The Russian Land Cover (RLC) project provides 12 geospatial data products including land cover, forested area, forest carbon content, and administrative boundary information for Russia and the former USSR. These data were contributed by scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center.

The USSR was a vast country covering one-sixth of the total land area of the Earth, with environments varying from polar regions to subtropical deserts. Furthermore, the Russian boreal forests constitute the largest forested region on Earth.