Russia (Russian: ?????´?, Rossiya),
also[3] the Russian Federation (?????´????? ??????´???,
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; listen (help·info)), is a transcontinental
country extending over much of northern Eurasia. It is a semi-presidential
republic comprising 84 federal subjects. Russia shares land borders
with the following countries (counter-clockwise from northwest to
southeast): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (Kaliningrad
Oblast), Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It is also
close to the U.S. state of Alaska, Sweden, Turkey across the Black
Sea, and Japan across relatively small stretches of water (the Bering
Strait, the Baltic Sea, and La Pérouse Strait, respectively).
At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is by
far the largest country in the world, covering more than an eighth
of the Earth’s land area; with 142 million people, it is the
ninth largest by population. It extends across the whole of northern
Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning 11 time zones and incorporating
a great range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's
largest mineral and energy resources,[4] and is considered an energy
superpower. It has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes
contain approximately one-quarter of the world's unfrozen fresh
water.[5]
The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs. The Slavs
emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th
centuries AD.[6] Founded and ruled by Vikings and their descendants,
the first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century
and adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988,[7] beginning
the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian
culture for the next millennium.[7] Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated
and the lands were divided into many small feudal Russian states.
The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was Moscow, which
gradually absorbed the surrounding principalities and came to dominate
the cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus'. By the 18th century,
the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation and
exploration to become the huge Russian Empire, stretching from Poland
eastward to the Pacific Ocean.
Russia established worldwide power and influence from the times
of the Russian Empire to being the leading constituent of the Soviet
Union, the world's first and largest Communist state, and can boast
a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts and sciences.[6]
The Russian Federation was founded following the dissolution of
the Soviet Union in 1991, but was recognized as a Soviet Union's
successor state continuing its legal personality[8][9][10]. Thus
Russia continued the implementation of all international rights
and the implementation of international commitments USSR. Russia
is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and
a leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the
G8. It is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and
possesses the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
Contents [hide]
1 Geography
1.1 Topography
1.2 Climate
2 History
2.1 Early periods
2.2 Kievan Rus
2.3 Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia
2.4 Imperial Russia
2.5 Soviet Russia
2.6 Russian Federation
3 Government and politics
4 Subdivisions
5 Foreign relations and military
6 Economy
7 Demographics
7.1 Education
7.2 Health
7.3 Language
7.4 Religion
8 Culture
8.1 Classical music and ballet
8.2 Literature
8.3 Motion pictures
8.4 Visual arts
8.5 Sports
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
Geography
Main article: Geography of Russia
The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the
super-continent of Eurasia. Because of its size, Russia displays
both monotony and diversity. As with its topography, its climates,
vegetation, and soils span vast distances.[11] From north to south
the East European Plain is clad sequentially in tundra, coniferous
forest (taiga), mixed and broad-leaf forests, grassland (steppe),
and semi-desert (fringing the Caspian Sea) as the changes in vegetation
reflect the changes in climate. Siberia supports a similar sequence
but is taiga. The country contains 23 World Heritage Sites[12] and
39 UNESCO Biosphere reserves.[13]
Topography
The two widest separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (5,000
mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: the boundary
with Poland on a 60 km long (40-mi long) spit of land separating
the Gulf of Gdansk from the Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast
of the Kuril Islands, a few miles off Hokkaido Island, Japan. The
points which are furthest separated in longitude are 6,600 km (4,100
mi) apart along a geodesic. These points are: in the West, the same
spit; in the East, the Big Diomede Island (Ostrov Ratmanova). The
Russian Federation spans 11 time zones.
Russia has the world's largest forest reserves[5] and is known
as "the lungs of Europe,"[14] second only to the Amazon
Rainforest in the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs. It provides
a huge amount of oxygen for not just Europe, but the world. With
access to three of the world's oceans—the Atlantic, Arctic,
and Pacific—Russian fishing fleets are a major contributor
to the world's fish supply.[15] The Caspian is the source of what
is considered the finest caviar in the world.
Map of the Russian Federation
TopographyMost of Russia consists of vast stretches of plains that
are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the
north, with tundra along the northern coast. Mountain ranges are
found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing
Mount Elbrus, Russia's and Europe's highest point at 5,642 m / 18,511
ft) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk
Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka. The Ural Mountains form a north-south
range that divides Europe and Asia, rich in mineral resources. Russia
possesses 8.9% of the world's arable land.[16]
Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 kilometers (23,000
mi) along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Baltic,
Black and Caspian seas.[1] The Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea,
Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and the
Sea of Japan are linked to Russia. Major islands and archipelagos
include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands,
Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The Diomede Islands
(one controlled by Russia, the other by the United States) are just
three kilometers (1.9 mi) apart, and Kunashir Island is about twenty
kilometers (12 mi) from Hokkaido.
Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water, providing
it with one of the world's largest surface water resources. The
most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake Baikal,
the world's deepest, purest and most capacious freshwater lake.[17]
Lake Baikal alone contains over one fifth of the world's fresh surface
water.[18] Of its 100,000 rivers,[19] The Volga is the most famous—not
only because it is the longest river in Europe but also because
of its major role in Russian history. Major lakes include Lake Baikal,
Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. Russia has a wide natural resource base
including major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, timber
and mineral resources unmatched by any other country.[1][20]
Climate
The climate of the Russian Federation formed under the influence
of several determining factors. The enormous size of the country
and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance
of the continental climate, which is prevalent in European and Asian
Russia except for the tundra and the extreme southeast.[11] Mountains
in the south obstructing the flow of warm air masses from the Indian
Ocean and the plain of the west and north makes the country open
to Arctic and Atlantic influences.[21]
Throughout much of the territory there are only two distinct seasons
— winter and summer; spring and autumn are usually brief periods
of change between extremely low temperatures and extremely high.[21]
The coldest month is January (on the shores of the sea—February),
the warmest usually is July. Great ranges of temperature are typical.[11]
In winter, temperatures get colder both from south to north and
from west to east.[11] Summers can be quite hot and humid, even
in Siberia. A small part of Black Sea coast around Sochi is considered
in Russia to have subtropical climate.[22] The continental interiors
are the driest areas.
