Borders of the State

Russia has land borders with 16 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 , the Belarus 959 km , the Lithuania 227 km , the Poland 432 km , the Ukraine 1 576 km , the Georgia 723 km , the Azerbaijan 284 km , the Kazakhstan 6 846 km , the People’s Republic of China 3 645 km , the Mongolia 3 441 km and North Korea 19 km 7 . It also has borders with two breakaway regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and the South Ossetia which it recognized the independence in 2008.
Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivision of Russia .
Panorama Wharf Kremlin with the silhouette of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow (left)
Russia is a federation of 83 subjects who each have a certain autonomy. Each sends two representatives on the board of the Federation (the Senate). The presence of one hundred twenty-eight nationalities and the weight of history led to a division of the territory into many subsets dimensions and operating variables. The Russian Federation consists of:
21 republics that make up the territories of ethnic groups (such as Tatarstan ) and have greater autonomy;
46 oblasts (regions) (in Russian область) and nine krais (territories) covering parts of the territory occupied long ago by the Russians;
4 okrugs (autonomous districts) also formed along ethnic lines, have much less autonomy and are attached to another region;
2 federal cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, with their suburbs.
The Birobidzhan keeps a special status: it was under Stalin as a haven for Jews from the USSR .
Subjects were supervised by a legislature in the Constitution: the Republics have a Constitution while we talk about status for the oblasts, krais, okrugs and cities. Each topic has 40% of tax revenues collected for its operating expenses and investment.
Towns
Despite the low density medium, Russia is a country highly urbanized : about three-quarters of Russians (73%) reside in the city, or 106.5 million of its inhabitants in about 1100 cities and 1400 towns. 20% of Russians are concentrated in cities of over one million inhabitants and 45% in urban areas of over one hundred thousand eight .
Main article: Cities of Russia and List of cities in Russia by population .
Major cities in Russia
No. Name Region Pop. No. Name Region Pop.
A Moscow Moscow 10342151 11 Ufa Republic of Bashkortostan 1042437
2 St. Petersburg St. Petersburg 4661219 12 Volgograd Volgograd Oblast 1011417
3 Novosibirsk Novosibirsk Oblast 1425508 13 Perm Perm Krai 1001653
4 Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod Oblast 1311252 14 Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk Krai 909 341
5 Yekaterinburg Sverdlovsk Oblast 1293537 15 Saratov Saratov Oblast 873 055
6 Samara Samara Oblast 1157880 16 Voronezh Voronezh Oblast 848 752
7 Omsk Omsk Oblast 1134016 17 Togliatti Samara Oblast 702 879
8 Kazan Republic of Tatarstan 1105289 18 Krasnodar Krasnodar krai 646 175
9 Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk Oblast 1077174 19 Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk Oblast 635 947
10 Rostov-on-Don Rostov Oblast 1068267 20 Izhevsk Udmurt Republic 632 140
2002 Census
Natural environments

Main article: Geography of Russia .
Topography
Topographic map of Russia.
The territory of Russia consists of vast plains mainly dominated by steppes in the south, the forest north and tundra along the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The main mountain ranges are located along the southern border: it is the Caucasus , culminating, Mount Elbrus ( 5642 meters ) is also the highest peak in Europe and the mountains of the Altai . To the east lie the massive Verkhoyansk and the chain of volcanoes of the peninsula of Kamchatka , dominated by the Klioutchevskoï , a stratovolcano of 4,835 meters . The Urals , which separates along a north-south European Russia of Russia in Asia, is an eroded mountain rich in mineral resources.
The huge forest belt with a width of 1 200 km in the “European Russia” that the Urals is the natural barrier, and 2 000 km in Siberia is the largest forest reserve in the world. Cultivated areas have 8.9% of the arable land on the planet.
The coastline of Russia has a length of 37 653 km : it extends substantially along the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean , it also includes a relatively small portions of coastline on the Baltic Sea , the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea .
The main islands and archipelagos include the Arctic Ocean in 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 southernmost claimed by Japan .
More than 100 000 Russian rivers water, some of which are among the largest in the world. The Volga River , which drains a catchment of 1.4 million km ², is the longest river in Europe ( 3 350 km ) and played a major role in history. The great Siberian rivers are among the giants of the world: it is the Yenisei (average flow 19 800 m 3 ⋅ s -1 ), the Ob , the Lena and the Amur all characterized by enormous flows and debacles particularly violent when the arrival of summer brings into motion the water taken in the ice. The main 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 Island
Climate [ change ]
More than half of the country lies north of latitude 60 Plastic Storage Containers °, while only a small portion is south of 50 ° latitude. The mountains which close the southern border (Altaï. ..) prevent the rise of warm air masses coming denver martial arts from the more southern regions, for cons, overlooking the plains in the north to let in far inland the masses of air cooled by the Arctic Ocean. The result is an average temperature of -5.5 ° C with a large temperature range between winter and summer.
