Russian Federation

Russian Federation

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name Rossiiskaya Federatsiya/Russian Federation Area 17,075,400 sq km/6,592,811 sq mi Capital Moscow Language Russian (official) and many East Slavic, Altaic, Uralic, Caucasian languages Religion traditionally Russian Orthodox; significant Muslim and Buddhist communities Time difference GMT +2/12 Major holidays 1, 7 January, 8 March, 15 April, 1–2, 9 May, 12 June, 22 August, 7 November


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities St Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Omsk, Perm, Ufa Physical features fertile Black Earth district; extensive forests; the Ural Mountains with large mineral resources; Lake Baikal, world's deepest lake Airports over 450 airports, over 50 of which can take international flights, and 108 airfields; total passengers carried: 22.7 million (2003 est) Railways total length: 88,660 km/53,848 mi; total passenger journeys: 1.27 billion (2002) Roads total road network: 537,289 km/333,856 mi, of which 67.4% paved (2002 est); passenger cars: 132.4 per 1,000 people (2000 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Vladimir Putin from 2000 Head of government Mikhail Fradkov from 2004 Political system emergent democracy Political executive limited presidency Administrative divisions 21 republics, 6 provinces, 49 regions, 10 autonomous districts, two cities with federal status (Moscow and St Petersburg), and one autonomous area Political parties Russia is Our Home, centrist; Party of Unity and Accord (PRUA), moderate reformist; Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), left wing, conservative (ex-communist); Agrarian Party, rural-based, centrist; Liberal Democratic Party, far right, ultranationalist; Congress of Russian Communities, populist, nationalist; Russia's Choice, reformist, right of centre; Yabloko, gradualist free market; Russian Social Democratic People's Party (Derzhava), communist-nationalist; Patriotic Popular Union of Russia (PPUR), communist-led; Russian People's Republican Party (RPRP) Death penalty retains the death penalty for ordinary crimes but can be considered abolitionist in practice Armed forces 1,027,000; plus 20 million reservists and paramilitary forces of 415,100 (2006 est) Conscription 18–24 months Defence spend (% GDP) 3.8 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 3.8 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 3.3 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency rouble GDP (US$) 763.7 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 6.5 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 639.1 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 10,640 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 9.7% (2006 est) Unemployment 7.8% (2005 est) Labour force 10.2% agriculture, 29.8% industry, 60% services (2005) Foreign debt (US$) 214.8 billion (2005 est) Major trading partners Germany, Netherlands, Ukraine, China, Italy, USA Resources petroleum, natural gas, coal, peat, copper (world's fourth-largest producer), iron ore, lead, aluminium, phosphate rock, nickel, manganese, gold, diamonds, platinum, zinc, tin Industries cast iron, steel, rolled iron, synthetic fibres, soap, cellulose, paper, cement, machinery and transport equipment, glass, bricks, food processing, confectionery Exports mineral fuels, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and derivatives, precious stones, chemical products, machinery and transport equipment, weapons, timber and paper products. Principal market: Netherlands 10.1% (2005) Imports machinery and transport equipment, grain and foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, clothing, footwear, pharmaceuticals, metals. Principal source: Germany 13.4% (2005) Arable land 7.8% (2006 est) Agricultural products grain, potatoes, flax, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruit and berries, tea; livestock and dairy farming


POPULATION

Population 142,537,300 (2006 est) Population growth rate -0.4% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 8 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 73 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 15%, 15–59 68%, 60+ 17% (2005 est) Ethnic groups predominantly ethnic Russian (eastern Slav); significant Tatar, Ukranian, Chuvash, Belarussian, Bashkir, and Chechen minorities; over 130 nationalities Life expectancy 59 (men); 72 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 21 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 10 Literacy rate 99% (men); 99% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 41.7 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 10.5 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 1.1 (2005 est) AIDS deaths 30,000 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 99 (urban); 88 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 27.9 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 83.6 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 418 (1997) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 349 (2004 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 12.1 (2005 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 15.2 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

