(ru)
(ru)
Russian Federation (en)
( Flag of Russia ) ( Arms of Russia )
National motto : None
Official language	Russian 1
Capital	Moscow 55 45 'N, 37 42' E
Largest city	Moscow
Form of State	Republic Federal
- President - Chairman Government	Dmitry Medvedev Vladimir Putin
Area - Total - Water (%)	Ranked 1 st 17,098,242 km 2 0.5%
Population - Total ( 2010 ) - Density	Ranked 9 th 141 927 297 ( 7th )
GDP (nominal) ( 2009 )	1229 billion ( 12th )
HDI ( 2009 )	0817 (high) ( 71st )
Currency	Ruble ( RUB )
Time Zone	UTC +2, +3, +5, +6, +7, +8, +9, +10, and +11
National anthem	National Anthem of Russia
Internet domain	. Ru . Su ( Soviet Union )
Indicative Telephone	+7
1 Many other languages also have official status in some subdivisions of Russia.

Russia, or more officially the Federation of Russia, Russian ^{pronunciation} and ^{pronunciation} , is the largest state of the planet. It had 142 million inhabitants in 2007 . Its capital is Moscow , the official language on Russia and its currency the ruble.

Geographically the country straddles the East Asian (74.7%) and the Europe (25.3% of its area). Its territory stretches from west to east, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok , over 9000 km for an area of 17 million square kilometers (twice that of the United States, 31 times that of France and 413 times that of Switzerland) and nine time zones . Although surrounded by many oceans and seas, Russia is characterized by a continental climate with cold and hostile environments on most of the territory. Russia is a federation consisting of 83 subjects with a political and economic autonomy variable. The cutting , taking into account inter alia the presence of minorities, already existed in former USSR.

After the end of the Soviet regime in the early 1990s , the country has gradually adopted not without difficulty a market economy and a multiparty parliamentary system. Today, Russia is emerging powers alongside China , of India and Brazil. She is currently the eighth world power in terms of GDP in nominal and seventh parity purchasing power. Russia has substantial mineral resources ( coal , iron , nickel , diamonds , etc..) and energy ( oil , natural gas , hydropower ), which makes it one of the leading producers and exporters worldwide. She inherited the Soviet Union a powerful heavy industry (steel, refineries, chemical industry, etc..). Sectors related to armaments, nuclear and aerospace are also highly developed, which allowed the USSR to play a pioneering role in the conquest of space.

Historically, Russia is characterized first by his autocratic rule and its czars of the fifteenth ^century until the early ^twentieth century. Its political stability has allowed the Russian Empire to become a major military power from the modern era and to conquer and then to the colonization of vast territories: the Pontic steppes , the Caucasus , the Siberia , etc.. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Russia became the Soviet Federal Socialist Republic of Russia (RSFSR), a member of the USSR. By the collectivization of its economy, Russia, late entry into the industrial age , is concentrated in the heavy industry. After the Second World War , it is one of the major winners, but also the biggest victim in terms of casualties, the USSR was marked by confrontation with the United States during the Cold War. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke into 15 independent states, including Russia, which inherited the former superpower three quarters of its territory, more than half of its population, two thirds of its industry and half of its agricultural production. Russia retains its place in international institutions, whose permanent seat on the Security Council of the UN , while assuming the financial liability of the USSR. She is also founder of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which brings together eleven of the fifteen former Soviet republics.

The ancient civilization of the steppe

Expansion of Gtaland (green and pink) by extending the culture Willenberg (red) to the culture Tcherniakov (orange) in the early fourth ^century.

The ^IV in the early ^second millennium BC the steppe world today which extends south of Russia, was still the domain of nomads, but was occupied by farming communities whose culture of Tripolje , a site near Kiev , provides the model.
From the ^ninth century BC. AD, the first wave of nomadic warriors took control of vast areas lying north of the Black Sea and are the Cimmerians of Herodotus , Gimirrais baptized by the Assyrian texts. Driven by the Scythians , they crossed the Caucasus to take part in the struggles between the Assyrian Armenian kingdom of Urartu . Unlike their predecessors, the Scythians settled firmly in the domain that they should remain until the ^second century AD, when they disappear from history, swept by the Sarmatians and Alans.
Their domination will collapse under the blows of the Goths , which establish the axis of the Dnieper a kingdom extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea (see the peak of the reign of Ermanaric ), then abruptly interrupted by the Huns , arisen from the steppes of the East, followed by newcomers the Avars and pushed westward by the Khazars came from the northern Caucasus.

The empire of the Khazars v. 650-850.

Unlike previous invaders, the Khazars developed a brilliant civilization , and when the Eastern Slavs are preparing to form their first state building, they have on their eastern border a strong state, which s' extends to the left bank of the Dnieper to the height of Kiev. At the same time, language and Iranian culture have settled in southern Russia and the future of this contribution is an important element in shaping the identity of the first companies Slavic.

The birth of the Slavic world

The Slavs are now the first European language group, with 283 million speakers. They are divided into three main branches:

• Western Slavs: Czechs, Poles, Slovaks;
• Eastern Slavs: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians;
• Southern Slavs: Bulgarians, Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, Montenegrins, Croats, Macedonians and Slovenes.

Slavs occupy central and eastern Europe a huge territory but, if their intervention in history has been and remains very important, their distant past is still very poorly known, especially in Western Europe. The Slavs occupied in ancient times very remote borders of the Greco-Roman and ancient sources are almost nonexistent, it is necessary to investigate their origins, use the contributions of linguistics and archeology.
All Slavic languages have kept them close ties of kinship, showing that differentiation has performed as a relatively recent past. Linguistics teaches us that the Slavs belong to the family of peoples Indo-Europeans. Their closest relatives are the Baltic Lithuanians and Latvians today and we assume even the existence, in antiquity, a common area of Balto-Slavic linguistic continuity.
The earliest written records we have are those gifts, at the extreme end of the first century AD, of Tacitus , which draws much of earlier writers like Livy and Pliny the Elder , indicating the existence of the Veneti (Veneti), it locates in the regions of Central and East European steppes. Jordanes , the famous historian of the Goths, clearly confirms, in the sixth ^century AD, that Veneti those of Eastern Europe are Slavs and others that the old name was still given in medieval times by the Germans and the Finns to their Slavic neighbors.
The territorial space that is formed during the Roman era, the future Slav populations is traversed by three river routes linking the Baltic to the Black Sea. The first pass by the Vistula , the second by the Neman , the Berezina and the Dnieper , and the third by the Western Dvina and the Dnieper.
The name of Slavs themselves appear in written sources in the first half of the sixth ^century, under the reed of Procopius of Caesarea. Byzantine and Western authors prove the existence of two major Slavic groups. The first, of Sclavnes and second, that of the Antes.
Ultimately, migration of the Slavs in the ^seventh - ^eighth century, followed by installation on a vast territory from the Volga to the Danube and the Elbe to the shore of Sea of Thrace , had two major consequences: the original division of the Slavic people between specific entities due to different regional contexts - political, economic, cultural - in which he moved. Secondly, a significant increase in the level of culture in contact with the Byzantine world. From that time, the history of Slavic people is that of Slavic principalities, including one that was established in Novgorod and then to Kiev .

The Kievan Rus

The monument Millennium of Russia ( 1862 ), designed to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of Rurik as first prince of Novgorod ( 862 ).

It was not until the second half of the ninth ^century that the tributes Slavic engage in a process of centralization and of Christianity which led to the founding of the first Russian state: the Kievan Rus. The origin of the Kievan state is closely linked to the action of a group as the Chronicle of the past described the name Rus, which derive, of course, the current names of the Russians and Russia. It was in the year 862 as the Chronicle puts the famous call to Varangians: tired of discord and war, tributes Slav leaders agree to seek a prince who rules over them and judge according to law: "They went out to Beyond the Sea Varangians among Russians, for Russians these Varangians called as others are called Swedes and others Normans, Angles other, other Goths, and those were called. .. " Without entering into the controversy on the theory "norman" the origin of the Kievan state, it must now accept the role played by the Scandinavians, especially Swedes, in the creation Kievan state established along the axis of the Dnieper to the late ninth ^century.