In almost all countries, there are only two major seasons: winter and summer, spring and autumn are generally very short and the passage of the hottest temperatures in the coldest temperatures are extremely fast. The coldest month is January (on the coast in February). Winter temperatures are lowered in both south to north and west to the east (more continental) and there are an average temperature of -8 ° C in February to St. Petersburg located at the the far-west, -27 ° C in the plains of Western Siberia, and -43 ° C to Yakutsk in eastern Siberia located at about the latitude of St. Petersburg. Most cold is owned by the town of Verkhoyansk (-70 ° C up). The south wind generated by the high pressure system that parked in winter over most of Russia, reduces the temperature differences between the regions at different latitudes. In summer, the hottest 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 the 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 strongly limits the rain . If the west of the annual rainfall is 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: we speak of permafrost ( permafrost in English, merzlota in Russian); standing water on the surface and creates huge swamps – recurring landscape of Siberia, the presence of frozen subsoil generates constraints on the expensive method of construction of buildings and infrastructure. The major rivers are generally caught in the ice in October / November to April / May blocking all river traffic; in the spring, the collapse of the ice often causes catastrophic flooding on the largest Siberian rivers.
Vegetation
River Vassiougan in the plains of Western Siberia . (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, or forest steppes . European Russia, defined arbitrarily as part of the country west of the Urals , this sequence from north STD Test to south the landscape following the north coldest part is the reign of tundra which is followed by going to the south the forests of coniferous and mixed forests ( deciduous and coniferous), grasslands, and finally the semi-desert steppe (near the Caspian Sea ). The vegetation change following the climate. The Siberia – the part east of the Urals – present the same succession of landscapes but it is the taiga , forest more or less sparse consisting mainly of conifers, which predominates.
History

The monument Millennium of Russia ( 1862 ), designed to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of Riurik as the first Prince of Novgorod ( 862 ).
Main article: History of Russia .
See also: Chronology of Russia
The Kievan Rus
Main article: Kievan Rus and Rus’ .
Territory of the Principality of Kiev .
The Kievan Rus’ or principality of Kiev ( Ruthenia ) is the first organized state to be formed in the region now occupied by the Ukraine , the Belarus and parts of western Russia ( 862 ). Founded by Vikings from Scandinavia (the Varangians in Russian) and led by the dynasty of Riourikides , it forms a loose state whose subjects are the tribes of Slavs living in the eastern region, which will gradually be conquered. The Varangian princes develop the trade route linking the Baltic and Black Sea via the river Dnieper (the road from the Varangians). They succeed, by force of arms, to win in the Byzantine Empire as a trading partner. The Principality of Kiev must fight the nomads of the electronic cigarette steppes from the east: Pechenegs , Cumans , etc.. During the reign of Vladimir , the territory extends and 988 , this great prince was converted to the religion of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Christianity : it will become the state religion and is one of the factors of National Unity Russian . The Principality of Kiev decays over time as the battering of nomadic peoples after a long period of internal instability due to the distribution of estates between the descendants of Vladimir. It gives way to fifteen principalities within the territories of present Ukraine , Belarus and the European part of Russia. Thus, in 1276 , the Great Principality of Moscow was established.
The baptism of Vladimir by Viktor Vasnetsov
The princes, who run these principalities and the eminent domain of land, employing armies supervised by boyars , which will 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 take advantage of their independence to develop. The Republic of Novgorod, a city-state with a government system original, with its thriving trade with the Baltic countries. She pushes repeatedly attempted expansion of the Teutonic Knights .
The Tatar-Mongol invasion
In 1226, a nomadic warrior came from Mongolia , called Tatar-Mongols by the Russians attack the principalities. Between 1237 and 1242, the Khan Batou little son of Genghis Khan , defeated one after the other armies of the princes and burned the main cities including Vladimir , Kiev and Moscow . People are slaughtered or enslaved. Only Novgorod and to some extent Pskov , north-east, were able 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 end only three centuries later.
The Tatar Mongols had a profound impact Russia, with the installation of ethnic peoples Turkic-speaking , culturally with the Islamization of the peoples of the Cell Phone Accessories East in Moscow between Vladimir and Kazan will strengthen the weight of the Church against the Muslim occupation . The Russian vocabulary is enriched many terms of the Mongolian language such as yam (post) and Tamga (toll). Administratively, the Russians include the taxes and levies of troops. Like the Mongols, the Russian princes will even impose on their subjects to maintain a coaching service. Finally, military, the Russian army will take over the use of light cavalry 9 .
Muscovy
Main article: Great Principality of Moscow .
Map of the cna certification expansion of Russia between 1300 and 1796.
The xiii th the xvi th century, one of the principalities, the Muscovy (whose capital is Moscow), Chrome Wire Shelving led by skillful princes, annex out all others to become Russia. Prince Dimitri of Russia IV defeats for the first time the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikov (1380). However, the unification movement faces to the rivalry and tradition of sharing between the different territories son of Prince, which begat a civil war between 1425 and 1453. Ascended the throne in 1462, Ivan III of Russia , a Venetian traveler described as “a tall man, leaning forward and beautiful,” frees the Muscovite yoke of the Mongols whose empire is now fragmented into several khanates and absorbs the main Russian principalities which still independent Novgorod (1478) and Principality of Tver (1485). In 1485, Ivan III took the title of “ruler of all Rus’”, wishing to show his commitment to rebuild the whole heritage of Vladimir . At the end of the reign of Ivan III of Muscovy territory quadrupled. His son, Vasily III (1505-1533) continues to expand by annexing land the city-state of Pskov (1510) and the principality of Ryazan (1521) and Smolensk (1514). Ivan IV of Russia said “the Terrible” first prince to be designated under the title of tsar , completes the conquest by seizing major Mongol khanates but loses access to Baltic facing a coalition of the Swedish Empire with Poland and Lithuania . Now the expansion of Russia to the east locksmiths has no serious obstacle. Colonization by the Russian peasants of the vast basin of the Volga and the Urals took off. Farmers and fugitives, the Cossacks , settled on margins and are organized into “army” while playing the roles of pioneers and border guards.
