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Extensible Markup Language | 1995-06-13 | 15KB | 19 lines

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE card PUBLIC "-//Apple, Inc.//DTD card V 2.0//EN" "" > <card> <id>2235</id> <filler1>0</filler1> <cantDelete> <false /> </cantDelete> <showPict> <true /> </showPict> <dontSearch> <false /> </dontSearch> <owner>36278</owner> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet_3106.css" /> <content> <layer>background</layer> <id>13</id> <text>RUSSIAOfficial name: Rossiyskaya Federativnaya Respublika (Republic of the Russian Federation) or Rossiya (Russia)Member of: UN, CIS, OSCEArea: 17075400 km2 (6592800 sq mi)Population: 148000000 (1993 est)Capital: Moscow (Moskva) 8967000 (city 8769000; 1989 est)Other major cities: St Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg; formerly Leningrad) 5020000 (city 4456000), Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorky) 1438000, Novosibirsk 1436000, Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk) 1367000, Samara (formerly Kuybyshev) 1257000, Omsk 1148000, Chelyabinsk 1143000, Kazan 1094000, Perm 1091000, Ufa 1083000, Rostov 1020000, Volgograd 999000, Krasnoyarsk 912000, Saratov 905000, Voronezh 887000, Vladivostok 648000 (1989 est)Languages: Russian (83%), Tatar (4%), Ukrainian (3%), Chuvash (1%), Bashkir (1%), Belarussian (1%), Chechen (1%), plus more than 100 other languagesReligions: Orthodox (27%), with Sunni Islam, Jewish, Baptist and other minoritiesGOVERNMENTRussia is a federation of 21 republics and 68 other regions, which exercise varying degrees of self-government. An executive President, who appoints a Council of Ministers including a Prime Minister, is directly elected for a maximum of two five-year terms. The bicameral Federal Assemby is elected by universal adult suffrage for four years. The lower house (the State Duma) comprises 450 members, of whom 225 are elected by single member constituencies and 225 are elected from party lists under a system of proportional representation. The upper house, the Federal Council, comprises two members elected from each of the 89 republics and regions that comprise the Federation.GEOGRAPHYRussia is the largest country in the world and covers over 10% of the total land area of the globe. Most of the land between the Baltic and the Ural Mountains is covered by the North European Plain, south of which the relatively low-lying Central Russian Uplands stretch from the Ukrainian border to north of Moscow. To the east of the Urals is the vast West Siberian Lowland, the greater part of which is occupied by the basin of the River Ob and its tributaries. The Central Siberian Plateau ΓÇô between the Rivers Yenisey and Lena ΓÇô rises to around 1700 m (5500 ft). Beyond the Lena are the mountains of east Siberia, including the Chersky Mountains and the Kamchatka Peninsula. Much of the south of Siberia is mountainous. The Yablonovy and Stanovoy Mountains rise inland from the Amur Basin, which drains to the Pacific coast. The Altai Mountains lie south of Lake Baikal and along the border with Mongolia. Between the Black and Caspian Seas are the high Caucasus Mountains which rise to Elbrus at 5642 m (18 510 ft) on the Georgian border. The Kaliningrad enclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic is a detached part of Russia. Principal rivers: Yenisey-Angara-Selanga 5540 km (3442 mi), Ob-Irtysh 5409 km (3361 mi), Lena-Kirenga 4400 km (2734 mi), Amur-Argun 4345 km (2700 mi), Volga 3530 km (2193 mi). Climate: Russia has a wide range of climatic types, but most of the country is continental and experiences extremes of temperature. The Arctic north is a severe tundra region in which the subsoil is nearly always frozen. The forested taiga zone, to the south, has long hard winters and short summers. The steppes and the Central Russian Uplands have cold winters, but hot, dry summers. Between the Black and Caspian seas, conditions become almost Mediterranean. The Kaliningrad enclave has a more temperate climate than the rest of western Russia.ECONOMYRussia is one of the largest producers of coal, iron ore, steel, petroleum and cement. However, its economy is in crisis. The economic reforms (1985ΓÇô91) of Mikhail Gorbachov introduced decentralization to a centrally-planned economy. Since 1991, reform has been accelerated through the introduction of free market prices and the encouragement of private enterprise. However, lack of motivation in the labor force affects many sectors of the economy and poor distribution has resulted in shortages of many basic goods. Inflation became rampant after 1991, but RussiaΓÇÖs economic decline slowed in 