RUSSIA - Khabarovsk Krai / Хабаровский край

Khabarovsk Krai (Russian: Хаба́ровский край, tr. Khabarovsky kray,) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District. The administrative centre of the krai is the city of Khabarovsk, which is home to roughly half of the krai's population and the largest city in the Russian Far East (just ahead of Vladivostok). Khabarovsk Krai is the fourth-largest federal subject by area, with a population of 1,343,869 as of the (2010 Census). The southern region lies mostly in the basin of the lower Amur River, with the mouth of the river located at Nikolaevsk-on-Amur draining into the Strait of Tartary, which separates Khabarovsk Krai from the island of Sakhalin. The north occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. Khabarovsk Krai is bordered by Magadan Oblast to the north, Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast and the Sakha Republic to the west, Primorsky Krai to the south, and Sakhalin Oblast to the east.

The population is mostly ethnic Russians, but indigenous people of the area are various Tungusic peoples (Evenks, Negidals, Ulchs, Nanai, Oroch, Udege) and Amur Nivkhs and Ainu. In addition to the Nanai, other indigenous groups include the Evenks and Evens in the northern part of the province, and Ulchs in the lower Amur river (Ulchsky District). Some Nivkhs (Gilyak), an indigenous fishing people speaking an isolate language, live around the Amur river delta as well. Smaller groups indigenous to the area are Negidals (567), Orochs (686), and Udege (1,657) and Taz people (3) according to the 2002 census.

Khabarovsk Krai shares its borders with Magadan Oblast in the north, with the Sakha Republic and Amur Oblast in the west, with the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, China (Heilongjiang), and Primorsky Krai in the south, and is limited by the Sea of Okhotsk in the east. In terms of area, it is the fourth-largest federal subject within Russia. Major islands include Shantar Islands. Taiga and tundra in the north, swampy forest in the central depression, and deciduous forest in the south are the natural vegetation in the area.

Khabarovsk Krai has a severely continental climate with its northern areas being subarctic with stronger maritime summer moderation in the north. In its southerly areas, especially inland, annual swings are extremely strong, with Khabarovsk itself having hot, wet and humid summers which rapidly transforms into severely cold and long winters, where temperatures hardly ever go above freezing. This is because of the influence of the East Asian monsoon in summer and the bitterly cold Siberian High in winter. The second largest city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has even more violent temperature swings than Khabarovsk with winter average lows below −30 °C (−22 °F) but in spite of this avoiding being subarctic because of the significant heat in summer.

There are a number of peninsulas along the krai's extensive coast, the main ones being (north to south) the Lisyansky Peninsula, Nurki Peninsula, Tugurskiy Peninsula and the Tokhareu Peninsula. The main islands of Khabarovsk Krai (north to south) are Malminskiye Island, the Shantar Islands, Menshikov Island, Reyneke Island (Sea of Okhotsk), Chkalov Island, Baydukov Island and the Chastye Islands. The island of Sakhalin (Russia's largest) is administered separately as Sakhalin Oblast, along with the Kuril Islands.

 Perfectly postmarked Airmail covers from Khabarovsk Krai. The cover posted by Tatyana on October 12, 2015, she specially instructed the postal staff to do the postmark in the best way.