Recent News
Feb. 17, 2023, 4:03 PM ET (AP)
The Pentagon says the first class of 635 Ukrainian fighters has finished a five-week advanced U.S. training course in Germany on sophisticated combat skills and armored vehicles that will be critical in the coming spring offensive against the Russians
Russia, country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. Once the preeminent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.; commonly known as the Soviet Union), Russia became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
Russia is a land of superlatives. By far the worlds largest country, it covers nearly twice the territory of Canada, the second largest. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and the eastern third of Europe, spanning 11 time zones and incorporating a great range of environments and landforms, from deserts to semiarid steppes to deep forests and Arctic tundra. Russia contains Europes longest river, the Volga, and its largest lake, Ladoga. Russia also is home to the worlds deepest lake, Baikal, and the country recorded the worlds lowest temperature outside the North and South poles.
The inhabitants of Russia are quite diverse. Most are ethnic Russians, but there also are more than 120 other ethnic groups present, speaking many languages and following disparate religious and cultural traditions. Most of the Russian population is concentrated in the European portion of the country, especially in the fertile region surrounding Moscow, the capital. Moscow and St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) are the two most important cultural and financial centres in Russia and are among the most picturesque cities in the world. Russians are also populous in Asia, however; beginning in the 17th century, and particularly pronounced throughout much of the 20th century, a steady flow of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people moved eastward into Siberia, where cities such as Vladivostok and Irkutsk now flourish.
Russias climate is extreme, with forbidding winters that have several times famously saved the country from foreign invaders. Although the climate adds a layer of difficulty to daily life, the land is a generous source of crops and materials, including vast reserves of oil, gas, and precious metals. That richness of resources has not translated into an easy life for most of the countrys people, however; indeed, much of Russias history has been a grim tale of the very wealthy and powerful few ruling over a great mass of their poor and powerless compatriots. Serfdom endured well into the modern era; the years of Soviet communist rule (191791), especially the long dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, saw subjugation of a different and more exacting sort.
The Russian republic was established immediately after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and became a union republic in 1922. During the post-World War II era, Russia was a central player in international affairs, locked in a Cold War struggle with the United States. In 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia joined with several other former Soviet republics to form a loose coalition, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Although the demise of Soviet-style communism and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union brought profound political and economic changes, including the beginnings of the formation of a large middle class, for much of the postcommunist era Russians had to endure a generally weak economy, high inflation, and a complex of social ills that served to lower life expectancy significantly. Despite such profound problems, Russia showed promise of achieving its potential as a world power once again, as if to exemplify a favourite proverb, stated in the 19th century by Austrian statesman Klemens, Frst (prince) von Metternich: Russia is never as strong as she appears, and never as weak as she appears.
Russia can boast a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts and sciences. Prerevolutionary Russian society produced the writings and music of such giants of world culture as Anton Chekhov, Aleksandr Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolay Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The 1917 revolution and the changes it brought were reflected in the works of such noted figures as the novelists Maxim Gorky, Boris Pasternak, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the composers Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev. And the late Soviet and postcommunist eras witnessed a revival of interest in once-forbidden artists such as the poets Vladimir Mayakovsky and Anna Akhmatova while ushering in new talents such as the novelist Victor Pelevin and the writer and journalist Tatyana Tolstaya, whose celebration of the arrival of winter in St. Petersburg, a beloved event, suggests the resilience and stoutheartedness of her people:
The snow begins to fall in October. People watch for it impatiently, turning repeatedly to look outside. If only it would come! Everyone is tired of the cold rain that taps stupidly on windows and roofs. The houses are so drenched that they seem about to crumble into sand. But then, just as the gloomy sky sinks even lower, there comes the hope that the boring drum of water from the clouds will finally give way to a flurry ofand there it goes: tiny dry grains at first, then an exquisitely carved flake, two, three ornate stars, followed by fat fluffs of snow, then more, more, morea great store of cotton tumbling down.