The Kievan Rus and the Principality of Kiev ( Ruthenia ) is the first organized state to have formed in the region now occupied by Ukraine , the Belarus and parts of western Russia ( 862 ). Founded by Vikings from Scandinavia (the Rus in Russian), then headed by the dynasty of Rurik , it forms an unstructured state whose subjects are the tribes of Slavs living in the eastern region and will be gradually conquered. Varangian princes develop the trade route linking the Baltic and Black Sea via the River Dnieper (the road Rus). They succeed by force of arms, to win in the Byzantine Empire as a trading partner.

Territory of the Principality of Kiev.

The Principality of Kiev must fight the nomads of the steppes from the east: Pechenegs , Coumans , etc.. During the reign of Vladimir , and the territory extends 988 , the great prince is converted to the religion of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Christianity : it becomes the state religion and is one of the factors National Unity Russian. The Principality of Kiev disintegrates over the years under the battering of nomadic peoples after a long period of internal instability due to successional divisions between the descendants of Vladimir. It is up to a dozen principalities within the territories of present Ukraine , Belarus and the European part of Russia. Thus, in 1276 , the principality of Moscow was established.

Baptism of Vladimir by Viktor Vasnetsov.

The princes who run these principalities and the eminent ownership of land, employ armed framed by boyars who gradually become landowners. They ruled over a mass of peasants at that time generally free. The principality of Vladimir-Suzdal and especially the Republic of Novgorod both located north of the Principality of Kiev will enjoy their independence to develop. The Republic of Novgorod, a city-state has an original system of government, with its thriving trade with the Baltic countries. It pushes repeatedly attempted expansion of the Teutonic knights.

Tatar-Mongol invasion

In 1223, the Chronicle reported the arrival of a people whose "nobody knows exactly who he is and where it comes from, what language and what are his beliefs. Some call them Tartars, others Taoumen and third, Patzinaks. The Russian princes then assembled a powerful army crossed the Dnieper and met the Mongol army on the eastern bank of the river Kaltchyk. The Battle of the Kalka of May 31, 1223 was particularly violent and deadly.
It is no longer possible to talk of unleashing a horde of looters that would place the Rus' in their custody for nearly three centuries. The Mongol conquest of Rus' was remarkably prepared and conducted, what was the outstanding leader Batu. The latter gathered under his command an army estimated at 120 or 140 000 men, surrounded by the best generals of the time, Gyk and Mngke. It ends with a clear victory of the Mongols and foreshadowed the beginning of the invasion of Russia by the Mongols of Genghis Khan and, consequently, the beginning of the Mongol yoke on Russia, which lasted nearly three centuries.

In 1226, a nomadic warrior came from Mongolia , called Tatar-Mongols, the Russians, attacked the principalities. Between 1237 and 1242, the Khan Batou grand-son of Genghis Khan , defeated one after the other armies of the princes and burned the main cities, including Vladimir , Kiev and Moscow. People were massacred or enslaved. Only Novgorod and to some extent Pskov , north-east, manage to retain some autonomy. The Mongols conquered territories do not occupy the principalities but must pay tribute and recognize the suzerainty of the Mongols who founded a state south of the Volga : the Golden Horde. This vassalage will only end three centuries later.

Tatar Mongols deeply affected Russia, with the installation of ethnic peoples Turkic-speaking , culturally with the Islamization of the peoples of eastern Moscow between Vladimir and Kazan , which will strengthen the influence of the Church against the Muslim occupation. It was especially easy, provoking a reaction of identity resistance, spiritual and cultural renaissance of the late fourteenth ^century, characterized by the flowering of the monasteries and the expansions of the art of icons, which reaches its climax with Andrei Rublev . Russian enriched the vocabulary of many terms of the Mongolian language such as yam (post) and Tamga (toll). Administratively, the Russians include tributes and troop mobilizations. Like the Mongols, the Russian princes go to impose their subjects to maintain a service to relay mail. Finally, militarily, the Russian army will take over the use of light cavalry .

The Muscovy

Map of Russian expansion between 1300 and 1796.

Thirteenth ^to the sixteenth ^century, one of these principalities, the Muscovy (whose capital is Moscow) led by princes clever, annex out all others to become Russia. Prince Dmitry Donskoy defeats for the first time the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). However, this unification movement faces the rivalries and the tradition of division of territory between the prince's son, the father of a civil war between 1425 and 1453. Ascended the throne in 1462, Ivan III , a Venetian traveler described as "a tall man, bent forward and beautiful," the release of Muscovy yoke of the Mongols whose empire is now split into several khanates , then absorbs the main a href = "% C3% Principaut A9s_russes" alt = "Russian Principalities" class = "mw-redirect"> Russian principalities which still independent Novgorod (1478) and Principality of Tver ( 1485). "The stop on the river Ugra "of 1480 marks the liberation from the yoke of Russian lands of Mongolia. In 1485, Ivan III the Great, Grand Prince now bears the title "Ruler of all Rus'" and 1526 at its embassies and left us a description of its capital. Published in 1549 , his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (literally Notes on Muscovite Affairs) .

The conquest of the East: adventure Cossack and Muscovite expansionism in Siberia

It is the conquest of Siberia that Russia has turned into a giant state-continent. This march eastward, supplemented by colonization that lasted until the Soviet era, had curiously begun in the late ^sixteenth century by a private company: a punitive expedition against hostile tribes, commanded by merchants Russian of the Urals a group of adventurers Cossacks.
Finally cleared in 1480 of the "Tatar yoke" , the Muscovy went on the offensive against its former rulers in the reign of Ivan IV (1533-1584). In 1552 , the armies seized Moscow on the Volga , the Khanate of Kazan , one of the principal heirs of the late Golden Horde. This conquest can push the eastern border of Muscovy to the course of the river Kama and even the western slopes of the Urals. Northern forest areas - the taiga - sheltered and relatively primitive hunters while forest steppe pastoralist groups and the Turkic tribes who then replaced them. A Khanate dominates in the fifteenth ^century, the area extending between the course of the Ob and that of its tributary the Irtysh. It brought together people of Ugric languages such as Voguls or Ostiaks dominated by a minority Turkic Tartar.

Conquest of Siberia by Yermak Timofeyevich. Table of Vasily Surikov (1895).

After the Russian conquest of the Khanate of Kazan in 1552, Yadigar, Khan of Sibir (from Tajbugha), tried to maintain friendly relations with Russia but a nephew (son or grandchild) of Ibaq, Kuchum (or Koutchoulou) challenged his authority. After many years of struggle (from 1,556 to 1563 ), and died Yadigar Kuchum became Khan. He tried to convert the Siberian Tatars to Islam, but shamanism is maintained. In 1571 , allied with the Crimean Khanate , he refused to pay tribute to the Tsar of Russia, then led raids on business premises of Stroganov in the region of Perm. The restoration of trade with Central Asia was of great importance in the perspective of an annexation of Siberia, Western. The Russians responded by organizing the expedition of Yermak Timofeyevich against the Khanate. Kuchum forces were defeated in 1582 at the Battle of Cape Chuvashia and the Cossacks took Iskar , capital of the Khanate of Siberia , the same year. After reorganizing his forces managed to kill Kuchum Yermak and reasserted his authority over Sibir in 1584. Until 1598 the khanate somehow resisted the attacks of Cossacks , but after a defeat on the banks of the Ob (August 20, 1598), Khan had to flee in Nogais finally passed and the country under Soviet domination.
The eastward advance of Russian power was often preceded by a vanguard Cossacks, some on the government payroll, other adventurers for their own account. Indefatigable explorers, fighters efficient and inexpensive, the Cossacks were the ideal instrument for advancing into the unknown, people still fight rebellious or forming new towns garrisons based in Siberia. They played a vital role in the discovery of the territory and in recognition of the Siberian river system, to the shores of the Pacific and the borders of China.

