Russia (Russian Росси́я, transliteration Rossiya) - more fully known as the Russian Federation (Russian Росси́йская Федера́ция, transliteration Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) - is a vast country in Eastern Europe and northern Asia. Russia has both extensive Arctic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean coastlines, as well as smaller coastlines on the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. Russia is bordered by Norway and Finland to the northwest, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine to the west, Georgia and Azerbaijan to the southwest, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia to the south, and China and North Korea to the southeast. The American state of Alaska lies opposite the easternmost point of Russia across the Bering Strait.
Russia also administers the exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania.
Russia is the largest country in the world by far; spanning twelve time zones, its territory covers nearly twice as much of the earth as that of the next largest country, Canada. Despite its massive size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture. Mount Elbrus (Gora El'brus), at 5,633 m, is Europe's, and Russia's, tallest peak.
Cities
Some of the best known Russian cities with their Anglicized and Russian Cyrillic names.
Other destinations
Understand
History
The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the Communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef Stalin (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union. The Soviet economy continued to grow at high rates under Malenkov and Khrushchev, and political and social controls were loosened. The Soviet Union eventually reached its peak and became stagnant under Leonid Brezhnev, causing a crisis that would continue until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya.
Climate
Climate ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along the Arctic coast.
Terrain
The terrain consists of broad plain with low hills west of the Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions; mountainous and volcanic throughout much of Far Eastern Russia.
Get in
Passports, Visas, and other documents
Visas
Citizens of most non-Russia or CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries must obtain a visa prior to arriving to Russia. Citizens of Croatia (3 months, invitation required), Cuba (30 days), and Thailand (30 days) do not need a visa. Obtaining a Russian visa is a costly, time-consuming, and often frustrating process. Most visitors should start the process at least two months in advance.
There are two terms, invitation (or voucher for tourist visa) and the visa itself. Invitation is the paper in exchange of which one gets the actual visa. Visa is a sticker to one's passport. There are several types of invitations and visas.
The tourist invitation is a letter of confirmation of booking and pre-payment of your accommodation and travel arrangements in Russia. Can be obtained from a government approved hotel in Russia, on-line hotel booking service or Russian travel agency. The sign of government approval is so called "consular reference" the number of government registration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. Only hotels and travel agencies that have consular reference can issue the confirmations valid for visa purposes. Using a local Visa Service to obtain a Russian Visa will streamline the process. They will double check your application and invitation, go to the embassy for you and return your passport to you. This saves time and frustration.
It should be noted that tricks like booking one night of a hotel and getting a visa for 30 days with the paper received from the hotel for one night booking won't work, as the visa will be granted for one day only in such a case.
However, some travel agencies will issue a confirmation for a fee, without actually collecting the accommodation pre-payment. The legality of such actions are in question and there is a bit of controversy about this.
Tourist confirmation and the accommodation voucher are normally accepted as a faxed/e-mailed copy, though the consular official has a right to ask for the original if fraud is suspected.
Another type of invitation is required to obtain a business visa. Business invitations are issued by the government and for many Russian consulates the original hard copy is required (though some will accept a faxed copy, always check this before applying) Obtaining the business invitation is time consuming and costly. Any registered company in Russia can apply for the business invitation for a foreign national in the visa and passport office in Russia. It normally takes 4 to 6 weeks to get one. Business visa is granted in exchange of business invitation by the Russian consulate and it is a lot more flexible than a tourist one. Can be multiple entry and valid for travel and stay in Russia for up to 12 months. Some travel agencies in Russia can help obtaining business invitation.
Some Russian local governments have a right to invite foreigners for business and cultural activities by sending a TELEX to the Embassy or Consulate of Russia overseas, requesting the visa issue to a particular foreigner or group of foreigners. Such telex messages are used instead of invitation. This is normally the way to go if you are invited by the government.
Personal invitation. Any Russian citizen can apply to invite foreign national for a visit at the passport and visa office. The process is much the same as for business invitation. Take 4 to 6 weeks. Looks exactly the same as business one, but the purpose of travel and the visa type will be stated as personal. The inviting individual is solely responsible for all your activities while in Russia and can be penalized heavily if something goes wrong. So personal invitations are usually not available for a fee through the net.
It should be noted that you will need to pay for the cost of the invitation and the visa itself, each of which can cost from $40-100 or more, usually depending on how fast you want it issued. To save money, start the process as early as possible.
Exit and reentry during the time of your visa requires permits. Getting these permits is a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare best avoided entirely by spending more money in advance for a multiple entry visa.
Migration Card
When you go through passport control into Russia, you will give the border official a filled-in migration card. You should be given the card back, and it should be stamped. You must carry this card with you at all times in Russia, and you may be asked for it when you leave. You receive the migration card while you're en-route to Russia, either on the train or in the plane. It is a small white piece of paper nearly the size of two index cards. There are two parts: one for exit and one for entry. When you cross the border the 'entry' portion is taken and you keep 'exit' part. You must get this card registered. If on a tourist visa, your hotel should do this. If you are on a business visa, usually it is best to do it through the company that got you the invitation. This registration has a fee also, and without it you could get in trouble. Police on the streets will do random passport checks so you must have your passport on you at all times. But you're not alone — this goes for Russian citizens as well.
By Plane
Moscow and Saint Petersburg are served by direct flights from most European capitals, and Moscow also has direct flights many cities in East Asia, South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North America. Currently the only non-stop flights from the United States to Russia are offered by Delta (from New York and Atlanta to Moscow) and Aeroflot (from New York, Washington and Los Angeles to Moscow). There are airports in all large cities in Russia. However, international service to destinations other than Moscow and Saint Petersburg is still very limited.
Local airlines are listed in Get around.
Low-cost air-lines from Europe:
From Austria:
From Germany:
From Italy:
From Norway:
From Spain:
Transferring between the international and domestic terminals at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) can be difficult for a non-Russian speaker. Many therefore arrange for a (pricey) private car in advance.
By Train
Train service is usually reliable. You can get a direct train from many cities in Eastern and Central Europe to Moscow and sometimes Saint Petersburg. Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Berlin, Budapest and Warsaw are all possible departure points with daily services to Russia. Most long distance trains have 2 to 6 passengers per room, 4 being the most common. The Trans-Siberian Railway spans the entire country and connects with Chinese cities such as Beijing and Harbin, as well as Mongolia's Ulan-Bator.
For details on domestic Russian trains, see below in the Get Around: By Train section.
By Car
Traveling in Russia by car can be difficult. Roads may be poorly marked, if marked at all, and poorly maintained — especially outside the cities and towns. Car rental services are only starting to develop in major cities such as Moscow or Saint Petersburg, and are expensive.
Crossing the border by car is a peculiar entertainment.
There is no doubt that car travel is the best way to see the country, but it is a risky enterprise which is recommended only for the brave and capable.
Russian highways have highway patrol police (GAI) roadblock every 20 km or so. If you have an international license plate, prepare to pay a bribe ($5-$20) in some of the most corrupt regions (e.g., in the Caucasus). Russian traffic rules are very numerous and you will be found violating some of them. If you decide not to pay, at best you should expect to spend several hours at every road block.
Service is scarce and poor, and the countryside can be quite dangerous without experience and fluency in the Russian language.
It is possible to travel safely by car in Russia using a private licensed guide. Traveling independently is not recommended, especially for the non-Russian speaker. Guides generally provide their own cars and or vans and know the roads, the customs and the countryside making seeing small towns and historic sites possible.
By Bus
A few bus companies, most notably Eurolines, operate international coach services from a number of destinations to Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Tallinn, Helsinki, Warsaw and Berlin all have regular services to Russia.
