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a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia established in 1922 included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia and others) officially dissolved 31 December 1991 formerly the largest Soviet Socialist Republic in the USSR occupying eastern Europe and northern Asia a former empire in eastern Europe and northern Asia created in the 14th century with Moscow as the capital powerful in the 17th and 18th centuries under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great when Saint Petersburg was the capital overthrown by revolution in 1917 a federation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia formerly Soviet Russia since 1991 an independent state
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The Russian Federation (lang-ru Росси́йская Федера́ция , Transliteration of Russian into Englishtransliteration: ''Rossiyskaya Federatsiya'' or ''Rossijskaja Federacija''), or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, transliteration: ''Rossiya'' or ''Rossija''), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,200 km² (6,595,600 mi²), it is the List of countries by arealargest country in Earththe world, covering almost twice the territory of the next-largest country, Canada. It ranks eighth in the world in population. It shares land borders with the following countries (counter-clockwise from NW to SE): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (only through Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia (country)Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China (PRC)China, Mongolia and North Korea. It is also close to the United States and Japan across stretches of water: the Diomede Islands (one controlled by Russia, the other by the United States) are just 3 km apart, and Kunashir Island (controlled by Russia but Kuril Islands disputeclaimed by Japan) is about 20 kilometers from Hokkaido.Formerly the dominant republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Russia is now an independent country, and an influential member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, since the union's dissolution in December 1991. During the Soviet era, Russia was officially called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Russia is usually considered the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic matters.Most of the area, population, and industrial production of the Soviet Union, then one of the world's two superpowers, lay in Russia. After the breakup of the USSR, Russia's global role was greatly diminished, and cannot be compared to that of the former Soviet Union. In October 2005, the federal statistics agency reported that Russia's population has shrunk by more than half a million people dipping to 143 million.
History - mainHistory of Russia
Ancient Rus - This section covers the pre-Russ ancient history of present Russia and its early medieval period, which is historically referred to as '' ''Ancient Rus.''The vast lands of present Russia were home to disunited tribes who were variously overwhelmed by invading Goths, Huns, and Turkish Avars between the third and sixth centuries Common_EraC.E. The Iranian Scythians populated the southern steppes, and a Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the western portion of these lands through the 8th century. They in turn were displaced by a group of Scandinavians, the Varangians, who established a capital at the Slavic city of Novgorod and gradually merged with SlavsSlavic ruling classes. The Slavs constituted the bulk of the population from the 8th century onwards and slowly assimilated both the Scandinavians as well as native Finno-Ugric tribes, such as the Merya, the Muromians and the Meshchera. The Varangian dynasty lasted several centuries, during which they affiliated with the Byzantine, or Orthodox church and moved the capital to Kiev in 1169 A.D. In this era the term "Rhos", or "Etymology of Rus and derivativesRuss", first came to be applied to the Varangians and later also to the Slavs who peopled the region. In the 10th century10th to 11th century11th centuries this state of Kievan Rus became the largest in Europe and was quite prosperous, due to diversified trade with both Europe and Asia.In the 13th century the area suffered from internal disputes and was overrun by eastern invaders, the Golden Horde of the pagan Mongols and Muslim Turkic-speaking nomads who pillaged the Russian principalities for over three centuries. Also known as the Tatars, they ruled the southern and central expanses of present-day Russia, while its western zone was largely incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. The political dissolution of Kievan Rus divided the Russians Russian people in the north from the Belarusians and Ukrainians in the west.The northern part of Russia together with Novgorod retained some degree of autonomy during the time of the Mongol yoke and was largely spared the atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Nevertheless it had to fight the Germanic crusaders who attempted to colonize the region.Like in the Balkans and Asia Minor long-lasting nomadic rule retarded the country's economic and social development. Asian autocratic influences degraded many of the country's democratic institutions and affected its culture and economy in a very negative way.In spite of this, unlike its spiritual leader, the Byzantine Empire, Russia was able to revive, and organized its own war of reconquest, finally subjugating its enemies and annexing their territories. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Russia remained the only more or less functional Christian state on the Eastern European frontier, allowing it to claim succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Imperial Russia - MainImperial Russia While still nominally under the domain of the Mongols, the duchy of Moscow began to assert its influence, and eventually tossed off the control of the invaders late in the 14th century. Ivan the Great first took the title Tsar (from the Roman ''Caesar (title)Caesar'', also written Czar) of Moscow following his marriage to Sofia, a Byzantine Princess (niece of the last Byzantine Emperor), finalized this process and consolidated surrounding areas under Moscow's dominion. At the end of 16 centuries Russian cossacks establish the first settlements in Western Siberia. To the middle of 17 centuries Russian settlements are in Eastern Siberia, on Chukotka, the river Amur, coast of Pacific ocean. In 1648 Cossack Simeon Dezhnev opens a passage between America and Asia. The Russian Empire was born. ]]Muscovite control of the nascent nation continued after the PolandPolish intervention 1605-1612 under the subsequent Romanov dynasty, beginning with Tsar Michael I of RussiaMichael Romanov in 1613. Peter the Great, who ruled from 1689 to 1725, succeeded in bringing ideas and culture from Western Europe to a Russia which had been affected by primitive nomadic cultures. Catherine the Great, ruling from 1762 to 1796, enhanced this effort, establishing Russia not just as an Asian power, but on an equal footing with Britain, France, and Germany in Europe. She enlarged the Russian territory by the Partitions of Poland and the Turkish Wars. Unrest of the downtrodden serfs and suppression of the growing Intelligentsia were Russian Revolution of 1905continuing problems however, and on the eve of World War I, the position of Tsar Nicholas II of RussiaNicholas II and his dynasty appeared precarious. