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The economy of Russia is one of the largest in the world. It ranks 11th in the world for highest nominal GDP. This is mainly because of the large amount of natural resources found in Russia. However, much of the land is either infertile or covered by permafrost.
The ruble is the official currency of Russia.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is the largest religion in Russia. Russia has the most followers of Eastern Orthodoxy out of any other country. About 75% of Russians are followers of Eastern Orthodoxy.[16]
Russia's history began when the East Slavs settled Western Russia between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD.[50] The Varangians and their descendants made the first East Slavic state of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century. They adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988.[51] This form of Christianity influenced Russian culture greatly.[51] Kievan Rus' eventually broke up and the lands were divided into many small feudal states. The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was the Grand Duchy of Moscow.[52] This area served as the main force in later Russian unification and the fight against the Golden Horde from Asia. Moscow slowly gained control of the regions around it and took over the cultural and political life of Kievan Rus'.[53]
Tsardom of Russia
Tsardom of Russia existed from 1547 to 1721. Ivan the Terrible was the main ruler of the Tsardom of Russia. He created oprichnina and annexed many lands (Astrakhan, Siberia).
Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1689 until 1725.[55] Peter moved the capital from Moscow to a new city named Saint Petersburg. He made Russian society more modern in many ways. For example, his inspectors shaved off the beards of passers-by.[56] The government began building ships for the Russian navy.[55]
The Russo-Japanese War started in 1904 and ended in 1905 with Japan winning the war.[57] The Russian defeat was one of the reasons for later revolutions.
From 1924 to 1953, Joseph Stalin ruled as the absolute dictator of Soviet Union.[60] He destroyed anything and anyone that was against his rule. For example, he took the property of farmers and shopkeepers.[61] Many millions of people starved and died in famines because of this.[62] Stalin also removed, or "purged", all military members who were not loyal to him. Many people were killed or sent to prison camps, or gulags, for many years.[63] Many prisoners died in gulags.[63]
Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany agreed not to attack each other in 1939.[64] In June 1941, Germany broke the agreement and attacked in Operation Barbarossa.[65] The attack was part of World War II.[65] The war lasted in Europe until May 1945, and Russia lost more than 20 million people during that time. In spite of this large loss, Russia was one of the winners of the war and became a world superpower.[66]
In 1961, Yuri Gagarin flew into space.[67] He was the first man who was in space.[67] Since this period USSR was considered to be a space power. It was during the space race between USSR and USA.[68]
From 1922 to 1991, Russia was the largest part of the Soviet Union, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). People sometimes used the name "Russia" for the whole Soviet Union, or sometimes "Soviet Russia".[69] Russia was only one of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics.[70] The republic was in fact named the "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic" (RSFSR).
The Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.[71] Russia took over the place of the USSR in the United Nations (UN).
History of present Russian Federation
Boris Yeltsin was made the President of Russia in June 1991, in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. Wide-ranging reforms took place, for example privatization and free trade laws.[72] Radical changes (shock therapy) were recommended by the United States and International Monetary Fund.[73] A major economic crisis followed. There was 50% decline in GDP and industrial output between 1990 and 1995.[72][74]
The privatization largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government system. Many of the newly rich business people took billions in cash and assets outside of the country.[75] The depression of state and economy led to the collapse of social services. Millions went into poverty, from 1.5% of people being in poverty in the late Soviet era to 39–49% by mid-1993.[76] The 1990s had extreme corruption and lawlessness, and the rise of criminal gangs and violent crime.[77]
The 1990s had many armed conflicts in the North Caucasus. There were both local ethnic battles and separatistIslamist insurrections. Because the Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, a Chechen War was fought between the rebel groups and the Russian military. Terrorist attacks against civilians caused hundreds of deaths. The most notable of these were the Moscow theater hostage crisis and Beslan school siege.
Russia took responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, even though its population made up just half of the population of the USSR at the time of its dissolution.[78] High budget deficits caused the 1998 Russian financial crisis[79] and resulted in more GDP decline.[72]
On 31 December 1999, President Yeltsin resigned (quit being the president). The job of president was given to the recently appointed Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin then won the 2000 presidential election. Putin stopped the Chechen rebellion quickly, but violence still occurs in the Northern Caucasus at times.
High oil prices and initially weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years. This improved the standard of living and increased Russia's influence on the world stage. While many reforms made during the Putin presidency have been criticized by Western nations as un-democratic,[80] Putin's leadership led to stability and progress. This won him widespread popularity in Russia.[81]
On 2 March 2008, Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of Russia, whilst Putin became Prime Minister. Putin went back to being the president after the 2012 presidential elections, and Medvedev was made the Prime Minister.