By Boat
Get around
By Train
Russia has an extensive rail network linking nearly every city and town. For intercity travel, the train is generally the most convenient option for trips that can be covered overnight. The train is an option for longer trips (many Russians continue to use it for trips of 2 days or more), but mainly if you appreciate the nuances and experience of train travel in Russia. For the complete Russian rail experience, the one-week Trans-Siberian Railway has no equal.
Russian trains are divided into types: Long-distance (DAL'nevo SLEdovaniya) trains generally cover trips more than about 4 hours or 200 kilometers (120 miles). Russian long-distance rail timetable
Shorter distances are covered by the commuter trains (PRIgorodnye), which are popularly called ElekTRICHki. Most train stations (zheleznodoROZHnyi VokZAL) have separate areas for selling tickets for these types.
Here one can find maps of russian rail network
Most long-distance trains are set up for overnight travel. In these trains, three main kinds of cars are available. The third class car is called platzcart (плацкартный вагон) and is set up with unwalled compartments of four fold out beds opposite two beds on the window wall. These compartments are generally less safe than other classes, but provide for a much more immersive experience. Also, woman travellers sometimes prefer the platzcart to other classes where they might end up in a closed compartment with other male strangers (Russian trains do not have separate cars or compartments for males and females).
The second class is called coupe (купейный вагон - koupeinyi vagon) and consists of private compartments of four each. The first class is called SV, and consists of compartments for two persons.
Note that several Russian trains, including many international routes, have only 1st and 2nd class available.
The prices of these trains vary widely by class obviously, but also by train. There are mainly two types of trains - firmenny trains have brand names (e.g., The Red Arrow, Russia and so on) and are generally more comfortable and pricier than ordinary trains. Some firmenny trains provide pre-packed meals, free tea/coffee, and complementary sheets (otherwise, you'll have to pay R100-150 for your own). The more expensive trains are generally cleaner and might even have air-conditioning. It's a good idea to ask when you buy the the ticket exactly what is provided.
Conductors always provide free water in samovars in every car and will usually sell you tea and lend you a mug and spoon for about 10 rubles, or 35 cents. Most long-distance trains also have dining cars.
For example, Moscow-Vladivostok train coupe ticket was 12721.10 rub ($472.55) and SV ticket 23631.30 rub ($877.83). Travel time is 148 hours.
Moscow-Saint Petersburg train chair ticket was 400-600 rub, platzcart ticket - 600-700 rub, coupe - 1200-2000 rub (lux coupe - 2000-4000 rub), SV - 13000-18000 rub. Travel time is about 8 hours. Note that there are more types of train between the two capitals than between any other two cities in Russia. Apart from ordinary trains, there are rapid trains (ЭР-200 and The Nevsky Express) that run by day only and cover the 650 km between Moscow and Saint Petersburg in 4 hours. Some of the overnight trains are quite luxurious - these include the traditional The Red Arrow service and the newer, fake-Czarist-era Nikolaevsky Express, complete with attendants in 19-century uniforms. Sheets, towels and prepacked breakfasts are included in all the better trains. Shared bathroom facilities are located at the end of the train car. There are special hatches that one may use to secure the door of the compartment from the inside during the night.
Moscow-Saint Petersburg Express Train takes 5 hours of travel and costs 1100 rubles. Trains are only slightly air conditioned (average temperature inside is about 80 degrees farenheit). No one in the Moscow train station speaks any English, so if you are not familiar enough with Russian to purchase your train ticket in person, it is suggested that you purchase online or through your hotel concierge or travel agent before you depart. Also, note that all signage inside the train station is in Russian only, so finding your correct platform can be challenging. The dining car of the express train is nicely appointed with real table linens, and an impressive menu and wine list, but is 3 to 4 times more expensive than eating in the city before and after you travel.
When going through the countryside in the South of the country or in Siberia locals will sell food and liquor at pretty reasonable prices. Often babushkas will even be selling pre-made meals. Frequently, traders will walk through the traincars between stops and sell everything from crockery to clothes to Lay's chips.
Tickets can be bought at the train station, at travel agencies and online on Russian railways website - if you chose the latter option, you will have to pick up the actual ticket at the staion. Most stations have a large room called a KASsovyi Zal where tickets are sold. Lines vary widely - some stations are much better organized than others nowadays, and it also depends on the season. If you find the lines unbearably long, it's usually not hard to find an agency that sells train tickets. Commission rates are generally not prohibitive. (For instance, buying your ticket to Saint Petersburg from Moscow, it is much better to walk a flight of steps from the ordinary ticketing office - there are no queues upstairs and R140 is a small premium to pay for this service).
The commuter trains are mostly hard-seat train cars. You don't get a designated seat number - you just find space on a bench. These trains have a notorious reputation for being overcrowded, though this has declined somewhat. The trains make very frequent stops and are rather slow. For example, a 200 km trip to Vladimir takes about 3 1/2 hours. Also, they don't have toilets.
Tickets for commuter trains are sold in a separate room from the long-distance trains, and are sometimes sold from stalls located outside.
A few very popular routes, mostly between Moscow and nearby cities such as Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Tula, and others have an express commuter train that is considerably more comfortable. Your ticket will have a designated seat number and the seats are reasonably comfortable. The trains travel to their destination directly and are thus considerably faster.
Note that all long-dictance trains in Russia run on Moscow time (which may be up to 9 hours off local time in the Far East).
By Bus
Most Russian cities have bus links to cities as far as 5-6 hours away or further. Though generally less comfortable than the train, buses sometimes are a better option timewise and are worth looking into if the train timetables don't suit you. A small number of cities, notably Suzdal, are not served by train, and thus bus is the only option besides a car.
The Russian word for bus station is Avtovokzal (Ahv-tuh-vuhg-ZAHL). Most cities have just one for long distance buses and the state buses depart from there. However, in Moscow and in some other Russian cities, a number of commercial buses are available, and they generally don't depart from the bus station. Quite often, you'll see commercial buses near train stations. Sometimes they run on schedules, though for popular routes (such as Moscow-Vladimir, Moscow/Yaroslavl, etc.) the buses simply wait to fill up. On these buses payment is usually to the driver.
Russian buses have luggage storage, but if it's an old Eastern-bloc bus, you may find your luggage wet at the end of the trip.
By Plane
The tremendous distances of Russia make plane travel highly desirable if you plan to travel to some of Russia's more far-flung attractions. It's worth considering for any destination that is farther than an overnight train ride. Travelling across Russia by train can sound awefully romantic, but it's also time-consuming and rather monotonous. Nearly every major destination of interest has an airport nearby. The great majority of domestic flights are to/from Moscow, but other services exist.
The Russian domestic airline industry had an abominal reputation in the 90s due to uncertain safety records, unreliable timetables, terrible service, uncomfortable airplanes, and substandard airports. Substantial improvements have been made, however. Plane travel in Russia is unlikely to be the highlight of your trip but it has become tolerable.
Other major airlines include: Transaero , KrasAir , Pulkovo and UTair .
By thumb
Russia has a very lively hitchhiking culture, with many hitchhiking clubs, there is even an Academy of Hitchhiking. There are many competitions. Despite horror stories about bad things happening in Russia, it is relatively safe to hitchhike, especially in the countryside. In some regions Russians expect a little bit of money for a ride.
Do
Whitewater rafting
Ecotourism
The association between Russia and its two biggest metropolises, Moscow and St Petersburg, is strong in the minds of tourists, but given its vast expanses and low population density, Russia is a nature lovers paradise as well. Russia has a network of exceptional natural areas comprised of 35 National Parks and 100 Zapovedniki (nature reserves) covering a total land mass larger than Germany. Provided your paperwork is in order, you may visit these areas independently. For those wishing for guidance, there are travel agencies specializing in ecotourism in Russia such as:
Talk
Russian is the official language, so wherever you go in Russia, you'll find someone who speaks it. English is becoming a requirement in the business world, and younger people especially will often know enough to communicate, but by no means is English universally understood and spoken. In upscale hotels almost the entire staff has a working knowledge of foreign languages (including English).
