (66,600 square miles), with a population of roughly 650,000 residents. Its capital is Petrozavodsk.
The modern Karelian Republic was founded as an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR by the Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) of June 27, 1923, and by the Decree of the VTsIK and the Council of People's Commissars of July 25, 1923, from the Karelian Labour Commune.
From 1940 to 1956, it was known as the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the union republics in the Soviet Union. In 1956, it was once again an autonomous republic and remains part of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.