History
Main article: History of Russia
Early periods
Main articles: Proto-Indo-Europeans, Scythians, Bosporan Kingdom,
and Khazaria
Kurgan hypothesis: South Russia as the urheimat of Indo-European
peoplesThe vast steppes of Southern Russia were home to disunited
tribes, such as Proto-Indo-Europeans[23] and Scythians.[24] Remnants
of these steppe civilizations were discovered in the course of the
20th century in such places as Ipatovo,[24] Sintashta,[25] Arkaim,[26]
and Pazyryk.[27] In the latter part of the eighth century BC, Greek
merchants brought classical civilization to the trade emporiums
in Tanais and Phanagoria.[28] Between the third and sixth centuries
BC, the Bosporan Kingdom, a Hellenistic polity which succeeded the
Greek colonies,[29] was overwhelmed by successive waves of nomadic
invasions,[30] led by warlike tribes, such as the Huns and Turkic
Avars. A Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the lower Volga basin
steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas through to the 8th century.[31]
An approximate map of the cultures in European Russia at the arrival
of the VarangiansThe ancestors of modern Russians are the Slavic
tribes, whose original home is thought by some scholars to have
been the wooded areas of the Pinsk Marshes.[32] Moving into the
lands vacated by the migrating Germanic tribes, the Early East Slavs
gradually settled Western Russia in two waves: one moving from Kiev
toward present-day Suzdal and Murom and another from Polotsk toward
Novgorod and Rostov.[33] From the 7th century onwards, the East
Slavs constituted the bulk of the population in Western Russia[33]
and slowly but peacefully assimilated the native Finno-Ugric tribes,
including the Merya,[34] the Muromians,[35] and the Meshchera.[36]
Kievan Rus
Main article: Kievan Rus
Kievan Rus' in the 11th centuryScandinavian Norsemen, called "Vikings"
in Western Europe and "Varangians" in the East,[37] combined
piracy and trade in their roamings over much of Northern Europe.
In the mid-9th century, they ventured along the waterways extending
from the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas.[38] According
to the earliest Russian chronicle, a Varangian named Rurik was elected
ruler (konung or knyaz) of Novgorod around the year 860;[7] his
successors moved south and extended their authority to Kiev,[39]
which had been previously dominated by the Khazars.[40]
In the tenth to eleventh centuries this state of Kievan Rus' became
the largest and most prosperous in Europe.[41] In the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes,
such as the Kipchaks and the Pechenegs, caused a massive migration
of Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of
the north, particularly to the area known as Zalesye.[42] Like many
other parts of Eurasia, these territories were overrun by the Mongols.
The invaders, later known as Tatars, formed the state of the Golden
Horde, which pillaged the Russian principalities and ruled the southern
and central expanses of Russia for over three centuries. Mongol
rule retarded the country's economic and social development.[43]
However, the Novgorod Republic together with Pskov retained some
degree of autonomy during the time of the Mongol yoke and was largely
spared the atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Led
by Alexander Nevsky, Novgorodians repelled the Germanic crusaders
who attempted to colonize the region. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated
as a state because of in-fighting between members of the princely
family that ruled it collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the
benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east, Novgorod in the north-west,
and Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west. Conquest by the Golden Horde
in the 13th century was the final blow and resulted in the destruction
of Kiev in 1240.[44] Galicia-Volhynia was eventually absorbed into
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,[7] while the Mongol-dominated
Vladimir-Suzdal and the independent Novgorod Republic, two regions
on the periphery of Kiev, established the basis for the modern Russian
nation.[7]
Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia
Main articles: Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia
The growth of Russia, 1300—1796
A scene from medieval Russian historyThe most powerful successor
state to Kievan Rus' was Grand Duchy of Moscow. It would annex rivals
such as Tver and Novgorod, and eventually become the basis of the
modern Russian state. After the downfall of Constantinople in 1453,
Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire.
While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their
connivance, the Duchy of Moscow (or "Muscovy") began to
assert its influence in Western Russia in the early fourteenth century.
Assisted by the Russian Orthodox Church and Saint Sergius of Radonezh's
spiritual revival, Russia inflicted a defeat on the Mongol-Tatars
in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). Ivan III (Ivan the Great) eventually
tossed off the control of the invaders, consolidated surrounding
areas under Moscow's dominion and first took the title "grand
duke of all the Russias".[45]
In 1547, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) was officially crowned the
first Tsar of Russia. During his long reign, Ivan IV annexed the
Tatar khanates (Kazan, Astrakhan) along the Volga River and transformed
Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. Ivan IV promulgated
a new code of laws (Sudebnik of 1550), established the first Russian
feudal representative body (Zemsky Sobor) and introduced local self-management
into the rural regions.[46][47] But Ivan IV's rule was also marked
by the long and unsuccessful Livonian War against the coalition
of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden for the access to the Baltic coast
and sea trade.[48] The military losses, epidemics, and poor harvests[49]
weakened the state, and the Crimean Tatars were able to burn down
Moscow.[50] The death of Ivan's sons, combined with the famine (1601–1603),[51]
led to the civil war and foreign intervention of the Time of Troubles
in the early 1600s.[52] By the middle of the seventeenth century
there were Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia, on the Chukchi
Peninsula, along the Amur River, and on the Pacific coast. The strait
between North America and Asia was first sighted by a Russian explorer
in 1648.
Imperial Russia
Main article: Russian Empire
Peter the Great officially proclaimed the existence of the Russian
Empire in 1721Under the Romanov dynasty and Peter I (Peter the Great),
the Russian Empire was officially founded. Ruling from 1682 to 1725,
Peter defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War, forcing it to cede
West Karelia and Ingria (two regions lost by Russia in the Time
of Troubles[53]), Estland, and Livland, securing Russia's access
to the sea and sea trade.[54] It was in Ingria that Peter founded
a new capital, Saint Petersburg. Peter's reforms brought considerable
Western European cultural influences to Russia. Catherine II (Catherine
the Great), who ruled from 1762 to 1796, continued the efforts at
establishing Russia as one of the Great power of Europe. In alliance
with Prussia and Austria, Russia stood against Napoleon's France
and eliminated its rival Poland-Lithuania in a series of partitions,
gaining large areas of territory in the west. As a result of its
victories in the Russo-Turkish War, by the early 19th century Russia
had made significant territorial gains in Transcaucasia. Napoleon's
invasion failed miserably as obstinate Russian resistance combined
with the bitterly cold Russian winter dealt him a disastrous defeat,
from which more than 95% of his invading force perished.[55] However,
the officers of the Napoleonic Wars brought back to Russia the ideas
of liberalism and even attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during
the abortive Decembrist revolt of 1825, which was followed by several
decades of political repression.
Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
The Russian Empire in 1866 and its spheres of influenceThe prevalence
of serfdom and the conservative policies of Nicolas I impeded the
development of Russia in the mid-nineteenth century. Nicholas's
successor Alexander II (1855–1881) enacted significant reforms,
including the abolition of serfdom in 1861; these "Great Reforms"
spurred industrialization. However, many socio-economic conflicts
were aggravated during Alexander III’s reign and under his
son, Nicholas II. Harsh conditions in factories created mass support
for the revolutionary socialist movement. In January, 1905 striking
workers peaceably demonstrated for reforms in Saint Petersburg but
were fired upon by troops, killing and wounding hundreds. The event,
known as "Bloody Sunday", ignited the Russian Revolution
of 1905. Although the uprising was swiftly put down by the army
and he retained much of his power, Nicholas II was forced to concede
major reforms including granting the freedoms of speech and assembly,
legalization of political parties and the creation of an elected
legislative assembly, the Duma, however basic improvements in the
lives of industrial workers were unfulfilled.
