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Russia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the Russian Federation. For other uses, see Russia
(disambiguation).
Coordinates: 60�N 90�E

Russian Federation
?????????? ????????? (Russian)
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
Flag of Russia
Flag
Coat of arms of Russia
Coat of arms
Anthem:
??????????????? ???? ?????????? ?????????
Gosudarstvenny gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii
("State Anthem of the Russian Federation")
MENU0:00
Russia on the globe with unrecognized territories in light green.[a]
Russia on the globe with unrecognized territories in light green.[a]
Capital
and largest city
Moscow
55�45'N 37�37'E
Official language
and national language Russian[2]
Recognised national languages See Languages of Russia
Ethnic groups (2010)[3]
80.9% Russian
3.9% Tatar
1.4% Ukrainian
1.1% Bashkir
1.0% Chuvash
1.0% Chechen
10.7% Others
Religion (2017)[4]
73% Christianity
�70% Russian Orthodoxy
�3% Other Christian
15% No religion
10% Islam
2% Others
Demonym(s) Russian
Government Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic
� President
Vladimir Putin
� Prime Minister
Mikhail Mishustin
� Speaker of the
Federation Council
Valentina Matviyenko
� Speaker of the
State Duma
Vyacheslav Volodin
� Chief Justice
Vyacheslav Lebedev
Legislature Federal Assembly
� Upper house
Federation Council
� Lower house
State Duma
Formation
� Rurikids founded
862
� Kievan Rus'
879
� Duchy of Moscow
1283
� Tsardom of Russia
16 January 1547
� Russian Empire
2 November 1721
� Monarchy abolished
15 March 1917
� Russian Federation
12 December 1991
� Current constitution
12 December 1993
� Last polity admitted
18 March 2014
� Last amendments
4 July 2020
Area
� Total
17,098,246 km2 (6,601,670 sq mi)[5][b] (1st)
� Water (%)
13[7] (including swamps)
Population
� 2021 estimate
Neutral decrease 146,171,015
(including Crimea)[8]
Neutral decrease 143,759,445
(excluding Crimea)[8]
(9th)
� Density
8.4/km2 (21.8/sq mi) (181st)
GDP (PPP) 2021 estimate
� Total
Increase $4,328 trillion[9] (6th)
� Per capita
Increase $29,485[9] (50th)
GDP (nominal) 2021 estimate
� Total
Increase $1.710 trillion[9] (11th)
� Per capita
Increase $11,654[9] (59th)
Gini (2018) Negative increase 37.5[10]
medium � 98th
HDI (2019) Increase 0.824[11]
very high � 52nd
Currency Russian ruble (?) (RUB)
Time zone UTC+2 to +12
Driving side right
Calling code +7
ISO 3166 code RU
Internet TLD
.ru
.??
Russia (Russian: ??????, Rossiya, Russian pronunciation: [r?'s?ij?]), or the
Russian Federation,[c] is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is
the largest country in the world, covering over 17 million square kilometres
(6.6�106 sq mi), and encompassing more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited
land area. Russia extends across eleven time zones, and has borders with sixteen
sovereign nations. It has a population of 146.2 million; and is the most populous
country in Europe, and the ninth-most populous country in the world. Moscow, the
capital, is the largest city in Europe, while Saint Petersburg is the nation's
second-largest city and cultural centre. Russians are the largest Slavic and
European nation; they speak Russian, the most spoken Slavic language, and the most
spoken native language in Europe.

The East Slavs emerged as a recognisable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th
centuries AD. The medieval state of Rus' arose in the 9th century. In 988, it
adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of
Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium.
Rus' ultimately disintegrated until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of
Moscow in the 15th century. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded
through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, the
third-largest empire in history. Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian SFSR
became the largest and leading constituent of the Soviet Union, the world's first
constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the
Allied victory in World War II, and emerged as a superpower and rival to the United
States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant
technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-
made satellite and the launching of the first human in space. Following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as
the Russian Federation. In the aftermath of the constitutional crisis of 1993, a
new constitution was adopted, and Russia has since been governed as a federal semi-
presidential republic. Vladimir Putin has dominated Russia's political system since
2000, and his government has been accused of authoritarianism, numerous human
rights abuses, and corruption.

Russia is a great power, and is considered a potential superpower.[d] It is ranked

very high in the Human Development Index, with a universal healthcare system, and a
free university education. Russia's economy is the world's eleventh-largest by
nominal GDP and the sixth-largest by PPP. It is a recognised nuclear-weapons state,
possessing the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, with the world's
second-most powerful military, and the fourth-highest military expenditure.
Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the world's largest, and it is
one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally. It is a permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the G20, the SCO, the
Council of Europe, the APEC, the OSCE, the IIB and the WTO, as well as the leading
member of the CIS, the CSTO, and the EAEU. Russia is also home to the ninth-
greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Kievan Rus'
2.3 Grand Duchy of Moscow
2.4 Tsardom of Russia
2.5 Imperial Russia
2.6 February Revolution and Russian Republic
2.7 Russian Civil War
2.8 Soviet Union
2.8.1 World War II
2.8.2 Cold War
2.9 Post-Soviet Russia (1991�present)
2.9.1 Putin era
3 Politics
3.1 Political divisions
3.2 Foreign relations
3.3 Military
3.4 Human rights and corruption
4 Geography
4.1 Climate
4.2 Biodiversity
5 Economy
5.1 Infrastructure
5.2 Agriculture and fishery
5.3 Science and technology
5.4 Tourism
6 Demographics
6.1 Language
6.2 Religion
6.3 Education
6.4 Health
7 Culture
7.1 Art and architecture
7.2 Music
7.3 Literature and philosophy
7.4 Cuisine
7.5 Media
7.6 Sports
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Etymology
Main articles: Rus' people and Rus' (name)
See also: Russian (disambiguation)
The name Russia is derived from Rus', a medieval state populated primarily by the
East Slavs. However, this proper name became more prominent in later history, and
the country typically was called by its inhabitants "??????? ?????" (Russkaya
zemlya), which can be translated as "Russian land" or "land of Rus." In order to
distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan
Rus' by modern historiography. The name Rus' itself comes from the early medieval
Rus' people, and Swedish merchants and warriors,[16][17] who relocated from across
the Baltic Sea and founded a state centred on Novgorod that later became Kievan
Rus'.

An old Latin version of the name Rus' was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western
and southern regions of Rus' that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current
name of the country, ?????? (Rossiya), comes from the Byzantine Greek designation
of the Rus', ??ss?a Ross�a�spelled ??s?a (Ros�a pronounced [ro'sia]) in Modern
Greek.[18]

The standard way to refer to the citizens of Russia is "Russians" in English.[19]

There are two words in Russian which are commonly translated into English as
"Russians"�one is "???????" (russkiye), which most often refers to ethnic
Russians�and the other is "????????" (rossiyane), which refers to the citizens of
Russia, regardless of ethnicity.[20]

History
Main article: History of Russia
Early history
Further information: Scythia, Ancient Greek colonies, Early Slavs, East Slavs,
Huns, Turkic expansion, and Prehistory of Siberia
See also: Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic
Nomadic pastoralism developed in the Pontic-Caspian steppe beginning in the
Chalcolithic.[21] In classical antiquity, the Pontic Steppe was known as Scythia.

Beginning in the 8th century BC, Ancient Greek traders brought their civilization
to the trade emporiums located in the Russian cities of Tanais and Phanagoria.

In the 3rd to 4th centuries AD, the Gothic kingdom of Oium existed in Southern
Russia, which was later overrun by Huns. Between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, the
Bosporan Kingdom, which was a Hellenistic polity that succeeded the Greek colonies,
[22] was also overwhelmed by nomadic invasions led by warlike tribes such as the
Huns and Eurasian Avars.[23] A Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the lower Volga
basin steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas until the 10th century.[24]

The 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, one of
the largest wetlands in Europe.[25] The 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. From the 7th century onwards, the East
Slavs constituted the bulk of the population in Western Russia,[26] and assimilated
the native Finno-Ugric peoples, including the Merya, the Muromians, and the
Meshchera.

Kievan Rus'
Main articles: Rus' Khaganate, Kievan Rus', and List of early East Slavic states

Kievan Rus' in the 11th century

The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with
the arrival of Varangians, the Vikings who ventured along the waterways extending
from the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas.[27] According to the Primary
Chronicle, a Varangian from the Rus' people, named Rurik, was elected ruler of
Novgorod in 862. In 882, his successor Oleg ventured south and conquered Kiev,[28]
which had been previously paying tribute to the Khazars. Oleg, Rurik's son Igor and
Igor's son Sviatoslav subsequently subdued all local East Slavic tribes to Kievan
rule, destroyed the Khazar Khaganate and launched several military expeditions to
Byzantium and Persia.