For the geography and history of the other former Soviet republics, see Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine. See also Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Russia is bounded to the north and east by the Arctic and Pacific oceans, and it has small frontages in the northwest on the Baltic Sea at St. Petersburg and at the detached Russian oblast (region) of Kaliningrad (a part of what was once East Prussia annexed in 1945), which also abuts Poland and Lithuania. To the south Russia borders North Korea, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. To the southwest and west it borders Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as Finland and Norway.
Extending nearly halfway around the Northern Hemisphere and covering much of eastern and northeastern Europe and all of northern Asia, Russia has a maximum east-west extent of some 5,600 miles (9,000 km) and a north-south width of 1,500 to 2,500 miles (2,500 to 4,000 km). There is an enormous variety of landforms and landscapes, which occur mainly in a series of broad latitudinal belts. Arctic deserts lie in the extreme north, giving way southward to the tundra and then to the forest zones, which cover about half of the country and give it much of its character. South of the forest zone lie the wooded steppe and the steppe, beyond which are small sections of semidesert along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. Much of Russia lies at latitudes where the winter cold is intense and where evaporation can barely keep pace with the accumulation of moisture, engendering abundant rivers, lakes, and swamps. Permafrost covers some 4 million square miles (10 million square km)an area seven times larger than the drainage basin of the Volga River, Europes longest rivermaking settlement and road building difficult in vast areas. In the European areas of Russia, the permafrost occurs in the tundra and the forest-tundra zone. In western Siberia permafrost occurs along the Yenisey River, and it covers almost all areas east of the river, except for south Kamchatka province, Sakhalin Island, and Primorsky Kray (the Maritime Region).
On the basis of geologic structure and relief, Russia can be divided into two main partswestern and easternroughly along the line of the Yenisey River. In the western section, which occupies some two-fifths of Russias total area, lowland plains predominate over vast areas broken only by low hills and plateaus. In the eastern section the bulk of the terrain is mountainous, although there are some extensive lowlands. Given these topological factors, Russia may be subdivided into six main relief regions: the Kola-Karelian region, the Russian Plain, the Ural Mountains, the West Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau, and the mountains of the south and east.
Kola-Karelia, the smallest of Russias relief regions, lies in the northwestern part of European Russia between the Finnish border and the White Sea. Karelia is a low, ice-scraped plateau with a maximum elevation of 1,896 feet (578 metres), but for the most part it is below 650 feet (200 metres); low ridges and knolls alternate with lake- and marsh-filled hollows. The Kola Peninsula is similar, but the small Khibiny mountain range rises to nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 metres). Mineral-rich ancient rocks lie at or near the surface in many places.
Western Russia makes up the largest part of one of the great lowland areas of the world, the Russian Plain (also called the East European Plain), which extends into Russia from the western border eastward for 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to the Ural Mountains and from the Arctic Ocean more than 1,500 miles (2,400 km) to the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea. About half of this vast area lies at elevations of less than 650 feet (200 metres) above sea level, and the highest point (in the Valdai Hills, northwest of Moscow) reaches only 1,125 feet (343 metres). Nevertheless, the detailed topography is quite varied. North of the latitude on which Moscow lies, features characteristic of lowland glacial deposition predominate, and morainic ridges, of which the most pronounced are the Valdai Hills and the Smolensk Upland, which rises to 1,050 feet (320 metres), stand out above low, poorly drained hollows interspersed with lakes and marshes. South of Moscow there is a west-east alternation of rolling plateaus and extensive plains. In the west the Central Russian Upland, with a maximum elevation of 950 feet (290 metres), separates the lowlands of the upper Dnieper River valley from those of the Oka and Don rivers, beyond which the Volga Hills rise gently to 1,230 feet (375 metres) before descending abruptly to the Volga River. Small river valleys are sharply incised into these uplands, whereas the major rivers cross the lowlands in broad, shallow floodplains. East of the Volga is the large Caspian Depression, parts of which lie more than 90 feet (25 metres) below sea level. The Russian Plain also extends southward through the Azov-Caspian isthmus (in the North Caucasus region) to the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, the crest line of which forms the boundary between Russia and the Transcaucasian states of Georgia and Azerbaijan; just inside this border is Mount Elbrus, which at 18,510 feet (5,642 metres) is the highest point in Russia. The large Kuban and Kuma plains of the North Caucasus are separated by the Stavropol Upland at elevations of 1,000 to 2,000 feet (300 to 600 metres).