Portrait of Ivan the Terrible by Viktor Vasnetsov , 1897 ( Tretyakov Gallery , Moscow .
Ivan then logically consider themselves as the Judaica Bat Mitzvah Gifts sole heir of Vladimir , although it does not have the city of Kiev in the hands of the dynasty of Lithuanian Jagiello . The latter had conquered most of the territories of Rus’ Western.
The Romanov Dynasty
Main article: List of Russian rulers .
Coat of arms of Russia in the XVIII th century.
The extinction of the dynasty of the descendants of Riurik (dating from the mythical princes Varangian ) triggers the Time of Troubles until a new dynasty, the Romanovs , the throne (1613). Several sovereigns bright go xvii th and xviii th centuries to increase the size of the Russian Empire with the help of Cossacks .
Portrait of Peter the auto insurance rates Great by Paul Delaroche
Peter the Great (1682-1725), the price of a long war with Sweden, get 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 steel industry, the first of the West at the time, was built in the Urals and helps support the war effort. Catherine II of Russia (1762-1796), enlightened autocrat, completed the conquest of the steppes located along the Black Sea after defeating the Ottoman Empire and the Khanate of Crimea and pushes the boundaries to the west of the Russian empire through the partition of Poland. The current 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 founded in 1632, the region of the Bering Strait and the Alaska are explored in the 1740s.
Code enacted in 1649 now links the farmer and his descendants to the land and its owner generalizing the serfdom , against the sense of the changing status of the peasant in Western Europe. In return, landowners are obliged to serve their sovereign. Catherine II confirms server monitoring and strengthens these iPhone Unlock provisions. The discontent of the peasants and an emerging class of workers exploited by their owners and heavily taxed by the state taxation of a growing set off to xvii th and xviii th centuries many peasant revolts, the most important, led by the Cossack Pugachev , manages to threaten the throne before being crushed (1773). The church at that time plays an essential role in Russian society and has over two-thirds of the land. Reform of the Russian Orthodox dogma by Patriarch Nikon (1653) is the cause of the schism of the Old Believers severely repressed.
Peter the Great and Catherine II are bringing hcg diet a large number of German settlers (such as Volga Germans ), artisans and Western scholars often German, to modernize the country, build industries and lay the foundation of institutions of teaching and dissemination of knowledge. The bases of the Russian literary language are defined by Mikhail Lomonosov . The first newspapers were published at that time. The Russian nobility becoming more Westernized, especially under the influence of German philosophy and French, and some of its members were enthusiastic about the ideas of the Enlightenment , and even the French Revolution .
Catherine the Great (1729-1796)
Russia a great European power
The Russian Empire played a decisive role during the Napoleonic wars that will transform it into a European power. Driven like all European sovereigns by a conservative ideology and therefore hostile to the ideas of the French Revolution, the Czar is involved in two coalitions against Napoleon defeats and costly paper towels. Alexandre I er then chooses reversal of alliances by the side of France ( Peace of Tilsit ), but peace will only last 5 years (1807-1812). He took advantage of this pause to attack Sweden and annexing Finland . In 1812, hostilities resumed. The great Napoleon’s army reaches the price of heavy fighting to capture Moscow but must leave driven by the burning of 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 wants to manage the fate of post-Napoleonic Europe: it is opposed to the reconstitution of the Polish state and military participation in the suppression of uprisings against the monarchy ( Hungary 1849) , like the Emperor of Austria.
See also Russian Imperial Army
Expansion of the Empire to the south
Main article: Russian Empire .
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 in the Caucasus and into 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 goubernia of Bessarabia . The Armenian , the Dagestan and part of Azerbaijan annexed in 1813 after a four-year conflict with the Persian Empire. Upon the death of Alexander ( 1825 ), the reformist officials, the Decembrists , rise in vain to seek a reform of the monarchy. The attempted uprising of officers from 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 first has a good economic growth, but enhances the repressive apparatus. He violently crushed an armed uprising of 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 , the successor of Nicolas, must cambodia travel 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 recognition by the Ottomans for independence from Serbia and Romania . This increase of influence revived the hostility of Britain ( The Great Game ).
Many uprisings against the landed aristocracy in debt and thereby attached to the system of serfdom, occur during this period. The industry is growing especially in the mining and wedding rings textile but remains well back from England and Germany (about 600,000 workers in 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 more affluent classes, and many colleges are founded. The Russian literature experienced its first major development with writers like Turgenev , Pushkin and Gogol that reflect the torments of Russian society. This cultural development also extends to the architecture and music ( Glinka ).