At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world. It covers more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's eighth most populous nation with 140 million people as of 2022. Russia produces a lot of energy made from oil and natural gas.[83]
Russia extends from eastern Europe across the whole of northern Asia. Russia spans eleven time zones and has a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources,[84] and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world.[85][86] Russia has the world's largest forest reserves,[87][88] and its lakes contain about one-quarter of the world's fresh water.[89]
Constitution
Russia is a federal semi-presidential republic. It has a president and a parliament.[90] Russia has 85 federal subjects (territorial units). All subjects of the federation shall be equal. All entities are subject to uniform federal law. Subjects of the federation have two representatives in the parliament. Subjects of the Russian Federation do not have the right to secede from it. Important issues are decided by the Federation President. Lesser powers are given to the member republics.
At the end of the twentieth century, Russia experienced many political changes. Some people fought to leave the federation.
Elections are held at all levels. According to Steve White, the present government made it clear that they had no plans of making a "second edition" of the American or British political system. Instead they wanted a system that was closer to Russia's own traditions.[91] Richard Sakwa wrote that the Russian government is considered legitimate by the majority of the Russian people. It seeks to deliver a set of public goods without trying to fit to extra-democratic logic to achieve them. Whether the system is becoming less autocratic (dictatorial) is debatable.[92]
Politics
There are four big political parties in Russia. United Russia (Единая Россия) is the biggest party.[93]
The United Russia is the ruling party, which supports the government.[93] The other parties in the Duma (Russian parliament) do not criticize the government strongly, for fear of losing their places in the Duma. Many opposition parties, for the People's Freedom Party and the Other Russia, have been unable to register due to the strict rules. In the 2000s, the government led a war in Chechnya, and in the process, civil liberties and independent media were restricted. Corruption is widespread and human rights, especially in the North Caucasus, are frequently violated.[97] In 2008, Putin's government was in a war with Georgia in a dispute over a region with many ethnic Russians.
Russia's capital and biggest city is Moscow. The second biggest city is Saint Petersburg, which was the capital of Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Russia has a population of 142 million people. Most people (73.7%) live in cities. The population decreased by 5 million people after the fall of the Soviet Union. The current population growth is close to zero, and the population went down by 0.085% in 2008.
Russia's area is about 17 million square kilometers (6.5 million sq. mi.). It is the largest country in the world.[98] Its population density is about 8.3 people per square kilometre (21.5 per sq. mi.). This is one of the lowest country densities in the world. The population is most dense in the European part of the country, centering around Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Siberia has a very low density.
Russians have made many famous works of literature.[101]Alexander Pushkin is considered a founder of modern Russian literature. He was a poet from the 19th century.[102]
Soccer, ice hockey and basketball are some of the most popular sports in Russia. Boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, and tennis are also popular sports. Track suits are popular clothing items for many Russians. Some examples of famous Russian sports people are former tennis world number one Maria Sharapova, who has won three Grand Slam titles, and was the world's highest paid female athlete in 2008.[107]
In 6 appearances, Russian athletes have won a total of 425 medals at the summer Olympics and 121 at the winter Olympics. However, more than 30% of these medals were taken from Russia and its teams.
Chess
Chess is the main intellectual sport in Russia.[112] In the 20th century, there were nine Russian World Chess Champions, more than all other nations combined.[113][114]
Food
Russian cuisine is one of the most famous in the world. It was divided: Old Russian cuisine, Old Moscow cuisine, Petersburg cuisine. The main thing of Russian food is variety of products used for cooking.[115]
Typical Russian food includes: bliny, pelmeni, olivier salad, pies (called pirogi) etc. Russians have many soups such as okroshka, shchi, borsch, ukha, rassolnik. Russian traditional drinks are kvass, mors, sbiten, medovukha, vodka, birch sap.
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↑Webster's II New College Dictionary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1999. p. 970. ISBN 978-0395962145.
↑Kuchkin, V. A. (2014). Русская земля [Russian land]. In Melnikova, E. A.; Petrukhina, V. Ya. (eds.). Древняя Русь в средневековом мире [Old Rus' in the medieval world] (in Russian). Moscow: Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Ladomir. pp. 700–701.
↑Duczko, Wladyslaw (2004). Viking Rus. Brill Publishers. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-90-04-13874-2.