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the Romanovs. At the close of this Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolshevik wing of the Communist Party under Vladimir Lenin seized power and formed the USSR. Rule of Joseph Stalin forced rapid industrialization of the largely rural country and collectivization of its agriculture at the cost of millions of lives. Stalin also strengthened Russian dominance within the Soviet Union.
Russia as part of Soviet Union - MainHistory of the Soviet Union In 1928 Stalin introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building a socialist economy. The Soviet Union became a major industrial power; but the plan's implementation produced widespread misery for some segments of the population. Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s, when Stalin began a purge of the party (''see'' Great Purges); out of this process grew a campaign of terror that led to the execution of thousands and imprisonment of millions from all walks of life (''see'' Gulag). Yet despite this turmoil, the Soviet Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before World War II.Although Stalin tried to avert war with Germany by concluding the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in 1939, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The Red Army stopped the Nazi GermanyNazi offensive at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943 and drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945 (''see'' Eastern Front (WWII)Great Patriotic War). Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as an acknowledged great power.During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, with control always exerted exclusively from Moscow. The Soviet Union consolidated its hold on Eastern Europe (''see Eastern bloc''), and sought to expand its influence elsewhere in the world. This active foreign policy helped bring about the Cold War, which turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, into foes.Stalin died in 1953, and in the absence of an acceptable successor, Stalin's closest associates opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly. After a protracted power struggle, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet UnionGeneral Secretary Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the undisputed leader of the USSR. During this period the Soviet Union launched the first satellite Sputnik 1 and man Yuri Gagarin into orbit. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy toward China and the United States suffered reverses. Khrushchev's colleagues in the leadership removed him from power in 1964. Following the ouster of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued, lasting until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political life. In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change.In the mid and late 1980s, the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Soviet communism. However, his initiatives inadvertently unleashed forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics (''see History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)''). Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Soviet era.
Post-Soviet Russia - MainHistory of post-Soviet Russia Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin had been elected President of Russia in June 1991 in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. In October 1991, as Russia was on the verge of independence, Yeltsin announced that Russia would proceed with radical market-oriented reform along the lines of Poland's "big bang," also known as "shock therapy_(economics)shock therapy."After the disintegration of the USSR, the economy of Russia went through a crisis. Outside Russia in territory of the new independent states there was a majority of nonfreezing ports where the enterprises were making consumer goods, large sites of former Soviet pipelines, significant number of the hi-tech enterprises (including the atomic power station), constructed due to the Soviet center. In Russia there were mainly enterprises of the heavy and military industry. Russia has taken up the responsibility for payment of external debt of the USSR, though its population is 50 % of the population of the USSR. The largest state enterprises (a petroleum industry, metallurgy) have been privatized for the small sum of 600 million (600.000.000) USD. Owing to easing the state illegal export of capitals has repeatedly increased. Russia's Congress of People's Deputies attempted to impeach Yeltsin on 1993-03-26. Yeltsin's opponents gathered more than 600 votes for impeachment, but fell 72 votes short. On 1993-09-21, Yeltsin disbanded the Supreme Soviet and Congress of People's Deputies by decree, which was illegal under the constitution. On September 21 there was a military showdown, the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. With military help, Yeltsin held control. The conflict that resulted in a number of civilian casualties was resolved in Yeltsin's favor and elections were held on 1993-12-12.Since the separatist republic Chechnya declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between disparate Chechen groups and the Russian military. Some of these groups have become increasingly Islamist over the course of the struggle. It is estimated that over 200,000 people have died in this conflict. Minor conflicts also exist in North Ossetia and Ingushetia.After Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990s, Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000. Under Putin, the intensified state control of the Russian Mass mediamedia has raised Western concerns about human rights in Russia. At the same time, the rising oil prices, tensions, and war in the Middle East have helped increase Russia's revenue from oil production and export, and have stimulated economic expansion. Putin's presidency has shown improved stability in the living conditions of Russians as compared to the 1990s; despite acute crises and largely criticized government failures, Putin retained his popular image and in 2004 was re-elected to a second four-year term of office.