In the 10th to 11th centuries, Kievan Rus' became one of the largest and most
prosperous states in Europe.[29] The reigns of Vladimir the Great (980�1015) and
his son Yaroslav the Wise (1019�1054) constitute the Golden Age of Kiev, which saw
the acceptance of Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium and the creation of the
first East Slavic written legal code, the Russkaya Pravda.

The Baptism of Kievans, by Klavdy Lebedev.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such
as the Kipchaks and the Pechenegs, caused a massive migration of the East Slavic
populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, particularly to
the area known as Zalesye;[30] which led to intermingling with the native Volga
Finnic tribes.[31][32]

The age of feudalism and decentralization had come, marked by constant in-fighting
between members of the Rurikid Dynasty that ruled Kievan Rus' collectively. Kiev's
dominance waned, to the benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east, Novgorod
Republic in the north-west and Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west.

Ultimately Kievan Rus' disintegrated, with the final blow being the Mongol invasion
of 1237�40,[33] that resulted in the destruction of Kiev,[34] and the death of
about half the population of Rus'.[35] 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 two centuries.[36]

Galicia-Volhynia was eventually assimilated by the Kingdom of Poland, while the

Novgorod Republic and Mongol-dominated Vladimir-Suzdal, two regions on the
periphery of Kiev, established the basis for the modern Russian nation.[32] The
Novgorod Republic escaped Mongol occupation and together with Pskov retained some
degree of autonomy during the time of the Mongol yoke; they were largely spared the
atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Led by Prince Alexander Nevsky,
Novgorodians repelled the invading Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in 1240, as
well as the Germanic crusaders in the Battle of the Ice in 1242.

Grand Duchy of Moscow

Main article: Grand Duchy of Moscow

Sergius of Radonezh blessing Dmitry Donskoy in Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the
Battle of Kulikovo, depicted in a painting by Ernst Lissner
The most powerful state to eventually arise after the destruction of Kievan Rus'
was the Grand Duchy of Moscow, initially a part of Vladimir-Suzdal. While still
under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their connivance, Moscow began to
assert its influence in the Central Rus' in the early 14th century, gradually
becoming the leading force in the process of the Rus' lands' reunification and
expansion of Russia.[37] Moscow's last rival, the Novgorod Republic, prospered as
the chief fur trade centre and the easternmost port of the Hanseatic League.

Times remained difficult, with frequent Mongol-Tatar raids. Agriculture suffered

from the beginning of the Little Ice Age. As in the rest of Europe, plague was a
frequent occurrence between 1350 and 1490.[38] However, because of the lower
population density and better hygiene�widespread practicing of banya, a wet steam
bath�the death rate from plague was not as severe as in Western Europe,[39] and
population numbers recovered by 1500.[38]

Led by Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow and helped by the Russian Orthodox Church,
the united army of Russian principalities inflicted a milestone defeat on the
Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. Moscow gradually absorbed the
surrounding principalities, including formerly strong rivals such as Tver and
Novgorod.

Ivan III ("the Great") finally threw off the control of the Golden Horde and
consolidated the whole of Central and Northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion. He was
also the first to take the title "Grand Duke of all the Russias".[40] After the
fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the
Eastern Roman Empire. Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina, the niece of the last
Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, and made the Byzantine double-headed eagle his
own, and eventually Russia's, coat-of-arms.

Tsardom of Russia
Main article: Tsardom of Russia
See also: Moscow, third Rome

Tsar Ivan the Terrible, 19th-century evocation by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1897

In development of the Third Rome ideas, the Grand Duke Ivan IV (the "Terrible") was
officially crowned first Tsar of Russia in 1547. The Tsar 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.[41][42]

During his long reign, Ivan the Terrible nearly doubled the already large Russian
territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates (parts of the disintegrated Golden
Horde): Kazan and Astrakhan along the Volga River, and the Siberian Khanate in
southwestern Siberia. Thus, by the end of the 16th century, Russia was transformed
into a transcontinental state.[43]

However, the Tsardom was weakened by the long and unsuccessful Livonian War against
the coalition of Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden for access to the Baltic coast and
sea trade.[44] At the same time, the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, the only
remaining successor to the Golden Horde, continued to raid Southern Russia.[45] In
an effort to restore the Volga khanates, Crimeans and their Ottoman allies invaded
central Russia and were even able to burn down parts of Moscow in 1571.[46] But in
the next year the large invading army was thoroughly defeated by Russians in the
Battle of Molodi, forever eliminating the threat of an Ottoman�Crimean expansion
into Russia. The slave raids of Crimeans, however, did not cease until the late
17th century though the construction of new fortification lines across Southern
Russia, such as the Great Abatis Line, constantly narrowed the area accessible to
incursions.[47]

Kuzma Minin appeals to the people of Nizhny Novgorod to raise a volunteer army
against the Polish invaders
The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient Rurik Dynasty in 1598, and
in combination with the famine of 1601�03, led to a civil war, the rule of
pretenders, and foreign intervention during the Time of Troubles in the early 17th
century.[48] The Polish�Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied parts of Russia, including
Moscow. In 1612, the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps,
led by two national heroes, merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. The
Romanov Dynasty acceded to the throne in 1613 by the decision of Zemsky Sobor, and
the country started its gradual recovery from the crisis.

Russia continued its territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age
of Cossacks. In 1648, the peasants of Ukraine joined the Zaporozhian Cossacks in
rebellion against Poland-Lithuania during the Khmelnytsky Uprising in reaction to
the social and religious oppression they had been suffering under Polish rule. In
1654, the Ukrainian leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, offered to place Ukraine under the
protection of the Russian Tsar, Aleksey I. Aleksey's acceptance of this offer led
to another Russo-Polish War. Finally, Ukraine was split along the Dnieper River,
leaving the western part, right-bank Ukraine, under Polish rule and the eastern
part (Left-bank Ukraine and Kiev) under Russian rule. Later, in 1670�71, the Don
Cossacks led by Stenka Razin initiated a major uprising in the Volga Region, but
the Tsar's troops were successful in defeating the rebels.[49]
In the east, the rapid Russian exploration and colonisation of the huge territories
of Siberia was led mostly by Cossacks hunting for valuable furs and ivory. Russian
explorers pushed eastward primarily along the Siberian River Routes, and by the
mid-17th century, there were Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia, on the Chukchi
Peninsula, along the Amur River, and on the Pacific coast. In 1648, Fedot Popov and
Semyon Dezhnyov, two Russian explorers, discovered the Bering Strait; which led to
the Russians becoming the first Europeans to sail to North America.[50]

Imperial Russia
Main article: Russian Empire

Peter the Great, Tsar of All Russia in 1682�1721 and the first Emperor of All
Russia in 1721�1725
Under Peter the Great, Russia was proclaimed an Empire in 1721, and became
recognised as a global power. 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),[51] as well as Estland and Livland,
securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade.[52] On the Baltic Sea, Peter
founded a new capital named Saint Petersburg. Later, his reforms brought
considerable Western European cultural influences to Russia.

The reign of Peter I's daughter Elizabeth in 1741�62 saw Russia's participation in
the Seven Years' War (1756�63). During this conflict, Russia annexed East Prussia
for a while and even took Berlin. However, upon Elizabeth's death, all these
conquests were returned to the Kingdom of Prussia by pro-Prussian Peter III of
Russia.

Catherine II ("the Great"), who ruled in 1762�96, presided over the Age of Russian
Enlightenment. She extended Russian political control over the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth and incorporated most of its territories into Russia during the
Partitions of Poland, pushing the Russian frontier westward into Central Europe. In
the south, after the successful Russo-Turkish Wars against Ottoman Turkey,
Catherine advanced Russia's boundary to the Black Sea, defeating the Crimean
Khanate. As a result of victories over Qajar Iran through the Russo-Persian Wars,
by the first half of the 19th century, Russia also made significant territorial
gains in Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus.[53][54] Catherine's successor, her
son Paul, was unstable and focused predominantly on domestic issues. Following his
short reign, Catherine's strategy was continued with Alexander I's (1801�25)
wresting of Finland from the weakened kingdom of Sweden in 1809 and of Bessarabia
from the Ottomans in 1812. At the same time, Russians became the first Europeans to
colonise Alaska and founded settlements in California, such as Fort Ross.

Russian colonization and territorial evolution between the 16th and 20th centuries
In 1803�1806, the first Russian circumnavigation was made, later followed by other
notable Russian sea exploration voyages. In 1820, a Russian expedition discovered
the continent of Antarctica.