The Romanov Dynasty

Arms of the Russian Empire.

The new dynasty was the main concern of finding order and military security of the country. His main enemies, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden being in conflict, this has allowed Russia to sign a peace with Sweden in 1617. The Polish-Russian War (1605-1618) ended it by the Treaty of Deulino in 1618, which recognized the Republic of Two Nations, control of Smolensk and Chernigov had lost the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1509. The beginning of the Romanov dynasty is marked by a relative weakness of its leaders. During the reign of Michael I of Russia , the business was taken over by his father, Fyodor Romanov , became in 1619 the Patriarch of Moscow. Later, the son of Michael I, Alexis I of Russia relied on a boyar, Boris Morozov, to help him govern, but caused by an excessive tax burden, the Revolt of Salt (1648). After an unsuccessful attempt to regain Smolensk on Poland in 1632, Russia made peace with it in 1634. The Polish king Ladislaus IV Vasa , whose father and predecessor Sigismund III of Poland was elected Czar by the boyars , during the Time of Troubles, renounced by the treaty, all claim to that title. In 1648, the same year as the Revolt of Salt, Alexius ^I request a revision of laws to bring order in the government system and thus may appease the population. The Oulojni , the new code of laws, comes into force in 1649 , replacing Soudiebnik Ivan the Terrible. He remained until 1833. It defends the interests of artisans, merchants and landowners but not those of serfs. Now the slave is attached to the land of his master and can not leave.

The extinction of the dynasty of the descendants of Rurik (dating from the legendary Varangian princes) triggers the time of Troubles until a new dynasty, the Romanov , ascended the throne (1613). Several sovereigns bright go ^seventeenth and ^eighteenth centuries to increase the size of the Russian Empire with the help of Cossacks .

Portrait of Peter the Great by Paul Delaroche

Peter the Great (1682-1725), the price of a long war with Sweden, gets access to the Baltic Sea, he built St. Petersburg which became effective from 1712 the new capital, symbolizing the opening of countries to Europe. A powerful metal industry, the first in the West at the time, was built in the Urals and helps support the war effort. Catherine II of Russia (1762-1796), autocratic lit, completed the conquest of the steppes located along the Black Sea after defeating the Ottoman Empire and the Khanate of Crimea and pushing west borders of the Russian Empire through the partition of Poland. The present Ukraine and White Russia (Belarus) are now entirely in Russian territory. Throughout this period, the Cossacks gradually occupy Siberia and reached the Pacific Ocean in 1640. Irkutsk on the shores of Lake Baikal was formed in 1632, the region of the Bering Strait and Alaska are explored in the 1740s.

Code enacted in 1649 now ties the farmer and his descendants the land and its owner generalizing the serfdom , against the direction of the changing status of the peasant in Western Europe. In return, landowners are obliged to serve their sovereign. Catherine II confirms and strengthens these provisions. The discontent of the peasants and a nascent class of workers exploited by their owners and heavily taxed by the taxation of a State growing trigger the seventeenth ^andeighteenth ^centuries many peasant revolts, the most important, led by the Cossack Pugachev , managed to threaten the throne before being crushed (1773). The Church at the time plays a vital role in Russian society and has more than two-thirds of the land. The reform of the Russian Orthodox dogma by Patriarch Nikon (1653) is the cause of the schism of the Old Believers severely repressed.

Catherine II of Russia (1729-1796) by Dmitry Levitsky (1780).

Peter the Great and Catherine II are bringing a large number of German settlers (eg Volga Germans ) of artisans and Western scholars often German, to modernize the country, build industries and laying the foundations of educational institutions and dissemination of knowledge. The bases of the Russian literary language are defined by Mikhail Lomonosov. The first newspapers were published at that time. Russian nobility becoming more Westernized, especially under the influence of German philosophy and French, and some of its members get enthusiastic about the ideas of the Enlightenment , and even the French Revolution.

Russia a great European power

Arms of the Russian Empire

The Russian Empire played a decisive role during the Napoleonic wars that go into the European power. Driven like all European rulers by a conservative ideology and therefore hostile to the ideas of the French Revolution, the Tsar is involved in two coalitions against Napoleon defeats and costly paper towels. Alexander ^I then selected by the reversal of alliance camp France ( Peace of Tilsit ), but peace will only last 5 years (1807-1812). He takes this break to attack Sweden and annexing Finland. In 1812, hostilities resumed. The Grand Army of Napoleon reaches the price of fierce fighting to capture Moscow, but should go back chased by the fire in the city. The Russian armies then harass an enemy decimated by hunger and cold, and in 1814 they occupied Paris. Alexander plays a major role in the Holy Alliance which means managing the destiny of post-Napoleonic Europe: it opposes the restoration of the Polish state and militarily involved in the suppression of uprisings against the monarchy ( Hungary 1849) , like the Emperor of Austria.

Expansion of the Empire to the south

Map of the expansion of Russia and the USSR from 1812 to 1945.

The Russian empire continued under his reign and that of his successors, its expansion into the Caucasus and from the mouths of the Danube , to the detriment of the Persian and Ottoman empires. The Georgia voluntarily joined the Empire in 1801. The eastern part of the Principality of Moldavia (vassal of the Ottoman Empire ) was annexed in 1812 and forms the guberniya of Bessarabia. The Armenian , the Dagestan and part of Azerbaijan are annexed in 1813 after a four-year conflict with the Persian Empire. Upon the death of Alexander ( 1825 ), officers reformers, Decembrists , revolted in vain to seek a reform of the monarchy. This attempt to uplift of officers of the aristocracy will also serve as a model for many Russian intellectuals during the next century, inspired by the philosophy of Hegel or Kropotkin. In 1829 the Russian Empire is give by the Ottoman Empire the mouths of the Danube. Nicolas ^I. enjoys good economic growth, but reinforces the repressive apparatus. He violently crushed an armed uprising in Poland ( 1831 ). The decline of the Ottoman Empire, which arouses the envy of European powers, is the source of conflict between Russia and other European powers, Britain in mind: the Crimean War. Defeated at Sevastopol ( 1856 ), Alexander II 's successor, Nicolas, must give southern Bessarabia with the mouths of the Danube, and loses the rights of passage between the Black Sea and Mediterranean. A final victorious conflict with the Ottoman Empire ( 1878 ) allows it to regain access to the Danube and completes the conquest of the Caucasus. Russia also obtained the creation in the Balkans of a kingdom of Bulgaria , and the recognition by the Ottomans for independence from Serbia and Romania. This increased influence revives the hostility of Great Britain ( The Great Game ).

Numerous uprisings against the landed aristocracy in debt and thereby attached to the system of serfdom, were held during this period. The industry is growing especially in mining and textiles but well back from England and Germany (about 600 000 workers by 1860). A new class of merchants and small manufacturers - often former slaves freed by redemption - appears, but its numbers are relatively small.

Education is spreading in the upper classes and many colleges are based. The Russian literature knows first major development with writers like Turgenev , Pushkin and Gogol that reflect the turmoil of Russian society. This cultural development also extends to the architecture and music ( Glinka ).

Attempts to reform

Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II is trying to learn from the defeat of the war in Crimea. The country, which now extends over 12.5 million square kilometers and has 60 million inhabitants, is hampered by its archaic operation. Structural reforms are put in train by the Tsar: The most important measure is the abolition of serfdom (1861) which includes the award to the former serf of land, often too small to feed, for the price a long-term debt vis--vis the state. Local councils elected by suffrage - the Zemstvos - were created after 1864, with power to manage their local affairs and to build roads , schools and hospitals , they can raise taxes to finance them. This type of structure is subsequently extended to cities (urban duma). Finally the legal code introduced procedures for prosecution and defense, creating a theoretically independent judicial power to the district level. The regime still retains a strong and autocratic policeman. The reforms will also stir up violence by groups of intellectuals nihilists and Alexander eventually fall under their blows (1881). Under his reign, the empire continued colonial expansion in Central Asia after the annexation of lands in Kazakhstan was completed in 1847, three khanates the territory of Uzbekistan ( Kokand , Bukhara and Khiva ) have won over the next three decades and attached or placed under protectorate (1876). This breakthrough puts the limits of the Russian Empire at the gates of the British Empire in India. The voltage ( Great Game ) between the two countries will remain very strong until agreement is reached in 1907 (Anglo-Russian Convention). Poland will rise in 1863 without success.