Politics - mainPolitics of Russia The Russian Federation is a federal republic with a President of Russiapresident, directly elected for a four-year term, who holds considerable executive power. The president, who resides in the Kremlin, nominates the highest state officials, including the prime minister (or premier), who must be approved by the State Duma, the lower house of Federal Assembly of RussiaRussian parliament, and governors, who must be approved by regional legislatures. The president can pass decrees (executive orders) without consent from Parliament and is also head of the Military of Russiaarmed forces and of the National Security Council of RussiaRussian National Security Council.Russia's bicameralismbicameral parliament, the Federal Assembly of RussiaFederal Assembly (Russian: Федеральное Собрание, English transliteration: ''Federalnoye Sobraniye'') consists of an upper house known as the Federation Council of RussiaFederation Council (Совет Федерации, ''Sovet Federatsii''), composed of 178 ''delegates'', which are appointed by executive and legislative bodies of each of 89 federal subjects for the term of four or five years, and a lower house known as the State Duma !(Государственна ? Дума, ''Gosudarstvennaya Duma''), comprising 450 ''deputies'' also serving a four-year term, of which 225 are elected by direct popular vote from single member constituencies and 225 are elected by proportional representation from nation-wide party lists.From the next elections, which are to be held in December 2007, all 450 members of the Duma will be elected from party lists.
Subdivisions - mainSubdivisions of Russia See also'': Federal districts of Russia, Federal subjects of Russia, Republics of Russia, Oblasts of Russia, Krais of Russia, Autonomous Oblasts of Russia, Autonomous Districts of Russia, Federal cities of Russia''. The Russian Federation consists of a great number of different Federal subjects of Russiafederal subjects, making a total of 89 constituent components. There are 21 republics within the federation that enjoy a high degree of autonomy on most issues and these correspond to some of Russia's ethnic minorities. The remaining territory consists of 49 oblasts (provinces) and 6 krais (territories), in which are found 10 autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts) and 1 autonomous oblast. Beyond these there are 2 federal cities (Moscow and Saint PetersburgSt. Petersburg). Recently, 7 extensive ''Federal districts of Russiafederal districts'' (four in Europe, three in Asia) have been added as a new layer between the above subdivisions and the national level.
Geography - mainGeography of Russia The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the supercontinent of Eurasia. Although it contains a large share of the world's Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, and therefore has less population, economic activity, and physical variety per unit area than most countries, the great area south of these still accommodates a great variety of landscapes and climates. Most of the land consists of vast plains, both in the European part and the Asian part that is largely known as Siberia. These plains are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, Russia's and Europe's highest point at 5,633 m) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka PeninsulaKamchatka. The more central Ural Mountains, a north-south range that form the primary divide between Europe and Asia, are also notable.Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km along the Arctic OceanArctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as more or less inland seas such as the Baltic SeaBaltic, Black SeaBlack and Caspian SeaCaspian seas. Some smaller bodies of water are part of the open oceans; the Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea are part of the Arctic, whereas the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan belong to the Pacific Ocean. Major islands found in them include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz-Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kurile IslandsKuril Islands and Sakhalin. (See List of islands of Russia).Many rivers flow across Russia. See Rivers of Russia.Major lakes include Lake Baikal, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. See List of lakes in Russia.