In alliances with various other European countries, Russia fought against

Napoleon's France. The French invasion of Russia at the height of Napoleon's power
in 1812 reached Moscow, but eventually failed miserably as the obstinate resistance
in combination with the bitterly cold Russian winter led to a disastrous defeat of
invaders, in which more than 95% of the pan-European Grande Arm�e perished.[55] Led
by Mikhail Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly, the Russian army ousted Napoleon from the
country and drove throughout Europe in the war of the Sixth Coalition, finally
entering Paris. Alexander I headed Russia's delegation at the Congress of Vienna
that defined the map of post-Napoleonic Europe.
Monument to Mikhail Kutuzov in front of the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.
The Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow were built to
commemorate Napoleon's defeat.
The officers of the Napoleonic Wars brought ideas of liberalism back to Russia with
them and attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive Decembrist
revolt of 1825. At the end of the conservative reign of Nicolas I (1825�55), a
zenith period of Russia's power and influence in Europe was disrupted by defeat in
the Crimean War. Between 1847 and 1851, about one million people died of Asiatic
cholera.[56]

Nicholas's successor Alexander II (1855�81) enacted significant changes in the

country, including the emancipation reform of 1861. These Great Reforms spurred
industrialisation and modernised the Russian army, which had successfully liberated
Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in the 1877�78 Russo-Turkish War.

The late 19th century saw the rise of various socialist movements in Russia.
Alexander II was killed in 1881 by revolutionary terrorists and the reign of his
son Alexander III (1881�94) was less liberal but more peaceful. The last Russian
Emperor, Nicholas II (1894�1917), was unable to prevent the events of the Russian
Revolution of 1905, triggered by the unsuccessful Russo-Japanese War and the
demonstration incident known as Bloody Sunday. The uprising was put down, but the
government was forced to concede major reforms (Russian Constitution of 1906),
including granting the freedoms of speech and assembly, the legalisation of
political parties, and the creation of an elected legislative body, the State Duma
of the Russian Empire. The Stolypin agrarian reform led to a massive peasant
migration and settlement into Siberia. More than four million settlers arrived in
that region between 1906 and 1914.[57]

February Revolution and Russian Republic

Main articles: February Revolution, Russian Provisional Government, and Russian
Republic
See also: 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election and Russian Democratic
Federative Republic

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in
1918.
In 1914, Russia entered World War I in response to Austria-Hungary's declaration of
war on Russia's ally Serbia, and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from
its Triple Entente allies. In 1916, the Brusilov Offensive of the Russian Army
almost completely destroyed the military of Austria-Hungary. However, the already-
existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war,
high casualties, and rumors of corruption and treason. All this formed the climate
for the Russian Revolution of 1917, carried out in two major acts.

The February Revolution forced Nicholas II to abdicate; he and his family were
imprisoned and later executed in Yekaterinburg during the Russian Civil War. The
monarchy was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared
itself the Provisional Government. On 1 September (14), 1917, upon a decree of the
Provisional Government, the Russian Republic was proclaimed.[58] On 6 January (19),
1918, the Russian Constituent Assembly declared Russia a democratic federal
republic (thus ratifying the Provisional Government's decision). The next day the
Constituent Assembly was dissolved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Russian Civil War

Main articles: October Revolution, Russian Civil War, and White movement
See also: Soviet Russia Constitution of 1918

1932 White �migr� propaganda poster

An alternative socialist establishment co-existed, the Petrograd Soviet, wielding
power through the democratically elected councils of workers and peasants, called
Soviets. The rule of the new authorities only aggravated the crisis in the country
instead of resolving it. Eventually, the October Revolution, led by Bolshevik
leader Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government and gave full governing
power to the Soviets, leading to the creation of the world's first socialist state.

Following the October Revolution, the Russian Civil War broke out between the anti-
Communist White movement and the new Soviet regime with its Red Army. Bolshevist
Russia lost its Ukrainian, Polish, Baltic, and Finnish territories by signing the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that concluded hostilities with the Central Powers of World
War I. The Allied powers launched an unsuccessful military intervention in support
of anti-Communist forces. In the meantime, both the Bolsheviks and White movement
carried out campaigns of deportations and executions against each other, known
respectively as the Red Terror and White Terror. By the end of the civil war,
Russia's economy and infrastructure were heavily damaged. There were an estimated
7�12 million casualties during the war, mostly civilians.[59] Millions became White
�migr�s,[60] and the Russian famine of 1921�22 claimed up to five million victims.
[61]

Soviet Union
Main articles: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, and
History of the Soviet Union
See also: Treaty on the Creation of the USSR

Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Mikhail Kalinin meeting in 1919. All three of
them were "Old Bolsheviks"�members of the Bolshevik party before the Russian
Revolution of 1917, the first successful socialist revolution in human history.
On 30 December 1922, Lenin and his aides formed the Soviet Union, by merging the
Russian SFSR with the Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and the Transcaucasian SFSR. Out of
the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, the largest in size and population was the
Russian SFSR, which dominated the union for its entire history politically,
culturally, and economically.

Following Lenin's death in 1924, a troika was designated to take charge. Eventually
Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist Party, managed to suppress
all opposition factions and consolidate power in his hands to become the country's
dictator by the 1930s. Leon Trotsky, the main proponent of world revolution, was
exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929, and Stalin's idea of Socialism in One Country
became the official line. The continued internal struggle in the Bolshevik party
culminated in the Great Purge, a period of mass repressions in 1937�38, during
which hundreds of thousands of people were executed, including original party
members and military leaders forced to confess to nonexistent plots.[62]

Under Stalin's leadership, the government launched a command economy,

industrialisation of the largely rural country, and collectivisation of its
agriculture. During this period of rapid economic and social change, millions of
people were sent to penal labor camps,[63] including many political convicts for
their suspected or real opposition to Stalin's rule; millions were deported and
exiled to remote areas of the Soviet Union.[63] The transitional disorganisation of
the country's agriculture, combined with the harsh state policies and a drought,
led to the Soviet famine of 1932�1933,[64] which killed between 2 and 3 million
people in the Russian SFSR.[65] The Soviet Union made the costly transformation
from a largely agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in a short span of
time.

World War II

The Battle of Stalingrad, the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of
warfare, ended in 1943 with a decisive Soviet victory against the German army.
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany broke their non-aggression treaty; and invaded the
ill-prepared Soviet Union with the largest and most powerful invasion force in
human history,[66] opening the largest theater of World War II. The Nazi Hunger
Plan foresaw the "extinction of industry as well as a great part of the
population".[67] Nearly 3 million Soviet POWs in German captivity were murdered in
just eight months of 1941�42.[68] Although the Wehrmacht had considerable early
success, their attack was halted in the Battle of Moscow. Subsequently, the Germans
were dealt major defeats first at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of
1942�43,[69] and then in the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. Another German
failure was the Siege of Leningrad, in which the city was fully blockaded on land
between 1941 and 1944 by German and Finnish forces, and suffered starvation and
more than a million deaths, but never surrendered.[70] Under Stalin's
administration and the leadership of such commanders as Georgy Zhukov and
Konstantin Rokossovsky, Soviet forces steamrolled through Eastern and Central
Europe in 1944�45 and captured Berlin in May 1945. In August 1945 the Soviet Army
ousted the Japanese from China's Manchukuo and North Korea, contributing to the
allied victory over Japan.

The 1941�45 period of World War II is known in Russia as the "Great Patriotic War."
The Soviet Union together with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were
considered as the Big Four of Allied powers in World War II,[71] and later became
the Four Policemen which was the foundation of the United Nations Security Council.
[72] During this war, which included many of the most lethal battle operations in
human history, Soviet civilian and military death were about 27 million, accounting
for about a third of all World War II casualties. The full demographic loss of
Soviet citizens was even greater.[73] The Soviet economy and infrastructure
suffered massive devastation which caused the Soviet famine of 1946�47.
Nonetheless, the Soviet Union emerged as a global superpower in the aftermath.

Cold War
After World War II, Eastern and Central Europe, including East Germany and eastern
parts of Austria were occupied by Red Army according to the Potsdam Conference.
Dependent socialist governments were installed in the Eastern Bloc satellite
states. After becoming the world's second nuclear power, the Soviet Union
established the Warsaw Pact alliance and entered into a struggle for global
dominance, known as the Cold War, with the rivaling United States and NATO.

After Stalin's death and a short period of collective rule, the new leader Nikita
Khrushchev denounced Stalin and launched the policy of de-Stalinisation. The penal
labor system was reformed and many prisoners were released and rehabilitated (many
of them posthumously).[74] The general easement of repressive policies became known
later as the Khrushchev Thaw. At the same time, tensions with the United States
heightened when the two rivals clashed over the deployment of the United States
Jupiter missiles in Turkey and Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Sputnik 1 was the world's first artificial satellite.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik
1, thus starting the Space Age. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first
human to orbit the Earth, aboard the Vostok 1 manned spacecraft on 12 April 1961.
Following the ousting of Khrushchev in 1964, another period of collective rule
ensued, until Leonid Brezhnev became the leader. The era of the 1970s and the early
1980s was later designated as the Era of Stagnation, a period when economic growth
slowed and social policies became static. The 1965 Kosygin reform aimed for partial
decentralisation of the Soviet economy and shifted the emphasis from heavy industry
and weapons to light industry and consumer goods but was stifled by the
conservative Communist leadership. In 1979, after a Communist-led revolution in
Afghanistan, Soviet forces invaded the country. The occupation drained economic
resources and dragged on without achieving meaningful political results.
Ultimately, the Soviet Army was withdrawn from Afghanistan in 1989 due to
international opposition, persistent anti-Soviet guerrilla warfare, and a lack of
support by Soviet citizens.