You will not learn the language in a short time; concentrate on learning some key "courtesy" phrases, and the Cyrillic alphabet (e.g. "ресторан" spells "restaurant") so you have a chance to recognize street names, labels and the like.
Russia has hundreds of languages and supports most of them, sending linguists to document them and invent (mostly - in 1920-1960) writing systems for them (all Cyrillic, of course) and making them local official languages. The south border is lined with Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic; the north with Finnic and Samoyed. The southwest corner has a variety of Caucasian languages; the northeast has the few Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages.
Buy
Money
Checks Forget about travelers' checks (only some banks, such as Sberbank, will cash even American Express), and bring enough cash to last you for a few days, as occasionally communications networks handling ATM and credit card transactions are not available (as elsewhere in the world).
Rubles only All payments in Russia are officially made in rubles. However, in many shops catering to tourists as well as in companies selling major items (such as cars, real estate and computers) you may find the prices indicated in USD or Euro (for legal reasons called "conditional units"--х. у.е.). This became common after the financial problems of 1998. Even for these shops, however, you can pay only in rubles in most cases, and exchange rate can be both an official rate set by Central Bank, and arbitrary which is usually higher--posted in small font, if at all.
"У.е." Some private vendors, such as kiosk sellers, guides and taxis may accept payment in dollars or in rubles--unofficially and giving no receipt. Price may become higher in some cases, and nearly the same in the others.
It's very easy to find currency exchange offices (called bureaus in Saint Petersburg) throughout Russia--many Russians keep their savings in U.S. dollars. Banks and small currency exchange bureaus offer very good rates; hotels and casinos are generally expensive and thus not recommended. You need to show your passport at banks.
Small window-in-the-wall offices abound in Moscow and Saint Petersburg but are rare in other cities. They usually offer better exchange rates but don't require identification nor provide any receipts in most cases. Branches of large banks can be found in any major city, and Sberbank outlets are a must in any village down to rayonny centr. Branches of banks are more trustworthy for not-so-attractive rates, and exchange session would last longer requiring a passport and giving you all the receipts you can imagine.
Window-in-the-wall exchanges frequently attract clients by declaring rates for amounts >$1000 / >EUR1000 (but stating this in small font). Rates for smaller amounts are demonstrated only in the window itself--and are typically less attractive than even at regular banks. Frequently, people don't notice that rates are different. To make the difference even less evident, rates are set exactly 1.0 rouble different, like 34.18 and 35.18 per Euro.
Another trick used by windows-in-the-walls is tray that makes 1-2 banknotes stick so they become hidden from you. Always check the amounts you are given.
Many exchange bureaus will also convert other currencies beyond USD and EUR, although often the rate is not as good. You can compare rates if you buy USD/EUR in your country and sell them in Russia vs direct exchanges from your local currency to roubles at --it displays exchange rates for cash in Moscow for every currency exchanged in Russia.
You will have easier time changing money if your banknotes are absolutely clean, and dollars should be the most recent updated design, as few places will accept the older versions.
Don't change money on the street. Unlike during Soviet times, there is no advantage to dealing with an unofficial vendor. There're several advanced schemes of scam for exchange on the street--better not give them a try.
ATMs / bank machines also called bankomats are common and convenient in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Other large cities also have them but many times there are restrictions on foreign cards. They usually offer services in multiple languages, and some give out U.S. dollars or local currency. In smaller towns and villages they are often difficult to find or non-existent. Russian ATMs will often limits withdrawals to about USD$100 per day. Those in larger cities such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg to 12,000 roubles a day ($446). Big hotels are good places to find them.
In Moscow and Saint Petersburg more and more shops, restaurants, and services take credit cards. Visa/MasterCard are more accepted than American Express; Discover, Diners Club and other cards are rarely accepted. Most upscale establishments will accept credit cards, but beyond these it is pure chance.
Museums and sightseeing places take only cash, no credit cards. Have plenty of cash on hand each day to cover entrance fees, photographic fees (museums charge a fee for cameras and video recorders), tours, souveniers, meals and transportation.
Train Stations only accept rubles also. No credit cards accepted and train tickets between cities can run upwards of 1500 rubles. The ATM machines at the train station are often out of cash, so obtain your rubles in the city (where ATM's appear on practically every corner) before you go to the train station.
Costs
Eat
Russian cuisine is not one of the worl'd most varied cuisines. Often bland, and consisting of highly salted and pickled products, the central part of Russian cuisine centers on bread. Russia's reknowned caviar is easily obtained, however prices can exceed the expenses of your entire trip. Dishes such as beef Stroganov and chicken kiev, from the pre-revolutionary, era are available but mainly aimed at tourists as they lost their status and visibility during Soviet times.
Russian specialities include:
Both Saint Petersburg and Moscow offer sophisticated, world class dining and a wide variety of cuisines including Japanese, Tibetan and Italian. They are also excellent cities to sample some of the best cuisines of the former Soviet Union (e.g., Georgian and Uzbek). It is also possible to eat well and cheaply there without resorting to the many western fast food chains that have opened up. Russians have their own versions of fast food restaurants which range from cafeteria style serving comfort foods to streetside kiosks cooking up blinis or stuffed potatos. Although their menus may not be in English, it is fairly easy to point to what is wanted - or at a picture of it, not unlike at western fast food restaurants. A small Russian dictionary will be useful at non- touristy restaurants offering table service where staff members will not speak English and the menus will be entirely in Cyrillic, but prices very reasonable. Russian meat soups and meat pies are excellent.
It is better not to drink the tap water in Russia and to avoid using ice in drinks, however bottled water and Coca Cola is available everywhere food is served.
Stylish cafes serving cappuccino, expresso, toasted sandwiches, rich cakes and pastries are popping up all over Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Some do double duty as wine bars, others are also internet cafes.
Unlike Europe, cafes in Russia (кафе) do not serve only drinks, but also a full range of meals (typically cooked in advance--unlike restaurants where part or whole cooking cycle is performed after you make an order).
Drink
Vodka, imported liquors (rum, gin, etc), international soft-drinks (Pepsi, Coca- Cola, Fanta, etc), local soft drinks (Tarhun, Buratino, Baikal, etc.), distilled water, kvas (sour-sweet non-alcoholic naturaly carbonized drink made from fermented dark bread) and mors (traditional wild berry drink). Beer in Russia is cheap and the varieties are endless of both Russian and international brands. It is found for sale (warm) at any street vendor in the center of any city and costs (costs double and triple the closer you are to the center) from about 13 Rubles (about 50 US cents) to 60 Rubles (about 2 US Dollars) Popular local brands are Baltika, Stary Melnik, Bochkareff, Zolotaya Bochka, Tinkoff and many others.
Mixed alcoholic beverages as well as beers at nightclubs are extremely expensive and are served without ice, with the mix (for example, coke) and alcohol charged for separately. It is advisable to drink your heart out beforheand, as drinking in public is legal.
Wines from Georgia and Moldova are quite popular (although all products from Georgia are illegal 2005). In Moscow and Saint Petersburg, most restaurants have a selection of European wines--generally at a high price. Please note that Russians prefer sweet wine as opposed to dry. French Chablis is widely available at restaurants and is of good quality. The chablis runs about 240 rubles per class ($8 USD currently). All white wines are served room temperature unless you are at an international hotel that caters to Westerners.
Soviet champagne is also served everywhere in the former Soviet Union at a reasonable price, the quality is on the level of cheap European sparkling wines. If you specify that you want your champagne "sukhoe" (dry) or brut, the champagne is suprisingly drinkable and on the same level as a Vueve Clicquot.