Russia entered World War I in the aid of its ally Serbia and fought
a war across three fronts. Although the army was far from defeated
in 1916, the already existing public distrust of the regime was
deepened by the rising costs of war, casualties, and tales of corruption
and even treason in high places, leading to the outbreak of the
Russian Revolution of 1917. A series of uprisings were organized
by workers and peasants throughout the country, as well as by soldiers
in the Russian army, who were mainly of peasant origin. Many of
the uprisings were organized and led by democratically elected councils
called Soviets. The February Revolution overthrew the Russian monarchy,
which was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that
declared itself the Provisional Government. The abdication marked
the end of imperial rule in Russia, and Nicholas and his family
were imprisoned and later executed during the Civil War. While initially
receiving the support of the Soviets, the Provisional Government
proved unable to resolve many problems which had led to the February
Revolution. The second revolution, the October Revolution, led by
Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government and created
the world’s first Communist state.
Soviet Russia
Main articles: History of the Soviet Union and Russian SFSR
Vladimir LeninFollowing the October Revolution, a civil war broke
out between the new regime and its opponents, the moderate socialist
parties—the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks—
and a loose confederation of counter-revolutionary forces known
as the White movement. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, a peace treaty
signed by the Central Powers with Soviet Russia, concluded hostilities
between those countries in World War I. Russia lost its Polish and
Baltic territories, and Finland by signing the treaty. The Allied
powers of World War I launched a military intervention in support
of anti-Communist forces. Both the Bolsheviks and White movement
carried out campaigns of mass arrests, deportations, and executions
against each other, known respectively as the Red Terror and White
Terror. The Bolsheviks instituted "War communism" in order
to requisition food for the army and cities, resulting in mass starvation
and peasant resistance. By 1921, Bolshevik forces brought most of
the territories lost from the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk under their
control.[56] However, Russia had been at war for 7 years, during
which time some 16 million of its people had lost their lives, with
the Civil War taking an estimated 7–10 million of them.[57]
At the end of the Civil War, the economy and infrastructure were
devastated.
Soviet soldiers fighting in the ruins of Stalingrad, 1942, the bloodiest
battle in human history and the turning point in World War IIFollowing
victory in the Civil War, the Russian SFSR together with three other
Soviet republics formed the Soviet Union on December 30, 1922.[58]
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic dominated the Soviet
Union for its entire 74-year history; the USSR was often referred
to as "Russia" and its people as "Russians."
The largest of the republics, Russia contributed over half the population
of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks introduced free universal health
care, education and social-security benefits, as well as the right
to work and housing. Women's rights were greatly increased through
new laws aimed to wipe away centuries-old inequalities.[59] Notably,
Russia became the first country in the world with full freedom of
divorce and legalized abortion. After Lenin's death in 1924 a Georgian
named Joseph Stalin consolidated power and became dictator.[58]
Stalin launched a command economy, forced rapid industrialization
of the largely rural country and collectivization of its agriculture.
While the Soviet Union transformed from an agrarian economy to a
major industrial powerhouse in a short span of time, hardships and
famine ensued for many millions of people as a result of the severe
economic upheaval and party policies. At the end of 1930s, Stalin
launched the Great Purges, a major campaign of repression against
millions of people who were suspected of being a threat to the party
were executed or exiled to Gulag labor camps in remote areas of
Siberia or Central Asia. A number of ethnic groups in Russia were
also forcibly resettled.
Soviet soldiers raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag during
the Battle of Berlin on April 30, 1945; symbolic of the fall of
Nazi GermanyOn June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union,
opening the largest theater of the Second World War and beginning
what became known in the USSR as the Great Patriotic War, the largest
theatre of war in history in terms of numbers of soldiers, equipment
and casualties and notorious for its unprecedented ferocity, destruction,
and immense loss of life. The conflict became the deadliest in World
War II, with over 5.5 million deaths amongst the Axis Forces and
10.6 million Soviet military deaths and civilian deaths were about
15.9 million.[60] 2.8-3.5 million Soviet prisoners of war died in
German captivity.[61] Although the German army had considerable
success early on, they suffered defeats after reaching the outskirts
of Moscow and were dealt their first major defeat at the Battle
of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943. Soviet forces drove
through Eastern Europe in 1944–45 and captured Berlin in May,
1945. Although the Soviet Union was victorious, an estimated 27
million of its people were killed,[62][63] accounting for half of
all World War II casualties and the vast majority of Allied deaths.
The Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation.[64]
However, the Soviet Union had emerged as an acknowledged superpower.
The Red Army had occupied Eastern Europe after the war, including
the eastern half of Germany; Stalin installed communist governments
in these satellite states. Becoming the world's second nuclear weapons
power, the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact alliance and
entered into a struggle for global dominance with the United States,
which became known as the Cold War.
First human in space, Yuri Gagarin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This media has an uncertain copyright status and is pending deletion.
You can comment on the removal.Under Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev,
the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite,
Sputnik 1 and the Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first
human being to orbit the Earth aboard the first manned spacecraft,
Vostok 1. Tensions with the United States heightened when the two
rivals clashed over the deployment of the U.S. Jupiter missiles
in Turkey and Soviet missiles in Cuba. Following the ousting of
Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued
until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as
the pre-eminent figure in Soviet politics. Brezhnev's rule oversaw
economic stagnation and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which
dragged on without success and with continuing casualties inflicted
by insurgents, and Soviet citizens became increasingly discontented
with the war, ultimately leading to the withdrawal of Soviet forces
by 1989.
From 1985 onwards, the reformist Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the
landmark policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring),
in an attempt to modernize the country. Glasnost meant that the
harsh restrictions on free speech that had characterized most of
the Soviet Union's existence were removed and open political discourse
and criticism of the government became possible. Perestroika was
a program of economic reforms designed to decentralize the Soviet
planned economy. However, the reforms put in motion forces of change
that threatened Communist Party hegemony while provoking strong
resentment amongst conservatives. The last years of the USSR were
characterized by shortages of goods in grocery stores, huge budget
deficits and explosive growth in money supply leading to inflation.[65]
In August 1991, an unsuccessful military coup against Gorbachev
aimed at preserving the Soviet Union instead led to its collapse.
