Actual guide to Russia: geography, population, economy, the state, Russian revolution, Russian history from ancient to newest

Basic information about Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world with the total area 17 075 400 square meters (over 6.5 million square miles), what is about 1,8 times more of the size of the USA. It's situated in the Eastern part of Europe and Northern part of Asia. The main part of European territory of Russia is situated within Eastern European Plain (Vostochno-Evropeyskaya Ravnina). The southern border is on the North Caucasus. The main part of Asian area of Russia is on Zapadno-Sibirskaya Ravnina and Sredne-Sibirskoye Ploskogor'ye. The territory of Russia spans through 11 times zones.

Russia borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and North Korea by land, and with Sweden, Turkey, Japan and the USA by sea.

Climate of Russia varies from steppes in the south and coastal on the north-west through humid continental in much of European Russia; sub arctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north and monsoon on the Far East. The average temperatures of January vary from 0 to -50°C, July - from 1 to 25°C. Many regions of Siberia and Far East are situated in the zone of permafrost. Thus, Russia is one of the coldest countries in the world. The town of Oimyakon in north-east Siberia is the coldest inhabited place on earth, with temperatures recorded at more than 70°C below zero. The inhabited areas are mostly in the continental climate zones with long freezing winters (5-6 months long) and short warm summers.

The largest rivers: Volga, Lena, Irtysh, Yenisey, Ob, Amur. The largest lakes: Caspean Sea, Aral'skoye More, Baykal, Ladozhskoye, Onezhskoye.

Russia has extremely wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, strategic minerals, timber, diamonds and gold. There are 85 nature reserves and 25 national parks.

Population

Total population is about 150 000 000 people, with 73% of urban population. Main population are Russians (81,5%), with more than 100 other nations (Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%, Bashkir 0.9%). The official language - Russian. Every autonomous republic use its own language as the second official language. Religions: Russian Orthodox, Muslim, Judaic and others. 1066 cities and towns, 2070 urban settlements (1994).

The state

The official name of the state: Russian Federation. It is a democratic federative republic. The country was formed as independent 24 August 1991 from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of Soviet Union. The current Constitution was adopted 12 December 1993 by the national referendum.

Russia is divided into 21 autonomous republics, 10 autonomous okrugs, 6 krays, 2 federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg), 1 autonomous oblast and 49 oblasts. The national capital is Moscow.

The chief of the state - President, elected by popular vote for a four-year term. Current president is Vladimir Putin (since March 2000).

The legislative brunch is bicameral Federal Assembly (Federal'noye Sobranie), which consist of State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma) and the Federation Council (Sovet Federatzii).

The executive brunch is run by the government. The head of the government is appointed by the president with approval of the State Duma.

Economy

Russia is potentially one of the wealthiest countries with its natural resources, a well-educated population, and a diverse industrial base. Nevertheless, its economical situation becomes more and more difficult since the beginning of Perestroyka, which announced moving from centrally planned economy to a market economy. The absence of clear economical doctrine and means led to destruction of internal economical structure and declining of the whole industries. In its turn, it led to significant raise of unemployment, with unofficial estimations about 9-10%. Russian health and educational systems, which used to be of the best during the Soviet times, were slowly deteriorating. Inflation, started in 1992, reached its peak in 1994, and made up 10 000% by the end of 1997. In 1998 the government implemented a 1000% denomination of national currency (Ruble), turned back prices from thousands rubles to rubles.

August 1998 brought a new serious crisis. The exchange rate of US Dollar flew up from 6 to 24 rubles in less then 6 weeks. Small businesses were almost devastated. Prices for consumer goods increased in 4-5 times with the salaries increased only on 20-30%. However, the crisis gave an impulse to developing of the national industries, which could not make a competition to foreign goods with the low dollar rate. Now, one year after the crisis, the results becomes visible with reviving the industrial enterprises, particularly in production of consumer goods and food processing.

The government experiences permanent difficulties with collection of taxes and fulfilling the national budget. Frequent changes of prime-ministers and government during the last 1,5 years left the country actually out of control. Role of organized crime significant, and much economic activity officially unaccounted for.

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

12 economical regions: Northern, Northern-Eastern, Central, Volgo-Vyatskiy, Central-Chernozemniy, Povolzhskiy, Northern-Caucasus, Ural, Western-Siberian, Eastern-Siberian, Far-Eastern and Kaliningrad region.