Sleep
In most cities quality hotels are really scarce: most were built in Soviet times decades ago and are recently renovated in decor, but rarely in service and attitude. Even for a local it's quite a problem to find a good hotel without a recommendation from a person you trust. For same reason it may be really hard to find a hotel during mass tourist-oriented events like StPete anniversary.
Hotels in Russia may be quite expensive in metropolises and touristy areas. If you do speak a bit of Russian and are not entirely culture shocked it is much smarter to seek out and rent a room in a private residence. Most Russians are looking to make extra money and, having space to spare, will rent it out to a tourist gladly. Native Moscovites or residents of Saint Petersburg would rather rent out to tourists than their own countrymen: foreigners are considered more trustworthy and orderly. Expect to pay 60-70 USD a night (usually with breakfast prepared by your host) and the accommodations will certainly be very clean and proper if not modern. When it comes to home/family life, Russian culture is very warm and inviting.
A new phenomenon has been the development of "mini-hotels" in large Russian cities which are providing clean modern rooms with private baths at far lower costs than conventional large hotels, approximately $125 versus well over $250. These small hotels are located within existing apartment buildings and may consist of one, two or more floors located a story or two above street level and often include breakfast. Saint Petersburg has quite a few with more opening all of the time and some are appearing in Moscow.
Learn
Russia has a long-standing tradition in high-quality education for all citizens. It probably has also one of the best mass-eduction systems in the world producing a literacy rate (98%) exceeding most Western European countries.
Basic general education lasts for nine years. Graduates of this level may continue their education at senior high school to receive secondary general education. They may also enter an initial vocational school or non-university level higher education institutions.
Higher education is provided by public and non-public (non-State) accredited higher education institutions, of which Lomonosov Moscow State Universityand Saint Petersburg State University are the most famous.
Due in great part to demands of the international educational organizations, the system of education in Russia began to adopt a system similar to that of Britain and the US: 4 years for the Bachelor's degree and 2 years for a Master's degree. The universities are still in the process of these changes; some of them offer the new system and others still work according to the prior 5-year system, particularly in programs such as law.
Russia's top universities have very competitive entry requirements, and special entry exams are held each year. One of the great attractions of education in Russia is the cost, especially when compared to the quality. Degree study tuition can range from $2000 to $8000 per year, with other costs (room & board, books, etc.) ranging from $1500 to $5000 per year, depending on location and spending habits.
The academic year lasts from Sept 1 to Mid June everywhere, with long summer vacations from July 1st to Aug 31.
Several universities and private schools offer Russian language courses (individual and group tuition).
Work
The unemployment rate is 7.6%, whilst the percentage of the population below the poverty line is 17.8%.
Stay safe
Largely because of the difficult transition from police state to democracy, Russia did experience a rise in criminal activity during the 1990's. The truth is that crime was greatly exaggerated in the media, and for the average tourist Moscow, Saint Petersburg and the rest of Russia remain as safe as any major Western city, and likewise common sense goes far in protecting oneself against problems.
A note about police: Although they do have a bad reputation, the majority of Russian police officers are respectful of position as public servants.
Note that everyone in Russia must carry state-issued identification papers, which means that foreigners should carry their passport and visa at all times and present it to police officers if asked, however a very wise policy is to carry a photocopy of each. This can seem intimidating to people who grew up in the West but it is the law in Russia. If a police officer stops you, they normally salute you and ask for your passport (listen for words that sound like 'paspart' for a passport request and/or 'veeza' if asked for a visa) and papers (generally in Russian). Hand these to them, they will look at it, hand it back and salute you. This can be an odd and frightening experience on the train into Russia in the middle of the night.
Juvenile delinquency, organized crime and corruption may occur in Russia. The murder rate per 100 000 is one of the world's highest, at 21. The Russian Mafia is infamous, and has a business of smuggling drugs from and in the country. You may also encounter skinhead gangs drinking beer and acting belligerently or even fighting. Best to give them a wide berth.
The police are widely regarded as corrupt, and (may) take bribes. They may hassle you for your travel documents (passport, immigrations card and residence registration), actively hunting for bribes. Stay friendly and act like everything is fine. If they're just fishing for bribes, it's a real hassle for them to take you to the station. In tight situations, a 500 ruble bribe is really the most you should give in metropolitan areas.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals should be cautious while staying in Russia, as attacks often occur.
Many Russians are ranging from nationalist to xenophobe to racist to militant fascist. Isolated acts of random violence have been recorded against people with darker complexions, but also against people with a "leftist" look like punks.
Russian traffic is horrendous. Drivers attack their art with an equal mix of aggressiveness and incompetence. Guidelines are lax and rarely followed. As a pedestrian, take great care when crossing the roads, as pedestrian crossings are widely ignored.
When buying items, make sure money is folded backwards with small bills on the outside and larger on the inside. Try to get bills in 50-500 ruble amounts to keep the numbers on the bills small.
Also, don't take your money out to pay before the total is told to you. This is considered stupid or odd. It also helps to keep your money from being snatched from you.
Stay healthy
Ensure that all of your vaccinations are up to date, and you have sufficient amounts of any prescription medicine you may be taking. Pharmacies are common in major cities and carry a large supply of quality western medications.
You are recommended to buy only bottled water in Russia, readily available in any hotel's shop or in neighborhood stores. In Saint Petersburg you should not brush your teeth with the tap water, nor open your mouth during showers.
Quality of tap water varies dramatically around the country, and even may be very different within one city. Ask your trusted locals whether they recommend drinking tap water. If you can't buy bottled water, boil water before drinking. But normally price should not be an obstacle: bottled water costs only about 20-30 rubles ($0.8-$1.1 USD) for 2 liters.
Besides local doctors (generally good quality but often working in poor facilities) there are several Western-run medical centers in major Russian cities. These all have different policies for payment (some take credit cards, some require payment in cash up front, even if you have insurance) so make sure you know what you are paying for (and when and how) before you agree to any services.
Be careful not to buy fake vodka (could be very dangerous). Buy only vodka in large stores or specialized ones like Aromatnyi Mir in Moscow with the sticker over the cap and/or the region's barcode on the side.
Some kiosks could sell meals of bad quality. If you are not confident, just throw it away. Although most of them are quite good, take note of who buys and what they buy. That could help to make a good choice.
Respect
It should be noted that paying the bills at restaurants may often be very frustrating. You will sometimes not be given a proper receipt, and if you leave more money than the exact total, it is automatically interpreted as a tip, and you have to be very persistent in order to get your change back. While tipping traditionally is frowned upon in Russia (many will probably tell you otherwise), it is a recent phenomenon, emerging after the fall of communism, and very few understand that it's up to the guest to decide how much he or she wants to tip. Be persistent in your demands, and look out for attempts of fraud. What most tourists do is to give up, because they are tired, and they can easily spare a few rubles. Remember, if they are successful in taking money from one tourist, they will keep harassing the next.
On the other hand, many Russians and Russian families are very welcoming and kind.
Russia (Росси́я, Rossiya; pronounced rʌ'sʲi.jə), also the Russian Federation (Росси́йская Федера́ция, Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; rʌ'sʲi.skə.jə fʲɪ.dʲɪ'ra.ʦɪ.jə,(Russian language) ), is a transcontinental country extending over much of northern Eurasia (Asia and Europe). With an area of 17,075,400 km², Russia is the largest country in the world, covering almost twice the total area of the next-largest country, Canada, and has significant mineral and energy resources. Russia has the world's ninth-largest population. Russia shares land borders with the following countries (counter-clockwise from northwest to southeast): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Abkhazia, Georgia, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It is also close to the United States (Alaska state), Sweden, and Japan across relatively small stretches of water (the Bering Strait, the Baltic Sea, and La Pérouse Strait, respectively).