In Russia, Boris Yeltsin came to power and declared the end of exclusive
Communist rule. The USSR soon splintered into fifteen independent
republics and was officially dissolved in December 1991. Boris Yeltsin
was elected the President of Russia in June 1991, in the first direct
presidential election in Russian history.
Russian Federation
Main article: History of post-Soviet Russia
During and after the disintegration of the USSR, the Russian economy
went through a major crisis, with GDP declining by roughly 50 percent
between 1990 and the end of 1995.[66] In October 1991, Yeltsin announced
that Russia would proceed with radical, market-oriented reform along
the lines of "shock therapy", as recommended by the United
States and International Monetary Fund.[67][68] Price controls were
abolished, privatization was started. GDP declined by 37 percent
between 1992 and 1996[69] and millions were plunged into poverty.
According to the World Bank, whereas 1.5% of the population was
living in poverty in the late Soviet era, by mid-1993 between 39%
and 49% of the population was living in poverty.[70] Russia took
up the responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, even
though its population made up just half of the population of the
USSR at the time of its dissolution.[71] The privatization process
largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to groups
of individuals with inside connections in the Government and the
mafia. Violent criminal groups often took over state enterprises,
clearing the way through assassinations or extortion. Corruption
of government officials became an everyday rule of life. Many of
the newly rich mobsters and businesspeople took billions in cash
and assets outside of the country in an enormous capital flight.[72]
The long and wrenching depression was coupled with social decay.
The early and mid-1990s was marked by extreme lawlessness. Criminal
gangs and organized crime flourished and murders and other violent
crime spiraled out of control.[73] The severe hardships and decline
in the standard of living suffered by the population led to a resurgence
of support for the Communist Party. In 1993 a constitutional crisis
pushed Russia to the brink of civil war. President Boris Yeltsin
illegally dissolved the country's legislature which opposed his
moves to consolidate power and push forward with unpopular neo-liberal
reforms; in response, legislators barricaded themselves inside the
White House and major protests against Yeltsin's government resulted
in the most deadly street fighting seen in Moscow since the October
Revolution. With military support, Yeltsin sent the army to besiege
the parliament building and used tanks and artillery to eject the
legislators.
Modern Moscow-City under construction. Moscow is the world's most
expensive city to live in.[74]The 1990s were plagued by armed ethnic
conflicts in the North Caucasus.[75] Such conflicts took a form
of separatist Islamist insurrections against federal power (most
notably in Chechnya), or of ethnic/clan conflicts between local
groups (e.g., in North Ossetia-Alania between Ossetians and Ingushs,
or between different clans in Chechnya).[75] Since the Chechen separatists
declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla
war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between
disparate Chechen groups and the Russian military.[75] Bloody terrorist
attacks against civilians carried out by Chechen separatists, most
notably the Russian apartment bombings, Moscow theater hostage crisis
and Beslan school siege, caused hundreds of deaths and drew worldwide
attention. High budget deficits caused the financial crisis of 1998.[76]
On December 31, 1999 Boris Yeltsin resigned from the presidency,
handing the post to the recently appointed prime minister, Vladimir
Putin, who then won the 2000 election. Putin won popularity for
suppressing the Chechen insurgency, although sporadic violence still
occurs throughout the North Caucasus.[1] High oil prices and initially
weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption
and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years,
alleviating the standard of living and increasing Russia's clout
on the world stage.[1] While many reforms made under Putin’s
rule have been generally criticized by Western nations as un-democratic,[77]
Putin's leadership over the return of stability and progress has
won him widespread popularity in Russia.[78]
Government and politics
Main articles: Government of Russia and Politics of Russia
Interior courtyard of the Kremlin Senate, part of the Moscow Kremlin
and the working residence of the Russian presidentAccording to the
Constitution, which was adopted by national referendum on December
12, 1993 following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Russia
is a federation and a presidential republic, wherein the President
of Russia is the head of state[79] and the Prime Minister of Russia
is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government.[80]
Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers
of the Federal Assembly of Russia.[81]
The president is elected by popular vote for a four-year term[82]
(eligible for a second term but constitutionally barred for a third
consecutive term);[83] election last held 14 March 2004 (next to
be held 2 March 2008). Ministries of the government are composed
of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals;
all are appointed by the president. The national legislature is
the Federal Assembly, which consists of two chambers; the 450-member
State Duma[84] and the 176-member Federation Council. According
to the Constitution of Russia, constitutional justice in the court
is based on the equality of all citizens,[85] judges are independent
and subject only to the law,[86] trials are to be open and the accused
is guaranteed a defense.[87] Leading political parties in Russia
include United Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic
Party of Russia and Fair Russia.
Subdivisions
Main article: Subdivisions of Russia
Federal subjects
The Russian Federation comprises 84 federal subjects.[88] These
subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in
the Federation Council.[89] However, they differ in the degree of
autonomy they enjoy.
47 oblasts (provinces): most common type of federal subjects, with
federally appointed governor and locally elected legislature.
21 republics: nominally autonomous; each has its own constitution,
president, and parliament. Republics are allowed to establish their
own official language alongside Russian but are represented by the
federal government in international affairs. Republics are meant
to be home to specific ethnic minorities.
Eight krais (territories): essentially the same as oblasts. The
"territory" designation is historic, originally given
to frontier regions and later also to administrative divisions that
comprised autonomous okrugs or autonomous oblasts.
Five autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts): originally autonomous
entities within oblasts and krais created for ethnic minorities,
their status was elevated to that of federal subjects in the 1990s.
With the exception of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, all autonomous
okrugs are still administratively subordinated to a krai or an oblast
of which they are a part.
One autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast): originally
autonomous oblasts were administrative units subordinated to krais.
In 1990, all of them except the Jewish AO were elevated in status
to that of a republic.
Two federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg): major cities that
function as separate regions.
Federal districts and economic regions
Federal subjects are grouped into seven federal districts, each
administered by an envoy appointed by the President of Russia.[90]
Unlike the federal subjects, the federal districts are not a subnational
level of government, but are a level of administration of the federal
government. Federal districts' envoys serve as liaisons between
the federal subjects and the federal government and are primarily
responsible for overseeing the compliance of the federal subjects
with the federal laws. For economic and statistical purposes the
federal subjects are grouped into twelve economic regions.[91] Economic
regions and their parts sharing common economic trends are in turn
grouped into economic zones and macrozones.
Map of the federal subjects of the Russian Federation
Foreign relations and military
Main articles: Foreign relations of Russia and Armed Forces of the
Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin and George Bush signing SORTThe Russian Federation
is recognized in international law as continuing the legal personality
of the former Soviet Union.[8] Russia continues to implement the
international commitments of the USSR, and has assumed the USSR's
permanent seat on the UN Security Council, membership in other international
organizations, the rights and obligations under international treaties
and property and debts. Russia has a multifaceted foreign policy.
