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Theeconomy of Russia is one of the largest in the world. It ranks11th in the world for highestnominal GDP. This is mainly because of the large amount ofnatural resources found in Russia. However, much of the land is either infertile or covered bypermafrost. Theruble is the officialcurrency of Russia.
TheEastern Orthodox Church is the largestreligion in Russia. Russia has the mostfollowers of Eastern Orthodoxy out of any other country. About 75% of Russians are followers of Eastern Orthodoxy.[17]
Russia's history began when theEast Slavs settled Western Russia between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD.[51] TheVarangians and theirdescendants made the first East Slavicstate ofKievan Rus' in the 9th century. They adoptedChristianity from theByzantine Empire in 988.[52] This form of Christianity influenced Russian culture greatly.[52] Kievan Rus' eventually broke up and the lands were divided into many smallfeudal states. The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was theGrand Duchy of Moscow.[53] This area served as the main force in later Russian unification and the fight against theGolden Horde from Asia. Moscow slowly gained control of the regions around it and took over the cultural and political life of Kievan Rus'.[54]
Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1689 until 1725.[56] Peter moved the capital fromMoscow to a new city namedSaint Petersburg. He made Russian society more modern in many ways. For example, his inspectors shaved off the beards ofpassers-by.[57] The government began building ships for the Russian navy.[56]
TheRusso-Japanese War started in 1904 and ended in 1905 with Japan winning the war.[58] The Russian defeat was one of the reasons for laterrevolutions.
From 1924 to 1953,Joseph Stalin ruled as the absolute dictator ofSoviet Union.[61] He destroyed anything and anyone that was against his rule. For example, he took the property of farmers and shopkeepers.[62] Many millions of people starved and died infamines because of this.[63] Stalin also removed, or "purged", all military members who were not loyal to him. Many people were killed or sent to prison camps, orgulags, for many years.[64] Many prisoners died in gulags.[64]
Soviet Russia andNazi Germany agreed not to attack each other in 1939.[65] In June 1941, Germany broke the agreement and attacked inOperation Barbarossa.[66] The attack was part ofWorld War II.[66] 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 worldsuperpower.[67]
In 1961,Yuri Gagarin flew intospace.[68] He was the first man who was in space.[68] Since this period USSR was considered to be a space power. It was during thespace race between USSR and USA.[69]
From 1922 to 1991, Russia was the largest part of theSoviet Union, or theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). People sometimes used the name "Russia" for the whole Soviet Union, or sometimes "Soviet Russia".[70] Russia was only one of 15Soviet Socialist Republics.[71] The republic was in fact named the "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic" (RSFSR).
The Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.[72] Russia took over the place of the USSR in theUnited Nations (UN).
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 exampleprivatization andfree trade laws.[73] Radical changes (shock therapy) were recommended by the United States andInternational Monetary Fund.[74] A major economic crisis followed. There was 50% decline inGDP and industrial output between 1990 and 1995.[73][75]
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.[76] 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.[77] The 1990s had extreme corruption and lawlessness, and the rise of criminal gangs and violent crime.[78]
The 1990s had many armed conflicts in theNorth Caucasus. There were both local ethnic battles andseparatistIslamist insurrections. Because theChechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, a Chechen War was fought between the rebel groups and the Russian military.Terrorist attacks againstcivilians caused hundreds of deaths. The most notable of these were theMoscow theater hostage crisis andBeslan 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.[79] High budgetdeficits caused the1998 Russian financial crisis[80] and resulted in more GDP decline.[73]
On 31 December 1999, President Yeltsinresigned (quit being the president). The job of president was given to the recentlyappointed 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 weakcurrency followed by increasingdomestic demand,consumption andinvestments 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,[81] Putin's leadership led tostability and progress. This won him widespread popularity in Russia.[82]
On 2 March 2008,Dmitry Medvedev was electedPresident of Russia, whilst Putin becamePrime 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 thelargest country in the world. It covers more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's eighthmost populous nation with 140 million people as of 2022. Russia produces a lot of energy made fromoil andnatural gas.[84]
Russia extends from easternEurope across the whole ofnorthern Asia. Russia spans eleventime zones and has a wide range ofenvironments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources,[85] and is the largest producer ofoil andnatural gas in the world.[86][87] Russia has the world's largestforest reserves,[88][89] and itslakes contain about one-quarter of the world'sfresh water.[90]
Russia is a federal semi-presidential republic. It has a president and aparliament.[91] Russia has 85 federal subjects (territorial units). All subjects of thefederation 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 tosecede 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.[92] Richard Sakwa wrote that theRussian 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 lessautocratic (dictatorial) is debatable.[93]
The United Russia is the ruling party, which supports the government.[94] The other parties in the Duma (Russian parliament) do not criticize the government strongly, for fear of losing their places in theDuma. Manyopposition parties, for thePeople's Freedom Party and theOther Russia, have been unable to register due to the strict rules. In the 2000s, the government led a war inChechnya, and in the process,civil liberties and independent media were restricted. Corruption is widespread and human rights, especially in theNorth Caucasus, are frequently violated.[98] In 2008, Putin's government was in awar with Georgia in a dispute over a region with many ethnic Russians.
Russia's capital and biggest city isMoscow. The second biggest city isSaint Petersburg, which was the capital of Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Russia has apopulation of 142 million people. Most people (73.7%) live in cities. The population decreased by 5 million people after the fall of theSoviet 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.[99] Itspopulation 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 aroundMoscow andSaint Petersburg.Siberia has a very low density.
Russians have made many famous works ofliterature.[102]Alexander Pushkin is considered a founder of modern Russian literature. He was a poet from the 19th century.[103]
Soccer,ice hockey andbasketball are some of the most popular sports in Russia. Boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, andtennis 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 oneMaria Sharapova, who has won three Grand Slam titles, and was the world's highest paid female athlete in 2008.[108]
In 6 appearances, Russian athletes have won a total of 425 medals at thesummer Olympics and 121 at thewinter Olympics. However, more than 30% of these medals were taken from Russia and its teams.
Chess is the main intellectual sport in Russia.[113] In the 20th century, there were nine RussianWorld Chess Champions, more than all other nations combined.[114][115]
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.[116]
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↑"Russia Monthly Earnings (1992 - 2024) – CEIC Data".ceicdata.com. 2024-09-30. Retrieved2024-12-27. - Russia Monthly Earnings stood at 924 USD in Sep 2024, compared with the previous figure of 924 USD in Aug 2024.
↑Webster's II New College Dictionary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1999. p. 970.ISBN978-0395962145.
↑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.
↑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.ISBN978-5-7859-0085-1. Archived fromthe 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.
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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.
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↑Crimea wasannexed by Russia in 2014. However, it is stillinternationally seen as a part of Ukraine.[1] The Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts were alsoannexed (but only partly controlled) in 2022. They areinternationally seen as a part of Ukraine. The southernmostKuril Islands are claimed by both Japan and Russia after the Soviet occupation of the islands at the end of World War II.[2]
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Service, Robert.A History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-First Century (Harvard UP, 3rd ed., 2009)excerptArchived 2022-03-29 at theWayback Machine
Smorodinskaya, Tatiana, and Karen Evans-Romaine, eds.Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture (2014)excerptArchived 2022-03-30 at theWayback Machine; 800 pp covering art, literature, music, film, media, crime, politics, business, and economics.
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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. 7. Governed by theHoly See.
![Russia on the globe. Disputed lands are shown in light green.[a]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fsimple.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRussian_Federation_(orthographic_projection)_-_All_Territorial_Disputes.svg)
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