Formerly the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), a republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Russia became the Russian Federation following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. After the Soviet era, the area, population, and industrial production of the Soviet Union (then one of the world's two Cold War superpowers, the other superpower being the United States) that were located in Russia passed on to the Russian Federation.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the newly-independent Russian Federation emerged as a great power (although it is also considered to be an energy superpower). Russia is considered the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic matters (see Russia's membership in the United Nations) and is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. It is also one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction (see Russia and weapons of mass destruction). Russia is the leading nation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a member of the G8 as well as other international organisations.
History
Ancient Rus
Prior to the first century, the vast lands of southern Russia were home to scattered tribes, such as Proto-Indo-Europeans and Scythians. Between the third and sixth centuries, the steppes were overwhelmed by successive waves of nomadic invasions, led by warlike tribes which would often move on to Europe, as was the case with Huns and Turkish Avars.
During the period from fifth century BC to seventh century human settlements are represented by Dyakovo culture of Iron Age which occupies the significant part of the Upper Volga, Valday and Oka River area.
Dyakovo culture was formed by Finno-Ugric peoples, ancestors of Merya, Muromian, Meshchera, Veps tribes. All regional Funno-Ugric toponymy and hydronym names go back to those languages, for example Yauza River which is a confluent of the Moskva River, and probably the Moskva River itself too.
A Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled southern Russia through the 8th century. They were important allies of the Byzantine Empire and waged a series of successful wars against the Arab caliphates. A statue of a Vedic god recently excavated in the Volga region points to a link to India around the ninth century.
In this era, the term "Rhos" or "Rus" first came to be applied to the Varangians and later also to the Slavs who peopled the region. As well as one of the rulers who contributed to the name "rus". In the tenth to eleventh centuries this state of Kievan Rus became the largest in Europe and one of the most prosperous, due to diversified trade with both Europe and Asia. The opening of new trade routes with the Orient at the time of the Crusades contributed to the decline and fragmentation of Kievan Rus by the end of the twelfth century.
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the constant incursions of nomadic Turkish tribes, such as the Kipchaks and the Pechenegs, led to the massive migration of Slavic populations from the fertile south to the heavily forested regions of the north, known as Zalesye. The medieval states of Novgorod Republic and Vladimir-Suzdal emerged as successors to Kievan Rus on those territories, while the middle course of the Volga River came to be dominated by the Muslim state of Volga Bulgaria. Like many other parts of Eurasia, these territories were overrun by the Mongol invaders, who formed the state of Golden Horde which would pillage the Russian principalities for over three centuries. Later known as the Tatars, they ruled the southern and central expanses of present-day Russia, while the territories of present-day Ukraine and Belarus were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, thus dividing the Russian people in the north from the Belarusians and Ukrainians in the west.
Similarly to the Balkans, long-lasting nomadic rule retarded the country's economic and social development. However, the Novgorod Republic together with Pskov retained some degree of autonomy during the time of the Mongol yoke and was largely spared the atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Led by Alexander Nevsky, the Novgorodians repelled the Germanic crusaders who attempted to colonize the region.
Muscovy
Unlike its spiritual leader, the Byzantine Empire, Russia under the leadership of Moscow was able to revive and organize its own war of reconquest, finally subjugating its enemies and annexing their territories. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Muscovite Russia remained the only more or less functional Christian state on the Eastern European frontier, allowing it to claim succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire.
While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their connivance, the duchy of Moscow began to assert its influence in Western Russia in the early fourteenth century. Assisted by the Russian Orthodox Church and Saint Sergius of Radonezh's spiritual revival, Muscovy inflicted a defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). Ivan the Great eventually tossed off the control of the invaders, consolidated surrounding areas under Moscow's dominion and first took the title "grand duke of all the Russias".
In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Russian state set the national goal to return all Russian territories lost as a result of the Tatar invasion and to protect the southern borderland against attacks of Crimean Tatars and other Turkic peoples. The noblemen, receiving a manor from the sovereign, were obliged to serve in the military. The manor system became a basis for the nobiliary horse army.
In 1547, Ivan the Terrible was officially crowned the first Tsar of Russia. During his long reign, Ivan annexed the Tatar khanates (Kazan, Astarkhan) along the Volga River and transformed Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. By the end of the century, Russian Cossacks established the first Russian settlements in Western Siberia. But his rule was also marked by the atrocities against both the nobility and the common people on vast scale which eventually, after his death, led to the civil war of the Time of Troubles in early 1600s. In the middle of the seventeenth century there were Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia, on Chukchi Peninsula, along the Amur River, on the Pacific coast, and the strait between North America and Asia was first sighted by a Russian explorer in 1648. The colonization of the Asian territories was largely peaceful, in sharp contrast to the build-up of other colonial empires of the time.
Imperial Russia
Muscovite control of the nascent nation continued after the Polish intervention under the subsequent Romanov dynasty, beginning with Tsar Michael Romanov in 1613. Peter the Great (ruled in) defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War, forcing it to cede Ingria, Estland, and Livland (the two latter now being Estonia and northern Latvia). It was in Ingria that he founded a new capital, Saint Petersburg. Peter succeeded in bringing ideas and culture from Western Europe to a severely underdeveloped Russia. After his reforms, Russia emerged as a major European power.
Catherine the Great, ruling from 1762 to 1796, continued the Petrine efforts at establishing Russia as one of the great powers of Europe. Examples of its eighteenth-century European involvement include the War of Polish Succession and the Seven Years' War. In the wake of the Partitions of Poland, Russia had taken territories with the ethnic Belarusian and Ukrainian population, earlier parts of Kievan Rus'. As a result of the victorious Russian-Turkish wars, Russia's borders expanded to the Black Sea and Russia set its goal on the protection of Balkan Christians against a Turkish yoke. In 1783, Russia and the Georgian Kingdom (which was almost totally devastated by Persian and Turkish invasions) signed the treaty of Georgievsk according to which Georgia received the protection of Russia.
In 1812, having gathered nearly half a million soldiers from France as well as from all of its conquered states in Europe, Napoleon invaded Russia but, after taking Moscow, was forced to retreat back to Europe. Almost 90% of the invading forces died as a result of on-going battles with the Russian army, guerrillas and winter weather. The Russian armies ended their pursuit of the enemy by taking his capital, Paris. The officers of the Napoleonic wars brought back to Russia the ideas of liberalism and even attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive Decembrist revolt (1825), which was followed by several decades of political repression. Another result of the Napoleonic wars was the incorporation of Bessarabia, Finland, and Congress Poland into the Russian Empire.
The perseverance of Russian serfdom and the conservative policies of Nicholas I of Russia impeded the development of Imperial Russia in the mid-nineteenth century. As a result, the country was defeated in the Crimean War, 1853–1856, by an alliance of major European powers, including Britain, France, Ottoman Empire, and Piedmont-Sardinia. Nicholas's successor Alexander II (1855–1881) was forced to undertake a series of comprehensive reforms and issued a decree abolishing serfdom in 1861. The Great Reforms of Alexander's reign spurred increasingly rapid capitalist development and Sergei Witte's attempts at industrialization. The Slavophile mood was on the rise, spearheaded by Russia's victory in the Russo-Turkish War, which forced the Ottoman Empire to recognize the independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and autonomy of Bulgaria.
The failure of agrarian reforms and suppression of the growing liberal intelligentsia were continuing problems however, and on the eve of World War I, the position of Tsar Nicholas II and his dynasty appeared precarious. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, and the consequent deterioration of the economy led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire, and ultimately to the overthrow of the Tsar in February 1917.