Reform efforts
Alexander II is trying to learn from the defeat of the war in Crimea . The country, which now spans 12.5 million square kilometers and has 60 million inhabitants, its operation is hampered by archaic. 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, at the cost of a long-term debt vis-à-vis the state. Local councils elected Criminal Attorney Chicago by suffrage – the Zemstvo – are created after 1864 have to be able 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 the cities (urban Duma). Finally, the legal code introduced procedures for prosecution and defense, creating a theoretically independent of the court to the district level. The regime still retains a strong police and autocratic nature. The reforms will also fuel the violence of groups of intellectuals nihilistic and Alexander eventually fall under their blows (1881). Under his reign, the empire continued to expand colonial Central Asia after the annexation of the lands of Kazakhstan completed in 1847, the three khanates of the territory of Uzbekistan ( Kokand , Bukhara and Khiva ) have won over the next three decades and attached or placed under the protectorate (1876). This advance up the limits of the Russian Empire at the gates of the British Empire in India . Voltage ( Great Game ) between the two countries will remain very strong until an 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 against a 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 growing rapidly thanks, among others, foreign investment and the construction of a rail network that reaches 30 000 km in 1890. New industrializing regions (Ukraine) while some enhance them as an industrial area of St. Petersburg engagement ring and especially in 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 colonizing the 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 , including a first section is carried out between 1891 and 1901 to open up vast areas of Siberia, facilitates the migration, while parallel to the Franco-Russian Alliance finance industrialization is mainly by Russian loans from especially France . Agriculture has always a crushing weight: in 1897 Russia has 97 million farmers with a total population of 127 [ref. needed] million. They typically do not have the land they farm (25% will own in 1914). The literacy rate is very low and infant mortality is high (about 180 to 1000). The surplus population Relevant Life Policy is absorbed by the cities, whose number is growing rapidly: on the eve of the First World War, the urban population exceeds 25 million. Russia continues to expand its area of influence in China and Korea that conflicts with Japanese interests. The Russo-Japanese war that followed ended with a complete defeat (1905 to Tsushima): the modernization of Japan has been underestimated and the distance from the battlefield has created enormous logistical constraints.
The revolution of 1905
The defeat triggered the first general uprising of the Russian population against the regime. The Russian Revolution of 1905 is primarily a peasant movement that affects mainly the region of black soil. 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 ) has elected legislative powers. But the elections of two successive Dumas gave a large majority to the opposition. The electoral law is then modified for a chamber of deputies favorable ruling.
The last flag of the Russian Empire between 1914 and 1917.
First World War and Russian Revolution
Main article: Russian Revolution .
Lenin in 1920.
Photo of Nicolas II of Russia
Russia entered the war against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914 to help to Serbia , its ally. The Russian Empire launched an offensive in eastern Poland, but is severely beaten. Russian troops have to leave Poland. In early 1917 burst of social movements, brought about by the weight of the war on the economy, the losses on a front reduced to a defensive strategy, leadership instability and mistrust vis-à-vis the Tsar. The refusal of troops to suppress demonstrations and weariness of the ruling classes forced the Tsar Nicolas II to abdicate, and the outbreak of the February revolution in 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-à-vis its allies in continuing the war. The unpopularity of this measure is exploited by the party of the Bolsheviks , who, October 25, 1917, overthrew the government in St. Petersburg (then capital of Russia) by arms ( October Revolution ). The peace was signed with Germany (Brest-Litovsk, Belarus today) with enormous territorial concessions (Poland, part of Ukraine, Baltic States, etc.., About 800 000 km ² ). A civil war going for three years against the White Russians (monarchists or republicans), 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 Federative Socialist Republic Russian ).
See also: Eastern Front (World War) – End of the Tsarist regime in Russia – State Socialism
Between the wars
Main article: History of the USSR under Stalin .
Joseph Stalin , who ruled the USSR from 1924 to 1953.
Upon taking power, the new regime turned to dictatorship repressing all 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 is one million people around the Volga . Discontent wins and the plan must ease its program: the NEP , which allows a limited form of private enterprise. In recent years, agricultural and industrial production are recovering. Lenin , who died in 1924, leaving his “estate” open. Stalin is a few years to rise to power by physically eliminating his rivals. The plan of collectivisation was taken up vigorously and agricultural land are grouped by strength in large cooperatives. A new famine broke out, this time mostly in Ukraine (1932-1933) and in the Kuban . The economic development is now planned centrally and power, which concentrates in Moscow (capital of the country returned in 1918), leads a broad program of industrialization (especially in the field of heavy industry) to using the five-year plans . The government encourages workers to exceed productivity standards ( Stakhanovism ) on behalf of the radiant future. The Communist propaganda machine operating at full capacity. At the same time, Stalin led a repressive policy that sends the gulag or the millions of people died before the outbreak of World War II , which does not prevent it from establishing a cult of personality. It is the rise of Stalinism .
See also Stalinism
World War II
Main article: Chronology of World War II .
Stalin, who signed before the start of World War II a non-aggression pact with Hitler , including a provision for sharing of Poland and the Baltics , is attacked by Germany in June 1941 ( Operation Barbarossa ). The Red Army, under-equipped and disorganized by the Stalinist purges of wiping back losses in the millions. The German advance was blocked at Stalingrad (January 1943) and extended to the west, particularly following the Battle of Kursk (July-August 1943). The Soviet generals gradually regained the initiative and the Red Army, reinforced by Allied supplies of arms, reclaiming lost territory, releases payday loan the countries of Eastern Europe and then returned victorious in Berlin (May 1945), at the cost of a terrible toll from 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 Conference ). The countries of Eastern Europe and Medifast coupon East Germany are being soon impose a socialist system led by the USSR.