Mikhail Gorbachev in one-to-one discussions with US President Ronald Reagan

From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who sought to enact
liberal reforms in the Soviet system, introduced the policies of glasnost
(openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to end the period of
economic stagnation and to democratise the government. This, however, led to the
rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements. Prior to 1991, the Soviet
economy was the world's second-largest,[75] but during its final years, it was
afflicted by shortages of goods in grocery stores, huge budget deficits, and
explosive growth in the money supply leading to inflation.[76]

By 1991, economic and political turmoil began to boil over as the Baltic states
chose to secede from the Soviet Union. On 17 March, a referendum was held, in which
the vast majority of participating citizens voted in favour of changing the Soviet
Union into a renewed federation. In August 1991, a coup d'�tat attempt by members
of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the
Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On
25 December 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved, and along with Russia, fourteen other
post-Soviet states emerged.

Post-Soviet Russia (1991�present)

Main articles: History of Russia (1991�present), Russia and the United Nations, and
1993 Constitution of Russia
See also: Commonwealth of Independent States, War of Laws, and 1993 Russian
constitutional crisis

Vladimir Putin takes the oath of office as president on his first inaugration, with
Boris Yeltsin looking over, 2000.
In June 1991, Boris Yeltsin became the first directly elected president in Russian
history when he was elected President of the Russian SFSR, which became the
independent Russian Federation in December of that year. The economic and political
collapse of the Soviet Union led to a deep and prolonged depression, characterised
by a 50% decline in both GDP and industrial output between 1990 and 1995, although
some of the recorded declines may have been a result of an upward bias in Soviet-
era economic data.[77][78] During and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union,
wide-ranging reforms including privatisation and market and trade liberalisation
were undertaken,[77] including radical changes along the lines of "shock therapy"
as recommended by the United States and the International Monetary Fund.[79]

The privatisation largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to

individuals with inside connections in the government. Many of the newly rich moved
billions in cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous capital flight.
[80] The depression of the economy led to the collapse of social services; the
birth rate plummeted while the death rate skyrocketed.[81] Millions plunged into
poverty, from a level of 1.5% in the late Soviet era to 39�49% by mid-1993.[82] The
1990s saw extreme corruption and lawlessness, the rise of criminal gangs and
violent crime.[83]

In late 1993, tensions between Yeltsin and the Russian parliament culminated in a
constitutional crisis which ended after military force. During the crisis, Yeltsin
was backed by Western governments, and over 100 people were killed. In December, a
referendum was held and approved, which introduced a new constitution, giving the
president enormous powers.
Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama after signing the New START nuclear reduction
treaty
The 1990s were plagued by armed conflicts in the North Caucasus, both local ethnic
skirmishes and separatist Islamist insurrections. From the time Chechen separatists
declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war has been
fought between the rebel groups and the Russian Armed Forces. Terrorist attacks
against civilians carried out by separatists, most notably the Moscow theater
hostage crisis and Beslan school siege, caused hundreds of deaths.

Russia took up the responsibility for settling the Soviet Union's external debts,
even though its population made up just half of it at the time of its dissolution.
[83] In 1992, most consumer price controls were eliminated, causing extreme
inflation and significantly devaluing the Ruble.[84] With a devalued ruble, the
Russian government struggled to pay back its debts to internal debtors, as well as
international institutions like the International Monetary Fund.[85] Despite
significant attempts at economic restructuring, Russia's debt outpaced GDP growth.
High budget deficits coupled with increasing capital flight and inability to pay
back debts,[86] caused the 1998 Russian financial crisis,[84] and resulted in a
further GDP decline.[76]

Putin era
Main article: Russia under Vladimir Putin
On 31 December 1999, President Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned, handing the post to
the recently appointed Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin left office widely
unpopular, with an approval rating as low as 2% by some estimates.[87] Putin then
won the 2000 presidential election and suppressed the Chechen insurgency. As a
result of high oil prices, a rise in foreign investment, and prudent economic and
fiscal policies, the Russian economy grew for eight straight years; improving the
standard of living, and increasing Russia's influence on the world stage.[88] Putin
went on to win a second presidential term in 2004. Following the global economic
crisis of 2008 and a subsequent drop in oil prices, Russia's economy stagnated in
2009. And from 2010 to 2013, Russia enjoyed high economic growth; until falling oil
prices coupled with international sanctions after the annexation of Crimea and the
Russo-Ukrainian War led to the economy shrinking in 2015, though it rebounded in
2016, and the recession officially ended.[89] Many reforms made during the Putin
presidency have been criticised as authoritarian,[90] while Putin's leadership over
the return of order, stability, and prosperity has won him widespread admiration in
Russia.[91]

Vladimir Putin (third, left), Sergey Aksyonov (first, left), Vladimir Konstantinov
(second, left) and Aleksei Chalyi (right) sign the Treaty on Accession of the
Republic of Crimea to Russia in 2014
On 2 March 2008, Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of Russia while Putin became
Prime Minister. The constitution prohibited Putin from serving a third consecutive
presidential term. Putin returned to the presidency following the 2012 presidential
elections, and Medvedev was appointed Prime Minister. This quick succession in
leadership change was coined "tandemocracy" by outside media. Some critics claimed
that the leadership change was superficial, and that Putin remained as the decision
making force in the Russian government, while other political analysts viewed it as
truly tandem.[92][93] Alleged fraud in the 2011 parliamentary elections and Putin's
return to the presidency in 2012 sparked mass protests, which lasted until 2013.

In 2014, after President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine fled as a result of a

revolution, Putin requested and received authorisation from the Russian parliament
to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine, leading to the takeover of Crimea.[94]
Following a Crimean referendum in which separation was favoured by a large majority
of voters,[95] the Russian leadership announced the accession of Crimea into the
Russian Federation, though this and the referendum that preceded it were not
accepted internationally.[96] The annexation of Crimea led to sanctions by Western
countries, in which the Russian government responded with its own against a number
of countries.[97][98]

In September 2015, Russia started military intervention in the Syrian Civil War in
support of the Syrian government, consisting of airstrikes against militant groups
of the Islamic State, al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in the Levant), the Army of Conquest
and other rebel groups. During March 2017 and October 2018, the country saw mass
protests, which were primarily concerned with suppressing corruption in the Russian
government and abandoning the planned retirement age hike. Amidst of the protests,
during March 2018, Putin was elected for a fourth presidential term overall.

During July to September 2019, protests were held in Moscow, which was caused by
the rejection to allow the independent candidates to participate in the 2019 Moscow
City Duma election. In January 2020, substantial amendments to the constitution
were proposed and took effect in July following a national vote, allowing Putin to
run for two more six-year presidential terms after his current term ends.[99] In
April 2021, Putin signed the constitutional change into law.[100] Since July 2020,
protests have been continuing in Khabarovsk Krai and other regions of Siberia,
which was caused by the arrest of Sergei Furgal. In January 2021, widespread
protests began across the country, due to the arrest of opposition leader Alexei
Navalny, and have been ongoing.

Politics
Main article: Politics of Russia
Vladimir Putin (2018-03-01) 03 (cropped).jpg Mikhail Mishustin (2020-07-09).jpg
Vladimir Putin
President Mikhail Mishustin
Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation 2.svg Prime Minister
According to the Constitution of Russia, the country is an asymmetric federation
and semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state,[101]
and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Russian Federation is
fundamentally structured as a multi-party representative democracy, with the
federal government composed of three branches:[102]

Legislative: The bicameral Federal Assembly of Russia, made up of the 450-member

State Duma and the 170-member Federation Council, adopts federal law, declares war,
approves treaties, has the power of the purse and the power of impeachment of the
President.
Executive: The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, can veto
legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Government of Russia
(Cabinet) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
Judiciary: The Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose
judges are appointed by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the
President, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.
The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second
term, but not for a third consecutive term).[103] Ministries of the government are
composed of the Premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other
individuals; all are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime
Minister (whereas the appointment of the latter requires the consent of the State
Duma).

Political divisions
Main article: Subdivisions of Russia
Further information: Political status of Crimea and Sevastopol and Annexation of
Crimea by the Russian Federation
Map of federal subjects of Russia (2014).svg
According to the constitution, Russia comprises 85 federal subjects.[e] In 1993,
when the new constitution was adopted, there were 89 federal subjects listed, but
later some of them were merged. These subjects have equal representation�two
delegates each�in the Federation Council.[104] However, they differ in the degree
of autonomy they enjoy.