Borders - The most practical way to describe Russia is as a main part (a large contiguous portion with its off-shore islands) and an exclave (at the southeast corner of the Baltic Sea).The main part's borders and coasts (starting in the far northwest and proceeding counter-clockwise) are:borders with the following countries: Norway and Finland,a short coast on the Baltic Sea, facing eight other Baltic Sea#Adjacent Countriescountries on its shores from Finland to Estonia and including the port of St. Petersburg,borders with Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine,a coast on the Black Sea, facing five other Black Sea#Adjacent Countriescountries on its shores from Ukraine to Georgia, borders with Georgia (country)Georgia and Azerbaijan,a coast on the Caspian Sea, facing four other Caspian Sea#Adjacent Countriescountries on its shores from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan,borders with Kazakhstan, China (PRC)China, Mongolia, and North Korea, an extensive coastline that provides access with all the maritime nations of the world, and stretches *from the North Pacific Ocean including **the Sea of Japan (where the west shore of Russia's Sakhalin lies), **the Sea of Okhotsk (where the east shore of Sakhalin and its Kurile Islands lie), and **the Bering Sea, *through the Bering Strait (where its minor island of Big Diomede is separated by only a few miles from Little Diomede, a part of the United StatesUS U.S. statestate of Alaska),*to the Arctic Ocean, including **the Chukchi Sea (where the south and east shores of its Wrangel Island lie), **the East Siberian Sea (where its west shore, and the east shores of its New Siberian Islands lie), **the Laptev Sea (where their west shores lie), **the Kara Sea (where the east shore of its Novaya Zemlya lies), **the Barents Sea (where their west shore, the south shores of its Franz-Josef Land the port of Murmansk and important naval facilities lie, and where the White Sea reaches far inland).The exclave, constituted by the Kaliningrad Oblast, shares borders with *Poland to its south and *Lithuania to its north and east, and has a northwest coast on the Baltic Sea. The Baltic SeaBaltic and Black Sea coasts of Russia have less direct and more constrained access to the high seas than its Pacific and Arctic ones, but both are nevertheless important for that purpose. The Baltic gives immediate access with the nine other countries sharing its shores, and between the main part of Russia and its Kaliningrad Oblast exclave. Via the straits that lie within Denmark, and between it and Sweden, the Baltic connects to the North Sea and the oceans to its west and north. The Black Sea gives immediate access with the five other countries sharing its shores, and via the Dardanelles and Sea of MarmoraMarmora straits adjacent to Istanbul, Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea with its many countries and its access, via the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar, to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The salt waters of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake, afford no access with the high seas.
Spatial extent - The two most widely separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (5000 mi) apart along a geodesic (i.e. shortest line between two points on the Earth's surface). These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60-km-long (40-mi-long) spit of land separating the Gdansk BayGulf of Gdańsk from the Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the Kurile Islands, a few miles off Hokkaido Island, Japan.However, this is confusing because the points which are furthest separated in longitude are "only" 6,600 km (4,100 mi) apart along a geodesic. These points are: in the West, the same spit; in the East, the Diomede IslandsBig Diomede Island (Ostrov Ratmanova).It is also often mentioned that the Russian federation spans eleven time zones.
Cities - As of 2005 Russia has 13 citycities with over a million inhabitants (from largest to smallest): Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Volgograd and Perm.See also: List of cities in Russia
Economy - mainEconomy of Russia More than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia is now trying to establish a market economy and achieve more consistent economic growth. Russia saw its comparatively developed centrally-planned economy contract severely for five years, as the executive and legislature dithered over the implementation of reforms and Russia's industrial base faced a serious decline. Moreover, an emergency livestock shortage in 1987, which triggered large-scale international aid, severely bruised the ego, as well as the economy, of the emerging Russian state.After the breakup of the USSR, Russia's first slight recovery, showing the signs of open-market influence, occurred in 1997. That year, however,Asian financial crisis culminated in the August depreciation of the ruble in 1998, a Default (finance)debt default by the government, and a sharp deterioration in living standards for most of the population. Consequently, the year 1998 was marked by recession and intense capital flight.Nevertheless, the economy started recovering in 1999. Then it entered a phase of rapid economic expansion, the Gross domestic productGDP growing by an average of 6.7% annually in 1999-2005 on the back of higher petroleum prices, weaker ruble, and increasing service production and industrial output. The economic development of the country, however, has been extremely uneven: the capital region of Moscow contributes a third to the country's GDP having only a tenth of its population. The recent recovery, made possible due to high world oil prices, along with a renewed government effort in 2000 and 2001 to advance lagging structural reforms, has raised business and investor confidence over Russia's prospects in its second decade of transition. Russia remains heavily dependent on exports of commodities, particularly oil, natural gas, metals, and timber, which account for about 80% of exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. In recent years, however, the economy has also been driven by growing internal consumer demand that has increased by over 12% annually in 2000-2005, showing the strengthening of its own internal market. The country's GDP shot up to reach €1.2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) in 2004, making it the ninth largest economy in the world and the fifth largest in Europe. If the current growth rate is sustained, the country is expected to become the second largest European economy after Germany (€1.9 trillion or $2.3 trillion) and the sixth largest in the world within a few years. The greatest challenge facing the Russian economy is how to encourage the development of Small and Medium-sized EnterpriseSME (small and medium sized enterprises) in a business climate with a young and dysfunctional banking system, dominated by Russian oligarchs. Many of Russia's banks are owned by entrepreneurs or oligarchs, who often use the deposits to lend to their own businesses. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have attempted to kick-start normal banking practices by making equity and debt investments in a number of banks, but with very limited success.Other problems include disproportional economic development of Russia's own regions. While the huge capital region of Moscow is a bustling, affluent metropolis living on the cutting edge of technology with a per capita income rapidly approaching that of the leading Eurozone economies, much of the country, especially its indigenous and rural communities in Asia, lags significantly behind. Market integration is nonetheless making itself felt in some other sizeable cities such as Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, and Ekaterinburg, and recently also in the adjacent rural areas.Encouraging foreign investment is also a major challenge due to legal, some cultural, linguistic, economic and political peculiarities of the country. Nevertheless, there have been significant inflow of capital in recent years from many European investors attracted by cheaper land, labor and higher growth rates than in the rest of Europe. Amazingly high levels of education and societal involvement achieved by the majority of the population, including women and minorities, secular attitudes, mobile class structure, better integration of various minorities in the mainstream culture set Russia far apart from the majority of the so-called developing and even some developed nations.So far, the country is also benefiting from rising oil prices and has been able to pay off much of its formerly huge debt. Equal redistribution of capital gains from the natural resource industries to other sectors is also a problem. Still, since 2003, exports of natural resources started decreasing in economic importance as the internal market has strengthened considerably largely stimulated by intense construction, as well as consumption of increasingly diverse goods and services. Yet teaching customers and encouraging consumer spending is a relatively tough task for many provinceprovincial areas where consumer demand is primitive, although some laudable progress has already been made in larger cities especially in clothing, food, entertainment industries.The arrest of Russia's wealthiest businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of fraud and corruption in relation to the large-scale privatizations organized under then-President Boris YeltsinYeltsin has caused many foreign investors to worry about the stability of the Russian economy. Most of the large fortunes currently prevailing in Russia seem to be the product of either acquiring government assets particularly at low costs or gaining concessions from the government. Other countries have expressed concerns and worries at the "selective" application of the law against individual businessmen.However, some international firms are investing heavily in Russia. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Russia had nearly $26 billion in cumulative foreign direct investment inflows during the 2001-2004 period (of which $11.7 billion occurred last year alone).
Demographics - mainDemographics of Russia Despite its comparatively very high population, Russia has a low average population density due to its enormous size. Population is densest in the European part of Russia, in the Ural Mountains area, and in the south-western parts of Siberia; the south-eastern part of Siberia that meets the Pacific Ocean, known as the Russian Far East, is sparsely populated, with its southern part being densest. The Russian Federation is home to as many as 160 different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples. As of the 2002 census, 79.8% of the population is ethnically RussiansRussian, 3.8% TatarsTatar, 2% UkrainiansUkrainian, 1.2% Bashkir, 1.1% Chuvash, 0.9% Chechen peopleChechen, 0.8% Armenian peopleArmenian, and the remaining 10.3% includes those who did not specify their ethnicity as well as (in alphabetical order) Caucasian AvarsAvars, Azerbaijanis, Belarusians, Buryats, Chinese peopleChinese, Evenks, Georgian peopleGeorgians, German minority in Russia and Soviet UnionGermans, Greeks, Ingushes, Inuit, Jews, Kalmyks, Karelians, Kazakhs, Koreans, Maris, Mordvins, Nenetses, Ossetians, Poles, Tuvans, Udmurts, Yakuts, and others. Nearly all of these groups live compactly in their respective regions; Russians are the only people significantly represented in every region of the country.The Russian language is the only official state language, but the individual Republics of Russiarepublics have often made their native language co-official next to Russian. Cyrillic alphabet is the only official script, which means that these languages must be written in Cyrillic in official texts. The Russian Orthodox Church is the dominant ChristianityChristian religion in the Federation; other religions include Islam, various Protestant faiths, Judaism, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism. Division into different religions takes place primarily along ethnic lines: majority of Russians are Orthodox, majority of people of Turkic descent are Muslim, Judaism is very uncommon among non-Jews. Neopaganism is on the rise, especially among Slavic people. See Religion in Russia for more.
