Russia

Russia

Country statistics

area:	17,075,000sq km (6,592,800sq mi)
population:	145,934,900
capital (population):	Moscow (8,389,200)
government:	Federal multi-party republic
ethnic groups:	Russian 82%, Tatar 4%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1%, more than 100 other nationalities
languages:	Russian (official)
religions:	Russian Orthodox 55%, Muslim 5%, Jewish 1%
currency:	Russian rouble = 100 kopecks

Federation in e Europe and n Asia. The Russian Federation is the world's largest country. The Urals form a natural border between European and Asian Russia (Siberia). About 25% of Russia lies in Europe, w of the Urals. European Russia contains about 80% of Russia's population, including the capital, Moscow. It is predominantly a vast plain. The Caucasus Mountains form Russia's sw border with Georgia and Azerbaijan, and include Europe's highest peak, Mount Elbrus, at 5633m (18,481ft). Grozny, capital of Chechenia, lies close to the Georgian border. The port of Astrakhan lies on the shore of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water. St Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, is a Baltic seaport. Archangel is the major White Sea port. European Russia's major rivers are the Don and the Volga (Europe's longest river). Volgograd lies on the banks of the Volga. Siberia is a land of plains and plateaux, with mountains in the e and s. It is drained by the rivers Ob, Yenisei, and Lena. The industrial centre of Novosibirsk lies on the River Ob. Close to the Mongolian border lies Lake Baikal (the world's deepest lake). On its shores lies Irkutsk. Vladivostock is the major port on the Sea of Japan. Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands have often been a source of conflict with Japan. The Kamchatka Peninsula contains many active volcanoes.

Climate and Vegetation

The climate varies from n to s and also from w to e. Moscow has a continental climate with cold, snowy winters and warm summers. Siberia has a much harsher and drier climate. In Northern Siberia, winter temperatures often fall below −46°C (−51°F). The far n is tundra. Mosses and lichens grow during the short summer, but the subsoil is permafrost. To the s is the taiga, a vast region of coniferous forest. In the w and e are mixed forests of conifer, oak, and beech. South-central Russia contains large areas of former steppe, most of which is now under the plough; its dark, chernozem soils are among the world's most fertile. The semi-desert lowlands around the Caspian Sea are hardy grassland. The Caucasus Mountains have lush forests of oak and beech.

History and Politics

According to tradition, the Varangian king, Rurik, established the first Russian state in c.ad 862. His successor, Oleg, made Kiev, his capital and the state became known as Kievan Rus. Vladimir I adopted Greek Orthodox Christianity as the state religion in 988. Vladimir and Kiev vied for political supremacy. In 1237–40, the Mongol Tatars conquered Russia and established the Golden Horde. Saint Alexander Nevski became Great Khan of Kiev. In the 14th century, Moscow gradually grew in importance, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow was established in 1380. Ivan III (the Great) greatly extended the power of Moscow, began the construction of the Kremlin, and completed the conquest of the Golden Horde in 1480.

In 1547, Ivan IV (the Terrible) was crowned Tsar of all Russia. Ivan the Terrible conquered the Tatar khanates of Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556), gaining control of the River Volga, and began the conquest of Siberia. Following the death of Boris Godunov (1605), Russia was subject to foreign incursions and ruled by a series of usurpers. In 1613, Michael founded the Romanov tsarist dynasty which ruled Russia until 1917. The reign (1696–1725) of Peter I (the Great) marked the start of the westernization and modernization of Russia: central governmental institutions emerged, and the Church became subordinate to the monarchy. Centralization was achieved at the expense of increasing the number of serfs. Russia expanded w to the Baltic Sea, and St Petersburg was born in 1703. Peter made it his capital in 1712.

