Russian Federation
Russia
Geography
Russia is located in the northeastern part of the largest continent on Earth — Eurasia, occupying about one-third of its territory (31.5%). The extreme northern and eastern points of the continent are also the extreme points of Russia. Situated in two parts of the world — Europe and Asia — Russia occupies the eastern part of Europe and the northern expanses of Asia. In terms of territory, our country ranks first in the world. The area of Russia is 17.1 million km². This is larger than the area of all European states combined. In terms of territory, Russia is more comparable not to individual states but to entire continents. The area of Russia is larger than that of Australia and Antarctica and only slightly less than that of South America (18.2 million km²). Russia exceeds the largest states in the world — Canada, the USA, and China — by 1.6 to 1.8 times in area, and is 29 times larger than the largest state in Europe — Ukraine.
The total length of Russia's borders is 60,932 km. Of these, maritime borders account for 38,807 km (about 2/3), and land borders — 22,125 km (including 7,616 km along rivers and lakes). The northern and eastern borders are maritime*, while the western and southern borders are predominantly land. The extensive length of Russia's state borders is determined by the size of its territory and the winding outlines of the coastlines of the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans that wash its shores.
The state is located on two continents — Europe and Asia. To the south and southeast, it borders China; to the southeast, it borders North Korea; to the south, it borders Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan; to the southwest, it borders Ukraine; to the west, it borders Finland, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, and Norway. Additionally, the Kaliningrad region, an enclave of Russia on the Baltic Sea coast, borders Poland and Lithuania. Russia also owns the islands of Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Vaigach, the Franz Josef Land archipelago, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean; the Kuril Islands (part of the Kuril Islands — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan — are disputed by Japan) and Sakhalin Island in the Pacific Ocean. In the east, Russia is washed by the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Bering Sea and the Bering Strait; in the north — by the Barents, Kara, Chukchi, and East Siberian Seas, and the Laptev Sea; in the west — by the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland; in the south — by the Black and Azov Seas.
In Russia, there are about 120,000 rivers (longer than 10 km). The largest rivers include: Amur, Anadyr, Volga, Don, Yenisei, Indigirka, Irtysh, Kolyma, Kuban, Lena, Moscow, Neva, Ob, Oka, Penzhina, Pechora, and the Northern Dvina. There are about 2 million freshwater and saltwater lakes in the Russian Federation. The largest are the Caspian Sea, Baikal, Ladoga, and Onega. The highest point in Russia is Mount Elbrus (5642 m).
Climate
Russia's position in the northern part of Eurasia (the territory of the country mainly lies north of 50° N) has determined its placement in the arctic, subarctic, temperate, and partially subtropical climate zones.
The predominant part of the territory is located in the temperate zone. The diversity of the climate also depends on the features of the relief and the proximity or distance from the ocean.
Latitudinal zonality is most vividly manifested in the plains. The most complete spectrum of natural zones characterizes the European part of the country, where from north to south, the zones of arctic deserts, tundra, forest tundra, taiga forests, mixed forests, forest-steppes, steppes, and semi-deserts succeed one another. As one moves eastward, the climate becomes increasingly continental, and the number of natural zones within the same latitudinal interval significantly decreases.
Average temperatures in January vary from +6 to −50 °C, and in July from 1 to 25 °C; precipitation ranges from 150 to 2000 mm per year. Permafrost (areas in the north of the European part, Siberia, and the Far East) occupies 65% of Russia's territory.
The highest temperature ever recorded in modern Russia was +45.4 °C at the Utta meteorological station (Kalmykia), measured on July 12, 2010. The lowest temperature was unofficially recorded in Oymyakon by academician Sergey Obruchev in the winter of 1924 and was −71.2 °C, although lower temperatures have been reported. The maximum temperature difference recorded was 116.6 °C, making Russia first in the world in this indicator.
Administrative division: 85 subjects of the federation, including 22 republics, 9 territories, 46 regions, 1 autonomous oblast, 4 autonomous okrugs, 3 cities of federal significance. There are about 157 thousand populated areas in the country.
Population: 146,793,000 people — 9th place among 223 countries in the world (Federal State Statistics Service, 2019).
Currency: Russian Ruble (RUR).