9th–10th centuries Viking chieftains established own rule in Novgorod, Kiev, and other cities. 10th–12th centuries Kiev temporarily united Russian peoples into its empire. Christianity introduced from Constantinople 988. 13th century Mongols (Golden Horde) overran the southern steppes in 1223, compelling Russian princes to pay tribute. 14th century Byelorussia and Ukraine came under Polish rule. 1462–1505 Ivan the Great, grand duke of Muscovy, threw off Mongol yoke and united lands in the northwest. 1547–84 Ivan the Terrible assumed title of tsar and conquered Kazan and Astrakhan; colonization of Siberia began. 1613 First Romanov tsar, Michael, elected after period of chaos. 1667 Following Cossack revolt, eastern Ukraine reunited with Russia. 1682–1725 Peter the Great modernized the bureaucracy and army; he founded a navy and a new capital, St Petersburg, introduced Western education, and wrested the Baltic seaboard from Sweden. By 1700 colonization of Siberia had reached the Pacific. 1762–96 Catherine the Great annexed the Crimea and part of Poland and recovered western Ukraine and Byelorussia. 1798–1814 Russia intervened in Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1798–1801, 1805–07); repelled Napoleon, and took part in his overthrow (1812–14). 1827–29 Russian attempts to dominate the Balkans led to a war with Turkey. 1853–56 Crimean War. 1856–64 Caucasian War of conquest completed the annexation of northern Caucasus, causing more than a million people to emigrate. 1858–60 Treaties of Aigun (1858) and Peking (1860) imposed on China, annexing territories north of the Amur and east of the Ussuri rivers; Vladivostok founded on Pacific coast. 1861 Serfdom abolished. Rapid growth of industry followed, a working-class movement developed, and revolutionary ideas spread, culminating in the assassination of Alexander II in 1881. 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War 1898 Social Democratic Party founded by Russian Marxists; split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions in 1903. 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War caused by Russian expansion in Manchuria. 1905 A revolution, though suppressed, forced tsar to accept parliament (Duma) with limited powers. 1914 Russo-Austrian rivalry in Balkans was a major cause of outbreak of World War I; Russia fought in alliance with France and Britain. 1917 Russian Revolution: tsar abdicated, provisional government established; Bolsheviks seized power under Vladimir Lenin. 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended war with Germany; murder of former tsar; Russian Empire collapsed; Finland, Poland, and Baltic States seceded. 1918–22 Civil War between Red Army, led by Leon Trotsky, and White Russian forces with foreign support; Red Army ultimately victorious; control regained over Ukraine, Caucasus, and Central Asia. 1922 Former Russian Empire renamed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 1924 Death of Lenin. 1928 Joseph Stalin emerged as absolute ruler after ousting Trotsky. 1928–33 First five-year plan collectivized agriculture by force; millions died in famine. 1936–38 The Great Purge: Stalin executed his critics and imprisoned millions of people on false charges of treason and sabotage. 1939 Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact; USSR invaded eastern Poland and attacked Finland. 1940 USSR annexed Baltic States. 1941–45 ‘Great Patriotic War’ against Germany ended with Soviet domination of eastern Europe and led to ‘Cold War’ with USA and its allies. 1949 Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) created to supervise trade in Soviet bloc. 1953 Stalin died; ‘collective leadership’ in power. 1955 Warsaw Pact created. 1956 Nikita Khrushchev made ‘secret speech’ criticizing Stalin; USSR invaded Hungary. 1957–58 Khrushchev ousted his rivals and became effective leader, introducing limited reforms. 1960 Rift between USSR and Communist China. 1962 Cuban missile crisis: Soviet nuclear missiles installed in Cuba but removed after ultimatum from USA. 1964 Khrushchev ousted by new ‘collective leadership’ headed by Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin. 1968 USSR and allies invaded Czechoslovakia. 1970s ‘Détente’ with USA and Western Europe. 1979 USSR invaded Afghanistan; fighting continued until Soviet withdrawal ten years later. 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became leader and announced wide-ranging reform programme (perestroika). 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. 1988 Special All-Union Party Congress approved radical constitutional changes and market reforms; start of open nationalist unrest in Caucasus and Baltic republics. 1989 Multi-candidate elections held in move towards ‘socialist democracy’; collapse of Soviet satellite regimes in eastern Europe; end of Cold War. 1990 Baltic and Caucasian republics defied central government; Boris Yeltsin became president of Russian Federation and left Communist Party. 1991 Unsuccessful coup by hardline communists; republics declared independence; communist rule dissolved in Russian Federation; USSR replaced by loose Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Mikhail Gorbachev, president of USSR, resigned, leaving power to Yeltsin. 1992 Russia assumed former USSR seat on United Nations (UN) Security Council; new constitution devised; end of price controls. 1993 Power struggle between Yeltsin and Congress of People's Deputies; congress dissolved; attempted coup foiled; new parliament elected. 1994 Russia joined NATO ‘Partnership for Peace’; Russian forces invaded breakaway republic of Chechnya. 