At the close of this Russian Revolution of 1917, a Marxist political faction called the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd and Moscow under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin. The Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Party. A bloody civil war ensued, pitting the Bolsheviks' Red Army against a loose confederation of anti-socialist monarchist and bourgeois forces known as the White Army. The Red Army triumphed, and the Soviet Union was formed in 1922.
Russia as part of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was meant to be a trans-national worker's state free from nationalism. The concept of Russia as a separate national entity was therefore not emphasized in the early Soviet Union. Although Russian institutions and cities certainly remained dominant, many non-Russians participated in the new government at all levels.
Lenin
After a failed Bolshevik rising in July, Lenin fled to Finland for safety. Here he wrote "State and Revolution",
which called for a new form of government based on workers' councils, or soviets elected and revocable at all moments by the workers. He returned to Petrograd in October, inspiring the October Revolution with the slogan "All Power to the Soviets!". Lenin directed the overthrow of the Provisional Government from the Smolny Institute from the 6th to the 8th of November 1917. The storming and capitulation of the Winter Palace on the night of the 7th to 8th of November marked the beginning of Soviet rule. On November 8, 1917, Lenin was elected as the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars by the Russian Congress of Soviets.
Lenin emphasized the importance of bringing electricity to all corners of Russia and modernizing industry and agriculture. He was very concerned about creating a free universal health care system for all, the rights of women, and teaching the illiterate Russian people to read and write.
Stalin
After Lenin's death in 1924, a brief power struggle ensued, during which a Georgian named Joseph Stalin gradually eroded the various checks and balances which had been designed into the Soviet political system and assumed dictatorial power by the end of the decade. Leon Trotsky and almost all other Old Bolsheviks from the time of the Revolution were killed or exiled. At the end of 1930s, Stalin launched the Great Purges, a massive series of political repressions. Millions of people whom Stalin and local authorities suspected of being a threat to their power were executed or exiled to Gulag labor camps in remote areas of Siberia or Central Asia.
Stalin forced rapid industrialization of the largely rural country and collectivization of its agriculture. In 1928, Stalin introduced his "First Five-Year Plan" for modernizing the Soviet economy. Most economic output was immediately diverted to establishing heavy industry. Civilian industry was modernized and many heavy weapon factories were established. The plan worked, in some sense, as the Soviet Union successfully transformed from an agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in an unbelievably short span of time, but widespread misery and famine ensued for many millions of people as a result of the severe economic upheaval.
The Soviet Union's involvement in World War II, known in the Soviet Union and Russia as the Great Patriotic War, started with the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 22, 1941. It was the largest theatre of war in history and was notorious for its unprecedented ferocity, destruction, and immense loss of life. The fighting involved millions of German and Soviet troops along a broad front. It was by far the deadliest single theatre of war in World War II, with over 5 million deaths on the Axis Forces; Soviet military deaths were about 10.6 million (out of which 3.6 million Soviets died in German captivity), and civilian deaths were about 14 to 17 million. The Eastern Front contained more combat than all the other European fronts combined; the European axis suffered 75% to 85% of all casualties there. The fate of the Third Reich was decided at Stalingrad and sealed at Kursk. The German army had considerable success in the early stages of the campaign, but they suffered defeat when they reached the outskirts of Moscow. The Red Army then stopped the Nazi offensive at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-43, which became the decisive turning point for Germany's fortunes in the war. The Soviets drove through Eastern Europe and captured Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945. During the war, the Soviet Union lost more than 27 million citizens (including 18 million civilians), about half of all World War II casualties.
Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as an acknowledged superpower. The Red Army occupied Eastern Europe after the war, including the eastern half of Germany. Stalin installed loyal communist governments in these satellite states.
During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, with control always exerted exclusively from Moscow. The Soviets extracted heavy war reparations from the areas of Germany under their control, mostly in the form of machinery and industrial equipment. The Soviet Union consolidated its hold on Eastern Europe (see Eastern bloc) and entered a long struggle with the United States and Western Europe on economic, political, and ideological dominance over the Third World. The ensuing struggle became known as the Cold War, which turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, Britain and the United States, into its foes.
Stalin died in early 1953 presumably without leaving any instructions for the selection of a successor. His closest associates officially decided to rule the Soviet Union jointly, but the secret police chief Lavrenty Beria appeared poised to seize dictatorial control. General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev and other leading politicians organized an anti-Beria alliance and staged a coup d'état. Beria was arrested in June 1953 and executed later that year; Khrushchev became the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union.
Khrushchev
Under Khrushchev, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, and the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth aboard the first manned spacecraft, Vostok 1. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive. Foreign policy toward China and the United States suffered reverses, notably the Cuban Missile Crisis, when Khrushchev began installing nuclear missiles in Cuba (after the United States installed Jupiter missiles in Turkey, which nearly provoked a war with the Soviet Union). Over the course of several angry outbursts at the United Nations, Khrushchev was increasingly seen by his colleagues as belligerent, boorish, and dangerous. The remainder of the Soviet leadership removed him from power in 1964.
Brezhnev
Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the pre-eminent figure in Soviet politics. Brezhnev is frequently derided by historians for stagnating the development of the Soviet Union (see "Brezhnev stagnation"). Others have acknowledged that despite its inertia and repression (though very mild relative to the Stalin years), the Brezhnev era did offer a relative prosperity to a populace and leadership battered by decades of war, famine, collectivization and crash industrialization, deadly political crises, arbitrary mass murder and arrest, and the volatility of the Khrushchev years. In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change--partly because the USSR's economic woes were proving to be deeply systemic and hence immune to reform within the context of the Stalinist-Soviet system.
Gorbachev
In the mid 1980s, the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. He introduced the landmark policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), in an attempt to modernize Soviet communism. Glasnost meant that the harsh restrictions on free speech that had characterized most of the Soviet Union's existence were removed, and open political discourse and criticism of the government became possible again. Perestroika meant sweeping economic reforms designed to decentralize the planning of the Soviet economy. However, the Stalinist system was probably beyond repair, and the Gorbachev reforms started in motion forces of change that demonstrated that meaningful reform would eventually threaten Communist Party hegemony. His initiatives also provoked strong resentment amongst conservative elements of the government, and in August of 1991 an unsuccessful military coup that attempted to remove Gorbachev from power instead led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin came to power and declared the end of exclusive Communist rule. The USSR splintered into fifteen independent republics, and was officially dissolved in December of 1991 (see History of the Soviet Union).
Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and a market economy to replace the strict centralized social, political, and economic controls of the Soviet era. Corruption has run rampant, and the Yeltsin government conspired with insiders to loot countless billions in cash and assets from the State. Under Vladimir Putin, who stabilized the deteriorating Yeltsin regime, a considerable decline of political freedoms followed according to some Western mainstream media. This view is not shared by the majority of the Russian general public. In addition, economy and defense developed significantly, and currently Russia enjoys a state of rapid economical growth, averaging 6.7% annual GDP growth for the past 9 straight years.
Post-Soviet Russia
Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin had been elected President of Russia in June 1991 in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. In October 1991, as Russia was on the verge of independence, Yeltsin announced that Russia would proceed with radical market-oriented reform along the lines of "shock therapy".
After the disintegration of the USSR, the Russian economy went through a crisis. Russia took up the responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, even though its population made up just half of the population of the USSR at the time of its dissolution. The largest state enterprises (petroleum, metallurgy, and the like) were controversially privatized for the small sum of $US 600 million, far less than they were worth, while the majority of the population plunged into poverty.
Russia's Congress of People's Deputies, in which the Communist presence was the strongest, attempted to impeach Yeltsin on March 26, 1993. Yeltsin's opponents gathered more than 600 votes for impeachment, but fell 72 votes short. On September 21, 1993, Yeltsin disbanded the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of People's Deputies by decree, which was illegal under the constitution. On the same day there was a military showdown: the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. With military help, Yeltsin held control. The conflict resulted in a number of civilian casualties, but was resolved in Yeltsin's favor. According to different sources, the total number of deceased was between 300 and 2,000 people. Elections were held and the current Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted on December 12, 1993.