National income: industries - 44,5%, agriculture - 10%, building - 11,5%, communications, mining and others - 34%.

History

The history of Russia is a history of wars, migrations of nations, occupations, takeovers and revolutions, just like any other. Hereby is a guide to the milestone events of Russian history. To receive detailed information on the history of Russia, please follow the links below the table.

9th century	Formation of the Ancient Russian State
988	Russia accepts Christianity
12-14th centuries	Russia is divided to several small states (knyazhestva): Novgorod Republic, Vladimiro-Suzdalckoye, Galitzko-Volynskoye, Ryazanskoye and others.
13th century	Mongols invade: almost all the Russian states are occupied
1240	Sweden aggression: Nevskaya Bitva (Battle)
1242	German aggression: Ledovoe Poboische
1380	Kulikovskaya Bitva (Battle) - resulted in temporary banishment of Mongols, with their soon return
1480	Stoyanie no Ugre: Russian knyaz Ivan III refused to pay contribution to Mongols. Mongols and Russians troops were staying in front of each other for 2 month. Mongols turned back without having a battle. The end of Mongol invasion.
14-16th centuries	Formation of Russian Centralized State around Moscow, which include all the territories of Northern-Eastern and Northern-Western Russia.
End of 16th -middle of 17th century	Formation of Russian serfdom system
Beginning of 17th century	Russia successfully repulsed Polish-Lithuanian and Sweden intervention.
1650	Nicon's reform of Russian Orthodox church that caused so called "Raskol" - separation so called "Old Believers" from the official church, many of whom were prosecuted and sent to Siberia. According to some authors including Solzhenittzyn, it was one of the greatest reasons of the problems that Russia faced on later stages.
1654	Pereyaslavskaya Rada: Ukraine joined Russia on a voluntary basis
1670-71 1707-09 1773-75	Peasant revolts: Stenka Razin, Bashkirs revolt, Emel'yan Pugachev
1689-1725	Peter The Great (Peter I) was a tsar of Russia: Peter's reforms, foundation of St. Petersburg and reallocation of Russian capital, establishing Russian presence on Baltic sea through the war with Sweden (1700-1721).
1721	Peter the Great proclaimed Muscovy the Russian Empire and became the first Russian Imperator.
1812	Russia won a war with Napoleon: Napoleon's army occupied Moscow but then was driven out of Russia.
1861	Abolition of serfdom.
1898	Establishing the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party - the leading force of the Russian history of 20th century.
1904-1905	Russian-Japanese war resulted in crushing defeat for Russia.
1905-1907	The First Russian Revolution; election of the first Russian Parliament (Duma).
1914-1918	The First World War: ended for Russia in a shameful Brest Peaceful Agreement with Germany concluded by Bolsheviks (March 1918), who were subsidized by the German government. Russia lost Poland, Finland, Baltic lands, Ukraine, and other areas.
March 1917	The Russian Democratic Revolution: crash of the tsarist autocracy; Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and Provisional Government formed.
November 1917	The October Takeover (The Great October Socialistic Revolution, according to the Bolsheviks): Bolsheviks came to power; Lenin became a head of the state.
March 1918	Russian Social Democratic Labor Party becomes Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). Beginning of liquidation of the other politic parties and movements and establishing monopoly of the Communist Party.
1917-1922	Civil War: resulted in establishing communistic principles of production and distribution.
30.12.1922	Foundation of the Union of the Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR) organized by Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and Zakaucazie.
21.01.1924	Lenin died.
1925-1931	Stalin consequently removed all "old Bolsheviks" from Politburo, received unlimited power.
1929	Beginning of "collectivization": forcible unit of individual peasant farms to collective farms, which led to harsh decrease of agriculture production.
1932-33	Mass starvation (Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, Povolzh'e): million people died.
1934	Mass terror started causing intense fear among general populace, and peaks in 1937 and 1938 before subsiding in latter year.
August 1939	Nazi-Soviet No Aggression Pact signed included secret protocol, according to which Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia were incorporated in Soviet Union.
30 November 1939 - 12 March 1940	Soviet troops envade Finland; Soviet Union expelled from League of Nations.
June 1940	Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia seized from Romania and subsequently incorporated into Ukrainian Republic and newly created Moldavian Republic.
August 1940	Soviet Union annexes Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