1997 Peace treaty signed with Chechnya. Yeltsin signed agreement on cooperation with NATO. Russia gained effective admission to G-7 group. 1998 President Yeltsin sacked government and appointed Sergei Kiriyenko as prime minister. Rouble heavily devalued. Yevgeny Primakov replaced Kiriyenko as prime minister; market-centred reform abandoned. USA pledged aid of over 3 million tonnes of grain and meat, after 5% contraction in GDP in 1998. 1999 Yeltsin dismissed Primakov's government and then Stepashin's government, appointing Vladimir Putin as prime minister. Troubles with Chechnya continued and Russian forces claimed to have surrounded capital, Grozny; ultimatum issued to civilians to leave or die. After Western protests Russian ultimatum deferred by a week. President Yeltsin resigned; Putin took over as acting president. 2000 Vladimir Putin elected president; sought to reassert central control. Mikhail Kasyanov named prime minister. Russian army in Chechnya declared it had secured control of the region, despite continuing rebel activity. Nuclear-powered submarine, the Kursk, sank after explosion caused by misfire of torpedo. Putin slow to request Western help in abortive rescue mission; all 118 crew died. Duma voted to restore old Soviet national anthem, with different words, and tsarist flag and double-eagle crest as national emblems. 2001 Putin announced that control of war in Chechnya would be transferred to secret police. 2002 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty between USA and (then) USSR lapsed when USA withdrew. US president George Bush visited Moscow to sign Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty (SORT), to reduce US and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by two-thirds by end of 2012. 2003 Parliamentary elections resulted in landslide victory for pro-Putin parties. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of Russia's biggest oil company Yukos and open critic of Putin, arrested for alleged fraud and tax evasion; widely viewed as political move. Akhmad Kadyrov, Moscow-appointed head of the Chechen administration since 2000, officially won 81% of vote; validity of election widely questioned by observers and human rights groups. 2004 About 40 people killed in bomb attack on Moscow underground train. Putin sacked government; Mikhail Fradkov became prime minister. President Putin won second term by landslide. Dozens killed in gunfights in Ingushetia; Putin blamed Chechen rebels; Chechen spokesmen blamed Russia for provoking attacks. Assets of Yuganskneftegaz, unit of oil giant Yukos, seized to offset tax debts; key production unit later bought by state oil firm Rosneft. Bomb attacks, involving two aircraft and a Moscow underground station, left about 100 people dead. Former blamed on terrorists, latter on Chechen separatist sympathizers. More than 330 people, mainly children, killed when siege at school in North Ossetia ended in bloodbath. Putin announced that regional governors would no longer be directly elected, but would be Kremlin appointees. 2005 Russian security forces raided homes in Ingushetia, Dagestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria in operations allegedly aimed at capturing Chechen rebels; at least 20 people died. Chechen separatist leader Maskhadov's calls for ceasefire and start of peace talks ignored; he was killed in March by Russian forces. Agreement signed with Iran whereby Russia would supply fuel for Iran's nuclear reactor and Iran would send spent fuel rods back to Russia. Yukos oil boss Khodorkovsky given nine-year prison sentence; later cut by one year following appeal. State gained control of over 50% of stakes in Gazprom gas giant. Major deal signed with Germany to construct gas pipeline between the two countries under Baltic Sea. Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev announced he had become overall commander of rebel forces. 2006 In dispute over prices, Russia briefly cut off gas supplies to Ukraine. Putin signed controversial law granting authorities extensive new powers to monitor nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and suspend them if considered to pose a threat. Visiting Beijing, Putin signed several economic deals, including future supply of Russian gas to China. Rouble became convertible currency. Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev killed by Russian security services. Russia's already tense relations with Georgia deteriorated sharply when four Russian army officers briefly detained there on spying charges. Russia imposed sanctions and expelled hundreds of Georgians. Aleksandr Litvinenko, former Russian security service officer and Kremlin-critic living in London, poisoned by radioactive substance and died. Following tough negotiations during which Moscow threatened to cut off supplies to Belarus, gas deal signed which more than doubled the price for Minsk. 2007 Amid dispute with Minsk over taxation and allegations of illegal siphoning of oil, Russia cut supply along oil export pipeline through Belarus to Europe; dispute later resolved. Demonstrations held in St Petersburg against Putin's moves to stifle democracy; riot police broke up rally, detaining dozens. Russia test-fired a long-range missile. In response to USA's plans to expand its missile defences into Eastern Europe, Putin talked of new arms race; he suggested Russia and USA could develop joint shield, using Qabala radar station in Azerbaijan. Russia mounted Arctic expedition; widely viewed as means of expanding its territorial claims.


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