The "Soil Map of Russia" at scale 2.5M was compiled through the joint efforts of many pedologist around the country. Practically all scientific pedological centers and institutes in Russia contributed to the map their expertise and scientific knowledge accumulated during more than two decades. The map legend comprises the latest soil-genetic classification concepts in which soil characteristics have been considered in harmony with soil forming factors. The map soil-geographical background introduces a variety of geographical regularities of soil spatial distributions among which the soil zonality and the soil cover structure have been comprehensively represented. 

Although the "Soil Map of Russia at scale 2.5M" is regarded as the major inventory document at the country scale, it is not well known and introduced. The complexity of the legend and specific soil nomenclature have been the main confounding factors for the map implementation. 

To make the "Soil Map of Russia at scale 2.5M" accessible, the study relies on two basic documents, the "Revised Legend of the Soil Map of the World" (FAO, 1990) and the "Programme of the Soil Map of the USSR at scale 1:2.5M." The main purpose of the report is to introduce a complete, full and transparent correlation of the map legend with the FAO "Revised  legend of the Soil Map of the World."