The USSR, a world power
Emblem of the Soviet Republics , 1958-1991 .
Main article: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics .
Yuri Gagarin , on a visit to Malmö , 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 destroying much of its industrial facilities and cities. The immediate post-war period mining australia of reconstruction. The country finds its level of industrial production before the war and then twice in 1952. The nuclear industry is growing, with the creation of the Mayak nuclear complex . The Soviet Union conducts its first nuclear test in 1949, thereby accessing the rank of 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 denounces the excesses of his predecessor. Domestically begins a period of relative prosperity, citizens’ rights are better respected, is the beginning of some liberalization. The Soviet Union stunned the world by its 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 managed by massive investments in weapons to par 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 missing from escalating into a nuclear conflict. The accession of Brezhnev in power (1964) results in a relative relaxation between the two major ( Helsinki conference ) but also on the domestic front, a reduction in reform efforts that had failed in its predecessor ( the 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 back from 1979 following the invasion of Afghanistan and the arrival of Ronald Reagan at the head of the United States in 1980.
See also: Chronology of the USSR – Cold War
The end of the USSR
Main article: Perestroika .
Boris Yeltsin on a tank during the coup in Moscow in 1991.
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, taking the head of the CPSU with the will to reform the system to combat economic stagnation and the remnants of Stalinism, but its reforms are rather mixed results. The perestroika (economic restructuring) has not achieved the desired objectives have exacerbated the shortages of consumer goods and social inequality leading to popular discontent, while a democratization of the regime, which 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 beginning of the Soviet era, held free elections, political parties are allowed in 1990. This opening is above all an opportunity for people of different nationalities that make up the Soviet Union wishes to express their sovereignty. Around 1991, a real dualism of power moved to the Kremlin – the rising power of Russian state structures released from the tutelage of the CPSU, with Boris Yeltsin at the top, facing the organs of Soviet power and communist archaic and conservative , trying in vain Gorbachev reforms to curb and to preserve the Soviet system. A coup in August 1991 led by the Conservatives fail and accelerates the end of the Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev .
On 21 December 1991, the CPSU was disbanded by Mikhail Gorbachev and the Soviet Union collapsed, its constituent republics become independent, the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) established in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact (1955) are no more. Russia, which is the historic core, 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, including the permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations , but also assumes the liabilities of the former USSR Financial. A political and economic union, the CIS , was founded in 1991 to try to maintain ties between the countries of the USSR.
Although Russia, led by Boris Yeltsin in 1991, is the heir of the Soviet Union, it can assume the role of superpower. The Russian Federation is facing many internal problems, including the development of a laborious democratic political system ski accessories and a civil war in Chechnya , and let the great world politics to the Americans and their allies.
See also: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – the Moscow Putsch – Commonwealth of Independent States
Collapse and economic recovery
Main article: Geostrategy of Russia .
The business district of Moskva-City , expanding
The first president of the new Russia, Boris Yeltsin gives a shift apparently liberal regime. The operation of the Russian company that had to abandon socialism is deeply shocked and leads to the enrichment of the few ( oligarchy ), the decline in economic tool, the weakening of the federal government and a fall catastrophic living standards of Russians.
Economically, interventionist and centralized planning of the economy was abruptly abandoned in favor of a mode inspired by the liberal views of economists from 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 was halved in recent years and a financial crisis major in 1998 , plunging much of the population in the problems (except a tiny minority of nouveaux riches, known as new Russians ).
The military is increasingly held in check in the conflict that opposes the Islamist separatist Chechnya . The 1993 elections completely free translate into rising nationalist current (22.92% of votes going to the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia of Vladimir Zhirinovsky , against 7.81% in June 1991) and maintaining a Communist vote important (12.40% of the vote, 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 the states making up the USSR (Russian population of neighboring states falling back in Russia, the Russian emigration of the Jewish faith or of German origin, brain drain) and even within Russia (leaving the countryside and the most remote areas in Siberia). Economic and political chaos continued until 1998 when the Russian financial system collapsed between 1990 and 1998 the GDP has fallen by 45%.
The current president of the Federation, Dmitri Medvedev ( left ) with President of the Government Vladimir Putin ( right ).
Russian President Vladimir Putin , elected in 2000, has the objective to restore the functioning of the state and the economy through a strong presidency. The new president enjoys the soaring prices of raw materials which Russia is the largest producer. He launched structural reforms including restoring the “vertical of power”. Measurements were also taken against tax fraud that chiropractic marketing resulted in the arrest of some oligarchs. Since 2000, Russia is experiencing strong growth (GDP growth of 6% on average) closely linked to the rise of commodity prices, especially oil and gas. The influx of income resulting enables the development of the service sector (banking, insurance, distribution) and the growth of domestic consumption. Vladimir Putin is becoming very popular in the country by trying to give Russia a role on the international stage by taking advantage, among others, U.S. setbacks in Iraq, and to renew ties with the former constituent republics of the USSR alternatively by handling the hard way (Belarus, Ukraine) and a more diplomatic approach. His successor, Dmitri Medvedev , elected in March 2008, is more liberal , but continues to implement the general policy of Putin. Moreover, the war in Ossetia in 2008 extended Russian influence in the Caucasus , especially in Abkhazia and South Ossetia .