46 oblasts (provinces): most common type of federal subjects, with locally elected
governor and legislature.[105]
22 republics: nominally autonomous; each is tasked with drafting its own
constitution, direct-elected,[105] head of republic,[106] or a similar post, 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.
9 krais (territories): essentially the same as oblasts. The "territory" designation
is historic, originally given to frontier regions and later also to the
administrative divisions that comprised autonomous okrugs or autonomous oblasts.
4 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.
1 autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast): historically, autonomous
oblasts were administrative units subordinated to krais. In 1990, all of them
except for the Jewish Autonomous Oblast were elevated in status to that of a
republic.
3 federal cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Sevastopol): major cities that
function as separate regions.
Federal districts
Federal subjects are grouped into eight federal districts, each administered by an
envoy appointed by the President of Russia.[107] Unlike the federal subjects, the
federal districts are not a subnational level of government but are a level of
administration of the federal government.

Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Russia

Putin with G20 counterparts in Osaka, 2019.

As of 2019, Russia has the fifth-largest diplomatic network in the world;
maintaining diplomatic relations with 190 United Nations member states, two
partially-recognized states, and three United Nations observer states; with 144
embassies.[108] It is considered a potential superpower; and is one of five
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Russia is a member of the
G20, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and the APEC, and takes a leading role in
organisations such as the CIS, the EAEU, the CSTO, the SCO, and BRICS.

Russia maintains positive relations with other SCO and BRICS countries.[109][110]
In the 21st century, Sino-Russian relations have significantly strengthened
bilaterally and economically�the Treaty of Friendship, and the construction of the
ESPO oil pipeline and the Power of Siberia gas pipeline formed a special
relationship between the two great powers.[111] India is the largest customer of
Russian military equipment, and the two countries share a historically strong
strategic and diplomatic relationship.[112]

Military
Main article: Russian Armed Forces

Admiral Kuznetsov, a Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier and the flagship of the

Russian Navy
The Russian Armed Forces are divided into the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace
Forces. There are also two independent arms of service: Strategic Missile Troops
and the Airborne Troops. As of 2019, the military had almost one million active-
duty personnel, the fourth-largest in the world.[113] Additionally, there are over
2.5 million reservists, with the total number of reserve troops possibly being as
high as 20 million.[114] It is mandatory for all male citizens aged 18�27 to be
drafted for a year of service in Armed Forces.[115]

Russia boasts the world's second-most powerful military,[116] and is among the five
recognised nuclear-weapons states, with the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in
the world. More than half of the world's 14,000 nuclear weapons are owned by
Russia.[117] The country possesses the second-largest fleet of ballistic missile
submarines, and is one of the only three states operating strategic bombers, with
the world's most powerful ground force,[118] the second-most powerful air force,
[119] and the third-most powerful navy fleet.[120] Russia has the fourth-highest
military expenditure in the world, spending $65.1 billion in 2019.[121] It has a
large and fully indigenous arms industry, producing most of its own military
equipment. In 2019, Russia was the world's third-biggest exporter of arms, behind
only the United States and China.[122]

Human rights and corruption

Main articles: Human rights in Russia and Corruption in Russia
Russia's human rights management has been increasingly criticised by leading
democracy and human rights watchdogs. In particular, such organisations as Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch consider Russia to have not enough democratic
attributes and to allow few political rights and civil liberties to its citizens.
[123][124] Since 2004, Freedom House has ranked Russia as "not free" in its Freedom
in the World survey.[125] Since 2011, the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked
Russia as an "authoritarian regime" in its Democracy Index, ranking it 124th out of
167 countries for 2020.[126] Russia was ranked 149th out of 180 countries in
Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index for 2020.[127]

Russia was the lowest rated European country in Transparency International's

Corruption Perceptions Index for 2020; ranking 129th out of 180 countries.[128]
Corruption is perceived as a significant problem in Russia,[129] impacting various
aspects of life, including the economy,[130] business,[131] public administration,
[132][133] law enforcement,[134] healthcare,[135] and education.[136] The
phenomenon of corruption is strongly established in the historical model of public
governance, and attributed to general weakness of rule of law in Russia.[129]

Geography
Main article: Geography of Russia

Topographic map of Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world, covering a total area of 17,075,200
square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi). It is a transcontinental country spanning much
of the landmass of Eurasia, stretching vastly over both Europe and Asia. Russia has
the fourth-longest coastline in the world, at 37,653 km (23,396 mi),[f] and lies
between latitudes 41� and 82� N, and longitudes 19� E and 169� W. It is larger, by
size, than three continents: Oceania, Europe, and Antarctica, and is slightly
smaller than the dwarf planet of Pluto by surface area.[137]

The two most widely separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (4,971 mi) apart
along a geodesic line.[g] Mountain ranges are found along the southern regions,
which shares a portion of the Caucasus Mountains (containing Mount Elbrus; which at
5,642 m (18,510 ft) is the highest and most prominent peak in both Russia and
Europe), the Altai Mountains in Siberia, and in the Russian Far East, such as the
Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes of Kamchatka Peninsula. The Ural Mountains, rich
in mineral resources, form a north�south range that divides Europe and Asia.
The Volga, flowing through Central Russia and into the Caspian Sea; is the longest
river in Europe.
The Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East
Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, Sea of Azov, Sea of Okhotsk, and the Sea of
Japan are linked to Russia via the Arctic, Pacific, and the Atlantic. Russia's
major islands and archipelagos include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz Josef Land, the
Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands, and
Sakhalin. The Diomede Islands are just 3 km (1.9 mi) apart, and Kunashir Island is
about 20 km (12.4 mi) from Hokkaido, Japan.

Mount Elbrus, a dormant volcano in Southern Russia, is the highest mountain in

Russia and Europe.
Russia has one of the world's largest surface water resources; with its lakes
containing approximately one-quarter of the world's liquid fresh water.[138] The
largest and most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake Baikal, the
world's deepest, purest, oldest and most capacious fresh water lake;[139] which
alone contains over one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water.[138] Other major
lakes include Ladoga and Onega, two of the largest lakes in Europe. Russia is
second only to Brazil in volume of the total renewable water resources. Out of the
country's 100,000 rivers,[140] the Volga is the most famous�it is the longest river
in Europe.[115] The Siberian rivers of Ob, Yenisey, Lena and Amur are among the
world's longest rivers.

Climate
Main article: Climate of Russia

K�ppen climate classification of Russia

The enormous size of Russia and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in
the dominance of the humid continental climate, which is prevalent in all parts of
the country except for the tundra and the extreme southwest. Mountains in the south
obstruct the flow of warm air masses from the Indian Ocean, while the plain of the
west and north makes the country open to Arctic and Atlantic influences.[141] Most
of Northwest Russia and Siberia has a subarctic climate, with extremely severe
winters in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia (mostly Sakha, where the Northern
Pole of Cold is located with the record low temperature of -71.2 �C or -96.2 �F),
and more moderate winters elsewhere. Both the strip of land along the shore of the
Arctic Ocean and the Russian Arctic islands have a polar climate.

Lake Baikal in winter, near Olkhon Island. It is the deepest lake in the world.
The coastal part of Krasnodar Krai on the Black Sea, most notably in Sochi,
possesses a humid subtropical climate with mild and wet winters. In many regions of
East Siberia and the Far East, winter is dry compared to summer; other parts of the
country experience more even precipitation across seasons. Winter precipitation in
most parts of the country usually falls as snow. The region along the Lower Volga
and Caspian Sea coast, as well as some areas of southernmost Siberia, possesses a
semi-arid climate.

Throughout much of the territory, there are only two distinct seasons�winter and
summer�as spring and autumn are usually brief periods of change between extremely
low and extremely high temperatures.[141] The coldest month is January (February on
the coastline); the warmest is usually July. Great ranges of temperature are
typical. In winter, temperatures get colder both from south to north and from west
to east. Summers can be quite hot, even in Siberia.[142]

Biodiversity
Main articles: List of ecoregions in Russia, List of mammals of Russia, List of
birds of Russia, List of freshwater fish of Russia, and Wildlife of Russia
From north to south the East European Plain, is clad sequentially in Arctic tundra,
taiga, mixed and broad-leaf forests, 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 largely taiga. About half of Russia's total territory is
forested, and it has the world's largest forest reserves, known as the "Lungs of
Europe";[143] which is second only to the Amazon rainforest in the amount of carbon
dioxide it absorbs.

There are 266 mammal species and 780 bird species in Russia. A total of 415 animal
species were included in the RDBRF in 1997; and are now protected.[144] There are
40 UNESCO biosphere reserves,[145] 41 national parks and 101 nature reserves.
Russia still has many ecosystems which are still untouched by man�mainly in the
northern taiga areas, and in subarctic tundra of Siberia. Over time Russia has been
having improvement and application of environmental legislation, development and
implementation of various federal and regional strategies and programmes, and
study, inventory and protection of rare and endangered plants, animals, and other
organisms, and including them in the RDBRF.[146]

Economy
Main article: Economy of Russia
See also: Economic history of the Russian Federation and Taxation in Russia

Moscow is a major financial hub in Europe.