The capital of Russia is Moscow, a city of federal significance, the administrative center of the Central Federal District, and the center of the Moscow region, which it does not belong to. The largest city in Russia by population and its subject — 12,615,882 people (2019), the most populous city entirely located in Europe, ranks among the top ten cities in the world by population, and is the largest Russian-speaking city in the world. The center of the Moscow urban agglomeration.
Language
The languages of Russia belong to 14 language families — Indo-European, Altaic, Uralic, Yukaghir-Chuvash, Kartvelian, Abkhaz-Adyghe, Nakh-Daghestanian, Sino-Tibetan, Semitic, Eskimo-Aleut, Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Yeniseian, Austroasiatic, Ainu; the Nivkh language is isolated. The official (state) language throughout the territory of the Russian Federation is Russian. The peoples of the Russian Federation are guaranteed the right to preserve their native language.
Religion
Among religious denominations, the most numerous is Orthodox Christianity; the multi-ethnic population of Russia also practices Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, and Buddhism.
Continuity of Russian statehood
Ancient Russian state, Kievan Rus (862 — mid-13th century).
Capital until 882 — Novgorod, then Kiev.
Russian principalities (mid-12th century — early 16th century).
Russian Tsardom (late 15th century — October 22 (November 2) 1721; until January 16, 1547 — Grand Duchy of Moscow, then — Russian Tsardom).
Capital — Moscow, from 1712 — St. Petersburg.
Russian Empire (October 22 (November 2) 1721 — September 1 (14), 1917).
Capital until 1728 — St. Petersburg, from 1728 to 1732 — Moscow, from 1732 — St. Petersburg (from August 18 (31), 1914, called Petrograd).
Russian Republic (proclaimed by the decree of the Provisional Government from September 1 (14), 1917, until the All-Russian Constituent Assembly resolves the issue of state structure).
Capital — Petrograd.
Russian State (proclaimed by the Act of the Ufa State Conference on September 23, 1918).
Existed until April 4, 1920, as a united state of the White Movement during the Civil War.
Capital — Ufa, Omsk.
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (proclaimed October 25 [November 7], 1917, by the decree of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets). From 1922 to 1991 — a union republic within the USSR. In 1917–1918 it was called the Russian Soviet Republic. In 1918–1936 — the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.
Capital — Petrograd, from March 12, 1918 — Moscow.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (December 30, 1922 — December 26, 1991).
Capital — Moscow.
Russian Federation (since December 25, 1991).
Capital — Moscow.
Political system
State governance: Presidential republic.
Head of state: President.
Supreme legislative body: Bicameral parliament (Federation Council and State Duma), with a term of office of 5 years.
Supreme executive body: Government.
The state structure and political system of the Russian Federation is a democratic state with a republican (presidential) form of government and a federal state structure. The Constitution, adopted by a nationwide referendum on December 12, 1993, is in effect in the country. The Constitution of the Russian Federation is the highest normative legal act of the state, which enshrines the foundations of state structure, the formation of representative, executive, judicial authorities, and the system of local self-government, principles of the rule of law, separation of powers, and judicial proceedings, as well as the basic rights and freedoms of citizens.
The head of state in the Russian Federation is the president, elected by universal direct popular vote for a term of 6 years. The Constitution stipulates that the same person cannot hold the position of president for more than two consecutive terms. The president occupies a central place in the system of Russian power institutions. According to the Constitution, he determines the main directions of the country's domestic and foreign policy, heads the Security Council, and is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He plays a leading role in appointing the highest officials of the country. In some cases, the president can perform functions usually carried out by legislative and judicial authorities, for example, has the right to issue decrees that are mandatory for execution throughout the country.