The 1990s were plagued by armed ethnic conflicts in the North Caucasus. Such conflicts took a form of separatist insurrections against federal power (most notably in Chechnya), or of ethnic/clan conflicts between local groups (e.g., in North Ossetia-Alania between Ossetians and Ingushs, or between different clans in Chechnya). Since the Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between disparate Chechen groups and the Russian military. Some of these groups have grown increasingly Islamist over the course of the struggle. The total number of refugees and internally displaced persons from these territories today is about 100,000 people. Russia has severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.
After Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990s, the recently appointed Prime Minister (who was also head of the FSB from July 1998 through August 1999) Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000. Although President Putin is still the most popular Russian politician, with a 70% approval rating, his policies raised serious concerns in the West about civil society and human rights in Russia. The West--particularly the United States--expressed growing worries about the state influence of the Russian media through Kremlin-friendly companies and law enforcement abuses.
At the same time, high oil prices and growing internal demand boosted Russian economic growth, stimulating significant economic expansion abroad and helping to finance increased military spending. Putin's presidency has shown improvements in the Russian standard of living, as opposed to the 1990s. Even with these economic improvements, the government is criticized for lack of will to fight wide-spread crime and corruption and to renovate deteriorated urban areas.
Politics
The politics of Russia (the Russian Federation) take place in a framework of a federal presidential republic, whereby the President of Russia is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Russia is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
The president is elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 14 March 2004 (next to be held in March 2008). Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the president.
Parliament, termed the Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye, consists of two chambers, the 450-member State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma and the 176-member Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii.
Despite Freedom House's listing of Russia being "not free", Alvaro Gil-Robles (former head of the Council of Europe human rights division) states "The fledgling Russian democracy is still, of course, far from perfect, but its existence and its successes cannot be denied." The Economist rates Russia as a "hybrid regime", which they consider "some form of democratic government".
Subdivisions
; Federal subjects
The Russian Federation comprises 86 federal subjects, namely:
; Federal districts
Federal subjects are grouped into federal districts, four in Europe and three in Asia. Unlike the federal subjects, the federal districts are not a subnational level of government, but are a level of administration of the federal government.
; See also
Geography and climate
Topography
The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the supercontinent of Eurasia. Although it contains a large share of the world's Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, and therefore has less population, economic activity, and physical variety per unit area than most countries, the great area south of these still accommodates a great variety of landscapes and climates. The mid-annual temperature is -5.5°C (22°F). For comparison, the mid-annual temperature in Iceland is +1.2°C (34°F) and in Sweden is +4°C (39°F), although the variety of climates within Russia makes such a comparison somewhat misleading, due to the extremely low temperatures in Siberia. Areas in the south of Russia have a subtropical climate, where year-round temperatures do not fall below +8°C (46°F).
The average summer high temperature ranges between 26°C and 32°C (80 to 88°F) with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 51°C (112°F)
Most of the land consists of vast plains, both in the European part and the part of Asian territory that is largely known as Siberia. These plains are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, Russia's and Europe's highest point at 5,642 m / 18,511 ft) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka. The more central Ural Mountains, a north-south range that form the primary divide between Europe and Asia, are also notable.
Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 kilometres (23,000 mi) along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas. Some smaller bodies of water are part of the open oceans; the Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea are part of the Arctic, whereas the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan belong to the Pacific Ocean.
Major islands and archipelagos include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. (See List of islands of Russia). The Diomede Islands (one controlled by Russia, the other by the United States) are just three kilometers (1.9 mi) apart, and Kunashir Island (controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan) is about twenty kilometres (12 mi) from Hokkaidō.
Russia is a water-rich country. Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water, providing it with one of the world's largest surface-water resources. The most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake Baikal, the world's deepest and most capacious freshwater lake. Lake Baikal alone contains over one fifth of the world's liquid fresh surface water. Many rivers flow across Russia; see Rivers of Russia. Major lakes include Lake Baikal, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega; see List of lakes in Russia.
Russia has a wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber.
Borders
The most practical way to describe Russia is as a main part (a large contiguous portion with its off-shore islands) and an exclave, Kaliningrad, (at the southeast corner of the Baltic Sea).
The main part's borders and coasts (starting in the far northwest and proceeding counter-clockwise) are:
The exclave, constituted by the Kaliningrad Oblast,
The Baltic and Black Sea coasts of Russia have less direct and more constrained access to the high seas than its Pacific and Arctic ones, but both are nevertheless important for that purpose. The Baltic gives immediate access to the nine other countries sharing its shores, and between the main part of Russia and its Kaliningrad Oblast exclave. Via the straits that lie within Denmark, and between it and Sweden, the Baltic connects to the North Sea and the oceans to its west and north. The Black Sea gives immediate access to the five other countries sharing its shores, and via the Dardanelles and Marmora straits adjacent to Istanbul, Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea with its many countries and its access, via the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar, to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The salt waters of the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake, provide no access to the high seas.
Spatial extent
The two most widely separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) apart along a geodesic (i.e. shortest line between two points on the Earth's surface). These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60-km long (40-mi long) spit of land separating the Gulf of Gdańsk from the Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the Kurile Islands, a few miles off Hokkaidō Island, Japan.
The points which are furthest separated in longitude are "only" 6,600 km (4,100 mi) apart along a geodesic. These points are: in the West, the same spit; in the East, the Big Diomede Island (Ostrov Ratmanova).
The Russian Federation spans eleven time zones.
Largest cities
Image:KREML.jpg|Moscow
Image:Sankt Petersburg Lomonossov-Brücke 2005.jpg|Saint Petersburg
Image:Novosibirsk1.jpg|Novosibirsk
Image:Nischni Nowgorod Einkaufsstrasse-01 2004-07-09.jpg|Nizhny Novgorod
As of the 2002 Census, Russia has thirteen cities with over a million inhabitants:
Economy
More than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia is now trying to further develop a market economy and achieve much more consistent economic growth. Russia saw its comparatively developed centrally planned economy contract severely for five years, as the executive and the legislature dithered over the implementation of reforms and Russia's aging industrial base faced a serious decline.
However, Russia's economy has adapted relatively quickly from the world's largest centrally planned economy to a market economy, a significant change during which the economy initially underwent tremendous stress. A first Russian deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, set the goal of making the country one of the five largest economies in terms of GDP by 2020. "GDP per capita by consumer spending parity will be around $30,000 in 2005 prices , compared to the current $12,000," Ivanov forecasted.
Crash
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia's first slight recovery, showing signs of open-market influence, occurred in 1997. In 1998, however, the Asian financial crisis culminated in the August depreciation of the ruble. This was followed by a debt default by the government in 1998, and a sharp deterioration in living standards for most of the population. Consequently, 1998 was marked by recession and an intense capital flight.
Recovery
Nevertheless, the economy started recovering in 1999. The recovery was greatly assisted by the weak ruble, which made imports expensive and boosted local production. Then it entered a phase of rapid economic expansion, the GDP growing by an average of 6.7% annually in 1999–2005 on the back of higher petroleum prices, a weaker ruble, and increasing service production and industrial output. The country is presently running a huge trade surplus, which has been helped by protective import barriers, and rampant corruption which ensures that it is almost impossible for foreign and local SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) to import goods without the help of local specialist import firms, such as the Russia Import Company. Some import barriers are expected to be abolished after Russia's accession to the WTO.
