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英国 United Kingdom 爱尔兰 Ireland 比利时 Belgium 荷兰 Netherlands 法国 France 西班牙 Spain 葡萄牙 Portugal 意大利 Italy 希腊 Greece 奥地利 Austria 匈牙利 Hungary 德国 Germany 瑞士 Switzerland 罗马尼亚 Romania 俄罗斯 Russia 波兰 Poland 克罗地亚 Croatia (Hrvatska) 捷克 Czech 芬兰 Finland 瑞典 Sweden 挪威 Norway 冰岛 Iceland 土耳其 Turkey 丹麦 Denmark 阿尔巴尼亚 Albania 爱沙尼亚 Republic of Estonia 安道尔 Andorra 白俄罗斯 Belarus 保加利亚 The Republic of Bulgaria 波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那 Bosnia and Herzegovina 梵蒂冈 Vatican City State (Holy See) 黑山 The Republic of Montenegro 拉脱维亚 Latvia 立陶宛 Republic of Lithuania 列支敦士登 Liechtenstein 卢森堡 Luxembourg 马耳他 Republic of Malta 马其顿 The Republic of Macedonia 摩尔多瓦 The Republic of Moldova 摩纳哥 Monaco 塞尔维亚 the Republic of Serbia 斯洛伐克 The Slovak Republic 斯洛文尼亚 the Republic of Slovenia 圣马力诺 San Marino 乌克兰 Ukraine |
| Russia Capital:moscow Country Code: ru |
 俄罗斯【俄文】 Россия 【英文名】The Russian Federation, The Russia 【国土面积】1707.54万平方公里（占苏联领土面积的76％），居世界第一位。 【地理位置】位于欧洲东部和亚洲北部，其欧洲领土的大部分是东欧平原。北邻北冰洋，东濒太平洋，西接大西洋。东西最长为9000公里，南北最宽为4000公里。 【陆地邻国】西北面有挪威、芬兰，西面有爱沙尼亚、拉脱维亚、立陶宛、波兰、白俄罗斯，西南面是乌克兰，南面有格鲁吉亚、阿塞拜疆、哈萨克斯坦，东南面有中国、蒙古和朝鲜。东面与日本和美国隔海相望。海岸线长33807公里。 【气候】大部分地区处于北温带，气候多样，以大陆性气候为主。温差普遍较大，１月平均温度为－1℃到－37℃，７月平均温度为１1℃到27℃。年降水量平均为150-1000毫米。 【首都】 莫斯科 【常住人口】 1000万，连同外来人口约为1200万（2002年10月）。 【平均气温】 １月－5.2℃，７月21.4℃。 地理 东欧平原的地理和气候，民族和部族。从波罗的海到君士坦丁堡的商路。斯拉夫人的三个分支与东斯拉夫人的社会生活：多部族杂居与多神教信仰。俄罗斯民族的形成和东正教。俄语的若干特点。 历史分期 俄国历史上的几个时代。留里克王朝（862-1598年）；大动乱时期（1598-1613年）；罗曼诺夫王朝（1613-1917年）；苏维埃时期（1917-1991年）；新俄罗斯（1991年以后）。按照统治中心的变迁划分： 基辅罗斯时期（862-1240年） 俄罗斯国家形成于9世纪末。862年，留里克统治诺夫格罗德。882年，留里克的亲属、诺夫格罗德公国的奥列格大公征服基辅公国和其他一些部落，逐步以基辅为中心建立起一个国家（史称基辅罗斯），取得基辅大公称号。伊戈尔（912-945年）；奥丽加（伊戈尔之妻945-962年）；斯维亚托斯拉夫（965-972年）；弗拉基米尔（978-1015年在位）。从专制统治（862-1132年）到采邑统治贵族时期。13世纪初，基辅罗斯衰落，封建制度与诸侯分立。 蒙古人（鞑靼人）统治时期（1240——1480年） 1237年，金帐汗国入侵罗斯，攻占梁赞，1240年攻占基辅。诸侯割据与莫斯科公国的崛起。莫斯科大公伊凡·卡利达（1325-1340年）取得弗拉基米尔及全罗斯大公称号，史称“伊凡一世”。伊凡二世（1341-1359年在位）。1380年，德米特里大公（1359-1389年在位）率军在顿河平原击败蒙古军，被尊称为德米特里·顿斯科伊（亦即“顿河的德米特里”）。莫斯科的王公还有：瓦西里一世（1389-1425年）、瓦西里二世（1425-1462年在位），伊凡三世（1462-1505年在位）。 莫斯科时期/沙皇俄国〔1480-1703年〕 伊凡三世（1462-1505年在位）的历史作用：1472年，娶东罗马末代皇帝君士坦丁十一世的侄女索非亚·巴列奥略格为妻，以双头鹰为国徽，开始自称沙皇。开始恢复君主制。于1478年吞并诺夫戈罗德共和国。1480年迎战蒙古军队，蒙古军因严寒不战而退，从此结束了长达二百四十年的异族统治，形成以莫斯科为中心的独立的俄罗斯国家。开始逐步建立农奴制度。 瓦西里三世（1505-1533年在位）。 伊凡四世（1533-1584年在位），1547年正式加冕为沙皇，俄国历史上有名的暴君，绰号“伊凡雷帝”（Иван Грозный）。确立农奴制度。1547年，莫斯科大公伊凡四世在克里姆林宫戴上了罗马皇帝使用过的王冠，成为俄国的第一个沙皇，在俄语中“沙皇”的意思就是“恺撒”。 费多尔·伊凡诺维奇（1584-1598年在位），伊凡四世之子。 鲍里斯·戈都诺夫（1598-1605年在位） 伪季米特里（1604-1613年在位）“大动乱时期”，波兰、瑞典的入侵。 1613年1月，全俄缙绅会议选举米哈伊尔·费多罗维奇·罗曼诺夫为沙皇（1613-1645年在位）。罗曼诺夫王朝建立。征服西伯利亚，并使农奴制度在法律上得以确立。 阿历克塞（1645-1676年在位），费多尔（1676-1682年在位）。费多尔死后，他的两个儿子伊凡和彼得同时登基为帝。伊凡（1682-1696年在位）体弱多病，彼得年幼，实际权力掌握在长公主安娜手里。彼得成年后，放逐了安娜，夺取了政权，并把首都迁到彼得堡，由此开始了俄国历史的新时代。 彼得堡时期/俄罗斯帝国（1703-1917年）沙皇俄国晋升为俄罗斯帝国 彼得一世（彼得大帝1682-1725年在位）的改革与战争：通向西欧之路。对内励精图治，加强中央集权制，对外发展与西欧的关系，加强俄国的实力，从而使古老的俄国逐渐摆脱了中世纪封闭落后的状态。1713年，彼得一世做出了一个对俄罗斯历史产生深远影响的决定，他放弃了有着八百多年历史的俄罗斯古老都城——莫斯科，在从瑞典手中夺来的涅瓦河口，重新建立了一个崭新的首都——圣彼得堡。 1721年获得皇帝称号。1725年1月28日，彼得一世去世了。 女皇叶卡捷琳娜一世（1725-1727年） 皇帝彼得二世（1727-1730年） 女皇安娜（1730-1740年） 女皇叶莉莎维塔（1741-1761年） 皇帝彼得三世（1761-1762年被杀） 皇帝伊凡（1762-1764年被杀） 女皇叶卡捷琳娜二世（1762-1796年）的开明专制。 1762年，一位33岁的女皇登上了沙皇的宝座，史称叶卡捷琳娜二世。她在杀害丈夫彼得三世和竞争者伊凡之后，为争取贵族的支持，解放贵族，免除贵族的兵役，但强化农奴制度。引起普加乔夫起义（1773-1776年）。 保罗一世（1796-1801年被杀） 亚历山大一世（1801-1825年）的自由主义的细微改革。与拿破仑的战争（1812年）。十二月党人起义。俄国向何处去？ 尼古拉一世（1825-1855年在位），“黑暗王国”；克里米亚战争（1853-1856年）。斯拉夫派与西欧派的形成，思想论战。 亚历山大二世（1855-1881年在位），农奴制的废除（1861年俄历2月19日改革），革命民主主义的诞生和民粹派运动。 亚历山大三世（1881-1895年在位）的暴政；无产阶级登上历史舞台。 尼古拉二世（1895-1917年在位）民粹派与无产阶级革命派的论战。 苏维埃时期（1917-1991年） 社会主义制度的建立、发展、衰落和联盟的解体。1917年11月7日，震动世界的十月革命爆发。以此为起点，这个占世界陆地面积近五分之一的国家，开始了一次对20世纪的历史产生深刻影响的伟大实践。 列宁（1917-1924年）；斯大林（1924-1953年）；赫鲁晓夫（1953-1964年）；勃列日涅夫（1964-1982年）；安德罗波夫（1982-1984年）；契尔年柯（1984-1985年）；戈尔巴乔夫（1985-1991年）。苏联解体后的俄罗斯社会改革：叶利钦（1990-1999年）普京（2000年以后） 东正教 （православие,Eastern Orthodoxy） 东正教信仰的确立 基辅大公弗拉基米尔（978-1015年在位）娶拜占庭马皇族公主安娜为妃，988年接受东正教，史称“罗斯受洗”。 1037年设立罗斯（基辅）都主教，1037-1448年，基辅主教均由君士坦丁堡“普世牧首”任命；1448年，自行召开主教会议，选举梁赞主教、俄罗斯人约纳担任都主教。1453年君士坦丁堡陷落，俄罗斯教会的权力逐步加强，莫斯科成为“第三罗马”。1589年俄罗斯成为宗主教区（牧首区），取得了与君士坦丁堡、安提阿、亚历山大、耶路撒冷平等的地位。 教权依附于皇权，教权和沙皇的世俗权力二位一体，形成“权力交响曲”，但合奏到彼得大帝为止。1650年建立修道院衙门，加强对宗教事务的控制。 莫斯科宗主教（牧首）尼康（1652——1667年在职）的宗教改革，企图加强教会权力，使它高于皇权。遭到传统派和沙皇权力的反对，导致教会分裂：正统派（尼康）和旧礼教派（分裂派）。1667年，宗教会议罢黜了尼康，确立了“沙皇权力高于牧首和一切主教”，但作为妥协，撤消了修道院衙门，承认教会有自主的经济行政、司法权。 1701年，恢复设立修道院衙门，教会财产国有化。 1721年，彼得“诏书”和《宗教章程》决定按新教原则设立宗教委员会（主教公会），以取代牧首制。宗教委员会成员由皇帝任命。 叶卡捷琳娜二世（1762——1796年）进一步强化了对教会的控制。同时，东正教会成为沙皇专制制度的支柱之一。 尼古拉一世（1825-1855年）时期，提出“正教、专制、民族精神”三位一体说。至1917年十月革命前，70％的国民信仰东正教。 苏维埃时期东正教的衰落与苏联解体后的正教复兴。1918年宣布“政教分离”。1923年废除牧首制。1943年恢复牧首制。 基督教（东正教）信仰使俄罗斯人充满了基督教精神理想的救世主义和极端主义。地狱与天堂之间没有炼狱。俄语中的христианин-крестьянин“基督徒—农民”。 俄罗斯东正教的特色 ①坚持一成不变的教义正统性。没有经过大的宗教改革。俄罗斯教会礼拜时使用教会斯拉夫语。1820年出版俄文版《新约》，1876年出版《圣经》俄文版全本。古代没有产生重要的宗教哲学家。 ②浓厚的苦修主义和神秘主义。“圣愚”问题。他们的圣徒不是宗教思想家，而是苦行僧和“圣愚”。俄国沙皇尼古拉二世和他的皇后在第一次世界大战期间，曾经把来自西伯利亚的农夫拉斯普京当作“先知”，把他奉为座上宾，事事听他指点，不久之后就步这位癫僧的后尘消逝于虚无，还随身携带着自己的宝座和整个俄罗斯帝国。 ③圣像崇拜。843年宗教会议确认圣像崇拜合法。1493年建造的莫斯科克里木林宫的圣母升天大教堂的圣像是东正教特色的圣像崇拜。 ④教权依附于王权。例如，1395年，君士坦丁堡宗主教给莫斯科大公瓦西里的信中说：“这个神圣的皇帝在教会中具有至高无上的地位，他和其他统治者及别的地区的管辖者不一样，因为是他从一开始就在所有人居住的地区建立和巩固了真正的宗教……对基督徒来说，拥有一个教会而不拥有一个皇帝是不可能的。教会和皇帝具有伟大的统一性，同在一个伟大的共同体之中；他们不可能被相互分割开来。 行政区划 俄罗斯共设89个联邦主体，即：21个共和国、1个自治州、6个边疆区、49个州、10个民族自治区（其中9个属于行政区划角度上的二级行政区）和2个联邦直辖市。2000年5月13日按地域联合成7个联邦区——中央区、北高加索区、伏尔加沿岸区、乌拉尔区、西伯利亚区、远东区。 下表中各行政区人口为1996年估计数字，各城市人口为1996年数字。 一级行政区，包括共和国、边疆区、州、自治州和自治专区、联邦直辖市，共８０个。 行政区名 面积（万km2） 人口（万人） 首府 首府人口 共和国（21个） ０１ 阿迪格共和国 ０.７６ ４５ 迈科普 １７.７ ０２ 巴什科尔托斯坦共和国 １４.３６ ４０８.９ 乌法 １０９.４ ０３ 布里亚特共和国 ３５.１３ １０５ 乌兰乌德 ３６.７ ０４ 阿尔泰共和国 ９.２６ ２０.１ 戈尔诺－阿尔泰斯克 ４.７９ ０５ 达吉斯坦共和国 ５.０３ ２０９.７ 马哈奇卡拉 ３４.４ ０６ 卡巴尔达－巴尔卡尔共和国 １.２５ ７８.４ 纳尔奇克 ２３.３ ０７ 卡尔梅克共和国 ７.６１ ３１.８ 埃利斯塔 ９.９９ ０８ 卡拉恰伊－切尔克斯共和国 １.４１ ４３.４ 切尔克斯克 １１.９ ０９ 卡累利阿共和国 １７.２４ ７８.４ 彼得罗扎沃茨克 ２８.３ １０ 科米共和国 ４１.５９ １１８.５ 瑟克特夫卡尔 ２２.９ １１ 马里埃尔共和国 ２.３２ ７６.６ 约什卡尔奥拉 ２７.９ １２ 莫尔多瓦共和国 ２.６２ ９５.５ 萨兰斯克 ３２ １３ 北奥塞梯－阿兰社会主义共和国 ０.８ ６６.１ 弗拉季高加索 ３１.２ １４ 萨哈（雅库特）共和国 ３１０.３２ １０３.６ 雅库茨克 １９.２ １５ 鞑靼斯坦共和国 ６.８ ３７６.４ 喀山 １０７.６ １６ 图瓦共和国 １７.０５ ３０.９ 克孜勒 ９.４６ １７ 乌德穆尔特共和国 ４.２１ １６３.６ 伊热夫斯克 ６５.４ １８ 哈卡斯共和国 ６.１９ ５８.４ 阿巴坎 １６.２ １９ 楚瓦什共和国 １.８３ １３６.３ 切博克萨雷 ４５.２ ２０ 车臣共和国 １.９３ １２３.５（１９８７年） 格罗兹尼 １８.３ ２１ 印古什共和国 纳兹兰 ７.１７ 边疆区（8个） ０１ 阿尔泰边疆区 １６.９１ ２６９.１ 巴尔瑙尔 ５９.０ ０２ 克拉斯诺达尔边疆区 ７.６ ４９８.４ 克拉斯诺达尔 ６４.７ ０３ 克拉斯诺亚尔斯克边疆区 ２３３.９７ ３１８.６ 克拉斯诺亚尔斯克 ８７.１ ０４ 滨海边疆区 １６.５９ ２２５.３ 符拉迪沃斯托克（海参崴） ６２.４ ０５ 斯塔夫罗波尔边疆区 ６.６５ ２６３.８ 斯塔夫罗波尔 ３４.３ ０６ 哈巴罗夫斯克边疆区 ７８.８６ １５６.０ 哈巴罗夫斯克（伯力） ６１.４ 州（49个） ０１ 阿穆尔州 ３６.３７ １０３.０ 布拉戈维申斯克（海兰泡） ２１.７ ０２ 阿尔汉格尔斯克州 ５８.７４ １５６.７６ 阿尔汉格尔斯克 ３８.１ ０３ 阿斯特拉罕州 ４.４１ １０２.２ 阿斯特拉罕 ４８.４ ０４ 别尔哥罗德州 ２.７１ １４６.７ 别尔哥罗德 ３２.４ ０５ 布良斯克州 ３.４９ １４７.５ 布良斯克 ４５.９ ０６ 弗拉基米尔州 ２.９ １６４.０ 弗拉基米尔 ３３.７ ０７ 伏尔加格勒州 １１.３９ ２７０.３ 伏尔加格勒 ９９.９ ０８ 沃洛格达州 １４.５７ １３４.５ 沃洛格达 ２９.７ ０９ 沃罗涅日州 ５.２４ ２５０.１ 沃罗涅日 ９０.４ １０ 下诺夫哥罗德州 ７.６９ ３７３.２ 下诺夫哥罗德 １３７.２ １１ 伊万诺沃州 ２.１８ １２６.３ 伊万诺沃 ４６.９ １２ 伊尔库茨克州 ７６.７９ ２９３.１ 伊尔库茨克 ５８.３ １３ 加里宁格勒州 １.５１ ９３.２ 加里宁格勒 ４２.１ １４ 特维尔州 ８.４１ １６４.４４ 特维尔 ４５.２ １５ 卡卢加州 ２.９９ １０９.５ 卡卢加 ３６.３ １６ 堪察加州 ４７.２３ ４５.０ 堪察加彼得罗巴甫洛夫斯克 ２０.８ １７ 克麦罗沃州 ９.５５ ３０５.８ 克麦罗沃 ４９.９ １８ 基洛夫州 １２.０８ １６３.６ 基洛夫 ４６.４ １９ 科斯特罗马州 ６.０１ ８０.０ 科斯特罗马 ２８.８ ２０ 萨马拉州 ５.３６ ３３０.９ 萨马拉 １１７.９ ２１ 库尔干州 ７.１ １１１.１ 库尔干 ３６.７ ２２ 库尔斯克州 ２.９８ １３４.３ 库尔斯克 ４３.８ ２３ 列宁格勒州 ８.５９ １６６.８ 圣彼得堡 ４７６.９ ２４ 利佩茨克州 ２.４１ １２５.０ 利佩茨克 ４７.３ ２５ 马加丹州 ４６.１４ ２６.４ 马加丹 １２.４ ２６ 莫斯科州 ４.７ ６５５.０３ 莫斯科 ８５７.２ ２７ 摩尔曼斯克州 １４.４９ １０６.６８ 摩尔曼斯克 ３９.８ ２８ 诺夫哥罗德州 ５.５３ ７５.１ 诺夫哥罗德 ２３.１ ２９ 新西伯利亚州 １７.８２ ２７４.５ 新西伯利亚 １３６.７ ３０ 鄂木斯克州 １３.９７ ２１７.８ 鄂木斯克 １１６.０ ３１ 奥伦堡州 １２.４ ２２２.４ 奥伦堡 ５３.０ ３２ 奥廖尔州 ２.４７ ９１.２ 奥廖尔 ３４.４ ３３ 奔萨州 ４.３２ １５６.２ 奔萨 ５３.０ ３４ 彼尔姆州 １６.０６ ３１５.６ 彼尔姆 １０２.９ ３５ 普斯科夫州 ５.５３ ８３.１ 普斯科夫 ２０.７ ３６ 罗斯托夫州 １０.０８ ４４０.９ 罗斯托夫 １０１.３ ３７ 梁赞州 ３.９６ １３２.７ 梁赞 ５３.３ ３８ 萨拉托夫州 １０.０２ ２７３.８ 萨拉托夫 ８８.９ ３９ 萨哈林州 ８.７１ ６４.８ 南萨哈林斯克 １７.８ ４０ 斯维尔德洛夫斯克州 １９.４８ ４６７.７ 叶卡捷林堡 １２７.６ ４１ 斯摩棱斯克州 ４.９８ １１６.８ 斯摩棱斯克 ３５.３ ４２ 坦波夫州 ３.４３ １３１.２ 坦波夫 ３１.７ ４３ 托木斯克州 ３１.６９ １０７.８ 托木斯克 ４７.３ ４４ 图拉州 ２.５７ １８０.９ 图拉 ５２.５ ４５ 秋明州 １４３.５２ ３１８.７ 秋明 ４９.５ ４６ 乌里扬诺夫斯克州 ３.７３ １４９.１ 辛比尔斯克 ７０.０ ４７ 车里雅宾斯克州 ８.７９ ３６８.３ 车里雅宾斯克 １０８.３ ４８ 赤塔州 ４３.１５ １３７.１ 赤塔 ３１.８ ４９ 雅罗斯拉夫尔州 ３.６４ １４５.０ 雅罗斯拉夫尔 ６２.３ 四 自治州和自治专区（２个） ０１ 犹太自治州 ３.６ ２０.８ 比罗比詹 ８.３２ ０２ 楚科奇自治专区 ７３.７７ ９.７ 阿纳德尔 １.３９ 五 联邦直辖市（２个） ０１ 莫斯科市 ０.０８７９ ８６７.６ ０２ 圣彼得堡市 ０.０６０６ ５００.０ 二级行政区中，包含９个民族自治区域，称为自治区。 序号 名称 隶属 面积（万km2） 人口（万人） 首府 首府人口 ０１ 阿加布里亚特自治区 赤塔州 １.９ ７.９ 阿金斯科耶 ０.９２ ０２ 科米－彼尔米亚克自治区 彼尔姆州 ３.２９ １６.１ 库德姆卡尔 ３.３８ ０３ 科里亚克自治区 堪察加州 ３０.１５ ３.３ 帕拉纳 ０.４２ ０４ 涅涅茨自治区 阿尔汉格尔斯克州 １７.６７ ４.７ 纳里扬马尔 １.９ ０５ 泰梅尔（多尔干－涅涅茨）自治区 克拉斯诺亚尔斯克边疆区 ８６.２１ ４.７ 杜金卡 ３.４ ０６ 埃文基自治区 克拉斯诺亚尔斯克边疆区 ７６.７６ ２.１ 图拉 ０.６１ ０７ 乌斯季奥尔登斯基布里亚特自治区 伊尔库茨克州 ２.２４ １４.２ 乌斯季奥尔登斯基 １.１９ ０８ 汉特－曼西自治区 秋明州 ５２.３１ １３４.５ 汉特－曼西斯克 ３.５６ ０９ 亚马尔－涅涅茨自治区 秋明州 ７５.０３ ４９.７ 萨列哈尔德 ３.０７ 注： １．第一表中各个行政区的面积人口数据均包括第二表中各个自治区的面积人口数据。 ２．第一表中，车臣共和国和印古什共和国原为一个共和国（车臣－印古什共和国），分置以后的数据不详，暂列数据为分置以前的数据。 ３．第一表中，莫斯科州和列宁格勒州的面积人口数据均不包括各自首府（莫斯科市和圣彼得堡市）的数据。 ４．莫斯科市和圣彼得堡市的人口数据，与莫斯科州和列宁格勒州首府处所列人口数据不一致。资料原文如此，未作变动，原文照登。 5.印古什共和国首府已经迁移，旧都纳兹兰，新都英文为magas，俄文为Магас。 At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is by far the largest country in the world, covering more than an eighth of the Earth’s land area; with 142 million people, it is the ninth largest by population. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning 11 time zones and incorporating a great range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest mineral and energy resources, and is considered an energy superpower. It has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's unfrozen fresh water. The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs. The Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by Vikings and their descendants, the first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century and adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated and the lands were divided into many small feudal Russian states. The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was Moscow, which served as the main force in the Russian reunification process and independence struggle against the Golden Horde. Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities and came to dominate the cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus'. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation and exploration to become the huge Russian Empire, stretching from Poland eastward to the Pacific Ocean. Russia established worldwide power and influence from the times of the Russian Empire to being the largest and leading constituent of the Soviet Union, the world's first and largest constitutionally socialist state and a recognized superpower. The nation can boast a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts and sciences. The Russian Federation was founded following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, but is recognized as the continuing legal personality of the Soviet Union. Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the G8. It is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the super-continent of Eurasia. Because of its size, Russia displays both monotony and diversity. As with its topography, its climates, vegetation, and soils span vast distances. From north to south the East European Plain is clad sequentially in tundra, coniferous forest (taiga), mixed and broad-leaf forests, grassland (steppe), and semi-desert (fringing the Caspian Sea) as the changes in vegetation reflect the changes in climate. Siberia supports a similar sequence but is taiga. The country contains 23 World Heritage Sites and 40 UNESCO Biosphere reserves. Topography The two widest separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60 km long (40-mi long) spit of land separating the Gulf of Gdańsk from the Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the Kuril Islands, a few miles off Hokkaidō Island, Japan. The points which are furthest separated in longitude are 6,600 km (4,100 mi) apart along a geodesic. These points are: in the West, the same spit; in the East, the Big Diomede Island (Ostrov Ratmanova). The Russian Federation spans 11 time zones. Central Russian Upland, Zaraysk Saranpaul, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Sochi, Krasnodar KraiRussia has the world's largest forest reserves and is known as "the lungs of Europe," second only to the Amazon Rainforest in the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs. It provides a huge amount of oxygen for not just Europe, but the world. With access to three of the world's oceans—the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific—Russian fishing fleets are a major contributor to the world's fish supply. The Caspian is the source of what is considered the finest caviar in the world. The plains of Western Siberia, Vasyugan RiverMost of Russia consists of vast stretches of plains that 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 5,642 m / 18,511 ft) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka. The Ural Mountains form a north-south range that divides Europe and Asia, rich in mineral resources. Russia possesses 10% of the world's arable land. Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 kilometers (23,000 mi) along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas. The Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan are linked to Russia. Major islands and archipelagos include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The Diomede Islands (one controlled by Russia, the other by the United States) are just three kilometers (1.9 mi) apart, and Kunashir Island is about twenty kilometers (12 mi) from Hokkaidō. Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water, providing it with one of the world's largest surface water resources. The most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake Baikal, the world's deepest, purest and most capacious freshwater lake. Lake Baikal alone contains over one fifth of the world's fresh surface water. Of its 100,000 rivers, The Volga is the most famous—not only because it is the longest river in Europe but also because of its major role in Russian history. Major lakes include Lake Baikal, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. Russia has a wide natural resource base unmatched by any other country, including major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, timber and mineral resources. Climate The climate of the Russian Federation formed under the influence of several determining factors. The enormous size of the country and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of the continental climate, which is prevalent in European and Asian Russia except for the tundra and the extreme southeast. Mountains in the south obstructing the flow of warm air masses from the Indian Ocean and the plain of the west and north makes the country open to Arctic and Atlantic influences. Throughout much of the territory there are only two distinct seasons — winter and summer; spring and autumn are usually brief periods of change between extremely low temperatures and extremely high. The coldest month is January (on the shores of the sea—February), the warmest usually is July. Great ranges of temperature are typical. In winter, temperatures get colder both from south to north and from west to east. Summers can be quite hot and humid, even in Siberia. A small part of Black Sea coast around Sochi is considered in Russia to have subtropical climate. The continental interiors are the driest areas. History Early periods Kurgan hypothesis: South Russia as the urheimat of Indo-European peoplesIn prehistoric times, the vast steppes of Southern Russia were home to disunited tribes of nomadic pastoralists. In classical antiquity, the Pontic Steppe was known as Scythia. Remnants of these steppe civilizations were discovered in the course of the 20th century in such places as Ipatovo, Sintashta, Arkaim, and Pazyryk. In the latter part of the eighth century BC, Greek traders brought classical civilization to the trade emporiums in Tanais and Phanagoria. Between the third and sixth centuries BC, the Bosporan Kingdom, a Hellenistic polity which succeeded the Greek colonies, was overwhelmed by successive waves of nomadic invasions, led by warlike tribes, such as the Huns and Turkic Avars. A Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the lower Volga basin steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas until the 8th century. An approximate map of the cultures in European Russia at the arrival of the VarangiansThe ancestors of modern Russians are the Slavic tribes, whose original home is thought by some scholars to have been the wooded areas of the Pinsk Marshes. Moving into the lands vacated by the migrating Germanic tribes, the Early East Slavs gradually settled Western Russia in two waves: one moving from Kiev toward present-day Suzdal and Murom and another from Polotsk toward Novgorod and Rostov. From the 7th century onwards, the East Slavs constituted the bulk of the population in Western Russia and slowly but peacefully assimilated the native Finno-Ugric tribes, including the Merya, the Muromians, and the Meshchera. Kievan Rus Kievan Rus' in the 11th centuryScandinavian Norsemen, called "Vikings" in Western Europe and "Varangians" in the East, combined piracy and trade in their roamings over much of Northern Europe. In the mid-9th century, they ventured along the waterways extending from the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas. According to the earliest Russian chronicle, a Varangian named Rurik was elected ruler (konung or knyaz) of Novgorod around the year 860; his successors moved south and extended their authority to Kiev, which had been previously dominated by the Khazars. In the 10th to 11th centuries this state of Kievan Rus' became the largest and most prosperous in Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as the Kipchaks and the Pechenegs, caused a massive migration of Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, particularly to the area known as Zalesye. Like many other parts of Eurasia, these territories were overrun by the Mongols. The invaders, later known as Tatars, formed the state of the Golden Horde, which pillaged the Russian principalities and ruled the southern and central expanses of Russia for over three centuries. Mongol rule retarded the country's economic and social development. However, the Novgorod Republic together with Pskov 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. Led by Alexander Nevsky, Novgorodians repelled the Germanic crusaders who attempted to colonize the region. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state because of in-fighting between members of the princely family that ruled it collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east, Novgorod in the north-west, and Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west. Conquest by the Golden Horde in the 13th century was the final blow and resulted in the destruction of Kiev in 1240. Galicia-Volhynia was eventually absorbed into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while the Mongol-dominated Vladimir-Suzdal and the independent Novgorod Republic, two regions on the periphery of Kiev, established the basis for the modern Russian nation. Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia The growth of Russia, 1300—1796 A scene from medieval Russian historyThe most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was Grand Duchy of Moscow. It would annex rivals such as Tver and Novgorod, and eventually become the basis of the modern Russian state. After the downfall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire. While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their connivance, the Duchy of Moscow (or "Muscovy") began to assert its influence in Western Russia in the early 14th century. Assisted by the Russian Orthodox Church and Saint Sergius of Radonezh's spiritual revival, Russia inflicted a defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). Ivan III (Ivan the Great) eventually tossed off the control of the invaders, consolidated surrounding areas under Moscow's dominion and first took the title "grand duke of all the Russias". In 1547, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) was officially crowned the first Tsar of Russia. During his long reign, Ivan IV annexed the Tatar khanates (Kazan, Astrakhan) along the Volga River and transformed Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. Ivan IV promulgated a new code of laws (Sudebnik of 1550), established the first Russian feudal representative body (Zemsky Sobor) and introduced local self-management into the rural regions. But Ivan IV's rule was also marked by the long and unsuccessful Livonian War against the coalition of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden for the access to the Baltic coast and sea trade. The military losses, epidemics and poor harvests weakened the state, and the Crimean Tatars were able to burn down Moscow. The death of Ivan's sons, combined with famine (1601–1603), led to the civil war and foreign intervention of the Time of Troubles in the early 1600s. By the mid-17th century there were Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia, on the Chukchi Peninsula, along the Amur River, and on the Pacific coast. The Bering Strait between North America and Asia was first sighted by a Russian explorer in 1648. Imperial Russia Peter the Great officially proclaimed the existence of the Russian Empire in 1721Under the Romanov dynasty and Peter I (Peter the Great), the Russian Empire was officially founded. Ruling from 1682 to 1725, Peter defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War, forcing it to cede West Karelia and Ingria (two regions lost by Russia in the Time of Troubles), Estland, and Livland, securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade. It was in Ingria that Peter founded a new capital, Saint Petersburg. Peter's reforms brought considerable Western European cultural influences to Russia. Catherine II (Catherine the Great), who ruled from 1762 to 1796, continued the efforts at establishing Russia as one of the Great Powers of Europe. In alliance with Prussia and Austria, Russia stood against Napoleon's France and eliminated its rival Poland-Lithuania in a series of partitions, gaining large areas of territory in the west. As a result of its victories in the Russo-Turkish War, by the early 19th century Russia had made significant territorial gains in Transcaucasia. Napoleon's invasion failed miserably as obstinate Russian resistance combined with the bitterly cold Russian winter dealt him a disastrous defeat, from which more than 95% of his invading force perished. The officers of the Napoleonic Wars brought back to Russia the ideas of liberalism and even attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive Decembrist revolt of 1825, which was followed by several decades of political repression. Napoleon's retreat from Moscow The Russian Empire in 1866 and its spheres of influenceThe prevalence of serfdom and the conservative policies of Nicolas I impeded the development of Russia in the mid-nineteenth century. Nicholas's successor Alexander II (1855–1881) enacted significant reforms, including the abolition of serfdom in 1861; these "Great Reforms" spurred industrialization. However, many socio-economic conflicts were aggravated during Alexander III’s reign and under his son, Nicholas II. Harsh conditions in factories created mass support for the revolutionary socialist movement. In January, 1905 striking workers peaceably demonstrated for reforms in Saint Petersburg but were fired upon by troops, killing and wounding hundreds. The abject failure of the Tsar's military forces in the initially-popular Russo-Japanese War, and the event, known as "Bloody Sunday", ignited the Russian Revolution of 1905. Although the uprising was swiftly put down by the army and he retained much of his power, Nicholas II was forced to concede major reforms including granting the freedoms of speech and assembly, legalization of political parties and the creation of an elected legislative assembly, the Duma, however basic improvements in the lives of industrial workers were unfulfilled. Russia entered World War I in the aid of its ally Serbia and fought a war across three fronts while isolated from its allies. Russia did not want war but felt that only alternative was German domination of Europe. Although the army was far from defeated in 1916, the already existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war, casualties (Russia suffered the highest amount of both military and civilian deaths of the Entente Powers), and tales of corruption and even treason in high places, leading to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917. A series of uprisings were organized by workers and peasants throughout the country, as well as by soldiers in the Russian army, who were mainly of peasant origin. Many of the uprisings were organized and led by democratically elected councils called Soviets. The February Revolution overthrew the Russian monarchy, which was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared itself the Provisional Government. The abdication marked the end of imperial rule in Russia, and Nicholas and his family were imprisoned and later executed during the Civil War. While initially receiving the support of the Soviets, the Provisional Government proved unable to resolve many problems which had led to the February Revolution. The second revolution, the October Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government and created the world’s first Communist state. Soviet Russia Vladimir LeninFollowing the October Revolution, a civil war broke out between the new regime and the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and the White movement. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk concluded hostilities with the Central Powers in World War I. Russia lost the Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland by signing the treaty. The Allied powers launched a military intervention in support of anti-Communist forces and both the Bolsheviks and White movement carried out campaigns of deportations and executions against each other, known respectively as the Red Terror and White Terror. At the end of the Civil War, the economy and infrastructure were devastated. Following victory in the Civil War, the Russian SFSR together with three other Soviet republics formed the Soviet Union on December 30, 1922. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic dominated the Soviet Union for its entire 74-year history; the USSR was often referred to as "Russia" and its people as "Russians." The largest of the republics, Russia contributed over half the population of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks introduced free universal health care, education and social-security benefits, as well as the right to work and housing. Women's rights were greatly increased through new laws aimed to wipe away centuries-old inequalities. Notably, Russia became the first country in the world with full freedom of divorce and legalized abortion. After Lenin's death in 1924 Joseph Stalin consolidated power and became dictator. Stalin launched a command economy, rapid industrialization of the largely rural country and collectivization of its agriculture and the Soviet Union transformed from an agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in a short span of time. Stalingrad, 1942. The majority of the fighting in World War II took place on the Eastern Front. Nazi Germany suffered 80% to 93% of all casualties thereOn June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union with the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history, opening the largest theater of the Second World War. Although the German army had considerable success early on, they suffered defeats after reaching the outskirts of Moscow and were dealt their first major defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943. Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe in 1944–45 and captured Berlin in May, 1945. In the conflict, Soviet military and civilian death toll were 10.6 million and 15.9 million respectively, accounting for half of all World War II casualties. The Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation but the Soviet Union emerged as an acknowledged superpower. The Red Army occupied Eastern Europe after the war, including the eastern half of Germany; Stalin installed communist governments in these satellite states. Becoming the world's second nuclear weapons power, the USSR established the Warsaw Pact alliance and entered into a struggle for global dominance with the United States, which became known as the Cold War. First human in space, Yuri GagarinUnder Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 and the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit the Earth aboard the first manned spacecraft, Vostok 1. Tensions with the United States heightened when the two rivals clashed over the deployment of the U.S. Jupiter missiles in Turkey and Soviet missiles in Cuba. Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the pre-eminent figure in Soviet politics. Brezhnev's rule oversaw economic stagnation and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which dragged on without success and with continuing casualties inflicted by insurgents. Soviet citizens became increasingly discontented with the war, ultimately leading to the withdrawal of Soviet forces by 1989. From 1985 onwards, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize the country. The USSR economy was the second largest in the world prior to the Soviet collapse. During its last years, the economy was afflicted by shortages of goods in grocery stores, huge budget deficits and explosive growth in money supply leading to inflation. In August 1991, an unsuccessful military coup against Gorbachev aimed at preserving the Soviet Union instead led to its collapse. In Russia, Boris Yeltsin came to power and declared the end of Communist rule. The USSR splintered into fifteen independent republics and was officially dissolved in December 1991. Boris Yeltsin was elected the President of Russia in June 1991, in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. Russian Federation During and after the disintegration of the USSR when wide ranging reforms including privatisation and market and trade liberalization were being undertaken, the Russian economy went through a major crisis. This period was characterized by deep contraction of output, with GDP declining by roughly 50 percent between 1990 and the end of 1995 and industrial output declining by over 50 percent. In October 1991, Yeltsin announced that Russia would proceed with radical, market-oriented reform along the lines of "shock therapy", as recommended by the United States and International Monetary Fund. Price controls were abolished, privatization was started. Millions were plunged into poverty. According to the World Bank, whereas 1.5% of the population was living in poverty in the late Soviet era, by mid-1993 between 39% and 49% of the population was living in poverty. Delays in wage payment became a chronic problem with millions being paid months, even years late. Russia took up the 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. The privatization process largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to groups of individuals with inside connections in the Government and the mafia. Violent criminal groups often took over state enterprises, clearing the way through assassinations or extortion. Corruption of government officials became an everyday rule of life. Many of the newly rich mobsters and businesspeople took billions in cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous capital flight. The long and wrenching depression was coupled with social decay. Social services collapsed and the birth rate plummeted while the death rate skyrocketed. The early and mid-1990s was marked by extreme lawlessness. Criminal gangs and organized crime flourished and murders and other violent crime spiraled out of control. Moscow-City under construction. Moscow is the world's most expensive city to live in.In 1993 a constitutional crisis resulted in the worst civil strife in Moscow since the October Revolution. President Boris Yeltsin illegally dissolved the country's legislature which opposed his moves to consolidate power and push forward with unpopular neo-liberal reforms; in response, legislators barricaded themselves inside the White House, impeached Yeltsin and elected a new President and major protests against Yeltsin's government resulted in hundreds killed. With military support, Yeltsin sent the army to besiege the parliament building and disperse its defenders and used tanks and artillery to eject the legislators. The 1990s were plagued by armed ethnic conflicts in the North Caucasus. Such conflicts took a form of separatist Islamist insurrections against federal power (most notably in Chechnya), or of ethnic/clan conflicts between local groups (e.g., in North Ossetia-Alania between Ossetians and Ingushs, or between different clans in Chechnya). Since the Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between disparate Chechen rebel groups and the Russian military. Terrorist attacks against civilians carried out by Chechen separatists, most notably the Russian apartment bombings, Moscow theater hostage crisis and Beslan school siege, caused hundreds of deaths and drew worldwide attention. High budget deficits and the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis caused the financial crisis of 1998 and resulted in further GDP decline. On December 31, 1999 Boris Yeltsin resigned from the presidency, handing the post to the recently appointed prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who then won the 2000 election. Putin won popularity for suppressing the Chechen insurgency, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus. High oil prices and initially weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years, alleviating the standard of living and increasing Russia's clout on the world stage. While many reforms made under Putin’s rule have been generally criticized by Western nations as un-democratic, Putin's leadership over the return of order, stability and progress has won him widespread popularity in Russia, as well as recognition abroad. Government and politics The State Duma buildingAccording to the Constitution, which was adopted by national referendum on December 12, 1993 following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Russia is a federation and a semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Russian Federation is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Federal Assembly. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which serves as the country's supreme legal document and as a social contract for the people of the Russian Federation. Interior courtyard of the Kremlin Senate, part of the Moscow Kremlin and the working residence of the Russian presidentThe federal government is composed of three branches: Legislative: The bicameral Federal Assembly, made up of the State Duma and the Federation Council makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government. Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies. Judiciary: The Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Arbitration and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional. According to the Constitution of Russia, constitutional justice in the court is based on the equality of all citizens, judges are independent and subject only to the law, trials are to be open and the accused is guaranteed a defense. Since 1996, Russia has instituted a moratorium on the death penalty in Russia, although capital punishment has not been abolished by law. The president is elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term but constitutionally barred for a third consecutive term); election last held 2 March 2008. Ministries of the government are composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the president. The national legislature is the Federal Assembly, which consists of two chambers; the 450-member State Duma and the 176-member Federation Council. Leading political parties in Russia include United Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and Fair Russia. Subdivisions Federal subjects The Russian Federation comprises 83 federal subjects. These subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council. However, they differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy. 46 oblasts (provinces): most common type of federal subjects, with federally appointed governor and locally elected legislature. 21 republics: nominally autonomous; each has its own constitution, president, and parliament. Republics are allowed to establish their own official language alongside Russian but are represented by the federal government in international affairs. Republics are meant to be home to specific ethnic minorities. Nine krais (territories): essentially the same as oblasts. The "territory" designation is historic, originally given to frontier regions and later also to administrative divisions that comprised autonomous okrugs or autonomous oblasts. Four autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts): originally autonomous entities within oblasts and krais created for ethnic minorities, their status was elevated to that of federal subjects in the 1990s. With the exception of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, all autonomous okrugs are still administratively subordinated to a krai or an oblast of which they are a part. One autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast): originally autonomous oblasts were administrative units subordinated to krais. In 1990, all of them except the Jewish AO were elevated in status to that of a republic. Two federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg): major cities that function as separate regions. Federal districts and economic regions Federal subjects are grouped into seven federal districts, each administered by an envoy appointed by the President of Russia. Unlike the federal subjects, the federal districts are not a subnational level of government, but are a level of administration of the federal government. Federal districts' envoys serve as liaisons between the federal subjects and the federal government and are primarily responsible for overseeing the compliance of the federal subjects with the federal laws. Foreign relations and military President Dmitry MedvedevThe Russian Federation is recognized in international law as continuing the legal personality of the former Soviet Union. Russia continues to implement the international commitments of the USSR, and has assumed the USSR's permanent seat on the UN Security Council, membership in other international organizations, the rights and obligations under international treaties and property and debts. Russia has a multifaceted foreign policy. It maintains diplomatic relations with 178 countries and has 140 embassies. Russia's foreign policy is determined by the President and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia plays a major role in maintaining international peace and security, and plays a major role in resolving international conflicts by participating in the Quartet on the Middle East, the Six-party talks with North Korea, promoting the resolution of the Kosovo conflict and resolving nuclear proliferation issues. Russia is a member of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, the Council of Europe, OSCE and APEC. Russia usually takes a leading role in regional organizations such as the CIS, EurAsEC, CSTO, and the SCO. President Vladimir Putin has advocated a strategic partnership with close integration in various dimensions including establishment of four common spaces between Russia and the EU. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has developed a friendlier, albeit volatile relationship with NATO. The NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002 to allow the 26 Allies and Russia to work together as equal partners to pursue opportunities for joint collaboration. Russian paratroopers at an exercise in KazakhstanRussia assumed control of Soviet assets abroad and most of the Soviet Union's production facilities and defense industries are located in the country. The Russian military is divided into the Ground Forces, Navy, and Air Force. There are also three independent arms of service: Strategic Rocket Forces, Military Space Forces, and the Airborne Troops. In 2006, the military had 1.037 million personnel on active duty. Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. It has the second largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines and is the only country apart from the U.S. with a modern strategic bomber force. The country has a large and fully indigenous arms industry, producing all of its own military equipment. Russia is the world's top supplier of weapons, a spot it has held since 2001, accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales and exporting weapons to about 80 countries. Following the Soviet practice, it is mandatory for all male citizens aged 18–27 to be drafted for two years' Armed Forces service, though various problems associated with this is why the armed forces are from 2008 reducing the conscription term from 18 months to 12, and plan to increase contract servicemen to compose 70% of the armed forces by 2010. Defense expenditure has quadrupled over the past six years. Official government military spending for 2008 is $40 billion, though various sources, including US intelligence, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, have estimated Russia’s military expenditures to be considerably higher. Currently, the military is undergoing a major equipment upgrade with about $200 billion (what equals to about $400 billion in PPP dollars) on procurement of military equipment between 2006 and 2015. Economy Sukhoi Superjet, an example of the resurging civil aviation industrySince the turn of the century, rising oil prices, increased foreign investment, higher domestic consumption and greater political stability have bolstered economic growth in Russia. The country ended 2007 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. In 2007, Russia's GDP was $2.076 trillion (est. PPP), the 7th largest in the world, with GDP growing 8.1% from the previous year. Growth was primarily driven by non-traded services and goods for the domestic market, as opposed to oil or mineral extraction and exports. The average salary in Russia was $640 per month in early 2008, up from $80 in 2000. Approximately 14% of Russians lived below the national poverty line in 2007, significantly down from 40% in 1998 at the worst of the post-Soviet collapse. Unemployment in Russia was at 6% in 2007, down from about 12.4% in 1999. A Rosneft petrol station. Russia is the world's leading natural gas exporter and the second leading oil exporter. Soyuz TMA-2 moves to launch pad, about to carry the first resident crew to the International Space StationRussia has the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves and the eighth largest oil reserves. It is the world's leading natural gas exporter and the second leading oil exporter. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of Russian exports abroad. Since 2003, however, exports of natural resources started decreasing in economic importance as the internal market strengthened considerably. Despite higher energy prices, oil and gas only contribute to 5.7% of Russia's GDP and the government predicts this will drop to 3.7% by 2011. Russia is also considered well ahead of most other resource-rich countries in its economic development, with a long tradition of education, science, and industry. The country has more higher education graduates than any other country in Europe. In the first half of 2007, foreign investment in the Russian economy doubled year-on-year, reaching $60.3 billion. In 2000 total investment in fixed assets was $40 billion, giving growth of 300% by 2006 when it reached $120 billion. A simpler, more streamlined tax code adopted in 2001 reduced the tax burden on people, and dramatically increased state revenue. Russia has a flat personal income tax rate of 13 percent. This ranks it as the country with the second most attractive personal tax system for single managers in the world after the United Arab Emirates, according to a 2007 survey by investment services firm Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The federal budget has run surpluses since 2001 and ended 2007 with a surplus of 6% of GDP. Over the past several years, Russia has used oil revenues from its Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation to prepay all Soviet-era sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and the IMF. Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $470 billion at the end of 2007, the third largest reserves in the world. The country has also been able to substantially reduce its formerly massive foreign debt. The economic development of the country though has been uneven geographically with the Moscow region contributing a disproportionately high amount of the country's GDP. Much of Russia, especially indigenous and rural communities in Siberia, lags significantly behind. Nevertheless, the middle class has grown from just 8 million persons in 2000 to 55 million persons in 2006. Russia is home to the second largest number of billionaires in the world after the United States, gaining 50 billionaires in 2007 for a total of 110. Over the last five years, fixed capital investments have averaged real gains greater than 10% per year and personal incomes have achieved real gains more than 12% per year. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand. Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis. A principal factor in Russia's growth has been the combination of strong growth in productivity, real wages, and consumption. Despite the country's strong economic performance since 1999, however, the World Bank lists several challenges facing the Russian economy including diversifying the economy, encouraging the growth of small and medium enterprises, building human capital and improving corporate governance. Inflation grew to about 12% by the end of 2007, up from 9% in 2006. The upward trend continued in the first quarter of 2008, driven largely by rising food costs. Demographics Ethnic composition (2002) Russians 79.8% Tatars 3.8% Ukrainians 2.0% Chuvash 1.1% Chechen 0.9% Armenians 0.8% Other/unspecified 10.3% Population 1992–2008. Number of inhabitants in millionsAccording to preliminary estimates, the resident population of the Russian Federation on 1 January 2008 was 142 million people. In 2007, the population shrank by 237,800 people, or by 0.17% (in 2006 - by 532,600 people, or by 0.37%). Migration grew by 50.2% in 2007 to reach 274,000. The vast majority of migrants came from CIS states and were Russians or Russian-speaking. The Russian Federation is a diverse, multi-ethnic society, home to as many as 160 different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples. Though Russia's population is comparatively large, its population density is low because of the country's enormous size. Population is densest in European Russia, near the Ural Mountains, and in the southwest Siberia. 73% of the population lives in urban areas. As of the 2002 Census, the two largest cities in Russia are Moscow (10,126,424 inhabitants) and Saint Petersburg (4,661,219). Eleven other cities have between one and two million inhabitants: Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Ufa, Volgograd, and Yekaterinburg. In 2006, 186,380 migrants arrived to the Russian Federation of which 95% came from CIS countries. There are also an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants from the ex-Soviet states in Russia. Russia's population peaked in 1991 at 148,689,000. The number of deaths during 2007 was 477,700 greater than the number of births. This is down from 687,100 in 2006. According to data published by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, the mortality rate in Russia declined 4% in 2007, as compared to 2006, reaching some 2 million deaths, while the birth rate grew 8.3% year-on-year to an estimated 1.6 million live births. The primary causes of Russia's population decrease are a high death rate and low birth rate. While Russia's birth-rate is comparable to that of other European countries (11.3 births per 1000 people in 2007 compared to the European Union average of 10.00 per 1000) its population declines at much greater rate due to a substantially higher death rate (In 2007, Russia's death rate was 14.7 per 1000 people compared to the European Union average of 10.00 per 1000). However, the Russian health ministry predicts that by 2011, the death rate will equal the birth rate due to increases in fertility and decline in mortality. Rank Core City Federal Subject Pop. Rank Core City Federal Subject Pop. view • talk • edit Moscow Saint Petersburg 1 Moscow Moscow 10,126,424 11 Ufa Bashkortostan 1,042,437 2 Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg 4,661,219 12 Volgograd Volgograd 1,011,417 3 Novosibirsk Novosibirsk 1,425,508 13 Perm Perm 1,001,653 4 Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod 1,311,252 14 Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk 909,341 5 Yekaterinburg Sverdlovsk 1,293,537 15 Saratov Saratov 873,055 6 Samara Samara 1,157,880 16 Voronezh Voronezh 848,752 7 Omsk Omsk 1,134,016 17 Tolyatti Samara 702,879 8 Kazan Tatarstan 1,105,289 18 Krasnodar Krasnodar 646,175 9 Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk 1,077,174 19 Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk 635,947 10 Rostov-on-Don Rostov 1,068,267 20 Izhevsk Udmurtia 632,140 2002 Census Education Moscow State UniversityRussia has a free education system guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution, and has a literacy rate of 99.4%. The country came first in the world in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study conducted by Boston College. Entry to higher education is highly competitive. As a result of great emphasis on science and technology in education, Russian medical, mathematical, scientific, and space and aviation research is still generally of a high order. The Russian Constitution grants a universal right to higher education free of charge and through competitive entry. The Government allocates funding to pay the tuition fees within an established quota, or number of students for each state institution. This is considered crucial because it provides access to higher education to all skilled students, as opposed to only those who can afford it. In addition, students are provided with a small stipend and free housing. However, the institutions have to be funded entirely from the federal and regional budgets; institutions have found themselves unable to provide adequate teachers' salaries, students' stipends, and to maintain their facilities. To address the issue, many state institutions started to open commercial positions, which have been growing steadily since. Many private higher education institutions have emerged to address the need for a skilled work-force for high-tech and emerging industries and economic sectors. Health Russia's constitution guarantees free, universal health care for all citizens. While Russia has more physicians, hospitals, and health care workers than almost any other country in the world, since the collapse of the Soviet Union the health of the Russian population has declined considerably as a result of social, economic, and lifestyle changes. As of 2007, the average life expectancy in Russia is 61.5 years for males and 73.9 years for females. The average Russian life expectancy of 67.7 years at birth is 10.8 years shorter than the overall figure in the European Union. The biggest factor contributing to this relatively low life expectancy for males is a high mortality rate among working-age males from preventable causes (e.g., alcohol poisoning, stress, smoking, traffic accidents, violent crimes). Mortality among Russian men rose by 60% since 1991, four to five times higher than in Europe. As a result of the large difference in life expectancy between men and women and because of the lasting effect of World War II, where Russia lost more men than any other nation in the world, the gender imbalance remains to this day and there are 0.859 males to every female. Heart diseases account for 56.7% of total deaths, with about 30% involving people still of working age. About 16 million Russians suffer from cardiovascular diseases, placing Russia second in the world, after Ukraine, in this respect. Death rates from homicide, suicide and cancer are also especially high. According to a 2007 survey by Romir Monitoring, 52% of men and 15% of women smoke. More than 260,000 lives are lost each year as a result of tobacco use. HIV/AIDS, virtually non-existent in the Soviet era, rapidly spread following the collapse, mainly through the explosive growth of intravenous drug use. According to official statistics, there are currently more than 364,000 people in Russia registered with HIV, but independent experts place the number significantly higher. In increasing efforts to combat the disease, the government increased spending on HIV control measures 20-fold in 2006, and the 2007 budget doubled that of 2006. Since the Soviet collapse, there has also been a dramatic rise in both cases of and deaths from tuberculosis, with the disease being particularly widespread amongst prison inmates. In an effort to stem Russia’s demographic crisis, the government is implementing a number of programs designed to increase the birth rate and attract more migrants to alleviate the problem. The government has doubled monthly child support payments and offered a one-time payment of 250,000 Rubles (around US$10,000) to women who had a second child since 2007. In 2007, Russia saw the highest birth rate since the collapse of the USSR. The First Deputy PM also said about 20 billion rubles (about US$1 billion) will be invested in new prenatal centres in Russia in 2008–2009. Immigration is increasingly seen as necessary to sustain the country's population. Language Russia's 160 ethnic groups speak some 100 languages. According to the 2002 census, 142.6 million people speak Russian, followed by Tatar with 5.3 million and German with 2.9 million speakers. Russian is the only official state language, but the Constitution gives the individual republics the right to make their native language co-official next to Russian. Despite its wide dispersal, the Russian language is homogeneous throughout Russia. Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken Slavic language. Russian belongs to the Indo-European language family and is one of three (or, according to some authorities, four) living members of the East Slavic languages; the others being Belarusian and Ukrainian (and possibly Rusyn). Written examples of Old East Slavic (Old Russian) are attested from the 10th century onwards. Over a quarter of the world's scientific literature is published in Russian. Russian is also applied as a means of coding and storage of universal knowledge—60–70% of all world information is published in English and Russian languages. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Religion Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, demolished during the Soviet period, was reconstructed from 1990–2000Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism are Russia’s traditional religions, deemed part of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997. Estimates of believers widely fluctuate among sources, and some reports put the number of non-believers in Russia as high as 16–48% of the population. Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in Russia. 95% of the registered Orthodox parishes belong to the Russian Orthodox Church while there are a number of smaller Orthodox Churches. However, the vast majority of Orthodox believers do not attend church on a regular basis. Nonetheless, the church is widely respected by both believers and nonbelievers, who see it as a symbol of Russian heritage and culture. Smaller Christian denominations such as Roman Catholics, Armenian Gregorian and various Protestants exist. The ancestors of many of today’s Russians adopted Orthodox Christianity in the 10th century. The 2007 International Religious Freedom Report published by the US Department of State said that approximately 100 million citizens consider themselves Russian Orthodox Christians. According to a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 63% of respondents considered themselves Russian Orthodox, 6% of respondents considered themselves Muslim and less than 1% considered themselves either Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant or Jewish. Another 12% said they believe in God, but did not practice any religion, and 16% said they are non-believers. It is estimated that Russia is home to some 15–20 million Muslims. However, surveys say that there are only 7 to 9 million people who adhere to the Islamic faith in Russia. Russia also has an estimated 3 million to 4 million Muslim migrants from the ex-Soviet states. Most Muslims live in the Volga-Ural region, as well as in the North Caucasus, Moscow, Saint Petersburg and western Siberia. Buddhism is traditional for three regions of the Russian Federation: Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia. Some residents of the Siberian and Far Eastern regions, Yakutia, Chukotka, etc., practice pantheistic and pagan rites, along with the major religions. Induction into religion takes place primarily along ethnic lines. Slavs are overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian. Turkic speakers are predominantly Muslim, although several Turkic groups in Russia are not. Culture Classical music and ballet Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), composerRussia's large number of ethnic groups have distinctive traditions of folk music. Music in 19th century Russia was defined by the tension between classical composer Mikhail Glinka and his followers, who embraced Russian national identity and added religious and folk elements to their compositions, and the Russian Musical Society led by composers Anton and Nikolay Rubinstein, which was musically conservative. The later Romantic tradition of Tchaikovsky, one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era whose music has come to be known and loved for its distinctly Russian character as well as its rich harmonies and stirring melodies, was brought into the 20th century by Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the last great champions of the Romantic style of European classical music. World-renowned composers of the 20th century included Scriabin, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. During most of the Soviet Era, music was highly scrutinized and kept within a conservative, accessible idiom in conformity with the Stalinist policy of socialist realism. Russian conservatories have turned out generations of world-renowned soloists. Among the best known are violinists David Oistrakh and Gidon Kremer, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, pianists Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, and vocalist Galina Vishnevskaya. The Bolshoi Theatre. Currently, it is undergoing a four-year, $730 million restorationRussian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the world's most famous works of ballet—Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty. During the early 20th century, Russian dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky rose to fame, and impresario Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes' travels abroad profoundly influenced the development of dance worldwide. Soviet ballet preserved the perfected 19th century traditions, and the Soviet Union's choreography schools produced one internationally famous star after another, including Maya Plisetskaya, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Kirov in Saint Petersburg remain famous throughout the world. Literature Russian literature is considered to be among the most influential and developed in the world, contributing much of the world's most famous literary works. Russia's literary history dates back to the 10th century and by the early 19th century a native tradition had emerged, producing some of the greatest writers of all time. This period began with Alexander Pushkin, considered to be the founder of modern Russian literature and often described as the "Russian Shakespeare". Amongst Russia's most renowned poets and writers of the 19th century are Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Lermontov, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Ivan Goncharov, Mikhail Saltykov, Aleksey Pisemsky, and Nikolai Leskov made lasting contributions to Russian prose. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in particular were titanic figures to the point that many literary critics have described one or the other as the greatest novelist ever. Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), writerBy the 1880s Russian literature had begun to change. The age of the great novelists was over and short fiction and poetry became the dominant genres of Russian literature for the next several decades which became known as the "Silver Age". Previously dominated by realism, symbolism dominated Russian literature in the years between 1893 and 1914. Leading writers of this age include Valery Bryusov, Andrei Bely, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Aleksandr Blok, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Fyodor Sologub, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam, Leonid Andreyev, Ivan Bunin and Maxim Gorky. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing civil war, Russian cultural life in was left in chaos. Some established writers left Russia while a new generation of talented writers who had at least some sympathy for the ideals of the revolution was emerging. The most ardent of these joined together in writers organizations with the aim of creating a new and distinctive proletarian (working-class) culture appropriate to the new state. Throughout the 1920s writers enjoyed broad tolerance. In the 1930s censorship over literature was tightened in line with Joseph Stalin's policy of socialist realism. After his death several thaws took place and restrictions on literature were eased. By the 1970s and 1980s, writers were increasingly ignoring the guidelines of socialist realism. The leading writers of the Soviet era included Yevgeny Zamiatin, Isaac Babel, Ilf and Petrov, Yury Olesha, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Bulgakov, Boris Pasternak, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Mikhail Sholokhov, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Andrey Voznesensky. Motion pictures The world's oldest film school, the Russian State Institute of CinematographyWhile in the industrialized nations of the West, motion pictures had first been accepted as a form of cheap recreation and leisure for the working class, Russian filmmaking came to prominence following the 1917 revolution when it explored editing as the primary mode of cinematic expression. Russian and later Soviet cinema was a hotbed of invention in the period immediately following the 1917 revolution, resulting in world-renowned films such as Battleship Potemkin. Soviet-era filmmakers, most notably Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky, would become some of the world's most innovative and influential directors. Eisenstein also was a student of filmmaker and theorist Lev Kuleshov, who formulated the groundbreaking editing process called montage at the world's first film school, the All-Union Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. Dziga Vertov, whose kino-glaz (“film-eye”) theory—that the camera, like the human eye, is best used to explore real life—had a huge impact on the development of documentary film making and cinema realism. In 1932, Stalin made socialist realism the state policy; this stifled creativity but many Soviet films in this style were artistically successful, including Chapaev, The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier. Leonid Gaidai's comedies of the 1960s and 1970s were immensely popular, with many of the catch phrases still in use today. In 1969, Vladimir Motyl's White Sun of the Desert was released, starting a genre known as 'osterns'. The film is watched by cosmonauts before any trip into space. The 1980s and 1990s were a period of crisis in Russian cinema. Although Russian filmmakers became free to express themselves, state subsidies were drastically reduced, resulting in fewer films produced. The early years of the 21st century have brought increased viewership and subsequent prosperity to the industry on the back of the economy's rapid development, and production levels are already higher than in Britain and Germany. Russia's total box-office revenue in 2007 was $565 million, up 37% from the previous year (by comparison, in 1996 revenues stood at $6 million). Russian cinema continues to receive international recognition. Russian Ark (2002) was the first feature film ever to be shot in a single take. Visual arts Early Russian painting focused on icon painting and vibrant fresco's inherited by Russians from Byzantium. As Moscow rose to power, Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev are vital names associated with the beginning of a distinctly Russian art. The Russian Academy of Arts was created in 1757, aimed to give Russian artists an international role and status. Notable portrait painters from the Academy include Ivan Argunov, Fyodor Rokotov, Dmitry Levitzky and Vladimir Borovikovsky. Realism flourished in the 19th century and the realists captured Russian identity. Russian landscapes of wide rivers, forests, and birch clearings, as well as vigorous genre scenes and robust portraits of their contemporaries asserted a sense of identity. Other artists focused on social criticism, showing the conditions of the poor and caricaturing authority while critical realism flourished under the reign of Alexander II. Rus': The Soul of the People by Mikhail Nesterov, symbolic of Russia's historical spiritual questAfter the abolition of serfdom in 1861 some artists made the circle of human suffering their focus. Artists sometimes created wide canvasses to depict dramatic moments in Russian history. The Peredvizhniki (wanderers) group of artists broke with Russian Academy and initiated a school of art liberated from Academic restrictions. Their paintings had deep social and political meaning. Leading realists include Ivan Shishkin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ivan Kramskoi, Vasily Polenov, Isaac Levitan, Vasily Surikov, Viktor Vasnetsov, and Ilya Repin. By the 1830s the Academy was sending painters overseas to learn. The most gifted of these were Aleksander Ivanov and Karl Briullov, both of whom were noted for the Romantic historical canvasses. Uniquely Russian styles of painting emerged by the late 19th century that was intimately engaged with the daily life of Russian society. The Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modernist art that flourished in Russia from approximately 1890 to 1930. The term covers many separate, but inextricably related, art movements that occurred at the time; namely neo-primitivism, suprematism, constructivism, rayonism and futurism. Notable artists from this era include El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko, and Marc Chagall amongst others. The Russian avant-garde reached its creative and popular height in the period between the Russian Revolution of 1917 and 1932, at which point the ideas of the avant-garde clashed with the newly emerged conservative Stalinist direction of socialist realism. The Motherland CallsBy the late 1920s the rigid policy of socialist realism enveloped the visual arts as it did literature and motion pictures and soon the avant-garde had faded from sight. Some artists combined innovation with socialist realism including Ernst Neizvestny, Ilya Kabakov, Mikhail Shemyakin, Erik Bulatov and Vera Mukhina. They employed techniques as varied as primitivism, hyperrealism, grotesque, and abstraction, but they shared a common distaste for the canons of socialist realism. Soviet artists produced works that were furiously patriotic and anti-fascist in the 1940s. Events and battles from the Great Patriotic War were depicted with stirring patriotism and after the war sculptors made many monuments to the war dead, the greatest of which have a great restrained solemnity. In the 20th century many Russian artists made their careers in Western Europe, due in part to the traumas of the Revolution. Russian artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, and Naum Gabo spread their work and ideas internationally. These Russian artists studied internationally in Paris and Munich and their involuntary exile spread the impact of Russian art globally. Sports The Ice Palace in Moscow was a venue for the 2007 Men's World Ice Hockey ChampionshipsRussians have been successful at a number of sports and continuously finishing in the top rankings at the Olympic Games. During the Soviet era, the national team placed first in the total number of medals won at 14 of its 18 appearances; with these performances, the USSR was the dominant Olympic power of its era. Since the 1952 Olympic Games, Soviet and later Russian athletes have always been in the top three for the number of gold medals collected at the Summer Olympics. The 1980 Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow while the 2014 Winter Olympics will be hosted by Sochi. Soviet gymnasts, track-and-field athletes, weight lifters, wrestlers, cross country skiers, and boxers were consistently among the best in the world. Even since the collapse of the Soviet empire, Russian athletes have continued to dominate international competition in these areas. As in most of the world, Association football enjoys wide popularity in Russia. Although ice hockey was only introduced during the Soviet era, the national team soon dominated the sport internationally, winning gold at almost all the Olympics and World Championships they contested, most recently in the 2008 World Championship. Figure skating is another popular sport; in the 1960s, the Soviet Union rose to become a dominant power in figure skating, especially in pair skating and ice dancing. At every Winter Olympics from 1964 until the present day, a Soviet or Russian pair has won gold, often considered the longest winning streak in modern sports history. Since the end of the Soviet era, tennis has grown in popularity and Russia has produced a number of famous tennis players. Chess is a widely popular pastime; from 1927, Soviet and Russian chess grandmasters have held the world championship almost continuously. |
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