Industrialization

The Emperor Alexander III of Russia by Ivan Kramskoy (1886).

Alexander III , when he ascended the throne in 1881, conducts in response to the assassination of his father-cons policy reforms. The provisions are maintained or strengthened authoritarian: political parties and unions are prohibited, the right of movement is limited, the press is censored. In economic terms the industry is developing rapidly due, among other things, foreign investment and the construction of a rail network that reaches 30 000 km in 1890. New industrializing regions (Ukraine), while some reinforce their industrial character as the Saint Petersburg and especially from Moscow. But the abundant labor released by the abolition of serfdom and population growth do not find entirely to work in industry (3 million workers in 1913). Many farmers are colonized virgin lands of the empire located in the south and east (lower valley of the Volga, Urals, Siberia) of the empire. The Trans-Siberian Railway , whose first section is made between 1891 and 1901 to open up vast territories of Siberia, facilitates the migration, while parallel to the Alliance Franco-Russian finance industrialization is mainly by Russian loans from especially France. Agriculture is still an overwhelming: in 1897 Russia has 97 million farmers with a total population of 127 ^{The revolution of 1905}

Event of October 17, 1905 by Ilya Repin.

The Russian Revolution of 1905 failed to be the turning point bringing the Tsarist Russia Nicolas II in democracy. It began in January 1905 by the Bloody Sunday on January 22, 1905 and ends ten months later, the granting of a constitution: the October Manifesto. This could lead to major political changes that have transformed the autocracy as to make it disappear.

The opposition was organized and launched the general strike of October 1905 which manages to sell the plan. A liberal constitution was granted. The Tsarist be liberalized, but in two years that followed, the cons-attack Nicolas II reduced to nil all the hopes raised by the revolution of 1905.

The defeat at Tsushima in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War triggered at the first general uprising of the Russian population against the regime, because of two opposing imperialism. The revolution of 1905 is primarily a peasant movement which mainly affects the black earth region. The workers joined the movement later. The loyalty of the armed forces will save the regime. Nicolas II , who ascended the throne in 1894, is obliged to give pledges of openness. An assembly ( Duma ) is elected legislative powers. But the elections of two successive Dumas give a large majority to the opposition. The electoral law is then modified to obtain a Chamber of Deputies favorable ruling.

First World War and Russian Revolution

Lenin in 1920.

Photography by Nicolas II of Russia

Russia entered the war against the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914 to help to Serbia , its ally. The Russian Empire triggers an offensive in eastern Poland, but is severely beaten. Russian troops must leave Poland. In early 1917 burst of social movements, triggered by the weight of war on the economy, the losses on a front reduced to a defensive strategy, leadership instability and mistrust vis--vis the Tsar. The refusal of troops to suppress demonstrations and lassitude of the ruling classes forced the Tsar Nicolas II to abdicate, and broke the Revolution of February 1917 and Russia became a republic. A provisional government was then formed, headed by Alexander Kerensky. While outlining the reforms, it still tries to respect the commitments of Russia vis--vis its allies in continuing the war. The unpopularity of this measure is exploited by the party of the Bolsheviks who, 25 October 1917, overthrew the government in St. Petersburg (then capital of Russia) by arms ( October Revolution ). Peace is signed with the Germans (in Brest-Litovsk, Belarus now) at enormous territorial concessions (Poland, part of Ukraine, Baltic States, etc.., Or about 800 000 km ). A civil war going for three years against the " Whites "(Republicans or Monarchists), assisted by the Western powers, the Bolsheviks. After their victory, 22 December 1922 , the Bolsheviks establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , Russia became one of the republics of the Union ( Soviet Federated Socialist Republic Russian ).

See also: Eastern Front (WWI) - End of the Tsarist regime in Russia - State Socialism

Between the wars

Joseph Stalin , who ruled the USSR from 1924 to 1953.

Upon taking power, the new regime turns to dictatorship repressing any opposition even within the party Bolshevik. All the means of industrial production is under the control of the state. At the end of the civil war in 1921, the country is bloodless: the disruption of transport and agricultural requisitions triggered a famine that killed one million victims around the Volga. The unrest grew and the plan must relax its program: the NEP , which allows a limited form of private economy. In recent years, agricultural and industrial output will recover. Lenin , who died in 1924, leaves his "estate" open. Stalin is a few years to climb to power by eliminating his rivals physically. The plan of collectivization / A> is taken up vigorously and agricultural lands are classified by strength in large cooperatives. A new famine breaks out, this time mostly in Ukraine (1932-1933) and in the Kuban. The development of the economy is now centrally planned and power, which concentrates in Moscow (become the capital of the country in 1918), conducts a broad program of industrialization (especially in the field of heavy industry) to Using the five-year plans. The government encourages workers to exceeding productivity standards ( Stakhanovism ) on behalf of the radiant future. The communist propaganda machine is at full throttle. At the same time, Stalin led a repressive policy that sends the gulag or death several million people before the outbreak of the Second World War , which did not prevent him from creating a cult of personality. Is the rise of Stalinism.

World War II

Victory parade in Moscow , June 24, 1945.

Stalin, who was signed before the start of the Second World War a nonaggression pact with Hitler, including a sharing clause of Poland and the Baltic States , is attacked by Germany in June 1941 ( Operation Barbarossa ). The Red Army under-equipped and disorganized by the Stalinist purges, wiping back losses amounting to millions. The German advance is blocked at Stalingrad (January 1943), and then pushed westward, in particular following the Battle of Kursk (July-August 1943). The Soviet generals gradually resume the initiative and the Red Army, reinforced by deliveries of arms allied reconquered lost territory, frees the countries of Eastern Europe and then returned victorious in Berlin (May 1945), at the cost of a terrible toll of 20 to 30 million people (almost half of them civilians). Stalin and his Western allies have reached agreement on a division of Europe into spheres of influence, which confirms the role played by the USSR in the conflict ( Yalta ). The countries of Eastern Europe and East Germany will see soon impose a socialist system controlled by the USSR.

The USSR, a world power

Yuri Gagarin , on a visit to Malmo , Sweden , 1964.

Sputnik 1 , the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the USSR.

The war has bled the USSR (more than 20 million people the majority of them civilians) and destroyed much of its industrial facilities and cities. The immediate post-war period of reconstruction. The country regained its level of industrial production before the war and then twice in 1952. The nuclear industry is expanding, with the creation of the Mayak nuclear complex. The Soviet Union conducts its first nuclear test in 1949, acceding to the rank of a second nuclear power worldwide.

At the same time, the cult of personality is brought to a climax by Stalin. Shortly after the death of the latter in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev came to power (1953) and denounced the excesses of his predecessor. On the domestic front there began a period of relative prosperity, citizens' rights are better respected, is the beginning of some liberalization. The Soviet Union stunned the world by her lead in space by putting into orbit the first Sputnik and by sending Yuri Gagarin , first man in space. Internationally, the Soviet Union expanded its influence in many countries of the third world and does that through massive investment in weapons to compete with the United States, particularly in the nuclear and ballistic missiles. This period of cold war results in many conflicts and tensions around the world between the two superpowers and their allies. The Cuban missile crisis in 1962 lack of degenerating into a nuclear conflict. The accession of Leonid Brezhnev in power (1964) translates into a relative dtente between the two large ( Helsinki Conference ), but also, internally, by reducing the reform efforts had failed in its predecessor ( Virgin Lands Program among others). The gap between the living standards of the Soviets and the inhabitants of Western countries is increasing. The tension between the two superpowers resumed after 1979 following the invasion of Afghanistan and the arrival of Ronald Reagan at the head of the United States in 1980.