It maintains diplomatic relations with 178 countries and has 140
embassies.[92] Russia's foreign policy is determined by the President
and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[93]
As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia
plays a major role in maintaining international peace and security,
and plays a major role in resolving international conflicts by participating
in the Quartet on the Middle East, the Six-party talks with North
Korea, promoting the resolution of the Kosovo conflict and resolving
nuclear proliferation issues. Russia is a member of the Group of
Eight (G8) industrialized nations, the Council of Europe, OSCE and
APEC. Russia usually takes a leading role in regional organizations
such as the CIS, EurAsEC, CSTO, and the SCO. President Vladimir
Putin has advocated a strategic partnership with close integration
in various dimensions including establishment of four common spaces
between Russia and the EU.[94] Since the collapse of the Soviet
Union, Russia has developed a friendlier, albeit volatile relationship
with NATO. The NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002 to allow
the 26 Allies and Russia to work together as equal partners to pursue
opportunities for joint collaboration.[95]
Russian paratroopers at an exercise in KazakhstanRussia assumed
control of Soviet assets abroad and most of the Soviet Union's production
facilities and defense industries are located in the country.[96]
The Russian military is divided into the Ground Forces, Navy, and
Air Force. There are also three independent arms of service: Strategic
Rocket Forces, Military Space Forces, and the Airborne Troops. In
2006, the military had 1.037 million personnel on active duty.[97]
Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world.[98]
It has the second largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines
and is the only country apart from the U.S. with a modern strategic
bomber force.[98] The country has a large and fully indigenous arms
industry, producing all of its own military equipment. Russia is
the world's top supplier of weapons, a spot it has held since 2001,
accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales[99] and exporting
weapons to about 80 countries.[100] Following the Soviet practice,
it is mandatory for all male citizens aged 18–27 to be drafted
for two years' Armed Forces service, though various problems associated
with this is why the armed forces are from 2008 reducing the conscription
term from 18 months to 12, and plan to increase contract servicemen
to compose 70% of the armed forces by 2010.[1] Defense expenditure
has quadrupled over the past six years.[101] Official government
military spending for 2007 was $32.4 billion, though various sources,
including US intelligence,[102] and the International Institute
for Strategic Studies,[97] have estimated Russia’s military
expenditures to be considerably higher.[103] Currently, the military
is undergoing a major equipment upgrade with about $200 billion
(what equals to about $400 billion in PPP dollars) on procurement
of military equipment between 2006 and 2015.[104]
Economy
Main article: Economy of Russia
A Rosneft petrol station. Russia is the world's leading natural
gas exporter and the second leading oil exporter.
Soyuz TMA-2 moves to launch pad, before carrying the first resident
crew to the International Space StationSince the turn of the century,
rising oil prices, increased foreign investment, higher domestic
consumption and greater political stability have bolstered economic
growth in Russia. The country ended 2007 with its ninth straight
year of growth, averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis
of 1998.[1] In 2007, Russia's GDP was $2.076 trillion (est. PPP),
the 7th highest in the world, with GDP rising 8.1%[105] from the
previous year. Growth was primarily driven by non-traded services
and goods for the domestic market, as opposed to oil or mineral
extraction and exports.[1] Approximately 12.5% of Russians remained
below the federally-designated poverty line in 2007,[106] though
this is significantly down from 39%-49% in 1993.[70] The average
salary in Russia was $540 (about $920 PPP) per month in August 2007,
up from $65 per month in August 1999.[107]
Russia has the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second
largest coal reserves and the eighth largest oil reserves. It is
the world's leading natural gas exporter and the second leading
oil exporter. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more
than 80% of Russian exports abroad.[1] Since 2003, however, exports
of natural resources started decreasing in economic importance as
the internal market strengthened considerably.[75] Despite higher
energy prices, oil and gas only contribute to 5.7% of Russia's GDP
and the government predicts this will drop to 3.7% by 2011.[108]
Russia is also considered well ahead of most other resource-rich
countries in its economic development, with a long tradition of
education, science, and industry.[109]
In the first half of 2007, foreign investment in the Russian economy
doubled year-on-year, reaching $60.3 billion.[110] In 2000 total
investment in fixed assets was $40 billion, giving growth of 300%
by 2006 when it reached $120 billion.[108] A simpler, more streamlined
tax code adopted in 2001 reduced the tax burden on people, and dramatically
increased state revenue.[111] Russia has a flat personal income
tax rate of 13 percent. This ranks it as the country with the second
most attractive personal tax system for single managers in the world
after the United Arab Emirates, according to a 2007 survey by investment
services firm Mercer Human Resource Consulting.[112][113] The federal
budget has run surpluses since 2001 and ended 2007 with a surplus
of 6% of GDP.[1] Over the past several years, Russia has used oil
revenues from its Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation to
prepay all Soviet-era sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and
the IMF.[1] Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase
its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $470 billion
at the end of 2007, the third largest reserves in the world.[1]
The country has also been able to substantially reduce its formerly
massive foreign debt.[114]
Russia has more higher education graduates than any other country
in EuropeThe economic development of the country though has been
uneven geographically with the Moscow region contributing a disproportionately
high amount of the country's GDP.[75] Much of Russia, especially
indigenous and rural communities in Siberia, lags significantly
behind. Nevertheless, the middle class has grown from just 8 million
persons in 2000 to 55 million persons in 2006.[115] Russia is home
to the second largest number of billionaires in the world after
the United States, gaining 40 billionaires in 2007 for a total of
101.[116]
Over the last five years, fixed capital investments have averaged
real gains greater than 10% per year and personal incomes have achieved
real gains more than 12% per year.[1] During this time, poverty
has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand.[1]
Russia has also improved its international financial position since
the 1998 financial crisis.[1] Equal redistribution of capital gains
from the natural resource industries to other sectors is still a
problem.[75] A principal factor in Russia's growth has been the
combination of strong growth in productivity, real wages, and consumption.[117]
Despite the country's strong economic performance since 1999, however,
the World Bank lists several challenges facing the Russian economy
including diversifying the economy, encouraging the growth of small
and medium enterprises, building human capital and improving corporate
governance.[20]
Demographics
Main article: Demography of Russia
Ethnic composition (2002) [118]
Russians 79.8%
Tatars 3.8%
Ukrainians 2.0%
Chuvash 1.1%
Chechen 0.9%
Armenians 0.8%
Other/unspecified 10.3%
Demography 1992–2007. Number of inhabitants in millions[119]In
July 2007, the population of Russia was estimated to be 141,377,752.[1]
The Russian Federation is a diverse, multiethnic society, home to
as many as 160 different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples.[120]
Though Russia's population is comparatively large, its population
density is low because of its enormous size;[121] its population
is densest in European Russia, near the Ural Mountains, and in the
southwest Siberia.