The highest representative and legislative authority of the Russian Federation is the parliament — the Federal Assembly, consisting of two chambers: the lower — State Duma and the upper — Federation Council. The State Duma, elected by universal popular vote for a term of 5 years, consists of 450 deputies. Its main function is to adopt laws of the Russian Federation. The Federation Council represents the interests of the regions (subjects) of the Russian Federation and is a permanently functioning body. It includes two representatives from each subject of the Federation (one from the legislative and one from the executive authorities). The Federation Council must consider the laws adopted by the State Duma on issues of the federal budget, federal taxes and fees, financial, credit, customs regulation, ratification and denunciation of international treaties of the Russian Federation with other states, status and protection of the State border, war and peace. The exclusive competence of the Federation Council includes: approval of borders between subjects of the Federation, approval of presidential decrees on the introduction of martial law and a state of emergency in the country, decision on the possibility of using the Armed Forces outside its territory, appointment of elections for the President of the Russian Federation, impeachment (in special cases) of the president, appointment of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, judges of the Constitutional, Supreme, and Supreme Arbitration Courts of the Russian Federation, deputy chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber. In the field of legislation, the Federation Council occupies a subordinate role in relation to the State Duma. Any laws are first introduced to the State Duma, and only after their approval by the lower house do they go to the Federation Council for consideration.
When considering the laws adopted by the State Duma, the Federation Council has no right to propose amendments and can either approve or reject the law as a whole.
The executive power of the Russian Federation is exercised by the Government of the Russian Federation. However, the Constitution does not explicitly state that the Government is the highest executive authority in the country.
This is due to the fact that the most important functions of federal executive power are exercised by the president.
The Government is appointed by the president and resigns before the newly elected head of state. The Government of the Russian Federation consists of the chairman, deputy chairmen, and federal ministers. The head of the Government is its chairman (the term "prime minister" is sometimes used), who is appointed by the president and approved by the State Duma. The chairman of the Government submits proposals to the president of the Russian Federation for the structure of executive power and the composition of the Government for approval.
History
The foundation of the Ancient Russian state is traditionally associated with the invitation of the Varangian prince Rurik to reign in 862 by a union of East Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes. Rurik's state included territories of southern Ladoga (Old Ladoga, Novgorod) and the upper Volga (Belozero, Rostov). The population consisted of Slavs (Slovenes and Krivichs), Finno-Ugric tribes (Ves, Meria, Chud), and the military aristocracy was made up of Varangians.
In 882, Rurik's successor, the Novgorod prince Oleg, annexed the southern center of the East Slavs, making the main city of the Polans — Kiev — his capital, and launched a campaign against Byzantium, achieving a significant tribute and privileges for Russian merchants.
In historiography, the unification of the northern and southern centers under the rule of the Rurikids is seen as the completion of the process of forming the Ancient Russian state.
The expansion of the state to the south led to a confrontation with the powerful Khazaria, whose center was located on the lower Volga. Prince Svyatoslav inflicted a final defeat on the Khazars in 965. As a result of military campaigns and diplomatic efforts by the Kievan rulers, the lands of all East Slavic, as well as some Finno-Ugric, Baltic, Turkic, and Iranian tribes joined the new state.
At the same time, the process of Slavic colonization of the Volga-Oka interfluve was underway. Ancient Rus was the largest state formation in Europe, fighting for a dominant position in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region with the Byzantine Empire.
Under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Rus adopted Christianity in 988. Prince Yaroslav the Wise established the first nationwide code of laws — the Russian Truth. In 1132, after the death of the Kievan prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, the disintegration of the unified state began into a number of independent ones: Novgorod land, Vladimir-Suzdal principality, Volhynian principality, Chernigov principality, Ryazan principality, Polotsk principality, and others. Kiev remained an object of struggle between the most powerful princely branches, and the Kiev land was considered a collective property of the Rurikids.
The Ancient Russian state had a sufficiently developed state apparatus for its time, and its inhabitants exhibited a unified ethnic consciousness.
Fragmentation of Russian lands. Mongol-Tatar yoke
In Northeastern Rus, from the mid-12th century, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality strengthened, its rulers fought for Kiev and Novgorod but always preferred to remain in Vladimir, which led to its elevation as a new all-Russian center. Other powerful principalities included Chernigov, Galician-Volhynian, and Smolensk.
From 1237 to 1240, most Russian lands were subjected to the devastating invasion of Batu Khan. Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Galich, Ryazan, and many other ancient Russian cities were destroyed, and the southern and southeastern outskirts lost a significant part of their settled population. Russian principalities became vassals of the Golden Horde, and the princes in them began to receive power over their lands with the sanction of the khans of the Golden Horde. This period is known in history as the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The Novgorod lands in the 13th century entered a series of military conflicts with the crusader knights and Swedes for the right to dominate in Eastern Baltic. Invited by the Novgorod veche and posadniks, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky defeated the Swedish troops that landed on the Neva in 1240, and then in 1242, at the Ice Battle, defeated the Teutonic knights.