See the original post:
Russia | History, Flag, Population, Map, President, & Facts
- Russia urges all sides to 'show restraint' after Iranian drone, missile attack on Israel - The Times of Israel - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- China, Russia and Iran Are Rebuilding Empires to Defeat US, Europe - Bloomberg - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Ukraine appears to strike weapons system that's 'backbone' of Russia's EW - Business Insider - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Biden's Call: Survivors Say Russians Tortured Them With Twisted Sexual Abuse Named After Biden - The Daily Beast - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Drones saturate the skies over Ukraine, largely paralyzing battlefield - The Washington Post - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Ukrainians confront the once unthinkable: Losing war to Russia - Los Angeles Times - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- US intelligence finding shows China surging equipment sales to Russia to help war effort in Ukraine - The Associated Press - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Reporter's notebook: Finland, happiness, saunas, NATO and the threat from Russia - USA TODAY - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Russian troops advance in Ukraine as Kyiv runs low on air defenses - The Washington Post - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Situation in east Ukraine has 'deteriorated significantly,' Kyiv commander says - POLITICO Europe - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Water levels rise and homes flood in Russia after a dam bursts near the Kazakhstan border - The Associated Press - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Trump thought Ukraine must be part of Russia during presidency, book says - The Guardian US - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Former Trump Adviser Fiona Hill Says Trump Believed Ukraine Was 'Part Of Russia' - Forbes - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- US Imposes Sanctions on Use of Russian Metals on Exchanges - Bloomberg - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Russia Is Buying Politicians in Europe. Is It Happening Here Too? - The New Republic - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Western weakness in Ukraine could provoke a far bigger war with Russia - Atlantic Council - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- NATO Countries Struggle to Recruit Troops to Counter Russia Threat - Foreign Policy - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- Russia-Ukraine war live: US House speaker negotiates with White House over wartime funding for Ukraine - The Guardian - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- FBI chief to share concerns of organized attack in US after Russia massacre - The Hill - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- After Russia, FBI concerned about coordinated attack in US - NewsNation Now - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- How Russia's disinformation campaign seeps into US views - Voice of America - VOA News - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine parliament passes law to boost conscripts and fill army ranks - The Associated Press - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- U.S. Commander in Europe Says Russia Is a 'Chronic Threat' to World - Department of Defense - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- WATCH: Pentagon holds news briefing as general warns Ukraine will soon be outgunned by Russia - PBS NewsHour - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Ukraine war: How to check Russia's momentum - The Interpreter - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- What Washington got wrong about Niger and Russia - Responsible Statecraft - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Ukraine war: battlefield tipping in Russia's favour as Kyiv begs allies for more arms - The Conversation - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Ukrainian parliament adopts law to expand military draft - The Washington Post - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russian Orthodox Church declares Holy War against Ukraine and West - Atlantic Council - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- In Russia's Far East, a new heavy-lift rocket blasts off into space after two aborted launches - The Associated Press - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Why are floods in Russia and Kazakhstan so bad this year? - Reuters - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russian Air Force Has Lost 10 Percent of Fleet in Ukraine - Air & Space Forces Magazine - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russia and the Far-Right: Insights From Ten European Countries - International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russia's migrants and ethnic minorities shiver at new Putin terror crackdown - POLITICO Europe - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- France talks tough on Ukraine while gobbling up more Russian gas - POLITICO Europe - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Opinion | Everyone Wants to Seize Russia's Money. It's a Terrible Idea. - The New York Times - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russia Seizes Over 650,000 Acres Of Farmland And Other Assets From Company With Ties To 'Unfriendly' Country - Yahoo Finance - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- New Plot Striking the Heart of Russia Is Nightmare for Putin - The Daily Beast - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russia's army is 15% larger than when it attacked Ukraine: US general - Business Insider - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- 'His life is at risk': Lawmaker calls for release of jailed Russia critic - MSNBC - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Tommy Tubervilles line on Ukraine, Russia goes from bad to worse - MSNBC - April 12th, 2024 [April 12th, 2024]