1994. Manufacturing involves one third of the labor force and includes the steel, chemical, textile and heavy machinery industries. The production of consumer goods is not highly developed. Agriculture is large-scale and organized either into state-owned farms or collective farms, although the right to own and farm land privately has been introduced. Despite mechanization and the worldΓÇÖs largest fertilizer industry, Russia cannot produce enough grain for its needs, in part because of poor harvests, and poor storage and transport facilities. Major Russian crops include wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, sugar beet and fruit. Natural resources include the worldΓÇÖs largest reserves of coal, nearly one third of the worldΓÇÖs natural gas reserves, one third of the worldΓÇÖs forests, major deposits of manganese, gold, potash, bauxite, nickel, lead, zinc and copper, as well as plentiful sites for hydroelectric power installations. Machinery, petroleum and petroleum products are RussiaΓÇÖs major exports and the republic is self-sufficient in energy. Russia has a large trade surplus with the other former Soviet republics. Currency: Rouble.HISTORYThe earliest known homeland of the Slavs is thought to lie in the northern foothills of the Carpathians in Ukraine from whence the East Slavs migrated towards the Dnepr valley during the first millennium bc. The steppes to the north of the Black Sea were dominated by a series of nomadic peoples ΓÇô Sarmatians, Scythians, Huns, Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs and Mongols. RusΓÇÖ ΓÇô centered on Kiev ΓÇô was the ancestor of both Russia and Ukraine. It developed from the 9th century on the trade route linking the Baltic with the Black Sea. Its first princes were of Viking origin, though its population was largely East Slav. In ad 988, Grand Prince Volodymyr (Vladimir) of Kiev established Orthodox Christianity in RusΓÇÖ. Kiev subsequently declined, but other powerful centers grew up, including the mercantile republic of Novgorod (western Russia). In 1240, the principalities of RusΓÇÖ were destroyed by Tatar invasions.The city of Moscow (founded pre-1147) claimed the lands of RusΓÇÖ and created the first state to use the name Rossiya (Russia). Ivan III (reigned 1462ΓÇô1505) threw off the Tatar yoke and annexed MoscowΓÇÖs chief rival, Novgorod. He assumed the title of Tsar (Caesar). Claiming that Moscow was ΓÇÿthe Third RomeΓÇÖ ΓÇô after Constantinople ΓÇô he began a 500-year saga of imperial conquest unparalleled in European history. Ivan IV (ΓÇÿthe TerribleΓÇÖ; reigned 1533ΓÇô84) launched RussiaΓÇÖs expansion into Siberia, and in 1589 created the first Patriarch of Moscow, thus formalizing the separate existence of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Romanov dynasty, which ruled until 1917, emerged from the wars of the Time of Troubles (1598ΓÇô1613). In 1662, Muscovy annexed part of Ukraine from Poland. Peter I (ΓÇÿthe GreatΓÇÖ; reigned 1682ΓÇô1725) proclaimed himself Emperor and turned Russia into a great power by his victories over Sweden in the Great Northern War, by social and administrative reforms, by founding a new capital on the Baltic (St Petersburg) and by welcoming Western influence.In RussiaΓÇÖs imperial history, perpetual military conquests interlace with repeated bouts of failed internal reform. Catherine II (ΓÇÿthe GreatΓÇÖ; reigned 1762ΓÇô96) was responsible for the three partitions of Poland ΓÇô which brought more land and population ΓÇô and for increasing the privileges of the nobility and of the cities. Alexander I (reigned 1801ΓÇô25) dabbled with constitutional ideas, but was absorbed with the struggle against Napoleon I, who occupied Moscow in 1812. Under Nicholas I (reigned 1825ΓÇô55) ΓÇô the champion of autocracy, Orthodoxy and Russian nationalism ΓÇô a fierce reaction set in. Alexander II (ΓÇÿthe LiberatorΓÇÖ; reigned 1855ΓÇô81) emancipated the serfs, but suppressed the Polish rising of 1863ΓÇô64 with severity. Throughout the 19th century, the frontiers of the Russian Empire continued to expand ΓÇô into Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Far East ΓÇô and at the same time Russia attempted to increase its influence in southeast Europe at the expense of the declining Turkish Empire. These imperial tendencies sometimes led to confrontation with Western European powers. Alexander III (reigned 1881ΓÇô94) combined repression at home with restraint abroad. Under Nicholas II (reigned 1894ΓÇô1917), Russia saw rapid industrialization, rising prosperity, and (after 1906) limited constitutional reform, but his reign was cut short by World War I and the two Revolutions of February and October 