End of the USSR

Boris Yeltsin on a tank during the putsch in Moscow in 1991.

Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, taking the head of the CPSU with the will to reform the regime to combat economic stagnation and remnants of Stalinism, but its reforms are rather mixed results. The perestroika (economic restructuring) has not achieved the desired objectives have contributed to shortages of consumer goods and social inequalities leading to popular discontent, while a democratic regime that began with glasnost (openness), triggers of conflict Inter-ethnic and the rise of nationalism, misunderstood by the Russians.

In 1989, for the first time since the Soviet era, free elections are held, political parties are allowed in 1990. This opening is a special occasion for people of different nationalities making up the Soviet Union wishes to express their sovereignty. Around 1991, a dualism of power moved to the Kremlin - the rising power of Russian state structures free from the supervision of the CPSU, with Boris Yeltsin at their head, face to the organs of Soviet power and communist archaic and conservative , trying in vain curb the Gorbachev reforms and preserve the Soviet system. The Putsch in Moscow in August 1991 led by the Conservatives fail and accelerates the end of the Union.

Mikhail Gorbachev.

On 21 December 1991, the CPSU is dissolved by Mikhail Gorbachev and the USSR collapsed, its constituent republics became independent, the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) was established in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact (1955) are no more. Russia, which represents the nucleus, takes the former world power three quarters of its territory, more than half of its population, two thirds of its industry and half of its agricultural production. Main successor to the USSR, it now occupies its place in international institutions, whose permanent seat on the Security Council of UN , but also assumes the liabilities of the former USSR Financial. A political and economic union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), was founded in 1991 to try to maintain close ties between the countries of the USSR.

Although Russia, led by Boris Yeltsin in 1991, is the inheritor of the Soviet Union, it can take the role of superpower. The Russian Federation faces many internal problems, including the laborious development of a democratic political system and a war of secession in Chechnya , leaving the vast world politics to the Americans and their allies.

Collapse and Economic Recovery

The business district of Moscow-City , expanding

The first president of the new Russia, Boris Yeltsin gave an inflection apparently liberal regime. The operation of the Russian company that had to abandon socialism is deeply disturbed and leads to the enrichment of a minority ( oligarchs ), the decline in economic tool, the weakening of the federal state and a drop catastrophic level of life for Russians.

Economically, the interventionist and centralized planning of the economy has been abandoned without the benefit of a transition mode inspired by liberal theories of the economists of the Chicago School. The means of production have largely been privatized, in often obscure. The rapid reorganization of the economic apparatus combined with the effects of the breakup of the USSR led to the 1990 collapse of the economy, the GDP being halved in recent years and a financial crisis Major in 1998 , plunging much of the population in the difficulties (except a tiny minority of newly rich, dubbed New Russians ).

The army is increasingly held in check in the conflict against Islamic separatists in Chechnya. The 1993 elections completely free translate into rising nationalist movement (22.92% of the votes go Liberal Democratic Party of Russia of Vladimir Zhirinovsky , against 7.81% in June 1991) and maintaining a Communist vote important (12.40% of votes, against 16.85% in June 1991). A new constitution adopted in December 1993 after a serious constitutional crisis and setting the pitch of the Congress of People's Deputies with the army, gives a tour more presidential regime. The period is also characterized by large population movements between states making up the USSR (Russian population of neighboring states retreating in Russia, the Russian emigration of Jewish or German origin, brain drain) and even within Russia (leaving the countryside and most remote areas in Siberia). The economic and political disorder extends until 1998 when the Russian financial system collapsed between 1990 and 1998 GDP has fallen by 45%.

The 3rd and current president of the country Dmitry Medvedev (left) with former President Vladimir Putin (right).

The outgoing Russian president, Vladimir Putin , elected in 2000, has the objective of restoring the functioning of the state and the economy through a strong presidential system. The new president enjoys soaring prices of raw materials which Russia is the largest producer. He launched structural reforms include restoring the "vertical of power". Measurements were also taken against tax fraud which resulted in the arrest of some oligarchs. Since 2000, Russia has experienced remarkable economic growth (GDP growth of 6% on average). This boom is driven by the rise of the tertiary sector (banking, insurance, distribution) and the growth of domestic consumption. Vladimir Putin is very popular in the country by attempting to give Russia a role in the international arena by taking advantage, inter alia, U.S. setbacks in Iraq, and renew ties with the former constituent republics of the USSR alternately wielding a heavy hand (Belarus, Ukraine) and a more diplomatic approach. His successor, Dmitry Medvedev , is more liberal , but continues to apply the policy of Putin. Moreover, the war in Ossetia in 2008 extended Russian influence in the Caucasus , particularly in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

See also: Commonwealth of Independent States - Organization of Collective Security Treaty - the Eurasian Economic Community - Organization of Central Asian cooperation - Union of Russia and Belarus

Geography

Russia, the largest country in the world.

Borders of State

Russia has land borders with 17 countries (in reverse order of clockwise, starting from the north): The Norway 196 km, the Finland 1,313 km, the Estonia 290 km, the Latvia 292 km, Belarus 959 km, the Lithuania 227 km, the Poland 432 km, the Ukraine 1 576 km, Georgia 723 km, the Azerbaijan 284 km, the Kazakhstan 6,846 km, China 3,645 km, the Mongolia 3441 km and North Korea 19 km ^Subdivisions

Map of Russian federal subjects.

Russia is a federation consisting of 83 subjects who each have a certain autonomy. Each topic is sending two representatives to the Federation Council (senate). The presence of 128 nationalities and the weight of history have resulted in cutting the territory into many sub-assemblies to the dimensions and operating variables. The Russian Federation consists of:

• 21 republics that constitute the territories of ethnic groups (such as Tatarstan ) and have greater autonomy;
• 46 oblasts (regions) (in Russian ) and 9 krais (areas) which cover parts of the territory occupied by the Russians long;
• 4 okrugs (autonomous districts) also formed on an ethnic basis, have much less autonomy and are attached to another region;
• 2 federal cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, with their suburbs.

The Birobidzhan retains a special status: it was planned by Stalin as a haven for Jews from the USSR.

Subjects legislative power box by the Constitution: the Republics have a constitution while we're talking about status for the oblast, krais, okrugs and cities. Each subject has 40% of tax revenues collected for its operating expenses and investment.

Cities

Despite the weak density mean, Russia is a country highly urbanized : nearly three-quarters of Russians (73%) reside in the city, or 106.5 million inhabitants in about 1100 cities and 1400 villages. 20% of Russians are concentrated in cities of over one million inhabitants and 45% in urban areas of more than 100,000 souls .

Natural habitats

Topography

Topographic map of Russia.

The territory of Russia is made up mainly of vast plains dominated the steppes to the south, north and forest tundra along the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The main mountain ranges are located along the southern frontier: it is the Caucasus , whose highest point, Mount Elbrus (5642 meters) is also the highest peak in Europe and the mountains of Altai. To the east lie the massive Verkhoyansk and the chain of volcanoes on the peninsula of Kamchatka. The Ural , which divides along a north-south European Russia from Asian Russia, is an eroded mountain range rich in mineral resources.

The huge forest belt with a width of 1200 km in "European Russia" with the Urals and the natural barrier, and 2000 km in Siberia is the largest forest reserve in the world. Cultivated areas have 8.9% of the cultivable area of the planet.

The coast of Russia has a length of 37 653 km: it stretches mainly along the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean , it also includes relatively small portions of coastline along the Baltic Sea , the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

The main islands and archipelagos include in the Arctic Ocean Novaya Zemlya , the Franz Josef Land , the islands of New Siberia and the Pacific island Sakhalin and the islands of the Kuril Islands which are the most southerly claimed by Japan.

More than 100 000 rivers irrigate some of Russia are among the largest in the world. The Volga , draining a river basin of 1.4 million km , is the longest river in Europe (3350 km) and has played a major role in history. The great Siberian rivers are among the giants of the world: they are the Yenisei (average rate 19 800 m ³ s ^-1), the Ob , the Lena and Amur all characterized by enormous flows and debacles particularly violent when the arrival of summer brings into motion the water Icebound. The major bodies of water are Lake Baikal , which contains 20% fresh water lake in the world, the Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega.