Russia's GDP growth by purchasing power parity (PPP) during 1991�2019 in

international dollars
Russia has an upper-middle income mixed and transition economy,[147] with enormous
natural resources, particularly oil and natural gas. It has the world's eleventh-
largest economy by nominal GDP and the sixth-largest by PPP. According to the IMF,
Russia's GDP per capita by PPP is $29,485 as of 2021.[9] The average nominal salary
in Russia was ?51,083 per month in 2020,[148] and approximately 12.9% of Russians
lived below the national poverty line in 2018.[149] Unemployment in Russia was 4.5%
in 2019,[150] and officially more than 70% of the Russian population is categorised
as middle class;[151] though this is disputed.[152][153] By the end of December
2019, Russian foreign trade turnover reached $666.6 billion. Russia's exports
totalled over $422.8 billion, while its imported goods were worth over $243.8
billion.[154] As of December 2020, foreign reserves in Russia are worth $444
billion.[155]

Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of Russian exports
abroad.[115] In 2016, the oil-and-gas sector accounted for 36% of federal budget
revenues.[156] In 2019, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry estimated
the value of natural resources to 60% of the country's GDP.[157] Russia has one of
the lowest foreign debts among major economies.[158] It ranked 28th of 190
countries in the 2019 Ease of Doing Business Index. Russia has a flat tax rate of
13%; with the world's second-most attractive personal tax system for single
managers after the United Arab Emirates.[159] However, extreme inequality of
household income and wealth in the country has also been noted.[160][161]

Infrastructure
Main articles: Transport in Russia and Energy in Russia
Railway transport in Russia is mostly under the control of the state-run Russian
Railways. The total length of common-used railway tracks exceeds 85,500 km (53,127
mi),[162] second only to the United States. The most renowned railway in Russia is
the Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railway-line in the world. As of 2016,
Russia had 1,452.2 km of roads;[163] and its road density is the lowest among the
BRICS.[164] Much of Russia's inland waterways, which total 102,000 km (63,380 mi),
are made up of natural rivers or lakes. Among Russia's 1,216 airports,[165] the
busiest are Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo in Moscow, and Pulkovo in Saint
Petersburg.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway line in the world, connecting
Moscow to Vladivostok.
Major seaports of Russia include Rostov-on-Don on the Sea of Azov, Novorossiysk on
the Black Sea, Astrakhan and Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea, Kaliningrad and Saint
Petersburg on the Baltic Sea, Arkhangelsk on the White Sea, Murmansk on the Barents
Sea, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean. The world's
only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers advances the economic exploitation of the
Arctic continental shelf of Russia and the development of sea trade through the
Northern Sea Route.

Russia is a major oil and gas supplier to the rest of Europe.

Russia is considered an energy superpower;[166] with the world's largest natural
gas reserves,[167] the second-largest coal reserves,[168] the eighth-largest oil
reserves,[169] and the largest oil shale reserves in Europe.[170] The country is
the world's leading natural gas exporter,[171] the second-largest natural gas
producer,[172] the second-largest oil exporter,[173] and the third-largest oil
producer.[174] Fossil fuels cause most of the greenhouse gas emissions by Russia.
[175] It is the fourth-largest electricity producer in the world,[176] and the
ninth-largest renewable energy producer in 2019.[177] Russia was the first country
to develop civilian nuclear power and to construct the world's first nuclear power
plant. In 2019, the country was the fourth-largest nuclear energy producer in the
world; nuclear generated 20% of the country's electricity.[178]

Agriculture and fishery

Main articles: Agriculture in Russia and Fishing industry in Russia
Russia has the fourth-largest cultivated area in the world, at 1,237,294 square
kilometres (477,722 sq mi); possessing 7.4% of the world's total arable land.[179]
It is the third-largest grain exporter;[180] and is the top producer of barley,
buckwheat and oats, and one of the largest producers and exporters of rye, and
sunflower seed. Since 2016, Russia is the largest exporter of wheat in the world.
[181]

While large farms concentrate mainly on grain production and animal husbandry,
while small private household plots produce most of the country's potatoes,
vegetables and fruits.[182] Russia is the home to the finest caviar in the world;
[183] and maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets, ranking sixth in the
world in tonnage of fish caught; capturing 4,773,413 tons of fish in 2018.[184]

Science and technology

Main articles: Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records, Science and
technology in Russia, List of Russian scientists, and List of Russian inventors

Mikhail Lomonosov (1711�1765), polymath scientist, inventor, poet and artist

Russia's research and development budget is the ninth-highest in the world, with an
expenditure of approximately 422 billion rubles on domestic research and
development.[185] In 2019, Russia was ranked tenth worldwide in the number of
scientific publications.[186] Since 1904, Nobel Prize were awarded to twenty-six
Russian and Soviet people in physics, chemistry, medicine, economy, literature and
peace.[187]

Mikhail Lomonosov proposed the law of conservation of matter preceding the energy
conservation law.[188] Since the time of Nikolay Lobachevsky (the "Copernicus of
Geometry" who pioneered the non-Euclidean geometry) and a prominent tutor Pafnuty
Chebyshev, the Russian mathematical school became one of the most influential in
the world.[189] Dmitry Mendeleev invented the Periodic table, the main framework of
modern chemistry.[188] Nine Soviet/Russian mathematicians were awarded with the
Fields Medal.[190] Grigori Perelman was offered the first ever Clay Millennium
Prize Problems Award for his final proof of the Poincar� conjecture in 2002.[191]
Russian discoveries and inventions include the transformer, electric filament lamp,
the aircraft, the safety parachute, sputnik, radio receiver, electrical microscope,
colour photos,[192] caterpillar tracks, periodic table, track assembly,
electrically powered railway wagons, videotape recorder, helicopter, solar cell,
transformers, yogurt, television, petrol cracking, synthetic rubber and grain
harvester.[193]

Mir, Soviet and Russian space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to
2001.
Roscosmos is Russia's national space agency; while Russian achievements in the
field of space technology and space exploration are traced back to Konstantin
Tsiolkovsky, the father of theoretical astronautics.[194] His works had inspired
leading Soviet rocket engineers, such as Sergey Korolyov, Valentin Glushko, and
many others who contributed to the success of the Soviet space program in the early
stages of the Space Race and beyond.

In 1957, the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched; in

1961 the first human trip into space was successfully made by Yuri Gagarin. Many
other Soviet and Russian space exploration records ensued, including the first
spacewalk performed by Alexei Leonov, Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to land on
the Moon, Zond 5 brought the first Earthlings (two tortoises and other life forms)
to circumnavigate the Moon, Venera 7 was the first to land on another planet
(Venus), Mars 3 then the first to land on Mars, the first space exploration rover
Lunokhod 1, and the first space station Salyut 1 and Mir. Russia is the largest
satellite launcher.[195]

Russia has completed the GLONASS satellite navigation system, and is developing its
own fifth-generation jet fighter and constructing the first serial mobile nuclear
plant in the world. Soyuz rockets are the only provider of transport for astronauts
at the International Space Station. Luna-Glob is a Russian Moon exploration
programme, with first planned mission launch in 2021. Roscosmos is also developing
the Orel spacecraft, to replace the aging Soyuz, it could also conduct mission to
lunar orbit as early as 2026.[196] In February 2019, it was announced that Russia
is intending to conduct its first crewed mission to land on the Moon in 2031.[197]

Tourism
Main article: Tourism in Russia

Peterhof Palace in Saint Petersburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to the World Tourism Organization, Russia was the sixteenth-most visited
country in the world, and the tenth-most visited country in Europe, in 2018, with
over 24.6 million visits.[198] Russia was ranked 39th in the Travel and Tourism
Competitiveness Report 2019.[199] According to Federal Agency for Tourism, the
number of inbound trips of foreign citizens to Russia amounted to 24.4 million in
2019.[200] Russia's international tourism receipts in 2018 amounted to $11.6
billion.[198] In 2020, tourism accounted for about 4% of country's GDP.[201] Major
tourist routes in Russia include a journey around the Golden Ring of Russia, a
theme route of ancient Russian cities, cruises on large rivers like the Volga, and
journeys on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway.[202] Russia's most visited and
popular landmarks include Red Square, the Peterhof Palace, the Kazan Kremlin, the
Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius and Lake Baikal.[203]

Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Russia and Russians
Russia is one of the most sparsely populated and urbanised countries in the world;
it had a population of 142.8 million according to the 2010 census,[204] which rose
to 146.2 million as of 2021.[8] It is the most populous country in Europe, and the
ninth-most populous country in the world; with a population density of 9
inhabitants per square kilometre (23 per square mile). The overall life expectancy
in Russia at birth is 73.2 years (68.2 years for males and 78.0 years for females).
[205]

Since the 1990s, Russia's death rate has exceeded its birth rate.[206] In 2018, the
total fertility rate across Russia was estimated to be 1.6 children born per woman,
which is below the replacement rate of 2.1, and one of the lowest fertility rates
in the world. Subsequently, the country has one of the oldest populations in the
world, with an average age of 40.3 years.[207] In 2009, it recorded annual
population growth for the first time in fifteen years; since the 2010s, Russia has
seen increased population growth due to declining death rates, increased birth
rates and increased immigration.[208]