↑Nazarenko, Aleksandr Vasilevich (2001). "1. Имя "Русь" в древнейшей западноевропейской языковой традиции (XI-XII века)" [The name Rus' in the old tradition of Western European language (XI-XII centuries)]. Древняя Русь на международных путях: междисциплинарные очерки культурных, торговых, политических связей IX-XII веков [Old Rus' on international routes: interdisciplinary essays on cultural, trade, and political ties in the 9th-12th centuries] (in Russian). Languages of the Rus' culture. pp. 40, 42–45, 49–50. ISBN 978-5-7859-0085-1. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011.
↑Shchelinsky, V.E.; Gurova, M.; Tesakov, A.S.; Titov, V.V.; Frolov, P.D.; Simakova, A.N. (30 January 2016). "The Early Pleistocene site of Kermek in western Ciscaucasia (southern Russia): Stratigraphy, biotic record and lithic industry (preliminary results)". Quaternary International. 393: 51–69. Bibcode:2016QuInt.393...51S. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.032.
↑Anthony, David W.; Ringe, Don (1 January 2015). "The Indo-European Homeland from Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives". Annual Review of Linguistics. 1 (1): 199–219. doi:10.1146/annurev-linguist-030514-124812. ISSN2333-9683.
↑Belinskij, Andrej; Härke, Heinrich (1999). "The 'Princess' of Ipatovo". Archeology. 52 (2). Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
↑ 40.040.1Drews, Robert (2004). Early Riders: The beginnings of mounted warfare in Asia and Europe. New York: Routledge. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-415-32624-7.
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↑Hind, John. "The Bosporan Kingdom". In Lewis, D. M.; Boardman, J.; Hornblower, S.; Ostwald, M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. VI - The 4th Century BC. Cambridge: CUP. pp. 476–511.
↑Tsetskhladze, G. R. (1998). The Greek Colonisation of the Black Sea Area: Historical Interpretation of Archaeology. F. Steiner. p. 48. ISBN 978-3-515-07302-8.
↑Peter Turchin, Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall, Princeton University Press, 2003, pp. 185–186. ISBN 0-691-11669-5.
↑David Christian, A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Blackwell Publishing, 1998, pp. 286–288. ISBN 0-631-20814-3.
↑András Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History, Central European University Press, 1999, p. 257. ISBN 963-9116-48-3.
↑"Russia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2008-07-22. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
↑Wade, Rex A.; Wade, Rex A. (2005-04-21). The Russian Revolution, 1917. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84155-9. Archived from the original on 2023-01-22. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
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↑White, Stephen (2010). "Classifying Russia's Politics". In White, Stephen (ed.). Developments in Russian Politics 7. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-22449-0.
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↑Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007. "Russian Literature". Archived from the original on 2009-08-20. Retrieved 2008-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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↑Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. However, it is still internationally seen as a part of Ukraine.[1] The Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts were also annexed (but only partly controlled) in 2022. They are internationally seen as a part of Ukraine. The southernmost Kuril Islands are claimed by both Japan and Russia after the Soviet occupation of the islands at the end of World War II.[2]
Brown, Archie, ed. The Cambridge encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union (1982) online
Dutkiewicz, P.; Richard, S.; Vladimir, K. (2016). The Social History of Post-Communist Russia. Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-32846-9. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
Florinsky, Michael T. ed. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union (1961).
Frye, Timothy. Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia (2021) excerptArchived 2022-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
Greene, by Samuel A. and Graeme B. Robertson. Putin v. the People: the Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia (Yale UP, 2019) excerpt
Hosking, Geoffrey A. Russia and the Russians: a history (2011) online
Kort, Michael. A Brief History of Russia (2008) online
Millar, James R. ed. Encyclopedia of Russian History (4 vol 2003). online
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V., and Mark D. Steinberg. A History of Russia (9th ed. 2018) 9th edition 1993 online
Rosefielde, Steven. Putin's Russia: Economy, Defence and Foreign Policy (2020) excerptArchived 2021-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
Service, Robert. A History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-First Century (Harvard UP, 3rd ed., 2009) excerptArchived 2022-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
Smorodinskaya, Tatiana, and Karen Evans-Romaine, eds. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture (2014) excerptArchived 2022-03-30 at the Wayback Machine; 800 pp covering art, literature, music, film, media, crime, politics, business, and economics.
Walker, Shauin. The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts Of the Past (2018, Oxford UP) excerptArchived 2022-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
1. Transcontinental country/territory that is part of both Europe and Asia. 2. Territory or with territory geographically part of North America. 3. Partially recognized. 4. Not all dependent territories are listed. 5. Territory has some form of self-rule. 6. Territory or with territory geographically part of Africa.