Russia(fomer+USSR)


 * Russia (Former USSR) ** [[image:https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/rs-lgflag.gif width="360" height="239" align="right" caption="This is Flag of Russia.The design of the Russian flag is based on the flag of the Netherlands."]]

** Background: ** Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities.In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics.



60 00 N, 100 00 E ** ** Neighbouring nations ** Azerbaijan,Belarus,China (southeast),China (south),Estonia,Finland,Georgia,Kazakhstan,North Korea, Latvia,Lithuania(Kaliningrad Oblast),Mongolia,Norway,Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast),Ukraine ** Population ** 140,041,247 (July 2009 est.) Literacy Rate ** definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99.4% male: 99.7% female: 99.2% (2002 census) Russian, many minority languages **Type of government** federation Russia is a centrally planned economy undergoing transformation to a free market economy.
 * Offcial Lauguage**
 * Type of economic systerm**

The culture of Russia covers the varied nationalities of modern Russian state. The politics of the Soviet Union with respect to culture was controversial: on one side there was a politically-motivated desire to create a "Soviet people", which was expressed in the notion of Soviet culture, exemplified by Socialist Realism. From the other side there were periodical campaigns of preservation of national cultures: every ethnicity had "great national writers" and folk cultural practices were officially supported.
 * Races/cultures of people**

Russian Orthodox 15-20% Muslim 10-15% other Christian 2% (2006 est.) estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule.
 * Religions**

-wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber. -formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources.
 * Natural resources**

Exports - commodities: petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures Imports - commodities: vehicles, machinery and equipment, plastics, medicines, iron and steel, consumer goods, meat, fruits and nuts, semifinished metal products
 * Main exports/main imports**

Exports - partners: Netherlands 12.2%, Italy 7.8%, Germany 7.5%, Turkey 5.2%, Belarus 5%, Ukraine 4.7%, China 4.5% (2007) Imports - partners: Germany 13.3%, China 12.2%, Ukraine 6.7%, Japan 6.4%, US 4.8%, Belarus 4.4%, South Korea 4.4%, Italy 4.3% (2007)
 * Major trading partners**

__**A TIMELINE OF RUSSIA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY**__ 1904-05 Russia fights Japan and loses 1914 The Russian army is badly defeated at Tannenberg 1916 Rasputin is assassinated 1917 In March the Tsar abdicates and Kerensky becomes prime minister. In November the Communists lead a revolution. 1918-1921 Civil War in Russia between Reds and Whites 1924 Lenin dies 1928 Stalin becomes dictator 1929 Trotsky is banished from Russia. 1932 Famine strikes the Ukraine (mostly due to Stalin) 1934 Stalin begins a series of purges in which millions of innocent people die 1937-38 Stalin purges the Red Army 1939 Stalin signs a non-aggression pact with Hitler. Russia invades Poland from the east. Russia also invades Finland. 1940 Russia annexes Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia 1941 Germany invades Russia 1943 Russia wins the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk 1945 The Russians capture Berlin 1953 Stalin dies 1956 Nikita Khrushchev becomes leader. He denounces Stalin. 1957 Russia launches the first satellite 1961 Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space 1964 Khrushchev is deposed and replaced by Brezhnev 1970s Consumer goods become common 1929 Trotsky is banished from Russia. 1980s The Russian economy stagnates 1986 There is an explosion at a nuclear power plant at Chernobyl 1987 Gorbachov relaxes censorship 1991 Hardline Communists attempt a coup but fail. Communism ends and the Soviet Union breaks up. 2000 The Russian economy begins to recover

-LEADERSHIP__** - Dmitri Anatolyevich Medvedev is leading the Russia at present.(elected May, 2, 2008).Bolshevisks seized power of the Russia Empire in 1917; They were able to do this as a result of taking advantage of the current political and social situations in the country at the time.
 * __THE NATION AT PRESENT

-The Russia's allies are Belarus, Iran, China, India, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Laos, Chad, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica and Bolivia. - For a quite long time, Russia had been considered a giant standing in the world in terms of its political and economical influence. From Peter the Great, to Putin, the Polar Bear kept playing an important role in the dynamic world. Having been through a long period of Socialism, it was seen as an enemy against the whole Capitalism world. Having been through the Great War and been the Hero of the world, it presented its overwhelming military power. Having been through the “Shock Therapy”, and through the transformation and falling-apart, it suffered and changed its own history. Having been taking several military actions against its neighbors, it gave the world a danger sign. Beening through all these ups and downs, peaks and valleys, Russia is never be the leader of the mainstream world, yet it won’t be looked down upon by anyone.  **__Winter Palace:__** The leading role in this unique architectural ensemble is played by the Winter Palace, the residence of the Russian tsars that was built to the design of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754-62.This ensemble, formed in the 18th and 19th centuries, is extended by the eastern wing of the General Staff building, the Menshikov Palace and the recently constructed Repository. Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. The assault of the Winter Palace by Bolshevik forces was the official milestone of the October Revolution.
 * __FOREIGN RELATIONS__**
 * __ VISUALS __**

The first Russian nesting doll (matryoshka) was born in 1890 in the workshop "Children's Education" situated in Abramtsevo estate new Moscow.The owner of Abramtsevo was Sava Mamontov - industrialist and a patron of the arts.The end of the 19 century in Russia was a time of great economic and cultural development. Mamontov was one of the first who patronized artist who were possessed by the idea of the creation of a new Russian style. Many famous Russian artists worked along with folk craftsmen in workshops Mamontov. Russian wooden dolls within smaller dolls were called matryoshka. In old Russian among peasants the name Matryona or Matriosha was a very popular female name. Scholars says this name has a Latin root "mater" and means "Mother". This name was associated with the image of of a mother of a big peasant family who was very healthy and had a portly figure.

LENIN was a Russian revolutionary, Bolshevik leader, communist politician, principal leader of the October Revolution and the first head of the Soviet Union. , In 1998, he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. On 7 December 1895, Lenin was arrested, detained by authorities for 14 months, in cell 193 of the St Petersburg Remand Prison. V.I. Lenin was held in solitary confinement for those 14 months after his arrest in December 1895.In February 1897 V.I.Lenin was exiled from St. Petersburg to village Shushenskoye in the Minusinsk district of the Yenisei Gubernia (Province) in Eastern Siberia. Lenin was active in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; РСДРП in Russian) and, in 1903, led the Bolshevik faction after a split with the Mensheviks.