See also: Commonwealth of Independent States – Organization of the Collective Security Treaty – Eurasian Economic Community – Organisation for Central Asian – Union of Russia and Belarus
Policy

Main article: Politics of Russia .
Russia

This article is part of the series on Russia’s political , sub-standard on the 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
Federal Assembly
Federation Council
State 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
Laws : one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three – 1995 – one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine – 2003 – in 2007 – 2011
Subdivisions of Russia
Russian federal subjects
Leaders of districts and federal subjects of Russia
Domestic and foreign policy of Russia
Human rights
v · d · m
Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin, on 13 January 1994 .
The 1993 Constitution , adopted after the constitutional crisis of 1993 which had opposed President Boris Yeltsin in the Assembly and could not be resolved by the intervention of the tanks, defines Russia as a Federation and Republic Presidential in which the president, as head of state, head of the Nation and the President of the Government runs the government . The executive power is exercised by the head of government. The legislative power is held by both the government and both houses 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 ( Дyмa ) or, more precisely, State Duma , assembly of 450 deputies elected by direct universal suffrage for four years. Is chaired by the Duma Boris Gryzlov (2007).
The Federation Council (Russia) ( Совет Федерации ), composed of representatives of 166 subjects (regions) that make up the Federation, often called “senators” (see Subdivisions ). The Federation Council is chaired by Valentina Matvienko (since September 2011).
The Russian Constitution guarantees the equality of all citizens before the law, the independence of judges and their subjection to the only law. 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 not 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 removal of the head of state. The new President of Russia Dmitri 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 Russia’s geostrategy

Main article: Armed Forces of the Russian Federation .
The vozdouchno-dessantnye voïska or VDV (Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска, abbreviated ВДВ, “Airborne”) in operation in Kazakhstan.
The current Russian army, formed in 1992 , is the heir of the former Red Army who was the Soviet Army from 1922 to 1991, when the collapse of the USSR. She inherited the weapons 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 the nuclear weapons stockpile
Russia is one of the five countries officially recognized by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as nuclear wedding suits weapon. It also has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with over 16,000 nuclear warheads 10 which 3500 are operational. During its history, the USSR has produced some 50 000 nuclear warheads.
After the fall of the USSR, despite declining enrollment and budget, the Russian army is an army of prominent worldwide.
Russia is ahead of the arms exports with a surplus of 7 to 8 billion U.S. dollars from the defense sector . The main customers of Russia are India and China in mind, and especially Iran, Venezuela and Algeria 11 , 12 free ipad .
Russia must protect itself against various threats [Ref. required] : threats to independence within Russia, threatened its neighbors to the west of Asia Minor, Japan, Mongolia and China. It closely monitors the Turkish Straits to reach the Mediterranean, the “lock” to access the Danish Atlantic Ocean to the east, the “lock” for the Japanese Pacific Ocean and the Arctic particularly for oil 13 .
Employees: 1.14 million soldiers and 2 million reservists
Budget: $ 70 billion (2008) 14
Articles: Geostrategy denver injury lawyer of 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

Main article: Economy of Russia .
Russia is one of economically developed countries: GDP of $ 2056 billion in 2010 (nominal) $ 2,097 billion (in purchasing power parity 15 , 7 th place in 2007).
Service station Rosneft . Russia is the largest exporter of natural gas and petroleum products.
Its economy is marked by the weight of extractive industries: natural gas (1 st producer and exporter), oil (1 e producer) 16 , coal (6 th largest producer), non-ferrous metals.
From its Soviet past, Russia has inherited a powerful heavy metal industry and competitive know-how in the fields of aerospace , defense 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 (deficit worth 10 billion $). But Russia can be regarded as a strong agricultural power – Russia is the world’s largest producer of barley, raspberry, gooseberry. It is also a major producer of sugar beet , of wheat and potato .
Moscow, the new business district Moskva-City
Breakdown of GDP (primary sector 7% – 37% Secondary – Tertiary 56%) reflects the growing importance of services.
The operation of the Russian economy has undergone radical changes after the reforms initiated by Gorbachev in the 2 E half of the 1980s ( perestroika ), characterized by the transition from a planned economy (including all means of production were controlled by the state) to a mode of operation based on the market economy .
This transformation process is the source of a deep economic crisis, culminating in the financial crisis in 1998, Russia has gradually been raised: GDP in 2007 regained its 1990 level. The evolution of commodity prices has greatly promoted the economic recovery that began in 1998. With a GDP growth above 6% on average since then, the Russian state was able to settle in advance the loans at the height of the financial crisis and reduce public debt to 8% in late 2007.
Inflation is now contained (9.7% in 2006 against 36% in 1999). Russia has made ​​the third foreign reserve of the world ($ 480 billion in January 2008) with a balance of payments surplus of 10% of GDP during this period. The state budget surplus on a regular basis through prudent management of windfall tax revenues constituted by more efficient and the price of oil has led to the establishment in 2004 of a stabilization fund which amounted to $ 130 billion in in September 2007. The Russian state has regained financial resources 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 (automotive, mining and energy industry armament). Russia remains the world’s largest exporter of arms 17 (fighter jets, submarines, etc.).. Ill-prepared Russian light industry saw its market share fall on the domestic market. The phenomenon also affects high-tech industries such as aircraft construction. Exports are now largely composed of low value-added products (hydrocarbons and metals in 2005 represented 82% of exports). The growth of this very diversified economy is very sensitive to changes in commodity prices.