Russia is a multinational state, home to over 193 ethnic groups. In the 2010
Census, roughly 81% of the population were ethnic Russians,[209] while rest of the
19% of the population were minorities;[3] while around 84.93% of the Russia's
population was of European descent,[3] of which the vast majority were Slavs, with
minorities of Germanic, Baltic-Finns and other peoples. There are 22 republics in
Russia, designated to have their own ethnicities, cultures, and languages. In 13 of
them, ethnic Russians consist a minority. According to the United Nations, Russia's
immigrant population is the third-largest in the world, numbering over 11.6
million;[210] most of which are from post-Soviet states, mainly Ukrainians.[211]

vte
Largest cities or towns in Russia
Rosstat (2016[212][213]/2017)
Rank Name Federal subject Pop. Rank Name Federal subject Pop.
Moscow
Moscow
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg 1 Moscow Moscow [214]12,381,000 11 Rostov-na-
Donu Rostov Oblast 1,120,000 Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg
2 Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg [214]5,282,000 12 Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk Krai [215]1,084,000
3 Novosibirsk Novosibirsk Oblast [216]1,603,000 13 Perm Perm Krai
1,042,000
4 Yekaterinburg Sverdlovsk Oblast [217]1,456,000 14 Voronezh
Voronezh Oblast 1,032,000
5 Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod Oblast 1,267,000 15 Volgograd
Volgograd Oblast 1,016,000
6 Kazan Tatarstan [218]1,232,000 16 Krasnodar Krasnodar Krai
[219]881,000
7 Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk Oblast [220]1,199,000 17 Saratov
Saratov Oblast 843,000
8 Omsk Omsk Oblast [221]1,178,000 18 Tolyatti Samara Oblast
[222]711,000
9 Samara Samara Oblast [222]1,170,000 19 Izhevsk Udmurtia
[223]646,000
10 Ufa Bashkortostan [224]1,126,000 20 Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk Oblast
622,000
Language
Main articles: Russian language and Languages of Russia
Minority languages across Russia
Distribution of the Uralic, Altaic, and Yukaghir languages

Geographical distribution of the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic peoples

Ethnolinguistic groups in the Caucasus

Russia's official language is Russian. However, Russia's 193 minority ethnic groups
speak over 100 languages.[225] According to the 2002 Census, 142.6 million people
speak Russian, followed by Tatar with 5.3 million, and Ukrainian with 1.8 million
speakers.[226] The constitution gives the individual republics of the country the
right to establish their own state languages in addition to Russian.[227]

Russian is the most spoken native language in Europe, the most geographically
widespread language of Eurasia, as well as the most widely spoken Slavic language
in the world.[228] It belongs to the Indo-European language family, is one of the
living members of the East Slavic languages, and is among the larger Balto-Slavic
languages. It is the second-most used language on the Internet after English,[229]
one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station,[230] and is
one of the six official languages of the United Nations.[231]

Religion
Main article: Religion in Russia

Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow; the most popular icon of Russia.[232]

Russia is a secular state by constitution, and its largest religion is
Christianity. It has the world's largest Orthodox population.[233][234] As of a
different sociological surveys on religious adherence; between 41% to over 80% of
the total population of Russia adhere to the Russian Orthodox Church.[235][236]
[237]

In 2017, a survey made by the Pew Research Center showed that 73% of Russians
declared themselves Christians�including 71% Orthodox, 1% Catholic, and 2% Other
Christians, while 15% were unaffiliated, 10% were Muslims, and 1% were from other
religions.[4] According to various reports, the proportion of Atheists in Russia is
between 16% and 48% of the population.[238]

Islam is the second-largest religion in Russia.[239] It is the traditional and

predominant religion amongst the Caucasian ethnicities of the North Caucasus, and
amongst some Turkic peoples of the Volga Region. Buddhists hold a sizeable
population in four republics of Russia: Buryatia, Tuva, Zabaykalsky Krai, and
Kalmykia, the only region in Europe where Buddhism is the most practised religion.
[240] Judaism is a minority faith in Russia, as it is home to a historical Jewish
population, which is among the largest in Europe.[241] In the recent years,
Hinduism has also seen an increase in Russia.[242]

Education
Main article: Education in Russia

Moscow State University, the most prestigious educational institution in Russia.

Russia has the highest college-level or higher graduates in terms of percentage of
population in the world, at 54%.[243] It has a free education system, which is
guaranteed for all citizens by the constitution.[244] Since 1990, the 11-year
school education has been introduced. Education in state-owned secondary schools is
free. University-level education is free, with exceptions. A substantial share of
students are enrolled for full pay (many state institutions started to open
commercial positions in the last years).[245]

The oldest and largest universities in Russia are Moscow State University and Saint
Petersburg State University. In the 2000s, in order to create higher education and
research institutions of comparable scale in Russian regions, the government
launched a program of establishing federal universities, mostly by merging existing
large regional universities and research institutes and providing them with special
funding. These new institutions include the Southern Federal University, Siberian
Federal University, Kazan Volga Federal University, North-Eastern Federal
University, and Far Eastern Federal University.

Health
Main article: Healthcare in Russia
The constitution of Russia guarantees free, universal health care for every single
Russian citizen,[246] through a compulsory state health insurance program.[247] The
Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation oversees the Russian public healthcare
system, and the sector employs more than two million people.[247] Federal regions
also have their own departments of health that oversee local administration.[247]
Russia has the highest number of physicians, hospitals, and health care workers in
the world on a per capita basis.[248]

According the World Bank, Russia spent 5.32% of its GDP on healthcare in 2018.[249]
It has one of the world's most female-biased sex ratios, with 0.859 males to every
female.[115] In 2019, the overall life expectancy in Russia at birth was 73.2 years
(68.2 years for males and 78.0 years for females),[205] and it had a very low
infant mortality rate (5 per 1,000 live births).[250] Obesity is a major health
issue in Russia. In 2016, 61.1% of Russian adults were overweight or obese, while
23.1% were obese.[251] In 2017, roughly 16% of Russia's deaths were attributed to
obesity, while per 100,000 Russians, 123.27 died due to being obese.[251]

Culture
Main article: Russian culture
Art and architecture
Main articles: Russian artists, Russian architecture, and List of Russian
architects

Andrei Rublev, Trinity (1425)

Karl Bryullov, The Last Day of Pompeii (1833)

Early Russian painting is represented in icons and vibrant frescos. As Moscow rose
to power, Theophanes the Greek, Dionisius and Andrei Rublev became vital names in
Russian art. The Russian Academy of Arts was created in 1757. In the 18th century,
academicians Ivan Argunov, Dmitry Levitzky, Vladimir Borovikovsky became
influential. The early 19th century saw many prominent paintings by Karl Briullov
and Alexander Ivanov. In the mid-19th century, the group of mostly realists
Peredvizhniki broke with the Academy. Leading Russian realists include Ivan
Shishkin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ivan Kramskoi, Vasily Polenov, Isaac Levitan, Vasily
Surikov, Viktor Vasnetsov, Ilya Repin, and Boris Kustodiev. The turn of the 20th
century saw the rise of symbolism; represented by Mikhail Vrubel, Kuzma Petrov-
Vodkin, and Nicholas Roerich. The Russian avant-garde flourished from approximately
1890 to 1930; notable artists from this era were El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich,
Wassily Kandinsky, and Marc Chagall. Some influential Soviet sculptures were Vera
Mukhina, Yevgeny Vuchetich and Ernst Neizvestny.

Saint Isaac's Cathedral, an architectural landmark of Saint Petersburg.

Beginning with the woodcraft buildings of ancient Slavs; since the Christianization
of Kievan Rus', for several centuries Russian architecture was influenced
predominantly by Byzantine architecture. Aristotle Fioravanti and other Italian
architects brought Renaissance trends into Russia. The 16th century saw the
development of the unique tent-like churches; and the onion dome design. In the
17th century, the "fiery style" of ornamentation flourished in Moscow and
Yaroslavl, gradually paving the way for the Naryshkin baroque of the 1690s. After
the reforms of Peter the Great; the country's architecture became influenced by
Western Europe. The 18th-century taste for Rococo architecture led to the splendid
works of Bartolomeo Rastrelli and his followers. During the reign of Catherine the
Great and her grandson Alexander I, the city of Saint Petersburg was transformed
into an outdoor museum of Neoclassical architecture. The second half of the 19th
century was dominated by the Byzantine and Russian Revival style. Prevalent styles
of the 20th century were the Art Nouveau (Fyodor Shekhtel), Constructivism (Moisei
Ginzburg and Victor Vesnin), and Socialist Classicism (Boris Iofan).

