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| Capital | Moscow | ||
| Area | 17,100,000 km² | ||
| Population | 143 million (2012) | ||
| Currency | Russian ruble (RUB) | ||
| Electricity | 220V / 50Hz, European mains | ||
| Tel. pre-code | 7 | ||
| Horizon | UTC 3 to UTC 12 | ||
Russia, Russia or Russia, Russian: Россия, (Rossija), officially the Russian Federation (Российская Федерация) is by far the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, encompassing Eastern Europe and north Asia, as well as eleven time zones. While geographically it is mostly in Asia, most of the Russian population is concentrated in the European part and, culturally, Russia is undoubtedly European. Much of the Asian part, however, has a more common relationship with Kazakhstan, Mongolia or Northeast China than with Eastern Europe. Russia has a rich history and culture. It borders on Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, MongoliaNorth Korea.
Regions
In Russia there are various types of subjects, namely: 21 republics, 9 regions, 46 provinces, 2 federal cities, 1 autonomous province and 4 autonomous districts. Total: 83.
| Central Federal District (Moscow) The richest part of the country with the capital. The entrance for Europe. |
| North Caucasus Federal District (Chernozem (Black Earth)) To the south of the region Central Russia, it is famous for its rich soil, deep and black |
| Northwestern federal region It consists inter alia of St. Petersburg and Leningrad; |
| Kaliningrad Oblast Often regarded as part of Northwestern Russia. The only Russian slave, Kaliningrad province allows Russia to border with Poland and Lithuania. |
| Southern federal region The hottest part of Russia, with beautiful cities like the subtropical Sochi, and Crimea. |
| Developmental federal region The most industrialized region in the entire country, known for large-scale production of military equipment in cities such as Izhevsk, and because of its rich history and culture. |
| Ural federal region One of the most prosperous regions after Central Russia, known for producing many of the resources needed by the country. |
| Siberian federal region Most of Russia. Entrance to Asia. |
| Far-east federal region One of the coldest places in all of Russia, also home to the coldest city in the world, Yakutsk. Universally known for its national parks, picturesque beauty and allows travelers to see the volcanoes of Kamchatka. Good entry point for North Korea, China and Mongolia. |
Cities
Huge cities:
- Moscow (Russian Москва́), capital of Russia
- St. Petersburg (Russian Санкт-Петербург)
Million cities (with more than 1 million inhabitants in 2019):
- Chelyabinsk (Russian Челябинск), in Siberia
- Ekaterinburg (Russian Екатеринбург), in Siberia
- Kazano (tatare Kazan, ruse Казань)
- Krasnoyarsk (Russian Красноярск), in Siberia
- Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Нижний Новгород), t.e. "Lower Novgorod"
- Novosibirsk (Russian Новосибирск)
- Omsko (Russian Омск), in Siberia
- Perm (Russian Пермь)
- Rostov at Don (Russian Ростов-на-Дону) (not to be confused with the smaller Rostov on Lake Nero)
- Samara (Russian Samara)
- Ufa (Russian Фа, Bashkir Өфө)
- Volgograd (Russian Волгоград)
- Voronezh (Russian Воронеж)
Successive major cities:
- Arkhangelsk (Russian Arkhangelsk)
- Chita (Russian Читa), in Siberia
- Irkutsko (Russian Иркутск), in Siberia
- Kaliningrad (Russian Калининград)
- Pskov (Russian Псков)
- Soot (Russian Сочи)
- Tyumen (Russian Тюмень), in Siberia
- Tomsk (Russian Томск), in Siberia
- Tula (Russian Тула)
- Veliky Novgorod (Russian Великий Новгород), t.e. "Great Novgorod"
- Vladivostok (Russian Владивосток), in Siberia
Other destinations
Understand
Terrain
The Russian territory generally consists, almost entirely, of vast plains and very faint reliefs; rugged mountainous areas extend only to the borders of Russian space, close to the southern borders (Caucasus chain, High Mountains) and in the Far East, which is indeed a very rough area from a geological point of view. The highest point is reached by the Caucasus Mountains by Mount Elbrus (5,642 m).