From the late 13th century, new centers began to form among the Russian lands — the Moscow and Lithuanian principalities. The Moscow princes managed to win the struggle for the Vladimir grand duchy, for which the khans of the Golden Horde issued the yarlik. The Vladimir grand prince acted as the collector of tribute and the supreme ruler within Northeastern Rus and Novgorod. Starting with the reign of Prince Dmitry Donskoy, who inflicted the first serious defeats on the Golden Horde, from 1363, the yarlik for the Grand Duchy of All Rus was given only to the princes of the Moscow house.
Unification of Rus. The Russian Kingdom and the Russian Empire
Under Ivan III, Moscow became the center of Northeastern Rus, uniting into a single state; the grand princely seal became the double-headed eagle as a symbol of the continuity of the power of the Byzantine Empire and Rus; under Ivan III, after a series of military victories, Rus ceased to pay tribute to the Horde. Thus ended the Tatar yoke, and in recognition of Rus's sovereignty, the prince began to be called the sovereign; during this period, the Judicial Code was adopted, a collection of all-Russian laws, and the Moscow Kremlin and the Assumption Cathedral were built. Military defeats and internecine strife led to the weakening of the Horde and its disintegration in the mid-15th century into the Crimean, Astrakhan, Kazan, and Siberian khanates. Prince Vasily III continued the unification of Russian lands, waged wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kazan Khanate; his reign was marked by a construction boom in Rus.
The First Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible
A series of reforms (military service, judicial system, and government administration) were carried out by Ivan the Terrible, who took the title of tsar as a symbol of the power of the Russian kingdom. During his reign, the territory of the Russian state increased almost twofold. The second half of Ivan the Terrible's reign was marked by a series of failures in the Livonian War and the establishment of the Oprichnina.
In the early 17th century, Russia experienced the Time of Troubles, which ended with the calling of a nationwide militia, the defeat of Polish invaders, and the election of the Romanov dynasty to the throne with the support of the Cossacks on February 21 (March 3), 1613.
The First Emperor of Russia — Peter I
Tsar Peter I implemented radical changes in the internal and foreign policy of the state. Under him, the Russian kingdom, after victory in the Northern War in 1721, began to be called the Russian Empire, headed by the emperor of all Russia. Peter I founded St. Petersburg, which became the capital of the state.
The Declaration of Armed Neutrality proposed by Russia (developed with the direct participation of Catherine II and Count A. A. Bezborodko) had fundamental significance for forming a system of international legal norms in maritime trade and warfare and constitutes the basis of the modern system of international legal norms in maritime law.
In 1812, as a result of the Patriotic War of Russia against Napoleonic France, Napoleon's army was almost entirely destroyed. Russian troops entered Paris. The 19th century entered the history of world culture as the golden age of Russian literature and classical music.
From the mid-19th century, the revolutionary movement in the country strengthened. In 1899, at the initiative of Nicholas II, the international Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of War was convened. In 1905, the First Russian Revolution occurred (a parliament was established). In Russia, the period of cultural development before the First World War was called the Silver Age of Russian culture. In 1917, as a result of the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne, and power passed to the Provisional Government, which soon declared the country a republic.
Soviet State
On October 25 (November 7), 1917, the October Revolution took place. Power in Russia was seized by the Soviets, in which the Bolsheviks, led by V. I. Lenin, had decisive influence. Soviet Russia became the first socialist state in the world. The capital was moved to Moscow.
After the revolution, a Civil War began between the Bolsheviks and their supporters on one side and anti-Bolshevik forces (the White Movement) on the other, as well as a "third force" (anarchists, basmachi, SRs, etc.). Other states participated in the war. The war ended with the establishment of Soviet power over most of the territory of the former Russian Empire.
On December 30, 1922, the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The foreign policy of the new state was aimed at overcoming international isolation and recognition of the USSR, which was achieved by the 1930s.