In 1762, Catherine II (the Great) became Empress. Under her authoritarian government, Russia became the greatest power in continental Europe, acquiring much of Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine. Alexander I's territorial gains led him into direct conflict with the imperial ambitions of Napoleon I. Napoleon captured Moscow in 1812, but the harsh Russian winter devastated his army. The Decembrist Conspiracy (1825) unsuccessfully tried to prevent the accession of Nicholas I. Nicholas' reign was characterized by the battle against liberalization. At the end of his reign, Russia became embroiled in the disastrous Crimean War (1853–56). Alexander II undertook much-needed reforms, such as the emancipation of the serfs. Alexander III's rule was more reactionary, but continued Russia's industrialization, helped by the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Alexander was succeeded by the last Romanov tsar, Nicholas II.In the 1890s, drought caused famine in rural areas and there was much discontent in the cities. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) precipitated the Russian Revolution of 1905. Nicholas II was forced to adopt a new constitution and establish an elected Duma (parliament). Democratic reforms were soon reversed, revolutionary groups brutally suppressed, and pogroms encouraged. The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was secretly founded in 1898, supported primarily by industrial workers. In 1912, the Party split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. Russia's support of a Greater Slavic state contributed to the outbreak of World War I. Russia was ill-prepared for war, and suffered great hardship. The Russian Revolution (1917) had two main phases. In March, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate (he and his family were executed in July 1918), and a provisional government was formed. In July, Kerensky became prime minister, but failed to satisfy the radical hunger of the soviets.

In November 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized power and proclaimed Russia a Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. In 1918, the capital transferred to Moscow. Under the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918), Russia withdrew from World War I, but was forced to cede much territory to the Central Powers. For the next five years, civil war raged between the Reds and Whites (monarchists and anti-communists), complicated by foreign intervention. The Bolsheviks emerged victorious, but Russia was left devastated. In 1922, Russia united with Ukraine, Belarus, and Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (for history 1922–91, see Soviet Union).

In June 1991 Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Republic. In August 1991, communist hardliners arrested the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and attempted to capture the Russian parliament in Moscow. Democratic forces rallied behind Yeltsin, and the coup was defeated. Yeltsin emerged as the major power player. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR, and on December 31, the Soviet Union was dissolved. The Russian Federation became a co-founder of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), composed of former Soviet Republics. In March 1992, the central government in Moscow agreed a new Federal Treaty with the autonomous republics within the Russian Federation. Chechenia refused to sign, and declared independence. Institutional forces frustrated Yeltsin's reforms, leading him to dissolve Parliament in September 1993. Parliamentary leaders formed a rival government, but the coup failed. In December 1993, a new democratic constitution was adopted. Yeltsin's made slow progress in the democratization of political institutions and reform of the social economy. A central political problem was the representation of Russia's diverse minorities. Many ethnic groups demanded greater autonomy within the Federation. In 1992, direct rule was imposed in Ingush and North Ossetia. From 1994 to 1996, Russia was embroiled in a costly civil war in the secessionist state of Chechenia. In 1996, despite concern about his ill-health, Yeltsin was re-elected. In 1998, the financial crisis in Southeast Asia devastated the Russian economy and Yeltsin dismissed the entire cabinet, including the Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. In August 1998, the stock market collapsed and the rouble devalued by 50%. Yeltsin again dismissed the entire cabinet and was forced to appoint Yevgeni Primakov as prime minister.

In 1999 Yeltsin resigned in favour of Vladimir Putin, who relaunched the war in Chechenia. Putin won the 2000 elections. The continuing conflict in Chechenia has lead to hundreds of deaths in Russia in a series of major terrorist attacks, such as the attack on a Moscow theatre (2002), the bombing of two passenger flights (2004), and the attack on a school in Beslan (2004).

Economy

Under Soviet rule, Russia transformed from an agrarian economy into the world's second greatest industrial power. By the 1970s, concentration on the military-industrial complex and a bloated bureaucracy caused the economy to stagnate. Gorbachev's policy of perestroika was an attempt to correct this weakness. Yeltsin sped up the pace of reform. In 1993, the command economy was abolished, private ownership was re-introduced, and mass privitization began. Industry employs 46% of the workforce and contributes 48% of GDP (2000 GDP per capita, US$7700). Mining is the most valuable activity. Russia is the world's leading producer of natural gas and nickel, and the world's third-largest producer of crude oil, lignite, and brown coal. It is the world's second-largest manufacturer of aluminium and phosphates. Light industries are growing in importance. Most farmland is still government-owned or run as collectives. Russia is the world's largest producer of barley, oats, rye, and potatoes. It is the world's second-largest producer of beef and veal.

Political map

Physical map

Websites

http://www.russianembassy.org; http://www.russianet.ru/~oldrn/history.html