GDP per capita in 2007 was $ 12.2 thousand and the unemployment rate to 6.6% (2006). But GDP is very unevenly distributed. The liberalization of the economy has increased a phenomenon that had so far offset the socialist regime. Instead, wealth has concentrated in the decade in a few favored regions: the two metropolises of Moscow and Denver Divorce Lawyer St. Petersburg, the Siberian regions where are the deposits of hydrocarbons and some industrial regions ( Tatarstan , Ekaterinburg , Samara , etc. .). The city of Moscow alone concentrates 22% of Russian GDP 18 .
Agriculture
Grain field in the plain of Rostov-on-Don .
Main auto insurance quotes article: Agriculture in Russia .
Official statistics of the Russian Federation recognize three types of farms. The make t shirts farm organizations , private farms and plots of land. Growing wheat and potatoes in a large share. The pig and poultry is also widespread. In contrast, cattle are mainly for milk production. [ref. required]
The climatic conditions of Russia did allow the cultivation of his land on a relatively short period (about seven months of the year). The size of the agricultural area and the climatic factor, to be sure to explain that its agriculture is more extensive that intensive .
Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Russia .
Ethnic map of European Russia before the First World War
Demographic changes between 1991 and 2008 (figures of the Federal Service of Statistics, population in millions)
After the Second World War, which resulted in the deaths of about 27 million people 19 (civilian and military), the pay day loan population had regained its prewar level in 1955 (111 million) and had increased by almost 35%, reaching its maximum in 1992 (148.7 million). However, many phenomena have come to change the population dynamics, the most important is probably the “normalization” of Russian fertility who performed from 1988 its demographic transition and now has a birth rate similar to that of other European countries East is to say, very low.
The population of Russia amounted to 143.4 million, with a high rate of urbanization (73% of the population). The density is 8.5 inhabitants / km ², but the population is very unevenly distributed in the territory: from 26.9 in European Russia ( Urals included) it falls to 2.5 in Asiatic Russia. Urbanization tends to depopulate the gloubinka , or “deep Russia” in favor of big cities and especially in the cities of European Russia.
The population in Russia is declining steadily since 1992 due to a natural deficit stabilized around important 800 000 population per year for ten years 20 that can not compensate for immigration. This deficit reflects the gap between the birth rate which now stands at 12.6 ‰ with older mothers before and the mortality rate estimated at 14 ‰ in 2010. Since 2007, to arrest the decline of the population, 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 of the collapse of the USSR. Immigration, which was in the 1990s mainly because of Russian speakers, now has more mixed origins (Chinese immigration and Uzbekistan) [ref. needed] . In 2008, Russia had about 10 million immigrants 21 . The economic crisis , rising unemployment and the redefinition of Russian identity cause a rise in xenophobia in the country: 74 murders in nature racist were recorded in 2007, 114 in 2008 21 which is put into perspective with statistics below other European countries now they too know this.
The life expectancy is below the European average for women (75 years) but is especially for men: for them the average age at death is 63 22 (less than 9 years the average European and 14 years at the French average best web hosting 23 ) 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 disappearance of the Soviet Union. This is due to several factors: alcohol mass suicide, a deficient health care system that fails to stop the rapid development of AIDS and tuberculosis 24 . Thus, Russia has experienced during the crisis of the transition period four times as many violent deaths as the U.S. 24 : in fact, it ranked at the time the second largest for homicide (28.4 per 100 000 in 2000 25 ) and third suicides (38.4 per 100 000 population in 2002 26 Bankruptcy . The arrival later in the West, some epidemics such as AIDS also explains the situation: at the end 2005, Russia recorded almost 350,000 infections in HIV 27 .
Faced with this situation, the Russian government has included in its agenda the establishment of a pronatalist policy based on financial incentives for the birth of 2 e and 3 e children. The results seem already promising, since the Prime Minister was able to announce in late 2009, a considerable increase (five years) of life expectancy from its 2005 level. Thus, in 2009 , Russia’s population has increased for the first time since 1995, under the combined four years of a rising birth rate and a decrease in mortality 28 . In addition, the flow of emigration in the direction of Israel , the United States and the German , very important in the 1990s, has now almost dried up and was well below some forecasts 29 .
See also: Russia
Religions

Main article: Russian Orthodox Church .
The Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow
According to the news agency RIA Novosti , Russia accounted for 83% of believers, 7% undecided How to lose weight and 10% of atheists.
Christian Orthodox : 56.4% (including the Old Believers ), 15% say they are practicing.
Muslims : 8 to 15% between 11 and 22 million 30 , 31 (mostly Sunni , casino but also with a strong community Sufi close to Shiism in Dagestan ).
Christian Protestant 9% (mostly Lutherans and Baptists ).
Buddhist : 2% (mainly Tibetan tradition).
Jews : 2% (including botox brisbane Orthodox and Hasidic ).