The Bolsheviks initiated ambiguous social reforms that sharply restricted the rights of those who survived the Civil War, including priests, entrepreneurs, prosperous peasants, representatives of the old political, military, and scientific elite, while, on the other hand, they allowed for a reduction in social inequality and expanded access for representatives of the lower classes to education, healthcare, housing, and high state positions.
After Lenin's death, intra-party struggle intensified, resulting in the highest power being concentrated in the hands of I. V. Stalin, whose rule was characterized by autocracy and an increase in repression. Stalin pursued a course of accelerated industrialization and complete collectivization of agriculture to achieve a rapid transition from a traditional agrarian society to an industrial one through the mobilization of internal resources, excessive centralization of economic life, and the formation of a cohesive command-administrative system in the USSR.
If the pre-war volume of industrial production in the Russian Empire in 1913 was 50% of that of Germany and France, 20% of that of England, and according to various estimates, 10-15% of that of the USA, by 1941, 9,000 factories had been built, and by the end of the second five-year plan, 14 years after the end of the Civil War, the USSR ranked second in the world in industrial production, second only to the USA, achieving 10% of the world's total industrial production. In public life, the revolutionary upsurge of the early years of Soviet power waned, and by the 1930s, a reaction was evident.
On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began with the sudden attack of Nazi Germany and its satellites on the USSR. The German army, although inferior to the Soviet army in the number of military equipment, entered the war fully mobilized with developed logistical support, unlike the Red Army, and was able to achieve a decisive advantage in the directions of its main strikes.
By the fall of 1941, German troops had advanced quite far from the borders of the USSR. During the offensive in the Moscow direction, the Wehrmacht concentrated the overwhelming majority of all Nazi Germany's forces near the capital and reached the suburbs of Moscow in the northwestern direction. However, the resistance of the Soviet troops sharply intensified, while the Wehrmacht exhausted its offensive capabilities; three days later, under the leadership of Georgy Zhukov, the Soviet counteroffensive began. During the Battle of Moscow, the plan for a lightning capture of the USSR was finally thwarted, and the German army suffered its first strategic defeat in World War II, and the war took on a protracted character. Immediately after the war began, many countries of the world expressed support for the USSR, and an anti-Hitler coalition was formed. The USSR's allies against Germany included Great Britain (at war with Germany since September 1, 1939) and the USA, which provided military-technical assistance to the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, including the USSR. In June 1944, the Second Front was opened. During the turning battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, Soviet troops went on the strategic offensive and defeated the German army, making a decisive contribution to the victory over Nazism — German losses on the Soviet-German front amounted to about 75% of all irretrievable combat losses of Germany, the Wehrmacht and its allies lost 80% of all combat-ready units, 607 divisions were defeated, and the war ended with the liberation of Central and Eastern European countries from Nazism. On May 9, 1945, Germany signed the Act of unconditional surrender.
As a result of World War II, the Soviet Union became, for the first time in the history of Russia, alongside the USA a superpower, became one of the founding countries of the UN, a member of the UN Security Council with veto power; political regimes oriented towards building socialism and close cooperation with the Soviet Union were established in Eastern European countries. The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact Organization were created to counter the EEC and NATO.
The global confrontation between capitalist and socialist systems in the struggle for world influence became known as the Cold War. The efforts of the USA and the USSR were primarily directed towards dominance in the political sphere. Although the two states did not officially engage in direct military confrontation, they engaged in an arms race, and their rivalry for influence led to outbreaks of local armed conflicts in various parts of the third world, which usually proceeded as proxy wars between the two superpowers.
The Sino-Soviet split, which began in the late 1950s, peaked in 1969, significantly weakened the positions of the socialist bloc.
The number of allied troops and their areas of responsibility in Europe in 1973. Red color — Warsaw Pact countries, Blue color — NATO countries.
The arrival of N. S. Khrushchev to power was associated with a "thaw" in the socio-political life of the country and the denouncement of the cult of personality of Stalin. Nevertheless, the USSR, from the perspective of Western analysts, continued to remain a totalitarian state (see human rights in the USSR).