Lake Baikal, the Olkhon

Climate

The climate is continental Russia. More than half of the country lies north of latitude 60 while only a small portion is south of 50 latitude. The mountains that close the southern borders (Alta. ..) prevent the rise of warm air masses come from the more southern regions, for cons, the plains that dominate the north leave penetrate far inland the cooled air masses from the Arctic Ocean. This results in an average temperature of -5.5 C with wide temperature variation between winter and summer.

In virtually all countries, there are only two main seasons: winter and summer, spring and autumn are generally very short and the transition temperature to the warmest coldest temperatures is extremely Fast. The coldest month is January (February on the coast). Winter temperatures are lowered in both the north and south from west to east (more continental): there was thus an average temperature in February of -8 C to Saint-Petersburg located at extreme west, -27 C in the plains of western Siberia, and -43 C to Yakutsk in Eastern Siberia at about the latitude of St. Petersburg. The cold record is held by the city of Verkhoyansk (-70 C up). The south wind generated by the anticyclone , which was stationed in winter over most of Russia, reduces the temperature differences between regions at different latitudes. In summer, the warmest month is usually July (average temperature in Russia is 20 C). Temperatures can be very high in continental regions (up to 38 C in the south). The amplitude of temperature is usually extremely high. Summer can be hot and humid, including Siberia. A small part of the coast of the Black Sea near Sochi has a subtropical climate.

The continental climate greatly restricts rainfall. If west annual rainfall of 600 mm in the Baltic regions and 525 mm in Moscow, they fall to 425 mm in Novosibirsk (Siberia).

The duration of the winter, extreme cold and sudden temperature changes have a huge impact on the lifestyle of the population and the functioning of the economy. In the coldest part of the country, the basement never melts there is talk of permafrost (permafrost in English, Russian merzlota); water stagnates on the surface and creates huge swamps - recurring landscape of Siberia, the presence of frozen subsoil constraints generates very costly method of construction of buildings and infrastructure. Large rivers are usually covered by ice in October / November to April / May blocking all river traffic and in the spring, the breakup of the ice often causes floods in the largest Siberian rivers.

Vegetation

River Vassiougan in the plains of West Siberian. (Left bank of the Ob ).

Because of its size, the country has many types of landscape predominate including relatively flat expanses covered with latitude tundra, taiga, forests and steppes. Russia in Europe, defined as arbitrary as part of the country west of the Urals , this sequence from north to south the landscape include: the north is the coldest part of the reign tundra which is followed by southbound forests coniferous and mixed forests ( deciduous and coniferous), grasslands, and finally the semi-desert steppe (near the Caspian Sea ). The vegetation changes following the climate. The Siberia - the area located east of the Urals - has the same succession of landscapes but it is the taiga , forest more or less sparse consisting mainly of conifers, which predominates.

Flora and Fauna

A change in vegetation occurs along a north-south, forming clearly defined areas: Arctic desert , tundra , taiga to the north , forests and steppe interspersed with forests in central Russia. The foothills of the Caucasus and the Caucasus have alpine vegetation.

Tundra

Predominate in the tundra mosses , lichens , low shrubs and perennials, because the soil is wet. The soil is very fragile and the slightest human industry can destroy entire regions. This often occurs near mining or petroleum.
The fauna is well adapted to living conditions. It is usually a thick fur or feathers and white in winter and a thick layer of grease to protect against the cold and wind and ice. The snowy owl and the grouse are sedentary birds that manage to withstand the weather. The short northern summer is also an opportunity for development of insects such as mosquitoes and butterflies.

Taiga

The area where coniferous taiga and wetlands predominate, characterized by a relatively cool and humid climate. In European Russia, it is present in Karelia and the North ( Arkhangelsk ).
This is the area most in North / Sup> in which species need some trees can survive. A considerable number of birds such as Siberian Thrush (Thrush or obscure), the White-throated Sparrow and Black-throated Green Warbler migrate to this habitat to take advantage of long summer days and abundant food in insects during this season.

Steppe

The region of Kalmykia is specific in the presence of a large steppe. The soil is arid and short vegetation, typically small tufts of grass or small shrubs.
The steppe is characterized by a semiarid climate, and sometimes forms the transition zone with the desert. In some parts of the world, particularly in Europe, Russia, the steppes were placed in culture, which has caused the decline of flora and fauna that are subservient.

The black soil ( Chernozem )

The black earth ( chernozem ), south-west Russia

.

This soil type is typical of southern Russia. It is very fertile because from the decomposition of ancient forests and provides technically one of the best yields in the world.

The richness and diversity of wildlife are Russian across the territory. The taiga is home to a large amount of elk , of brown bears and deer , and wolves in some areas.
Tundra in the far north is the area of reindeer feeding on the sparse vegetation even when buried under snow. The shores of the Arctic Ocean are home to seals , the walrus and polar bears. It is in the Caucasus can be observed that the mountain fauna, such as sheep , the brown bear and chamois.
For lovers of rare species of Saiga , the only European antelope, is still in the wild steppes of Kalmykia. But like many animal species in Russia, it is threatened by poaching and pollution in its natural environment.

Politics

Russia
This article is part of the series on Russia's political , Subseries on policy .
Constitution President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev Government President of the Government : Vladimir Putin Political parties sitting in the Duma United Russia Communist Party of the Russian Federation Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Just Russia Parliament Federation Council of Russia Duma Justice Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Supreme Court of the Federation Superior Court of Arbitration of the Federation Elections Presidential : 1,996 - 2,000 - 2 004 - 2008 - 2012 Legislation : one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three - 1995 - one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine - 2003 - in 2007 - 2011 Subdivisions of Russia Federal subjects of Russia Leaders of districts and federal subjects of Russia Domestic and foreign policy of Russia Human Rights

Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin, 13 January 1994.

The 1993 Constitution adopted after the 1993 constitutional crisis which had opposed President Boris Yeltsin in the Assembly and could not be resolved through the intervention of tanks, defines Russia as a federation and a republic presidential in which the Russian president is the head of the State and the Prime Minister the head of government. The executive power is exercised by the head of government. The legislative power is held by both the government and both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

The president is elected by universal suffrage for a period of four years. Its mandate is renewable only once. The last presidential election was held March 2, 2008.

The legislative branch is represented by the Federal Assembly consists of:

• The Duma (ya = thinking) or, more precisely, State Duma assembly of 450 deputies elected by direct universal suffrage for 4 years. The Duma is chaired by Boris Gryzlov (2007).
• The Federation Council ( ), consisting of 178 representatives of the subjects (regions) comprising the Federation, often called "senators" (see Subdivisions ). The Federation Council is chaired by Sergei Mironov (2007).

The Russian constitution guarantees equality of all citizens before the law, independence of judges and their subjection to the law alone. Trials must be public and the right to defense is guaranteed to the accused.

Regions have some autonomy, but since 2005, the regional governors are no longer elected but appointed by the president.

The main parties are the party of former president and now prime minister, Vladimir Putin , United Russia (231 seats in the Duma elections of 2003), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (51 seats), Rodina (37 seats), and LDPR (37 seats). The three-quarters majority is necessary for the impeachment of the Head of State. The new president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev (elected March 2, 2008). It was the former CEO of oil and gas company Gazprom.

See also: Union of Russia and Belarus

defense and geostrategic Russia

The vozdouchno-dessantnye Voiska or VDV (Russian: - , abbreviated , "Airborne") maneuver in Kazakhstan.

The current Russian Army, formed in 1992 , is the heiress of the former Red Army and Soviet Army (from 1922 to 1991, when the collapse of the USSR). She inherited the weaponry and equipment of the Soviet Army located on Russian territory, and the entire Soviet nuclear arsenal was transferred from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus.