Culture - mainCulture of Russia Cinema of RussiaList of famous RussiansMusic of RussiaRussian architectureRussian cuisineRussian humourRussian literature*List of Russian language poets*Russian formalism*Russian folkloreRussian musicRussian paintingRussian theatre
Name - nameWikt Main article: Etymology of Rus and derivatives.''The name of the country derives from the name of the Rus' (people)Rus' people. The origin of the people itself and of their name is a matter of controversy.
Miscellaneous topics - Communications in Russia Education in Russia Foreign relations of Russia Law of the Russian Federation List of Russian companies Military of Russia Postage stamps and postal history of Russia Public holidays in Russia Tourism in Russia Transportation in Russia
References - ''The New Columbia Encyclopedia'', Col.Univ.Press, 1975''World Civilizations:The Global Experience'', by Peter Stearns, Michael Adas, Stuart Schwartz, and Marc Gilbert
External links - SisterlinksRussia
Government resources - duma.ru - Duma - Official site of the parliamentary lower house (in Russian)council.gov.ru - Federative Council - Official site of the parliamentary upper housekremlin.ru - Kremlin - Official presidential site (in English)gov.ru - Gov.ru - Official governmental portal (in Russian)russianembassy.org - Embassy of the Russian Federation to the United Stateseia.doe.gov - Russia Energy Resources and Industry from U.S. Department of Energytravel.state.gov - U.S. State Department Consular Information Sheet: Russia
General information - russiaprofile.org - Russia Profilenews.bbc.co.uk - Country Profile by BBCcia.gov - Country Facts by CIAaustausch.org - German-Russian Exchange NGO that connects volunteers to ngo's in Russia (not only Germans)gksoft.com - Government linksbof.fi - Russian Economy: Bank of Finland reviewwebcam.deili.info - Webcam in Russiageocities.com - Impressions of Soviet Russia, by John Deweycdi.org - Johnson's Russia List Archiveslackertravel.com - Pictures of Russia from slackertravelrussiajournal.com - The Russia Journal - An independent news and analysis source from Russia.english.pravda.ru - English Edition of Pravdarferl.org - Radio FreeEurope/Radio Liberty on Russiakommersant.com - Kommersant Ъ: Russia's Daily onlineenglish.mn.ru - The Moscow News, English edition*? worldwide-tax.com - Russia taxes, business and economy.Russiantie Europe Central Asia Asia OIC Category:Russia !Category:RepublicsCategory:Fed eralismCategory:Bicontinental? countries Category:Black Sea countries Category:Asian countries Category:Southwest Asian countries Category:Central Asian countries Category:East Asian countriesLink FAja !af:Ruslandang:Russlandar:رو ياan:Rusiaroa-rup:Rusiiast: Rusiabg:Русияzh-min-nan:L ō·-se-abe:Расеяbs:Rusij aca:Rússiacv:Раççей? !Патшалăхěcs:Ruskocy:F federasiwn? !Rwsiada:Ruslandde:Russlandet:V enemaael:Ρωσίαals:Russlan des:Rusiaeo:Rusiofa:روسیه fr:Russiefy:Ruslânga:An? Rúisgd:An Ruisgl:Rusia - !Россияko:러시아hy:Ռ ւսաստանhi:रुसhr: Rusijaht:Risiio:Rusiaid:Rusiai u:ᐅᓛᓴis:Rússlandit:Russ iahe:רוסיהka:რუსე თიkk:Ресейcsb:Ruskôk s:रूसku:Rûsyaky:Ору сияla:Russialv:Krievijalt: Rusijalb:Russlandli:Röslandhu :Oroszországmk:Русијаms :Russiamo:Русияna:Russian l:Ruslandnds:Russlandja:ロシ アno:Russlandnn:Russlandos:У æрæсеpl:Rosjapt:Rússiaro :Rusiaru:Россияse:Ruoš asq:Rusiash:Rusijascn:Russias imple:Russiask:Ruskosl:Rusijas r:Русијаsu:Rusiafi:Venä jäsv:Rysslandtl:Russiata:ர ்யாtt:Räsäy? !Föderasísıte:రష్య th:สหพันธรั รัสเซียvi:Ngatr :Rusyauk:Росіяur:روسuz :Rosiyawa:Rûsseyeyi:רוסל ַנדzh:俄罗斯
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RetailStudio.org
RetailStudio.org is Ukraine’s Russian-language web resource about retail since Fall 2004. The site gives a dynamic picture of retail industry in Ukraine, Europe, and globally. RetailStudio.org tracks major developments in the sector, key players’ marketing strategies, as well as retailers’ impact on communities. With RetailStudio.org industry experts are enabled to see the local market in global and regional contexts. Your guide to retail in Ukraine is just a click away!