- Russia Doing Everything to Stop Ukraines Counteroffensive, Zelensky Says - The New York Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- An Arctic 'Great Game' as NATO allies and Russia face off in far north - The Washington Post - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Trouble in Paradise? New Disputes Cloud Russia-Turkey Relations - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- What We Know About the Crimea Bridge Attack - The New York Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Russia Looks to Economic Redistribution to Shore Up the Regime - The Moscow Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Biden and emissary for Pope Francis to meet on Russia's deportations of Ukrainian children - POLITICO - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Russia: Ukraine to blame for fatal attack on key bridge in Crimea - The Hill - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Opinion | How Putin Broke Russia - The New York Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Explosions on Crimean Bridge Disrupt Key Link to Russia - The New York Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Moscow halts grain deal in what UN calls a global blow to people in need - Yahoo News - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Explosions disrupt traffic on a key bridge from Crimea to Russia's mainland - NPR - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Ukrainian helicopter crew say women flash them as they fly overhead to boost their morale fighting Russia - Yahoo News - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Russia halts traffic over Crimea bridge after Ukrainian attack - Financial Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Key Russian bridge to Crimea is struck again, with Moscow blaming Kyiv for attack that killed 2 - Yahoo News - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- The bridge to Crimea is crucial to Russia's war effort in Ukraine and to asserting Moscow's control - Yahoo News - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Russia's Embassy in Washington is enmeshed in a different kind of war. - The New York Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- A deal that lets Ukraine export grain during its war with Russia is about to expire - NPR - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- China and Russia to Hold Joint Naval Drills - The Moscow Times - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- UK announces new sanctions in response to Russia's forced ... - GOV.UK - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Russia Looks to Economic Redistribution to Shore Up the Regime - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - July 17th, 2023 [July 17th, 2023]
- Raiffeisen Bank Hopes War Ends 'Soon' to Avoid Costly Russia Exit Reuters - The Moscow Times - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Ex-Wagner Group soldier on the failed rebellion in Russia, Prigozhin fallout - Yahoo News - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Who Is Aleksandr Lukashenko? - The New York Times - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Photos Leak of Russias Mercenary Boss in Ridiculous Disguises - Yahoo! Voices - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- U.S. is expected to announce it will send cluster munitions to Ukraine - NPR - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- The Russia-Ukraine War Changed This Finland Company Forever - The New York Times - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Russia is split, chain of command crumbles Zelenskyy - Yahoo News - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Russia Now Using Parachute Flares In Attempts To Down U.S. MQ-9 Reapers - The War Zone - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Explosions in Lviv in Western Ukraine Injure at Least 4 - The New York Times - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Pentagon Aims to Stop China and Russia from Spying on Academia | Air & Space Forces Magazine - Air & Space Forces Magazine - July 6th, 2023 [July 6th, 2023]
- Putin says Russia positions nuclear bombs in Belarus as warning to West - Reuters - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- Russia says it destroyed Leopard tanks, it turned out to be tractors - Euronews - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- The Straits Times - Peace is not 'no war' and derisking has risks: Josep Borrell | EEAS - EEAS - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- Russia's latest space agency mission: raising a militia for the war in Ukraine - Financial Times - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- Blinken: US has no reason to adjust nuclear posture over Russias weapons transfer to Belarus - The Hill - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- Orbn still vetoing EU's Russia sanctions over bank insult - EUobserver - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- Putin's Silence Heralds the Return of Russia's Governors as a Political Force - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- How Russia Went from Ally to Adversary - The New Yorker - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]
- Opinion | Joining NATO Wont Keep the Peace in Ukraine - The New York Times - June 16th, 2023 [June 16th, 2023]