Russia

Russian Federation, a transcontinental country, is situated much over northern Eurasia capturing northern Asia and 40% of Europe. It shares its boundary with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It is the largest country and home of 9th largest population in the world. 


It is the owner of world’s largest forest reserves, and mineral and energy resources. The world's deepest, purest freshwater lake is Lake Baikal, which alone contains over one fifth of the world's fresh surface water. It is the abode of 23 World Heritage Sites and 40 UNESCO Biosphere reserves. Russia's highest point Mount Elbrus is Europe's highest point also. It is the first country to legalize divorce and abortion. It is the member of United Nations Security Council, Commonwealth of Independent States and the G8, and has world's largest stock of mass-destructive weapons. It is a recognized nuclear weapons state.


HISTORY:- Vikings Rurik was chosen as the ruler of Nongorod in 860. When Kiev was overpowered in 1240, the modern Russia was formed with the unification of Vladimir-Suzdal and the Novgorod Republic. In the mid 17th century, Eastern Siberia was captured by the Russians. Russian Empire was originally established by Romanov Empire. In this era Russia had became one of the great powers of the world. Napoleon’s troop invaded but retreated from the land. Russia joined Serbia in World War I. Russian Revolution was broken out in 1917 as a result of the public distrust. The October revolution led to the formation of world’s first Communist state by Vladimir Lenin. After the Civil War, Soviet Union was formed on 30th December, 1922. After defeating the Nazi Germany, Russia captured Berlin. With Boris Yeltsin, communism was abolished after Mikhail Gorbachev. USSR was dissolved and divided into 15 republics in 1991. Yeltsin resigned from the post of President and Vladimir Putin became the prime minister.

 

GEOGRAPHY:- Russia is situated at 60 00 N, 100 00 E, comprising total 17,075,200 sq km (land- 16,995,800 sq km, water- 79,400 sq km) area. The coastline is 37,653 km long along with Arctic Ocean, Baltic, Black and Caspian seas and North Pacific Ocean. The lowest point is Caspian Sea (-28 m) and the highest point is Gora El'brus (5,642 m). Russia is formed of the plain lands with low hills in the west of Urals, dense coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia, Caucasus mountain range along the southern borders.

 

CLIMATE:- Mostly northern continental climate can be found in Russia with winters, cool along the Black Sea and frigid in Siberia, and with summers, warm in the steppes and cool in the Arctic coastal region. It ranges from the steppes climate in the south to humid continental in most of the European Russia, from subarctic in Siberia to tundra in the north most part.

 

GOVERNMENT:-Russia is a federal semi-presidential republic. The constitution was adopted on 12th December 1993. The three governmental branches are:

Executive branch comprises the President (chief of state), the Prime minister (chairman of the government) and cabinet.

Legislative branch comprises the bicameral federal Assembly- Federation Council (168 seats) and State Duma (450 seats).

Judicial branch comprises the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Arbitration, Office of Procurator General.

The Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, Right Forces, Yabloko are the most prominent parties of Russia. Suffrage is universal at 18.

President  Dmitry Medvedev

 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

 

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS:- Russia is divided by 21 autonomous republics, 46 oblasts, 2 federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg), 9 territories, 4 autonomous districts, 1 autonomous Jewish territory.

 

ECONOMY:- Russia ranks first in natural gas stock, second in coal stock and eighth in oil stock in the world. It is the world's highest in natural gas export and the second highest in oil export. It possesses the second largest number of billionaires in the world.

GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $2.076 trillion; per capita $14,600.

Real growth rate: 5.9%.

Inflation: 11.9%.

Unemployment: 5.9% (November 2007 est.).

Arable land: 7%.

Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk.

Labor force: 75.1 million; agriculture 4.6%, industry 39.1%, services 56.3% (2007 est.).

Industries: complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; defense industries including radar, missile production, and advanced electronic components, shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts.

Natural resources: Oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber

Budget:  

Revenues: $299 billion

Expenditures: $262 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt: 7% of GDP (2007 est.)

Exports: $365 billion (2007 est.): petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures.

Imports: $260.4 billion (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products.

Major trading partners: Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Italy, China, U.S., Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, Kazakhstan, France (2004).

Monetary unit: Russian ruble (RUR)

 

LANGUAGE:- Russian is the main official language, while there are over 140 types of other languages and dialects.

 

CITIES:- the capital city Moscow is the largest city. Other large cities are St. Petersburg,  Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Kazan, Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Perm,  Volgograd.

 

POPULATION:- Russian population is 141,377,752 with the growth rate of 0.5%.

Density per sq mi: 21

Literacy rate: 100% (2003 est.)

 

RACE:-

Russian 79.8%

Tatar 3.8%

Ukrainian 2%

Bashkir 1.2%

Chuvash 1.1%

Other or unspecified 12.1% (2002)

 

RELIGION:-

Russian Orthodox 15%–20%

Other Christian 2%

Islam 10%–15% (2006 est.; includes practicing worshippers only)

 

HEALTH:-

Birth rate: 11.03 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate: 16.06 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 10.81 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 65.94 years

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 9,000 (2001 est.)

Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2005): 561

 

UNICEF:- UNICEF in Russian federation focuses on prevention of HIV, provision for clean drinking water, and maternal and child health programmes.

 

TRANSPORTATION:-

Railways: total: 87,157 km (2002).

Highways: total: 871,000 km (2004). Waterways:

Waterways: 102,000 km (including 33,000 km with guaranteed depth) (2006).

Ports and harbors: Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', De-Kastri, Indigirskiy, Kaliningrad, Kandalaksha, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lazarev, Mago, Mezen', Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Onega, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Rostov, Shakhtersk, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Taganrog, Tuapse, Uglegorsk, Vanino, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg. Airports: 1,260 (2007).

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