Evolution of nuclear weapons stockpile

Russia is one of five countries officially recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as possessing nuclear weapons. It has also one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world with over 16,000 nuclear warheads ^, .

Russia must protect itself against various threats .

• Workforce: 1.14 million and 2 million military reservists
• Budget: 70 billion (2008)

Main articles: Geostrategy Russia , Commonwealth of Independent States , Organization of Collective Security Treaty , the Eurasian Economic Community , Organization of Central Asian Cooperation and Union of Russia and Belarus.

See also: Russian Imperial Army , Red Army , Soviet Navy , Spetsnaz , Russian Navy , VVS.

Economy

Russia is one of economically developed countries: GDP of 2056 billion in 2010 (registered), 2097 billion (in purchasing power parity , 7 ^th in 2007).

Service station Rosneft. Russia is the largest exporter of natural gas and petroleum product.

Its economy is marked by the weight of the extractive industries: natural gas ⁽¹ producer and exporter), oil ⁽¹ st producer) , coal (6 ^th largest producer), nonferrous metals.

Its Soviet past, Russia has inherited a powerful heavy metal industry and competitive know-how in the fields of aeronautics , armaments and energy.

Agriculture, long hampered by the collectivization of farms under the Soviet regime, despite the plowing of virgin lands in the 1970s, composing with the natural environment generally unfavorable and immense, a structural deficit (shortfall in value of 10 billion ). But Russia can be considered a strong agricultural power - Russia is the world's largest producer of barley, raspberry, gooseberry. She is also a major producer of beet sugar , of wheat and potato.

Moscow's new business district Moscow City

The distribution of GDP (primary sector 7% - secondary 37% - 56% tertiary) reflects the rise in services.

The operation of the Russian economy has undergone radical changes after the reforms initiated by Gorbachev in ^the 2nd half of the 1980s ( perestroika ), characterized by the transition from a planned economy (with all the means of production were controlled by the state) to a mode of operation based on market economy.

This transformation process is the source of a deep economic crisis, culminating with the financial crisis in 1998, Russia has gradually been raised: GDP in 2007 recovered its 1990 level. The evolution of commodity prices has greatly promoted the economic recovery that began in 1998. With a GDP growth above 6% on average since that date, the Russian state was able to prepay the loans at the height of the financial crisis and bring public debt to 8% in late 2007.

Inflation is now contained (9.7% in 2006 against 36% in 1999). Russia has made the third world's foreign exchange reserves ( 480 billion in January 2008) with a balance of payments surplus of 10% of GDP during this period. The state budget surplus thanks to steadily prudent management of windfall tax revenues represented by more effective and the price of oil has led to the establishment in 2004 of a stabilization fund which amounted to 130 billion in May ^1, 2008. The Russian state has found the financial means to launch large-scale projects (infrastructure, investment support). Important sectors of Russian industry are, since the liberalization of the economy, faced with competition from foreign companies: it is constrained only in areas deemed strategic (automobile manufacturing, mineral resources and energy industry armament ). Russia remains the world's largest exporter of weapons (fighter aircraft, submarines, etc.).. Ill-prepared Russian light industry has seen its market share fall on the domestic market. The phenomenon also affects high-tech industries like aerospace construction. Exports are now largely composed of low value added products (hydrocarbons and metals in 2005 accounted for 82% of exports). The growth of this very diversified economy is very sensitive to changes in commodity prices.

GDP per capita in 2007 was 12 200 and the unemployment rate to 6.6% (2006). But GDP is very unevenly distributed. The liberalization of the economy has exacerbated the phenomenon had far outweighed the socialist regime. Instead, wealth has concentrated during the decade in some favored regions, the two metropolises of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Siberian regions where are the deposits of hydrocarbons and some industrial regions ( Tatarstan , Yekaterinburg , Samara , etc. .). The city of Moscow alone concentrate 22% of Russia's GDP .

Agriculture

Farmer's field in the plain of Rostov-on-Don.

While privatization in this sector seems to accompany, similarly, the liberalization of the rest of the economy (80% of private land fall today), it does not appear, however, have radically transformed the country's land structure. Only 9% of the private domain are actually used by individual farms (individual farms or private farms also called auxiliary individual plots). The rest of the private sector is still managed by former collective Kolkhozes and state farms have become cooperatives, limited liability companies or LLCs. In most cases this is indeed the same management team that has been preserved. The rest of agriculture is the state or municipalities.

Official statistics of the Russian Federation recognizes three types of farms. The agricultural organizations : May 26, 1988, private cooperatives developed, private farms: 1990, recognizing the right to private ownership of land (however limited right field built in 1992) and plots of land. On July 24, 2002, authorization of sale of agricultural land. Growing wheat and potatoes is a large part. The pig and poultry is also widespread. In contrast, cattle are mainly used for milk production.

• A decline varies productions

The decline varies across sectors of production. Some products are better, particularly vegetables and potatoes (produced mainly in the blanks and forming the basis for much of the food). Conversely, feed grains and sugar beets declined sharply. But this is probably the animal that suffered the most between 1990 and 1997, beef production has fallen from 57 to 31 million tons of pig production from 38 to 17 million tonnes. The flocks are also down sharply (-70% for the sheep between 1986 and 1998).

• The reasons for this regression

Multiple reasons for this decline there too:

contraction in demand due to inflation,

reduced government subsidies,

Industrial prices increased faster than those of agriculture, corresponding to the scissors crisis (fuel, seeds, agricultural equipment ...),

Relief for banks sector considered lackluster.

Arguably also the bad weather in 1994 and 1995.

An improvement since 1999.
The situation is recovering dramatically since 1999. Most economic indicators are now moving to "green" even if the revival of the Russian economy remains fragile and incomplete.

• A sharp recovery

Agriculture also contributes to the economic recovery. Between 1998 and 2001, agricultural production increased by 20%, allowing for the first time in the history of Russia, to export grain. In 1997, Russia was obliged to seek food aid from the United States over 3 million tonnes of cereals, five years later, Russia offered a portion of its production to the World Food Programme. Indeed, in 2002, grain production reached nearly 95 million tonnes, which corresponds to a near doubling of production in 4 years and Russia has exported 10 million tons.

Producing food , which had collapsed in the early 1990s, also picked up dramatically, its production has increased 30% between 1998 and 2001.

Plots in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.

• The reasons for the turnaround

This reflects the good results of individual farms (plots and private farms, which account for more than half of total production) but also by large collective farms that have adapted to the new rules capitalists. It is also explained by higher yields (though they remain below those of Western farmers: on average 2.5 tons per hectare as against 7 to 8 tons in the Paris basin) and fertilizer use.

The adoption in 2002 of the law authorizing the sale of agricultural land seems to have given fresh impetus to agriculture. The oligarchs and large industrial investments, now heavily in this sector, thereby creating real agro-holdings.

The establishment in April 2003 of import quotas especially in the beef looks, too, to stimulate this sector still lagging behind (the Russians consume only 48 kg of meat per year per capita).

The climatic conditions of the Federation allow him a cultivation of his land on a relatively short period (about seven months of the year). The size of its agricultural land and the climate factor can probably explain that its agriculture is more extensive that intensive.

Demographics

Ethnic map of European Russia before the First World War

Demographic changes between 1991 and 2008 (figures of the Federal statistics, population in millions)

After the Second World War, which led to the deaths of about 27 million people (civilian and military), the population had regained its prewar level in 1955 (111 million) and had increased nearly 35% reaching its maximum in 1992 (148.7 million). However, several phenomena have come to change this dynamic demographic, the most important is probably the "normalization" of Russian fertility conducted from 1988's demographic transition and now has a birth rate close to that of other European countries East.

The population of Russia amounted to 143.4 million, with a high urbanization rate (73% of the population). The density is 8.5 inhabitants per square kilometer, but the population is very unevenly distributed across the country: from 26.9 in European Russia ( Urals included) it falls to 2.5 in Asian Russia. Urbanization tends to depopulate the gloubinka , or "Deep Russian" in favor of large cities and especially the cities of European Russia.

