Northwestern Federal District in the context of "Kaliningrad"

The Republic of Karelia, or simply Karelia or Karjala (Russian: Каре́лия, Ка́рьяла; Karelian: Karjala) is a republic of Russia situated in the northwest of the country. 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 533,121 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) on 27 June 1923 and by the Decree of the VTsIK and the Council of People's Commissars of 25 July 1923, from the Karelian Labour Commune. From 1940 to 1956, it was known as the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the republics of the Soviet Union. In 1956, it was once again made an autonomous republic and remained part of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Russian folklore, i.e., the folklore of Russian people, takes its roots in the pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs and now is represented in the Russian fairy tales. Epic Russian bylinas are also an important part of Slavic paganism. The oldest bylinas of Kievan cycle were recorded in the Russian North, especially in Karelia, where most of the Finnish national epic Kalevala was recorded as well.

In the late 19th-century Russian fairy tales began being translated into English, with Russian Folk Tales (1873) by William Ralston, and Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar (1890) by Edith Hodgetts.

Northwest Russia is the northern part of western Russia. It is bounded by Norway, Finland, the Arctic Ocean, the Ural Mountains and the east-flowing part of the Volga. The area is roughly coterminous with the Northwestern Federal District, which it is administered as part of.

Northwest Russia is the eastern part of Northern Europe and the northern part of Eastern Europe. In the Middle Ages, the core of this area formed the Novgorod and Pskov merchant republics. It includes the ethnocultural regions of the Russian North, Karelia, Ingria, as well as a substantial portion of former East Prussia.

Vologda (Russian: Во́логда, IPA: [ˈvoləɡdə]) is a city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: 313,944 (2021 census); 301,755 (2010 census); 293,046 (2002 census); 282,802 (1989 Soviet census).

The city serves as a major transport hub of the Northwest of Russia. The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation has classified Vologda as a historic city, one of 41 in Russia and one of only three in Vologda Oblast. The Russian Cultinfo website wrote that there were 224 monuments of historical, artistic and cultural importance in Vologda.