73% of the population live in urban areas.[122] As of the 2002
Census, the two largest cities in Russia are Moscow (10,126,424
inhabitants) and Saint Petersburg (4,661,219). Eleven other cities
have between one and two million inhabitants: Chelyabinsk, Kazan,
Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara,
Ufa, Volgograd, and Yekaterinburg. In 2006, 186,380 migrants arrived
to the Russian Federation of which 95% came from CIS countries.[123]
There are also an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants from the
ex-Soviet states in Russia.[124]
According to most sources, Russia's population peaked in 1991 at
148,689,000.[125] In 2006, the federal statistics agency reported
that Russia's population shrunk by about 700,000 people, dipping
to 142.8 million.[126] The primary causes of Russia's population
decrease are a high death rate and low birth rate. While Russia's
birth-rate is comparable to that of other European countries (Russia's
birth rate is 10.92 per 1000 people compared to the European Union
average of 10.00 per 1000)[127] its population declines at much
greater rate due to a substantially higher death rate (Russia's
death rate is 16.04 per 1000 people compared to the European Union
average of 10.00 per 1000).[128] However, the Russian health ministry
predicts that by 2011, the death rate will equal the birth rate
due to increases in fertility and decline in mortality.[129]
Rank Core City Federal Subject Pop. Rank Core City Federal Subject
Pop.
Moscow
Saint Petersburg
Novosibirsk
1 Moscow MOW 10,126,424 11 Ufa BA 1,042,437
2 Saint Petersburg SPE 4,661,219 12 Volgograd VGG 1,011,417
3 Novosibirsk NVS 1,425,508 13 Perm PER 1,001,653
4 Nizhny Novgorod NIZ 1,311,252 14 Krasnoyarsk KYA 909,341
5 Yekaterinburg SVE 1,293,537 15 Saratov SAR 873,055
6 Samara SAM 1,157,880 16 Voronezh VOR 848,752
7 Omsk OMS 1,134,016 17 Tolyatti SAM 702,879
8 Kazan TA 1,105,289 18 Krasnodar KDA 646,175
9 Chelyabinsk CHE 1,077,174 19 Ulyanovsk ULY 635,947
10 Rostov-on-Don ROS 1,068,267 20 Izhevsk UD 632,140
2002 Census[130]
Education
Main article: Education in Russia
Moscow State UniversityRussia has a free education system guaranteed
to all citizens by the Constitution,[131] and has a literacy rate
of 99.4%.[1] The country came first in the world in the 2006 Progress
in International Reading Literacy Study conducted by Boston College.[132]
Entry to higher education is highly competitive.[133] Universities
have been transitioning to a new degree structure similar to that
of Britain and the USA; a four year Bachelor's degree and two year
Master's degree.[134] As a result of great emphasis on science and
technology in education, Russian medical, mathematical, scientific,
and space and aviation research is generally of a high order.[135][136]
The Russian Constitution grants a universal right to higher education
free of charge and through competitive entry.[137] The Government
allocates funding to pay the tuition fees within an established
quota, or number of students for each state institution.[138] This
is considered crucial because it provides access to higher education
to all skilled students, as opposed to only those who can afford
it. In addition, students are provided with a small stipend and
free housing. However, the institutions have to be funded entirely
from the federal and regional budgets; institutions have found themselves
unable to provide adequate teachers' salaries, students' stipends,
and to maintain their facilities.[138] To address the issue, many
state institutions started to open commercial positions, which have
been growing steadily since.[139] Many private higher education
institutions have emerged to address the need for a skilled work-force
for high-tech and emerging industries and economic sectors.[138]
Health
Russia's constitution guarantees free, universal health care for
all citizens.[140] While Russia has more physicians, hospitals,
and health care workers than almost any other country in the world,[141][142]
since the collapse of the Soviet Union the health of the Russian
population has declined considerably as a result of social, economic,
and lifestyle changes.[143] As of 2006, the average life expectancy
in Russia is 59.12 years for males and 73.03 years for females.[1]
The Russian life expectancy of 65.87 years at birth is 13 years
shorter than the overall figure in the European Union.[144] The
biggest factor contributing to this relatively low life expectancy
for males is a high mortality rate among working-age males from
preventable causes (e.g., alcohol poisoning, stress, smoking, traffic
accidents, violent crimes). Mortality among Russian men rose by
60% since 1991, four to five times higher than in Europe.[145] As
a result of the large difference in life expectancy between men
and women and because of the lasting effect of World War II, where
Russia lost more men than any other nation in the world, the gender
imbalance remains to this day and there are 0.859 males to every
female.[1]
Heart diseases account for 56.7% of total deaths, with about 30%
involving people still of working age.[145] About 16 million Russians
suffer from cardiovascular diseases, placing Russia second in the
world, after Ukraine, in this respect.[145] Death rates from homicide,
suicide and cancer are also especially high.[146] According to a
2007 survey by Romir Monitoring, 52% of men and 15% of women smoke.[147]
More than 260,000 lives are lost each year as a result of tobacco
use.[147] HIV/AIDS, virtually non-existent in the Soviet era, rapidly
spread following the collapse, mainly through the explosive growth
of intravenous drug use.[148] According to official statistics,
there are currently more than 364,000 people in Russia registered
with HIV but independent experts place the number significantly
higher.[149] In increasing efforts to combat the disease, the government
increased spending on HIV control measures 20-fold in 2006. Since
the Soviet collapse, there has also been a dramatic rise in both
cases of and deaths from tuberculosis, with the disease being particularly
widespread amongst prison inmates.[150]
In an effort to stem Russia’s demographic crisis, the government
is implementing a number of programs designed to increase the birth
rate and attract more migrants to alleviate the problem. The government
has doubled monthly child support payments and offered a one-time
payment of 250,000 Rubles (around US$10,000) to women who had a
second child since 2007.[151] In the first six months of 2007, Russia
has seen the highest birth rate since the collapse of the USSR.[152]
The First Deputy Prime Minister indicated that the number of childbirths
increased 6.5 percent in the first half of 2007, while the number
of deaths fell the same 6.5 percent.[153] The First Deputy PM also
said about 20 billion rubles (about US$1 billion) will be invested
in new prenatal centres in Russia in 2008–2009. Immigration
is increasingly seen as necessary to sustain the country's population.[154]
Language
Main article: Russian language
Countries where the Russian language is spoken.Languages (2002)
[155]
Russian 142.6 million
English 7.0 million
Tatar 5.3 million
German 2.9 million
Ukrainian 1.8 million
Bashkir 1.4 million
Chechen 1.3 million
Chuvash 1.3 million
Russia's 160 ethnic groups speak some 100 languages.[6] Russian
is the only official state language, but the Constitution gives
the individual republics the right to make their native language
co-official next to Russian.[156] Despite its wide dispersal, the
Russian language is homogeneous throughout Russia. Russian is the
most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most
widely spoken Slavic language.[157] Russian belongs to the Indo-European
language family and is one of three (or, according to some authorities,
four) living members of the East Slavic languages; the others being
Belarusian and Ukrainian (and possibly Rusyn). Written examples
of Old East Slavic (Old Russian) are attested from the 10th century
onwards.[158]
Over a quarter of the world's scientific literature is published
in Russian.[159] Russian is also applied as a means of coding and
storage of universal knowledge—60–70% of all world information
is published in English and Russian languages.[159] Because of the
status of the Soviet Union as a superpower, Russian had great political
importance in the 20th century.[157] Hence, the language is still
one of the official languages of the United Nations.