http://www.retailstudio.org/
www.samooborona.ru
This site belong to Civic Arms Union. This is public orgatinsation created by supporters of right to carry firearm in Russia.
http://www.samooborona.ru/
Study Russian in Russia
Individual and group Russian courses with Linguamir language and cultural center on the Volga river, Russia; excursions and tours, cultural studies
http://www.linguamir.com/
The Yelbaev Tribune
Online reviews of hi-fi and music plus perosnal outlook on local market and more by Vladimir Yelbaev - the only non-alighned audio expert in East Europe.
http://www.audiomedia.ru/
Russian Embassy and Consulate
On line Russian Embassy and Consulate, listed by country. Address, telephone and fax numbers. Contact details. Links for Russian visas.
http://www.russianembassy.biz
Vologda region news
A daily internet news edition. News are divided into several topics: society, economy, accidents, high-tech, culture, sport.
http://www.newsvo.ru/
Russian Visas
On line support for Russian Visas, tourist single entry or multi-entry business visas. Specialist international service to most countries.
http://www.russianvisas.org
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY - Jiri TONDL
Documentary photography portfolio Prague profesional photographer Jiri Tondl. Photography from Russia, China, Czechia, USA etc.
http://www.tondl.cz/
Integrio Systems - custom software development & offshore outsourcing
Custom software development & programming in Vancouver, Canada. Web site design and hosting. Offshore outsourcing facilities in Ukraine.
http://www.integrio.net/
Network of shoe shops in Saint-Petersburg
Network of shoe shops in Saint-Petersburg
http://www.obuv-shok.ru/
Andrew Ilnitsky - Social Manager
Official site of Andrew Ilnitsky - social manager (Moscow, Russia).
http://www.amicable.ru/
Flowers and gifts delivery to Moscow, Russia
Flowers and gifts delivery to Moscow and vicinity. Free delivery in Moscow! Affordable rose bouquets . Best perfumes, chocolates and champagne. Build your own bouquet feature.. Free delivery in Moscow on all orders more than $29.99 and fast service. Digital picture and video of delivery. We’ll add free bottle of champagne to all orders more than $50! Fast reliable service.
http://www.flowers2moscow.com/
Vocational rentals in Russia
ARENT is aleading provider of Russian vacation apartments, serviced apartments, long term rentals and real estate services throughout Russia. We have the best selection of serviced apartments in Moscow and serviced apartments in St. Petersburg Russia available today. ARENT offer you guided tours, accomodation and visa support to Russia. Renting a serviced or vacation apartment is a great option for tourists or business people coming to Russia for short to medium length stays. All of our apartments are located right in the city center and offer more privacy, are more comfortable and are less expensive than hotels in the centers of Moscow or Saint Petersburg. Our apartments offer the same services as hotels and even more. All of our properties are located in safe and secure buildings, are renovated to European standards and come with fully equipped kitchens and baths, direct telephone lines, satellite television and washing machines. Every apartment in St Petersburg and apartment in Moscow comes with 24 hour maintenance support to ensure that our guests do not need to deal with technical problems.
http://www.apartment-rentals-russia.com/
international golf course design, architecture and site supervision
Austrian based international and high tech standard golf course design and landscape architecture company working in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East
http://www.golf-land-design.com
Компания Много Плитки - MnogoPlitki.com
MnogoPlitki.com - ceramic cftalog russia
http://www.mnogoplitki.com
Art Directors Club Russia
International organization Art Directors Club was made as a professional challenge for advertising agencyes and designers all over the world. Russian department is young, but became a most important advertising center of creative advertising.