22 June 1941	Nazi Germany broke agreement with Soviet Union and attacked it (Operation Barbarossa); Soviet Union entered to World War II. German troops occupied significant territory of the Soviet Union up to Moscow and Rostov, took Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in blockade ring.
Winter 1942	Soviet Union began to fight back
11 June 1942	Soviet-American anti-Hitler coalition signed.
July 1942- February 1943	Battle of Stalingrad: German army units surrender at Stalingrad; 91,000 prisoners taken.
Summer 1943	Germans defeated in tank battle at Kursk.
28 November- 1 December 1943	Teheran Conference: USA, Soviet Union and Great Britain signed an agreement of joint activities against Germany and after-war cooperation.
Winter 1943-44	Red Army released Ukraine and reached boundaries with Romania and Chehoslovakia. Siege of Leningrad ends after 870 days.
Summer-fall 1944	Red Army summer offensive operations. Romania and Hungary capitulated and entered to war against Germany.
4-11 February 1945	Crimea Conferencing: Stalin meets with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yalta. Decisions about after war reconciliation.
8 May 1945	Germany capitulated.
17 July- 2 August 1945	Potsdam Conference: decisions about reparations, demilitarization and denacification of Germany, Western borders of Poland.
9 August 1945	Soviet Union declared war on Japan; Soviet forces enter Manchuria and Korea.
2 September 1945	Japan capitulated. The end of World War II. Soviet Union lost in the war about 27 million of people, received vast territories of Kuril islands, Southern Sakhalin, Kenigsberg, Zakarpatie and others.
August 1949	Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb. Beginning of "Cold War" between Soviet Union and the West.
March 1953	Stalin died.
September 1953	Nikita Khrushchev chosen first secretary of the Communist Party; rehabilitation of Stalin's victims began.
1954	First nuclear power station developed in Soviet Union.
February 1956	20th Congress of the Communist Party: Khrushchev's "secret speech" exposed Stalin's crimes.
November 1956	Soviet forces crush Hungarian Revolution.
1957	World's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, launched by USSR.
22 April 1961	Cosmonaut Yuriy Gagarin launched in world's first manned orbital space flight.
October 1964	Khrushchev removed from power; Leonid I. Brezhnev becomes the first secretary of the Communist Party.
August 1968	Soviet-led Warsaw Pact armies invade Czechoslovakia.
December 1979	Soviet invade to Afghanistan
November 1982	Brezhnev died; Yuriy Andropov named general secretary.
February 1984	Andropov died; Konstantin Chernenko became general secretary.
March 1985	Chernenko died; Mikhail S. Gorbachev became general secretary.
Spring 1986	Gorbachev announced Glasnost.
26 April 1986	Nuclear power plant disaster at Chernobyl':large amounts of radiation spread over Russia, Ukraine, and Belorus.
January 1987	Perestroyka launched.
February 1989	Soviet combat forces complete withdrawal from Afghanistan.
12 June 1990	Declaration of Independence adopted by S'ezd of Peoples Deputies of Russia.
August 1991	Hard-line officials attempt to unseat Gorbachev government; coup fails after three days, elevating Yeltsin's prestige. Ukraine, Belorus, Moldavia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyz Republic declare independence. Armenia and Tajikistan follow in September, Turkmenistan in October, and Kazakhstan in December.
17.12.1991	President is appointed as an official head of Russian Federation.
December 1991	Boris Yeltsin becomes the first Russian president. Presidents of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia meet in Minsk and proclaim initial Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Michail Gorbachev announced that at year's end all central government structures would cease to exist (end of the USSR).
December 1993	The Constitution of the Russian Federation is adopted; election of the Federal Sobranie (Federal Council).
August 1994	Russian troops leave Germany, Estonia, and Latvia.
December 1994	Beginning of the war with Chechnya: Russian armored columns enter Grozniy.
June-July 1996	President elections: Yeltsin won in the second tour against a communist leader G. Zuganov (54% to 40%).
February 1997	Russian troops left Chechnya.
May 1997	An official end of the Chechnya war: Peace treaty signed by Russia and Chechnya (Chechnya-Ichkeria); Chechen independence issue remains unresolved.
March 1998	Prime-minister Chernomyrdin fired by president Yeltsin. The continuously changes in government started.
17 August 1998	"Black Monday": Prime-minister Sergey Kirienko announced default; Russia stopped all the payments on State Obligations; the Central Bank refused to keep "exchange corridor", and in 6 weeks ruble lost 3/4 of its value. Bank system frozen, people could not receive money from bank accounts. Kirienko was fired, a new prime minister Eugenie Primakov was appointed.

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