1917.For details of the Russian Revolutions, the establishment of the USSR and the careers of Lenin and Stalin, see the Disk 1 of The Guinness Encyclopedia.In World War II ΓÇô in which up to 20 million Soviet citizens may have died ΓÇô the USSR at first concluded a pact with Hitler (1939), and invaded Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states, annexing considerable territory. However, in 1941 the Germans invaded the USSR. In victory the Soviet Union was confirmed as a world power, controlling a cordon of satellite states in Eastern Europe and challenging the West in the Cold War. However, the economy stagnated and the country was drained by the burdens of an impoverished and overstretched empire. Leonid Brezhnev (leader 1964ΓÇô82) reversed the brief thaw that had been experienced under Nikita Khrushchev (leader 1956ΓÇô64), and far-reaching reform had to await the policies of Mikhail Gorbachov (1931ΓÇô ) after 1985.Faced with severe economic reforms, Gorbachov attempted to introduce reconstruction (perestroika) and greater openness (glasnost) by implementing social, economic and industrial reforms. The state of the economy also influenced the desire to reduce military spending by reaching agreements on arms reduction with the West. Dissent was tolerated, a major reform of the constitution led to more open elections, and the Communist Party gave up its leading role. Many hardliners in the Communist Party were defeated by reformers (many of them non-Communists) in elections in 1989. The abandonment of the Brezhnev Doctrine ΓÇô the right of the USSR to intervene in the affairs of Warsaw Pact countries (as it had done militarily in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968) ΓÇô prompted rapid change in Eastern Europe, where one after another the satellite states renounced Communism and began to implement multi-party rule.From 1989 there were increased nationalistic stirrings within the USSR, particularly in the Baltic republics and the Caucasus. In August 1991, an attempt by a group of Communist hardliners to depose Gorbachov was defeated by the resistance of Russian President Boris Yeltsin (1931ΓÇô ) and by the refusal of the army to take action against unarmed civilian protesters. The opposition of Yeltsin and the Russian parliament to the coup greatly enhanced the status and powers of Russia and the 14 other Union Republics. Fourteen of the 15 republics declared independence and the secession of the three Baltic republics was recognized internationally. The remaining republics began to renegotiate their relationship. Gorbachov suspended the Communist Party and ΓÇô with Yeltsin ΓÇô initiated far-reaching political and economic reforms. However, it was too late to save the Soviet Union, whose fate was sealed by the refusal of Ukraine, the second most important of the republics, to participate in the new looser Union proposed by Gorbachov. By the end of 1991 the initiative had passed from Gorbachov to Yeltsin, who was instrumental in establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a military and economic grouping of sovereign states that eventually included all the former Union republics except the Baltic states.After Gorbachov resigned and the Soviet Union was dissolved (December 1991). Russia took over the international responsibilities of the USSR, but faced a severe economic crisis and a constitutional crisis as Communist hardliners in the Congress disputed power with President Yeltsin. The constitutional dispute came to a head in 1993, when a core of Communist and nationalist hardliners organized an armed uprising in the parliament building in Moscow. After the parliamentary uprising was put down by army intervention, Yeltsin introduced a new constitution which concentrates power in the presidentΓÇÖs hands. However, extreme right-wing nationalists and hardline Communists gained considerable support in multi-party elections to the new Federal Assembly in December 1993. Support for Yeltsin further decreased when, against Russian public and parliamentary opinion, the Russian army crushed the rebel Caucasian republic of ChechenyaΓÇÖs bid to secede from the Russian Federation (1995). Russia has, however, regained much influence with CIS members, for example, as the center of a ΓÇÿrouble zoneΓÇÖ. Russia has also organized ceasefires in Nagorno Karabkh (which is disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan) and in the Abkhazian region of Georgia, maintained peace-keeping troops in Tajikistan and the Trans-Dnestr region of Moldova, and concluded an economic and monetary union with Belarus.</text> </content> <name>Russia</name> <script></script> </card>