The Ural Federal District marks the geographic border of Europe and Asia and here it is possible to stand with one leg in Europe and one leg in Asia.  Its territory makes up about 11% of the whole of Russia.  The district is named after the Ural mountains with run across the district and it has many beautiful natural surroundings of forest, hills, swamps and lakes, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Virgin Komi Forests.  The district comprises six federal subjects: four regions and two autonomous districts.

  On 15 February 2013 the city of Chelyabinsk in the Ural Federal District became world famous when a meteorite was observed (and recorded) over the city which landed in the region.  In fact there are several paranormal places in the district where there have been many UFO sightings.  Such mysterious places include the Taganai National Park, Arkaim and the site of the unsolved Dyatlov Pass incident in the north Urals. The last tsar and his family were killed in Yekaterinburg and their bodies were disposed of in a disused mineshaft outside the city.  Today a cathedral has been built on the spot they were murdered and a monastery built over the mineshaft.