Music
Main article: Music of Russia

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840�1893), composer

Music in 19th-century Russia was defined by the tension between classical composer
Mikhail Glinka along with other members of The Mighty Handful, and the Russian
Musical Society led by composers Anton and Nikolay Rubinstein. The later tradition
of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, was
continued into the 20th century by Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the last great
champions of the Romantic style of European classical music.[252] World-renowned
composers of the 20th century include Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei
Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov and Alfred Schnittke.

Russian conservatories have turned out generations of famous soloists. Among the
best known are violinists Jascha Heifetz, David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Gidon
Kremer, and Maxim Vengerov; cellists Mstislav Rostropovich, Natalia Gutman;
pianists Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Vladimir Sofronitsky
and Evgeny Kissin; and vocalists Fyodor Shalyapin, Mark Reizen, Elena Obraztsova,
Tamara Sinyavskaya, Nina Dorliak, Galina Vishnevskaya, Anna Netrebko and Dmitry
Hvorostovsky.[253]

Modern Russian rock music takes its roots both in the Western rock and roll and
heavy metal, and in traditions of the Russian bards of the Soviet era, such as
Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava.[254] Russian pop music developed from what
was known in the Soviet times as estrada into a full-fledged industry.

Literature and philosophy

Main articles: Russian literature, Russian philosophy, Russian poets, Russian
playwrights, Russian novelists, and Russian science fiction and fantasy

Leo Tolstoy is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.

Russian literature is considered to be among the most influential and developed in
the world. It can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in
Old East Slavic were composed. In the 18th century, by the Age of Enlightenment,
the works of Mikhail Lomonosov and Denis Fonvizin boosted Russian literature. The
early 19th century began with Vasily Zhukovsky and Alexander Pushkin; who is
considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet.[255] It continued with the
poetry of Mikhail Lermontov and Nikolay Nekrasov, dramas of Alexander Ostrovsky and
Anton Chekhov, and the prose of Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, Mikhail Saltykov-
Shchedrin, Ivan Goncharov, Aleksey Pisemsky and Nikolai Leskov. Leo Tolstoy and
Fyodor Dostoevsky have been described by as the greatest novelists of all time.
[256][257] The next several decades had leading authors such as Konstantin Balmont,
Valery Bryusov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Alexander Blok, Nikolay Gumilyov, Dmitry
Merezhkovsky, Anna Akhmatova, and Boris Pasternak; and novelists Leonid Andreyev,
Ivan Bunin, and Maxim Gorky.

Russian philosophy blossomed in the 19th century; with the works of Nikolay
Danilevsky and Konstantin Leontiev. Notable philosophers of the late 19th and early
20th centuries include Vladimir Solovyov, Sergei Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky, Nikolai
Berdyaev, Vladimir Lossky, and Vladimir Vernadsky.
Following the 1917 revolution, and the ensuing civil war, many prominent writers
and philosophers left the country; while a new generation of authors joined
together in an effort to create a distinctive working-class culture appropriate for
the new Soviet state. Leading authors of the Soviet era include novelists Yevgeny
Zamiatin, Isaac Babel, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Ilf and Petrov, Yury Olesha, Mikhail
Bulgakov, Mikhail Sholokhov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and
Andrei Voznesensky.

Cuisine
See also: Russian cuisine

Kvass, a bread-based drink and a key ingredient in many soups.

Russian cuisine widely uses fish, caviar, poultry, mushrooms, berries, and honey.
Crops of rye, wheat, barley, and millet provide the ingredients for various breads,
pancakes and cereals, as well as for kvass, beer and vodka drinks. Black bread is
very popular in Russia. Flavourful soups and stews include shchi, borsch, ukha,
solyanka and okroshka. Smetana (a heavy sour cream) is often added to soups and
salads. Pirozhki, blini and syrniki are native types of pancakes. Chicken Kiev,
pelmeni and shashlyk are popular meat dishes, the last two being of Tatar and
Caucasian origin respectively. Other meat dishes include stuffed cabbage rolls
(golubtsy) usually filled with meat.[258] Salads include Olivier salad, vinegret
and dressed herring.

Media
Main articles: Media of Russia and Cinema of Russia

Poster of Battleship Potemkin (1925) by Sergei Eisenstein, which was named the
greatest film of all time at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958
The largest internationally operating news agencies in Russia are TASS, RIA
Novosti, and Interfax. Television is the most popular media in Russia, with 74% of
the population watching national television channels routinely, and 59% routinely
watching regional channels. There are three main nationwide radio stations in
Russia: Radio Russia, Radio Mayak, and Radio Yunost. Russia has the largest video
gaming market in Europe, with over 65 million players nationwide.[259]

Russian and later Soviet cinema was a hotbed of invention, resulting in world-
renowned films such as The Battleship Potemkin. Soviet-era filmmakers, most notably
Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky, would become some of the world's most
innovative and influential directors. Lev Kuleshov developed the Soviet montage
theory; and Dziga Vertov's "film-eye" theory had a huge impact on the development
of documentary filmmaking and cinema realism. Many Soviet socialist realism films
were artistically successful, including Chapaev, The Cranes Are Flying, and Ballad
of a Soldier.

The 1960s and 1970s saw a greater variety of artistic styles in Soviet cinema.
Eldar Ryazanov's and Leonid Gaidai's comedies of that time were immensely popular,
with many of the catchphrases still in use today. In 1961�68 Sergey Bondarchuk
directed an Oscar-winning film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's epic War and Peace,
which was the most expensive film made in the Soviet Union.[260] In 1969, Vladimir
Motyl's White Sun of the Desert was released, a very popular film in a genre of
ostern; the film is traditionally watched by cosmonauts before any trip into space.
[261] In 2002, Russian Ark was the first feature film ever to be shot in a single
take. Today, the Russian cinema industry continues to expand and receive
international recognition.

Sports
Main article: Sport in Russia
Maria Sharapova, former world No. 1 tennis player; and the world's highest-paid
female athlete 11 consecutive years.[262]
Football is one of the most popular sports in Russia. The Soviet national team
became the first European Champions by winning Euro 1960; and reached the finals of
Euro 1988. In 1956 and 1988, the Soviet Union won gold at the Olympic football
tournament. Russian clubs CSKA Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg won the UEFA Cup
in 2005 and 2008. The Russian national football team reached the semi-finals of
Euro 2008. Russia was the host nation for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the
2018 FIFA World Cup.

Ice hockey is very popular in Russia. The Soviet national ice hockey team dominated
the sport internationally throughout its existence, winning gold at seven of the
nine Olympics and 19 of the 30 World Championships they contested between 1954 and
1991. The Russia men's national ice hockey team won the 1993, 2008, 2009, 2012, and
the 2014 IIHF World Championships. Bandy is another traditionally popular ice sport
in the country. The Soviet Union won all the Bandy World Championships for men
between 1957 and 1979,[263] and some thereafter too. The Russia national bandy team
has won the Bandy World Championship in 1999, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, and has
been the reigning world champion since 2013. The Russian national basketball team
won the EuroBasket 2007; and the Russian basketball club PBC CSKA Moscow won the
Euroleague in 2006 and 2008. Formula One is also becoming increasingly popular in
Russia.

Historically, Russian athletes have been one of the most successful contenders in
the Olympic Games;[264] ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count.
Larisa Latynina holds the record for the most gold Olympic medals won by a woman.
Olympic gold medalist Alexander Popov is widely considered the greatest sprint
swimmer in history.[265] Russia is the leading nation in rhythmic gymnastics; and
Russian synchronized swimming is the best in the world.[266] Figure skating is
another popular sport in Russia, especially pair skating and ice dancing. Russia
has produced a number of famous tennis players. Chess is also a widely popular
pastime, with many of the world's top chess players being Russian for decades, the
likes of Garry Kasparov. The 1980 Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow, and the
2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics were hosted in Sochi.

See also
flag Russia portal
map Europe portal
Outline of Russia
Bibliography of the history of the Early Slavs and Rus'
Bibliography of Russian history (1223�1613)
Bibliography of Russian history (1613�1917)
Notes
Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, is still internationally recognised
as an integral part of Ukraine.[1]
Excluding Crimea, whose 2014 annexation by Russia is not recognized
internationally. Including that territory the total land area of Russia increases
to 17,125,191 km2 (6,612,073 sq mi).[6]
Russian: ?????????? ?????????, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, IPA: [r?'s?ijsk?j? f??
d??'rats?j?]
Sources discussing and backing Russia's status as a potential superpower in global
politics.[12][13][14][15]
Including the disputed Republic of Crimea, and the federal city of Sevastopol.
Russia has an additional 850 km (530 mi) of coastline along the Caspian Sea, which
is landlocked.
These points are: from the Vistula Spit and the southeasternmost point of the
Kuril Islands. The points which are farthest separated in longitude are 6,600 km
(4,101 mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: In the west, the same
spit, and in the east, the Big Diomede Island.
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Further reading
Rosefielde, Steven. Putin's Russia: Economy, Defence and Foreign Policy (2020)
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