Almost all of Europe, as well as the west Siberia, consists of plains; they are separated by the Urals. While the European part (called the Sarmatian Lowlands) is often interrupted by very modest reliefs (Central Russian Highlands, Moscow Highlands, Volga Highlands among the most important), the Western Siberian Plain is a magnificent flat area.
Central Siberia practically coincides with the plateau of the same name, which, although with modest altitudes (culminating at 1,700 m at its northern end) extends over almost four million square kilometers. Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, on the other hand, are mainly mountainous areas, generally very rugged, which can reach considerable altitudes (they reach 5,000 m in the highest peaks of Kamchatka).
The coasts stretch for several tens of thousands of kilometers and are mostly low except in some areas facing the Pacific. There are many sea basins that bathe the coasts: in the west Russia faces a short part of the Baltic Sea, while in the east the Pacific forms the vast basins of the Ohototska Sea and the Bering Sea; the long Arctic coastal strip is divided into large fairly thick peninsulas (among the largest that of Tajmir, Gidao and Jamalo) which form the basins of the White Sea, the Dear Sea, the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea.
The main islands are the Novaya Zemlya, la Land of Franz Joseph, la New Siberian Islands, la Vrangelo Island and, on the Pacific, the Runners and Sahaleno.
The main Russian rivers are the Volga (3531 km), which drains much of the European part of the territory, and the three main Siberian rivers: the Ob '(4070 km), the Enisei or Yenisei (4750 km) and the Lena to which is added, though with slightly smaller dimensions, the Amur and the Kolima. Outside of these rivers, which have global significance, are dozens of other rivers more than 1,000 km long.
As for the lakes, with the exception of the two largest, located on the southern borders (Caspian Sea and Baikal), the largest are located in the European part; they are on the surface shallow, due to the weak swell of the territory (Ladoga, Onega, Il'men ', Lake Chudos).
History
The Russian identity dates back to the Middle Ages, its first state known as "Kiev Russia" and its religion rooted in Byzantine Christianity, which was adopted by Constantinople. However, it was not considered part of the European current until the reign of Tsar Peter the Great, who ruled until 1725. He was deeply European and the first visiting tsar. Europe in the strict sense.
Peter the Great founded the Russian Empire in 1721, although the Romanov dynasty ruled since 1613. Peter, one of Russia's most charismatic and strong leaders, built the empire's foundation on a central and authoritarian political culture, forcing "Westernization" of That is why he moved to the medieval and island capital of Moscow al St. Petersburg, a city built by the strength of his will and the strength of his treasury. Based largely on the styles of France and Italy, St. Petersburg became known as "Window to the West" of Russia and adopted the costumes and style of the royal courts of Western Europe, to the point of adopting French as the preferred language.
The Russian Empire reached its peak at the end of the 18th and 19th centuries, producing many colorful and illuminated figures, such as Catherine the Great, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. However, the gap between the authoritarian dynasty and its subjects became more evident with each generation. At the end of the 19th century, political crises followed quickly, with revolts and repressions linked in a vicious circle of death and despair. Occasional attempts by the Romanovs and the privileged classes to reform society and improve the conditions of the lower classes always ended in failure. Russia entered the First World War in the union of the Triple Deal, like other European empires, with disastrous results for themselves. Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, niece of Queen Victoria, proved inadequate, weak and distracted by personal tragedies and the military burdens. The government proved unable to stop the Russian Revolution of 1917. Deposited and held under house arrest, Nicholas, Alexandra and their children, and with them the Romanov dynasty, were exterminated by guns in the basement of the manor in Ekaterinburg and buried in anonymous graves that were found after communism and buried again in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.
Communist period
World War I distorted the governmental and social institutions of imperial Russia, until the breaking point of the Revolution in 1917. Following a brief interim government led by Social Democrat Alexander Kerensky, the Bolshevik faction of Vladimir Lenin's Marxist Communist Party took power, retreating. Russia at war, and cleansing it of religious, political dissidents, aristocrats, bourgeois, wealthy kulaks and independent agricultural classes. A brutal civil war between the "Red Army" of the communist command and the "White Army" of the nobility and bourgeoisie lasted until the end of the 1920s. In his years in power, Lenin used the Red Army, the internal security apparatus and the Communist Party leadership to exterminate and imprison millions of political opponents, launch a campaign of terror to ensure strict communist orthodoxy, security control over the fragments of the old Romanov empire, and “collectivize” farmers and agriculture on giant state farms.