The recent recovery, made possible due to high world oil prices, along with a renewed government effort in 2000 and 2001 to advance lagging structural reforms, has raised business and investor confidence over Russia's prospects in its second decade of transition. Russia remains heavily dependent on exports of commodities, particularly oil, natural gas, metals, and timber, which account for about 80% of exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. Industrial military exports, after undergoing sharp contraction, are now the major non-commodity export. In recent years, however, the economy has also been driven by growing internal consumer demand that has increased by over 12% annually in 2000–2005, showing the strengthening of its own internal market.
The economic development of the country has been extremely uneven: the Moscow region contributes one-third of the country's GDP while having only a tenth of its population. GDP increased by 7.2% in 2004, 6.4% in 2005 and about 7% in 2006.
Recent economy
The country's GDP (PPP) soared to $1.5 trillion in 2004, making it the ninth largest economy in the world and the fifth largest in Europe. For the year of 2007, Russia's GDP is projected to grow to about $1.2 trillion nominally (31.2 trillion rubles) that would be about $2.3 trillion PPP and would make Russia the second largest economy in Europe.
Russia's economics ministry has revised forecasts for 2007 GDP growth from 6.2 to 6.5%
According to Russia's finance minister, investment in Russia's economy will grow by $44 billion in 2007. Alexei Kudrin said investment increased $37 billion in 2006, to $168 billion. Speaking at a conference on economic modernization, the minister predicted investment would double in 2010, to $357 billion, against 2006. According to the ministry's forecast, inflation will gradually decrease from 9% in 2006 to 5.6% in 2010, which the minister said would bring loan rates down and boost investment in fixed assets. He said Russia was expected to double its domestic debt by 2010, but that foreign borrowing was not planned. The minister said Russian borrowing from the World Bank would remain at $300-400 million for the next three or four years. Kudrin specified that investment growth would be primarily due to the private sector.
Some experts believe that official statistic underestimates Russian GDP by 28% because of inaccuracy of decades old statistical system (for example, it didn’t count small enterprises and whole sectors of new economy). IMSG estimated that nominal Russian GDP reached $970 billion in 2005.
In 2006, GDP grew to $1018 billion nominally (26.31 trillion rubles; 2.04 trillion in PPP dollars).
In 2005 Russia exported 241.3 billion dollars and imported 98.5 billion dollars. This means that Russia registered a trade surplus of 142.8 billion dollars in 2005, up about 33% from 2004's foreign trade surplus of $106.1 billion dollars.
In 2006, export grew to $304 billion, import to $164 billion; foreign trade surplus grew 19% to $141 billion.
It's estimated what direct foreign investment reach at least $23 billion in 2006, overall foreign investments reached $55 billion.
On May 25, 2007 Russia's international reserves reached $402.2 billion nominally and projected to grow to $400–450 billion by the end of 2007.
Thanks to high oil prices, Russian oil exports totaled $117 billion in 2005 while gas exports totaled $32 billion in the same year. That means that oil and gas made up 60% of total Russian exports in 2005.
Knowing the importance of oil and gas to the economy, the Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation was formed by the government in January 2004. This fund takes in revenues from oil and gas exports and is designed to help offset oil market volatility. This fund was also set up in order to prevent the ruble from appreciating. The Stabilization Fund (SF) grew to $76.6 billion in November 2006. In October 2006, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said the fund will continue to increase over the coming years, and will exceed $149 billion by late 2007 and about $260.4 billion by the end of 2009. Russia is paying off its foreign debt mainly from the Stabilization Fund, which hit $76.9 billion as of July 1. Russia repaid the bulk of its outstanding debt to the Paris Club of Creditor Nations on August 18-21. The debt totaled $1.9 billion as of October 1, compared to $23.7 billion on July 1.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service of Russia, the monthly nominal average salary in January 2007 was 11,410 rubles (about $437 nominally; about $793 PPP), 26.6 percent higher than in January 2006.
Challenge
Some perceive the greatest challenge facing the Russian economy to be encouraging the development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in a business climate with a young and less-than-sufficiently functional banking system. Many of Russia's banks are owned by oligarchs, who often use the deposits to lend to their own businesses. The 2005 Milken Institute's ratings place Russia at the 51st place in the world, out of 121 countries by the availability of capital.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have attempted to kick-start normal banking practices by making equity and debt investments in a number of banks, but with very limited success.
Overcoming corruption is perhaps one of the biggest challenges the Russian economy faces.
However, about twenty-five of the biggest banks of Russia get entry into Top 1000 banks of the world by The Banker Many more Russian banks have very high international ratings by Moody's and Fitch, including "investment" level.
Other problems include disproportional economic development of Russia's own regions. While the huge capital region of Moscow is a bustling, affluent metropolis living on the cutting edge of technology with a per capita income rapidly approaching that of the leading Eurozone economies, much of the country, especially its indigenous and rural communities in Asia, lags significantly behind. Market integration is nonetheless making itself felt in some other sizeable cities such as Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, and Ekaterinburg, and recently also in the adjacent rural areas.
The arrest of Russia's wealthiest businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of fraud and corruption in relation to the large-scale privatizations organized under then-President Yeltsin, contrary to some expectations, has not caused most foreign investors to worry about the stability of the Russian economy. Most of the large fortunes currently in evidence in Russia are the product of either acquiring government assets at particularly low costs or gaining concessions from the government. Other countries have expressed concerns and worries at the "selective" application of the law against individual businessmen, though government actions have been received positively in Russia. Russia occupies 122th place among 157 countries in the Index of Economic Freedom.
Prospect
A first Russian deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, set the goal of making the country one of the five largest economies in terms of GDP by 2020. "GDP per capita by consumer spending parity will be around $30,000 in 2005 prices , compared to the current $12,000," Ivanov forecasted.
Russia's macroeconomic performance in recent years has been impressive. High oil prices and large capital inflows have contributed importantly to this success, but a principal factor has been the combination of strong growth in productivity, real wages, and consumption.
Encouraging foreign investment is also a major challenge due to legal, cultural, linguistic, economic and political peculiarities of the country. Nevertheless, there has been a significant inflow of capital in recent years from many European investors attracted by cheaper land, labor and higher growth rates than in the rest of Europe
Very high levels of education and societal involvement achieved by the majority of the population, including women and minorities, secular attitudes, mobile class structure, and better integration of various minorities into the mainstream culture set Russia far apart from the majority of the so-called developing countries and even some developed nations.
The country is also benefiting from rising oil prices and has been able very substantially to reduce its formerly huge foreign debt. However, equal redistribution of capital gains from the natural resource industries to other sectors is still a problem. Nonetheless, since 2003, exports of natural resources started decreasing in economic importance as the internal market has strengthened considerably, largely stimulated by intense construction, as well as consumption of increasingly diverse goods and services. Yet teaching customers and encouraging consumer spending is a relatively tough task for many provincial areas where consumer demand is primitive. However, some laudable progress has been made in larger cities, especially in the clothing, food, and entertainment industries.
Additionally, some international firms are investing in Russia. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Russia had nearly $26 billion in cumulative foreign direct investment inflows during the period (of which $11.7 billion occurred in 2004).
Russia is considered an energy superpower as it possesses vast mineral and energy wealth, which brings great benefit to the Russian economy. Currently, its economy benefits greatly from the relatively high price of oil.
John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, said, "Russia's position is enviable, considering its rich resource base and well-educated population. With the right economic policies in place, the economic outlook will be exceptional."
Armed Forces
After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Russia assumed control of Soviet assets abroad, and received the lion's share of the Soviet Union's production facilities and military forces. About 70% of the former Soviet Union's defense industries are located in the Russian Federation.
The Russian military is divided into the following branches: Ground Forces, Navy, and Air Force. There are also three independent arms of service : Strategic Rocket Forces, Military Space Forces, and the Airborne Troops. Russia has the world