Religion
Main article: Religion in Russia
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, demolished during the Soviet period,
was reconstructed from 1990–2000Christianity, Islam, Buddhism,
and Judaism are Russia’s traditional religions, deemed part
of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997.[160]
Estimates of believers widely fluctuate among sources, and some
reports put the number of non-believers in Russia as high as 24–48%
of the population.[161] Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion
in Russia.[162] 95% of the registered Orthodox parishes belong to
the Russian Orthodox Church while there is a number of smaller Orthodox
Churches.[163] However, the vast majority of Orthodox believers
do not attend church on a regular basis.[164] Nonetheless, the church
is widely respected by both believers and nonbelievers, who see
it as a symbol of Russian heritage and culture.[164] Smaller Christian
denominations such as Roman Catholics, Armenian Gregorian and various
Protestants exist.
The ancestors of today’s Russians adopted Orthodox Christianity
in the 10th century.[164] According to a poll by the Russian Public
Opinion Research Center, 63% of respondents considered themselves
Russian Orthodox, 6% of respondents considered themselves Muslim
and less than 1% considered themselves either Buddhist, Catholic,
Protestant or Jewish.[165] Another 12% said they believe in God,
but did not practice any religion, and 16% said they are non-believers.[165]
It is estimated that Russia is home to some 15–20 million
Muslims.[166][167] Russia also has an estimated 3 million to 4 million
Muslim migrants from the ex-Soviet states.[168] Most Muslims live
in the Volga-Ural region, as well as in the North Caucasus, Moscow,
St. Petersburg and western Siberia.[169] In Russia, there are more
than 6,000 mosques (in 1991 it was about 150).[168] Buddhism is
traditional for three regions of the Russian Federation: Buryatia,
Tuva and Kalmykia.[170] Some residents of the Siberian and Far Eastern
regions, Yakutia, Chukotka, etc., practice pantheistic and pagan
rites, along with the major religions. Induction into religion takes
place primarily along ethnic lines. Slavs are overwhelmingly Orthodox
Christian.[171] Turkic speakers are predominantly Muslim, although
several Turkic groups in Russia are not.[171]
Culture
Main article: Russian culture
Classical music and ballet
Main articles: Russian music and Russian ballet
TchaikovskyRussia's large number of ethnic groups have distinctive
traditions of folk music. Music in 19th century Russia was defined
by the tension between classical composer Mikhail Glinka and his
followers, who embraced Russian national identity and added religious
and folk elements to their compositions, and the Russian Musical
Society led by composers Anton and Nikolay Rubinstein, which was
musically conservative. The later Romantic tradition of Tchaikovsky,
one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era whose music has
come to be known and loved for its distinctly Russian character
as well as its rich harmonies and stirring melodies, was brought
into the 20th century by Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the last great
champions of the Romantic style of European classical music.
World-renowned composers of the 20th century included Scriabin,
Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. During most
of the Soviet Era, music was highly scrutinized and kept within
a conservative, accessible idiom in conformity with the Stalinist
policy of socialist realism. Russian conservatories have turned
out generations of world-renowned soloists. Among the best known
are violinists David Oistrakh and Gidon Kremer, cellist Mstislav
Rostropovich, pianists Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter and
Emil Gilels, and vocalist Galina Vishnevskaya.
Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the world's
most famous works of ballet—Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and
Sleeping Beauty. During the early 20th century, Russian dancers
Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky rose to fame, and impresario Sergei
Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes' travels abroad profoundly influenced
the development of dance worldwide.[172] Soviet ballet preserved
the perfected 19th century traditions,[173] and the Soviet Union's
choreography schools produced one internationally famous star after
another, including Maya Plisetskaya, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail
Baryshnikov. The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Kirov in St. Petersburg
remain famous throughout the world.[174]
Literature
Main article: Russian literature
PushkinRussian literature is considered to be among the most influential
and developed in the world, contributing much of the world's most
famous literary works.[175] Russia's literary history dates back
to the 10th century and by the early 19th century a native tradition
had emerged, producing some of the greatest writers of all time.
This period began with Alexander Pushkin, considered to be the founder
of modern Russian literature and often described as the "Russian
Shakespeare".[176] Amongst Russia's most renowned poets and
writers of the 19th century are Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Lermontov,
Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Ivan Goncharov, Mikhail Saltykov, Aleksey Pisemsky, and Nikolai
Leskov made lasting contributions to Russian prose.
By the 1880s Russian literature had begun to change. The age of
the great novelists was over and short fiction and poetry became
the dominant genres of Russian literature for the next several decades
which became known as the "Silver Age". Previously dominated
by realism, symbolism dominated Russian literature in the years
between 1893 and 1914. Leading writers of this age include Valery
Bryusov, Andrei Bely, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Aleksandr Blok, Dmitry
Merezhkovsky, Fyodor Sologub, Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam, Leonid
Andreyev, Ivan Bunin and Maxim Gorky.
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing civil
war, Russian cultural life in was left in chaos. Some established
writers left Russia while a new generation of talented writers who
had at least some sympathy for the ideals of the revolution was
emerging. The most ardent of these joined together in writers organizations
with the aim of creating a new and distinctive proletarian (working-class)
culture appropriate to the new state. Throughout the 1920s writers
enjoyed broad tolerance. In the 1930s censorship over literature
was tightened in line with Joseph Stalin's policy of socialist realism.
After his death several thaws took place and restrictions on literature
were eased. By the 1970s and 1980s, writers were increasingly ignoring
the guildlines of socialist realism. The leading writers of the
Soviet era included Yevgeny Zamiatin, Isaac Babel, Ilf and Petrov,
Yury Olesha, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Bulgakov, Boris Pasternak,
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Mikhail Sholokhov,
Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Andrey Voznesensky.