The revolutionary state was not directly ruled by the officials responsible for overseeing the government, which was established in the name of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Government, in the commonly understood sense, was largely insignificant during the years of communist control. The real power lay in the leadership of the Communist Party, the Red Army, and the internal security apparatus (secret police).
After Lenin's death in 1924, there was a powerful struggle for Bolshevik leadership, and Josef Stalin was the new emerging leader of the Communist Party and dictator of the Soviet Union. The brutal Stalin era (1928-1953) was marked by waves of "purges" in which suspected dissidents in the government, the party, the Red Army and even the security forces were killed or exiled to the "gulags" (prison camps), with little or no evidence. In addition to pursuing Lenin's forced collectivization of agriculture and the destruction of private property and economic freedom, Stalin introduced a ruthless economic system ("socialism in one country") that rapidly industrialized the Soviet Union. Although viewed as less idealistic than his predecessor, Stalin constantly aimed at the international revolution by Russian-centeredComintern, control of the communist parties of foreign countries, and foreign espionage.
World War II, from the Soviet point of view, began abruptly with Stalin's entry into a non-aggressive pact with the Nazis. Germany. The treaty, which shook Western governments to the core, astonishing the leftists in Europe and America, giving Hitler freedom to launch the war against Poland, France and England. The Pact also allowed the Soviet Union to invade and reconquer neutral Finland and retake all of eastern Poland, after the German invasion in 1939. Finally, in June 1941, after conquering France and most of the rest of Western Europe, Hitler turned against his former ally and invaded the Soviet Union. A change of necessary alliance with Western nations was essential in the defeat of Nazism in 1945. The bloody campaigns of the Red Army on the Eastern Front, which ended with the capture of Berlin, resulted in more than 20 million Russian deaths, most of them civilian casualties, or soldiers thrown into terrible ground battles.
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union moved quickly to establish control over all of Eastern Europe. It re-annexed the Baltic states and established communist regimes in East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and effectively shattered political dissidents. In Asia, he also helped install communist governments in Mongolia, China, in the north Vietnam and in North Korea. Western critics have described the Soviet Union and its European and Asian "satellites" as trapped behind an "iron curtain" of totalitarian economies and ruthless leaders. Communist Party of Yugoslavia managed to establish some independence from Moscow, but the uprisings in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968) were mercilessly extinguished.
After Stalin's death in 1953, Soviet heavy and military industry could continue to grow under Georgy Malenkov (1953-1955) and Nikita Khrushchev (1955-1964), Stalin's successors as the party's secretary general. Although attempts were made to produce consumer goods, efforts usually failed, and the Soviet Union continued to struggle under the yoke of collectivization and totalitarianism. In 1956, Khrushchev condemned the excesses of the regime and Stalin and began his campaign aimed at uninstall the economy and society of the Soviet Union. The results were varied, and Khrushchev himself was fired. In 1960, the Soviet Union began the space race and was the first to launch a satellite (Sputnik), a living creature (the dog Laika) and a human (Yuri Gagarin) into space. The Soviet Union reached its peak in the military, diplomatic and industrial spheres during the years of Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982). But continued corruption and economic unrest led to a crisis that eventually pushed Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991) to introduce glasnost (transparency) and perestroika (limited economic freedom). His initiatives unintentionally liberated forces that finally disbanded the empire in December 1991. European satellites freed themselves from the rule of the Soviet Union and their local communist leaders; The Soviet Union also collapsed, giving birth to 15 independent countries.