The Russian population has declined steadily since 1992 due to a natural deficit important stabilized around 800 000 inhabitants per year over the past decade that can not compensate for immigration. This deficit reflects the gap between the birth rate which now stands at 10.4 with mothers older than before and the mortality rate estimated at 16 in 2006. Since 2007, to halt the population decline, the administration Vladimir Putin granted a maternity capital of 267,500 rubles (about 6300 euros) to the birth of second child.

The natural deficit is partly offset by immigration from the countries that emerged from the breakup of the USSR. Immigration, which was in the 1990s mainly because of Russian-speakers, today more mixed origins (Chinese immigration and Uzbek) . The economic crisis , rising unemployment and the redefinition of Russian identity cause a rise in xenophobia in the country: 74 murders in character racists were identified in 2007, 114 in 2008 which is to be perspective with statistics from other smaller European countries with their now-this behavior.

The life expectancy is lower than the EU average for women (72 years) but is mostly for men: for them the average age at death is 59 years (less than 12 years the European average of 18 years to the average French ) a mortality rate of 15 for a birth rate of 9. Life expectancy has dropped dramatically during the period of political and economic chaos of the 1990s, following the demise of the Soviet Union. This is explained by various factors: mass alcoholism, suicide, poor health system that fails to stop the rapid development of AIDS and tuberculosis . Thus, Russia has experienced during the crisis of the transition period four times more violent deaths than the U.S. : indeed, it ranked at the time the second largest for homicide (28.4 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2000 ) and third for suicides (38.4 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2002 .'s arrival, later than in the West, some epidemics such as AIDS also explains the situation at the end of 2005, Russia recorded more than 350 000 HIV infections .

According to a UN report, Russia would have 137 million inhabitants in 2025. According to the American demographer Mr. Feshbach, the population of Russia has decreased by one third by 2050, it will be about 100 million. According Y. Afnassiev, people in Russia could not count between 70 and 90 million people by 2045.

Faced with this situation, the Russian government has included in its agenda the establishment of a pro-natalist policy based on financial incentives for the birth of the 2 ^nd and ³ rd child. The results already seem promising, since the Prime Minister could announce the end of 2009, a considerable increase (five years) of life expectancy compared to its 2005 level. Thus, in 2009 , Russia's population has increased for the first time since 1995, under the combined four years of rising birth rates and lower mortality . Moreover, the flow of emigration in the direction of Israel , the United States and of Germany , very important during the 1990s, has now virtually dried up and was well below some forecasts .

Russia: Elements of Demography at ¹ November 2010. The population of the Russian Federation declined steadily over the past twenty years: it increased from 148.3 million in 1992 to 141,900,000 in 2010. The factors of this development was mainly the decline in life expectancy, declining birth rates and lower immigration, secondarily, the increase in emigration.

See also: Russians

Religions

The St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

According to news agency RIA Novosti , Russia accounted for 83% of believers, 7% undecided and 10% of atheists.

• Christian Orthodox : 56.4% (including ), of which 15% are practitioners.
• Muslim : 8 to 15% between 11 and 22 million ^, (mostly Sunni , but also with a strong community Sufi close Shiism in Dagestan ).
• Christian Protestant : 9% (mostly Lutherans and Baptists ).
• Buddhists : 2% (mostly Tibetan tradition).
• Jews : 2% (including Orthodox and Hasidic ).
• Christian Catholic Roman and Byzantine: 1%.
• Armenian Apostolic Church : 0.8%.

Source of this information :

" i> History, economics and culture provide the knowledge necessary to understand Russia, but only its original spirituality may provide the key to the intelligence of a people and a civilization that saw the economy God is the only way to take the unit of society. "

- Yaroslav Lebedynsky , lecturer at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations.

Education

The literacy rate is among the highest in the world with a rate close to 100% between 2003 and 2008. People not belonging to ethnic Russians are often bilingual, for example with the language as Russian and Tatar , the Udmurt , the Yakut or Armenian Between 2003 and 2008, the gross enrollment rate for males and women is 96% and the net enrollment rate is 91%. The secondary school enrollment rate is 85% for men and 83% for women between 2003 and 2008 ^{Art and culture}

Leo Tolstoy

Russian literature began to flourish in St. Petersburg with Alexander Pushkin , who is considered one of the founders of modern Russian literature and is sometimes nicknamed the "Russian Shakespeare". Among the poets and writers are Russia's most famous Nikolai Gogol , Mikhail Lermontov , Fyodor Dostoyevsky , Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov. The most prominent writers of the Soviet period were Boris Pasternak , Alexander Solzhenitsyn , Vladimir Mayakovsky , Mikhail Sholokhov and the poets Yevgeny Ievtouchenko and Andrei Voznesensky.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

A large number of ethnic groups living in Russia have varied folk traditions. Russian music of the nineteenth ^century was characterized by the existence of two musical currents: one represented by the composer Mikhail Glinka and his successors, including the Group of Five , which included religious and folk elements in their compositions and Society Russian music led by Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, the more traditional accents. The tradition of late Romanticism embodied by Tchaikovsky or Rimsky-Korsakov (though also the successor of Glinka), was extended in the twentieth ^century by Sergei Rachmaninoff , one of the last great romantic composers.

The composers of the twentieth ^century include world-renowned Alexander Scriabin , Igor Stravinsky , Sergei Rachmaninoff , Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. In Soviet times, the music was under constant surveillance of the regime, because it was a means of educating the masses Socialists, and it should not be influenced by official propaganda, "the bourgeois decadence." Russian conservatories have produced generations of world-renowned soloists. Among the best known are violinists David Oistrakh , Leonid Kogan and Gidon Kremer , cellist Mstislav Rostropovich , pianists Vladimir Horowitz , Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels and the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya.

Tchaikovsky composed the ballet in the world known as Swan Lake , Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. In the early twentieth ^century, Russian dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky became famous and travel abroad of Russian Ballet strongly influenced the development of dance worldwide. Soviet ballet preserved perfectly traditions of the nineteenth ^century and schools of choreography of the Soviet Union gave rise to large star , admired everywhere as Maya Plisetskaya , Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The ballet of the Bolshoi in Moscow and that of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg are universally popular.

While the film has often been considered a form of entertainment cheap flights to the popular classes, film production in Russia in 1917 was an important cultural role: immediately after the 1917 revolution, the Soviet cinema has explored the possibilities and the limits of the assembly with such films as Battleship Potemkin. The regime used this art form for the masses, but nevertheless he tried to do with new forms and great creativity. Soviet directors like Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky marked their times and had a great influence on contemporary filmmakers. Eisenstein was a student of theater director and theorist Lev Kuleshov , who developed the principles of film editing in the first film school created the world, the film institute of the Union in Moscow. In 1932, Stalin promulgated the socialist realism as the basis of Soviet art, which hampers creativity but many works produced at this time are as Chapayev artistic achievement, The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of the soldier.

The Soviet cinema was in crisis in the 1980s and 1990s. Russian filmmakers were no longer forced to confront the censorship , but the reductions in state subsidies will allow them to produce a small number of films. The beginning of the XXI ^century meanwhile was characterized by an increase in cinema admissions and consequently increased prosperity of the film industry.

• Patron and Collector

Pavel Tretyakov (1883), by Ilya Repin.

Pavel Tretyakov , patron , a collector of Russian art figurative and instigator of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Holidays and Celebrations

In addition to these holidays, there are many festivals corporations ( ). These days are not legal holidays, but most important are officially celebrated (12 April: Day of astronautics, May 28: Day of Border Guards, 5 October: Day of Teacher; November 10: Day of the police ...).

Codes

Russia has the following code:

• RS , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , alpha-2 code,
• UK , according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (list of country codes), code alpha-2
• RUS , in accordance with standard ISO 3166-1 code alpha-3 (list of country codes)
• RUS , according to the list of country codes IOC
• RUS , according to the list of international codes of plates
• RUS , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , code alpha-3,
• according to the list of prefixes ICAO airport codes ,
  • UU ,
  • UW ,

References

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