Motion pictures
Main article: Cinema of Russia
Day Watch movie posterWhile in the industrialized nations of the
West, motion pictures had first been accepted as a form of cheap
recreation and leisure for the working class, Russian filmmaking
came to prominence following the 1917 revolution when it explored
editing as the primary mode of cinematic expression.[177] Russian
and later Soviet cinema was a hotbed of invention in the period
immediately following the 1917 revolution, resulting in world-renowned
films such as Battleship Potemkin.[178] Soviet-era filmmakers, most
notably Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky, would become some
of the world's most innovative and influential directors.
Eisenstein also was a student of filmmaker and theorist Lev Kuleshov,
who formulated the groundbreaking editing process called montage
at the world's first film school, the All-Union Institute of Cinematography
in Moscow. Dziga Vertov, whose kino-glaz (“film-eye”)
theory—that the camera, like the human eye, is best used to
explore real life—had a huge impact on the development of
documentary film making and cinema realism. In 1932, Stalin made
socialist realism the state policy; this stifled creativity but
many Soviet films in this style were artistically successful, including
Chapaev, The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier.[178] Leonid
Gaidai's comedies of the 1960s and 1970s were immensely popular,
with many of the catch phrases still in use today. In 1969, Vladimir
Motyl's White Sun of the Desert was released, starting a genre known
as 'osterns'. The film is watched by cosmonauts before any trip
into space.[179]
The 1980s and 1990s were a period of crisis in Russian cinema.
Although Russian filmmakers became free to express themselves, state
subsidies were drastically reduced, resulting in fewer films produced.
The early years of the 21st century have brought increased viewership
and subsequent prosperity to the industry on the back of the economy's
rapid development, and production levels are already higher than
in Britain and Germany.[180] Russia's total box-office revenue in
2006 was $412 million[181] (by comparison, in 1996 revenues stood
at $6 million).[180] Russian cinema continues to receive international
recognition. Russian Ark (2002) was the first feature film ever
to be shot in a single take.
Visual arts
Early Russian painting focused on icon painting and vibrant fresco's
inherited by Russians from Byzantium. As Moscow rose to power, Theophanes
the Greek and Andrei Rublev are vital names associated with the
beginning of a distinctly Russian art. The Russian Academy of Arts
was created in 1757, aimed to give Russian artists an international
role and status. Notable portrait painters from the Academy include
Ivan Argunov, Fyodor Rokotov, Dmitry Levitzky and Vladimir Borovikovsky.
Realism flourished in the 19th century and the realists captured
Russian identity. Russian landscapes of wide rivers, forests, and
birch clearings, as well as vigorous genre scenes and robust portraits
of their contemporaries asserted a sense of identity. Other artists
focused on social criticism, showing the conditions of the poor
and caricaturing authority while critical realism flourished under
the reign of Alexander II. After the abolition of serfdom in 1861
some artists made the circle of human suffering their focus. Artists
sometimes created wide canvasses to depict dramatic moments in Russian
history. Leading realists include Ivan Shishkin, Arkhip Kuindzhi,
Ivan Kramskoi, Vasily Polenov, Isaac Levitan, Vasily Surikov, Viktor
Vasnetsov, and Ilya Repin. By the 1830s the Academy was sending
painters overseas to learn. The most gifted of these were Aleksander
Ivanov and Karl Briullov, both of whom were noted for the Romantic
historical canvasses. Uniquely Russian styles of painting emerged
by the late 19th century that was intimately engaged with the daily
life of Russian society.
Natalia Goncharova, Cyclist, oil on canvas, 1913; Russian futurismThe
Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large,
influential wave of modernist art that flourished in Russia from
approximately 1890 to 1930. The term covers many separate, but inextricably
related, art movements that occurred at the time; namely neo-primitivism,
suprematism, constructivism, rayonism and futurism. Notable artists
from this era include El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky,
Vladimir Tatlin, Alexander Rodchenko, and Marc Chagall amongst others.
Members of the Jack of Dimaonds group of artists advocated the most
advanced European techniques. The Russian avant-garde reached its
creative and popular height in the period between the Russian Revolution
of 1917 and 1932, at which point the ideas of the avant-garde clashed
with the newly emerged conservative Stalinist direction of socialist
realism.
By the late 1920's the rigid policy of socialist realism enveloped
the visual arts as it did literature and motion pictures and soon
the avant-garde had faded from sight. Some artists combined innovation
with socialist realism including Ernst Neizvestny, Ilya Kabakov,
Mikhail Shemyakin, Erik Bulatov and Vera Mukhina. They employed
techniques as varied as primitivism, hyperrealism, grotesque, and
abstraction, but they shared a common distaste for the canons of
socialist realism. Soviet artists produced works that were furiously
patriotic and anti-fascist in the 1940s. Events and battles from
the Great Patriotic War were depicted with stirring patriotism and
after the war sculptors made many monuments to the war dead, the
greatest of which have a great restrained solemnity. In the 20th
century many Russian artists made their careers in Western Europe,
due in part to the traumas of the Revolution. Russian artists such
as Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, and Naum Gabo spread their work
and ideas internationally. These Russian artists studied internationally
in Paris and Munich and their involuntary exile spread the impact
of Russian art globally.
Sports
Main article: Sport in Russia
The Ice Palace in Moscow was a venue for the 2007 Men's World Ice
Hockey ChampionshipsRussians have been successful at a number of
sports and continuously finishing in the top rankings at the Olympic
Games. During the Soviet era, the national team placed first in
the total number of medals won at 14 of its 18 appearances;[182]
with these performances, the USSR was the dominant Olympic power
of its era.[183] Since the 1952 Olympic Games, Soviet and later
Russian athletes have always been in the top three for the number
of gold medals collected at the Summer Olympics. The 1980 Summer
Olympic Games were held in Moscow while the 2014 Winter Olympics
will be hosted by Sochi.
Soviet gymnasts and track-and-field athletes, weight lifters, wrestlers
and boxers were consistently among the best in the world.[184] Even
since the collapse of the Soviet empire, Russian athletes have continued
to dominate international competition in these areas. Association
football enjoys wide popularity in Russia, although ice hockey was
only introduced during the Soviet era, the national team soon dominated
the sport internationally, winning gold at almost all the Olympics
and World Championships they contested.[184]
Figure skating is another popular sport; in the 1960s, the Soviet
Union rose to become a dominant power in figure skating, especially
in pair skating and ice dancing. At every Winter Olympics from 1964
until the present day, a Soviet or Russian pair has won gold, often
considered the longest winning streak in modern sports history.[185]
Since the end of the Soviet era, tennis has grown in popularity
and Russia has produced a number of famous tennis players. Chess
is a widely popular pastime; from 1927, Soviet and Russian chess
grandmasters have held the world championship almost continuously.
CONTACT
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