After communism
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The Russian Federation came out of the Soviet Union, accompanied by a storm of trouble. The first leader of the newly formed nation was Boris Yeltsin, who came to power after a coup attempt by the KGB. Yeltsin largely managed to transfer control of the country from the former Soviet elite to his own oligarchic apparatus. Yeltsin was a charismatic leader widely supported by the West, but his government proved unstable. A wave of economic hardship caused by the attempt to uncritically introduce reforms inspired by the ideologies of the West without enough consideration of the concrete local conditions ruined the Russian economy and left the military underfunded and undisciplined. During that period, Russian organized crime and its relationship with the government, then universally recognized as corrupt and incompetent, took greater control of the nation. Ironically, before taking power Yeltsin declared Russia as "the largest mafia state in the world", but this actually really came true during his reign.
Russia has also been at war with Chechen separatists, which has had devastating consequences for the already weak Russian economy. Widespread corruption, poverty and large-scale political and social problems eventually forced Yeltsin to resign, and Vladimir Putin ended his remaining term (January-April 2000) as president. Former KGB officer under the communist regime, and head of the Russian intelligence service under Yeltsin. Putin imposed his personality and will on the rebel and criminal districts, thus stabilizing the country, but was strongly criticized in the West officially for his authoritarian behavior, but of course also for fear of seeing a fairly strong Russia recreated. For the same reasons the Russians re-elected Putin again seeing the improvements in the country. After the end of his constitutional term (2000-2008), Putin resigned as president but continued to rule the government through his consecrated successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Unsurprisingly, Putin took over the presidency again when in 2012 he was re-elected.
Since 2000, under Putin's direct and indirect rule, the economy has recovered from the crisis, thanks in part to a fivefold increase in the prices of raw materials, of which Russia exports heavily. Inflation fell from triple digits to single units, poverty was reduced, and Russia resurfaced as an economic, political, and military power. This is often called a "Russian miracle".
Today, modern Russia has not yet fully recovered from the global crisis of recent years, with inflation rising again in Russia; it is still difficult to combat rampant corruption, a sub-competitive political system, a demographic crisis and the decline in economic competitiveness. The Russians still need to reconcile Putin's successes with his totalitarian and self-centered impulses. However, the Russians achieved a much better way of life after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ethnic groups
Climate
Russia is essentially divided from north to south between the following climates:
- polar or subpolar on the northern shores bathed by the Arctic Ocean, covered by tundra
- cold temperate, in much of Siberia and northern European Russia, covered by the taiga, the forest that dominates the Russian landscape
- continental proper, with low rainfall, typical of the southern part, dominated by the steppe
- humid subtropical, in the short coastal part at the Black Sea
Enter
Enire avie
Get on the train
Enter the bus
Enter on foot
To be transported
To be transported on foot
Public transport
Transport by train
Transport by bus
Transport by car
See
Fari
Holidays
The list of holidays in Russia is divided into federal and regional holidays, which can be ethnic, historical, professional and religious. The first two types are nationwide free and must be considered when planning a trip. These are official holidays in the Russian Federation:
- New Year's Eve (January 1–5) often merges with Christmas and amounts to more than one week off.
- Orthodox Christmas (January 7).
- Motherland Defender's Day (February 23).
- International Women's Day (March 8).
- The Day of Spring and Labor (May 1).
- Victory Day (May 9).
- Russia Day (June 12).
- People's Unity Day (November 4).
Communicate
La Russia is the only official state language so it is the "lingua franca" to communicate across the country. Russians are proud of their language, which is part of the Slavic language family. In particular it belongs to the subgroup of East Slavic languages, very close to the ukraina and theBelarusian, but of course not too far removed from the other Slavic languages, such as the Bulgarian, la Croatian, la Czech (to name a few). They are not mutually intelligible, but still slightly similar. Russian is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, mainly due to a very complicated grammar. However, it is less difficult to learn than other related languages. It will not be easy to learn the language in a short time; therefore it may be appropriate to concentrate on learning some [Russian | clichés]] and the Cyrillic alphabet (e.g. ресторан is written restaurant in the Latin alphabet, meaning "restaurant") to have the ability to recognize street names, labels, and public signs. Getting to know Cyrillic is extremely useful, not only for Russia, but for a few other countries, and in itself not particularly complicated.
La English has now become learned by many young people in Russia, but far from Moscow and St. Petersburg, it is almost completely non-existent, so it is good to keep a phrasebook with you to prepare for some slow communication along with a lot of gesture interpretation.