Christians Roman Catholic and Byzantine : 1%.
Armenian Apostolic Church : 0.8%.
Source of this information 32 .
Education

Main article: Russian education system .
The literacy rate is very high among the highest in the world: 100% (2003-2008). People outside the ethnic Russians are often bilingual (eg Russian and Tatar, Russian and Udmurt, Russian and Yakut, Russian and Armenian).
Between 2003 and 2008, the gross enrollment rate for men and women is 96% and the net enrollment rate is 91%.
In an educational setting, 21% of school children use internet access in 2007.
The survival rate in the final year of primary school is 99% between 2003 and 2008, according to the Russian administrative data.
The rate of secondary enrollment is 85% for men and 83% for women between 2003 and 2008.

Sources: UNICEF ( Education , Basic indicator )
Art and culture

Main articles: Russian Culture , Russian Literature and Russian Music .
Leo Tolstoy
Russian literature took off to St. Petersburg with Alexander Pushkin , who is considered a founder of modern Russian literature and is sometimes nicknamed the “Russian Shakespeare.” Among the poets and the most famous Russian writers are Nicolas Gogol , Mikhail Lermontov , Fyodor Dostoyevsky , Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov . The most significant writers of the Soviet period are Boris Pasternak , Alexander Solzhenitsyn , Vladimir Mayakovsky , Mikhail Sholokhov and poets Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Andrei Voznesensky .
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Many ethnic groups living in Russia have a wide variety of folk traditions. Russian music of the xix th century is characterized by the existence of two musical styles: 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 to more traditional accents. The tradition of late Romanticism embodied by Tchaikovsky or Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (though also the successor of Glinka), was extended to xx th century by Sergei Rachmaninoff , one of the last great Romantic composers.
The composers of the xx th century include world-renowned Alexander Scriabin , Igor Stravinsky , Sergei Rachmaninov , Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich . In Soviet times, the music was under constant surveillance of the system, because it was a way to educate the masses Socialists, and it electronic cigarette review should not be affected, according to 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 scrabble word finder Emil Gilels and the singer Galina engagement rings Vishnevskaya .
Tchaikovsky composed the ballet known worldwide as Swan Lake , Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty . At the beginning of xx th century, Russian dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky became famous and travel abroad of Russian Ballet strongly influenced the development of dance worldwide. The Soviet ballet preserved the perfect traditions of xix th century and the schools of choreography of the Soviet Union have created great stars , admired everywhere as Maya Plisetskaya , Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov . The ballet of the Bolshoi in Moscow and that of the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg are universally popular.
While the film has often been seen as a cheap form of entertainment intended for 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 yet he tried to do with new forms and great creativity. Soviet filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky marked their era 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 Institute of Cinema Union in Moscow. In 1932, Stalin promulgated the Soviet socialist realism as the basis of Soviet art, which hampers creativity but many works produced at this time are artistic achievements as Chapaev, The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of the Soldier .
The Soviet cinema was in crisis in the years 1980 and 1990. The Russian directors were no longer obliged to face the censure , but the reductions in state subsidies do not allow them to produce a small number of films. The beginning of the xxi th century on the other hand was characterized by an increase in box office and consequently increased prosperity of the film industry.
See also: Russian Culture (Category) – Russian Music (Class) – Russian Theatre (Class) – Russian cinema (Class) – Russian Theatre – Russian and Soviet Cinema
Public Holidays
Main article: Public holidays in Russia .
Date French name Local name Notes
1 st January New Year Новый год
January 7 Christmas (Orthodox) Рождество Христово
January 13 New Year “old” (Julian) Старый новый год not a holiday
February electronic cigarettes 23 Day of Defender of the Fatherland День Защитника Отечества Former Day of the Red Army , today celebrates men, holiday
March 8 International Women’s Day Международный женский день
1 st May Spring Festival and the work (the Pervomaï) Праздник весны и труда (Первомай)
May 9 Victory Day in Great Patriotic War ( one thousand nine hundred and forty-one – 1945 ) День Победы в Великой Отечественной войне Celebrated on May 9 because of the time zone difference between Berlin and Moscow (the Nazi capitulation took place in Berlin on the night).
June 12 Russian Day (Feast of the Sovereignty of the Russian Federation) День России (День суверенитета РФ) On 12 June 1990, the democratically elected Russian parliament proclaimed independence from Russia vis-à-vis the Soviet Union.
November 4 Day of National Unity День национального единства
November 7 Day of Reconciliation (Anniversary of the Russian Revolution 1917) День согласия и примирения not a holiday
December 12 Constitution Day День Конституции not corporate clothing a holiday since 2005
In addition to these holidays, there are many festivals corporations (Профессиональные праздники). These days are not worked, but the most important are officially celebrated (April 12: Day of Cosmonautics, May 28: Day of Border Guards, October 5: Day of teachers; November 10: Day of the police …).
Codes

Russia has the code:
RS auto transport , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , alpha-2 code,
UK , according to standard ISO 3166-1 (list of country codes), alpha-2 code,
RUS , according to standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code (list of country codes)
RUS , according to the list of country codes IOC
RUS , according to the list of Bins international license plate codes
RUS , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , alpha-3 code,
according to the list of prefixes ICAO airport codes ,