http://www.adcrussia.ru/
jjkphoto.ch
Picture base for studient and ngo
http://www.jjkphoto.ch/
Crowncaps collecting and trade
Welcome to Bottle caps collecting and look at the caps from around the world! You will see how remove rust from caps, my offer of caps for trade, addresses of other collectors and of course, my free program for collectors!
http://www.crowncaps.ru/
Pocket PC Russia
Russian site about Pocket PC
http://www.pocketpcrussia.com/
Borisoglebsk
Information about Borisoglebsk town
http://www.borisoglebsk.net/
Nappyface International Inc.
Nappyface International Inc. is a proud sponsor of the DOT-WS revolution. Providing the tools neccessary for entreprenuers to succeed in todays rat race as well as provide original artwork and entertainment courtesy of Shahied Al-Amin d.b.a. Rising Sun aka Ras Fuji
http://www.nappyface.ws/
Travel in Altai region, Russia
Site about Altai region, Russia
http://www.altaitravel.ru/
Flowers and gifts delivery to Russia, CIS countries
Flowers and gifts delivery to Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Latvia and all countries of the former USSR, CIS and Baltics. Affordable rose bouquets starting. Many variations of flower compositions. Build your own bouquet feature. Courier delivery and reliable service.
http://www.russianflora.com/
Russian Insulators Factory
Site biggest manufactured high voltage insulators: station post insulators, suspension insulators, glass insulators, polymer insulators.
http://www.insulators.ru/
adamsrussianmassage.com
russian massage (clinical) seminars help you be professional in the healing art of massage
http://www.adamsrussianmassage.com/
Chernobyl Children's Project
Claremorris is one of over 70 Outreach Groups of the Chernobyl Children's Project, a Charitable Company
http://www.chernobylchildren.net/
The Arabic Pages of ussia
Arabic comperhensive Catalouge about Russia
http://www.ru4arab.ru/
Fersman mineralogical museum Russian academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Word famous and one of the oldest mineral museums. Started in 1716 in Sankt Petersburg, Russia. Worldwide mineral and gemstone collection. The best and most complete for Russia and former Soviet Union Republics. Includes aesthetically and scientifically unique mineral specimens, meteorites and stone art masterpieces as well. Museum history, virtual tour through museum halls, exhibits and showcases, photogalleries of minerals and gems, new acquisitions, publications etc.
http://www.fmm.ru/
Europe Travel Guides
Hotels, restaurants, theaters, museums, attractions for all European countries and major cities
http://www.europe-travel-guides.com/
Russian nesting dolls, lacquer boxes, russian collectibles, russian gifts and souvenirs
Russian nesting dolls, lacquer boxes, russian collectibles, russian gifts and souvenirs
http://www.shoprussian.net/
KID AND JUNIOR FASHION
International trade fair for kid and junior fashion
http://www.kjf.ru/
Starosta Go-Go
This site is about go-go dancers and artists who work on a club scene in Russia and related countries. All artists and costume designers are put into some catalogues separated for different genres. Starosta Go-Go is also a booking agency where you easily can book dancer or artist. Information mostly in Russian.
http://www.starosta.ru/
Bells: Collection and History
Collection of decorative bells with catalogue and photos. Various materials on the history of bells worldwide. Some notes with pictures on travels connected to some extent with bells.
http://www.decorbells.ru/
Vladimir Vysotsky - Voice of a silent nation
About the life & work of a great Russian poet, singer and actor - Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky.
http://www.vladimir-vysotsky.de/
Russia on the Net
This Web site is provided by Demos company, internet provider.
http://www.ru/
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Official site links to each directorate as well as to attorney employment, listserv signup, FAQ, a virtual tour, the CIA Museum, press releases and reports, and reference pages on world geography, history, politics and chiefs of state. Alphabetical site index, site map, search, and a special section on terrorism.
http://www.cia.gov/
ValleyNet
A non-profit, providing valuable education and information and the Upper Valley's first and largest local Internet service provider.
http://www.valley.net/
The Russia Journal
English language newspaper published from Moscow (Russia) with daily updates of news, weather and stocks.
http://www.russiajournal.com/
Russian National Group
Offers travel and visa services to Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries. Description of services, company information, information for tourists.
http://www.russia-travel.com/
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