Despite significant ideological restrictions, science achieved wide development. Science cities were built, and in terms of the number of patents for innovative technologies, the USSR during the stagnation period from 1983 to 1991 was among the top five world leaders. In the USSR, 70-80 thousand inventions were created annually, which accounted for about two-thirds of all inventions in the world. World leadership was achieved in the nuclear and space spheres: the USSR was the first in the world to launch the first artificial Earth satellite, the first human into space, the first in the world devices for exploring the Moon and Venus, the first in the world to implement a human exit into outer space, and the first in the world to create a computing machine with ternary code. The USSR created the first national system of long-distance space radio communication and television on highly elliptical orbits.
At the cost of significant efforts, the USSR managed to achieve military-strategic parity with the USA by the mid-1970s, which was essentially equivalent to the technological parity of the two superpowers and served as one of the foundations for the easing of international tension. At the same time, the USSR lagged significantly behind Western countries in the level of development of light industry.
The priority of developing heavy industry, ideological restrictions, wars of monstrous destructiveness, a centralized system of distribution of consumer goods with subsidized state prices, and the underdevelopment of market mechanisms in the collective-farm cooperative sphere contributed to the fact that the level of consumption in the USSR was significantly lower than in developed Western countries. At the same time, the USSR surpassed the USA in the accessibility of education, healthcare, and public services.
The gap between the rich and the poor in the USSR was significantly smaller than in Western countries; the Soviet power contributed to the social advancement of representatives of workers and peasants.
From 1913 to 1986, Russia increased its national wealth more than 50 times, and national income 94 times. The number of students in higher education institutions increased 40 times, and the number of doctors increased 48 times. By 1986, the national income of the USSR was 66% of that in the USA, industrial production was 80%, and agriculture was 85%.
The policy of Perestroika announced by Mikhail Gorbachev, who came to power in the USSR in 1985, led to the loss of the leading role of the CPSU, significant changes in ideology, undermining the economy, and destabilization of life in the country. The declared goal of the reforms was the comprehensive democratization of the socio-political and economic structure established in the USSR and the weakening of ideological control over society; however, the reforms effectively led to the demise of the socialist system and the disintegration of the country. According to foreign researchers, the collapse of the USSR was not inevitable; the state had significant opportunities to preserve the socialist system, the unity of the country, and increase its influence in the world, provided that the leadership of the USSR chose a less catastrophic model of reform. In 1989, the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and CMEA occurred. In 1988–1991, a series of legislative conflicts occurred between the union center and the union republics. In December 1989, at a summit on the island of Malta, Gorbachev and Bush officially announced the end of the Cold War.
On March 17, 1991, a nationwide referendum on the preservation of the USSR was held, in which 77.85% of citizens of the Soviet republics participating in the referendum expressed support for preserving the Union as a renewed Federation of equal sovereign republics. From August 19 to 21, 1991, a confrontation occurred between the authorities of the USSR and the RSFSR in Moscow, leading to mass demonstrations at the White House in support of the president of the RSFSR B. N. Yeltsin. The overall indecision of the leadership of the GKChP of the USSR led to their defeat and self-dissolution. On December 8, 1991, agreements on the cessation of the USSR's activities and the creation of the CIS were signed. According to sociological surveys (2018), the majority of citizens of the former USSR republics over 35 years old regret its collapse.
On December 26, 1991, the Council of Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a declaration on the cessation of the existence of the USSR, which put a final point in the Cold War. The Russian Federation was recognized as the successor state of the USSR in international legal relations and took its place in the UN Security Council.
Russian Federation
Under the government of Yeltsin — Gaidar, retail price liberalization, foreign trade liberalization, tax system reorganization, and other transformations were carried out, radically changing the economic situation in the country. The result of the reforms marked Russia's transition to a market economy. The Russian model of a market economy has received mixed evaluations among Russian and foreign researchers, including Nobel laureates in economics. On January 1, 1992, state price regulation was abolished, and freedom of trade was declared. The period of "wild" capitalism and initial capital accumulation, associated with the abandonment of a centralized planned economy and catastrophic devaluation of the state's social obligations, was characterized by the elimination of shortages of consumer goods, but at the same time by explosive price growth, hyperinflation (in 1992 — 2200%), devaluation of the population's savings, mass impoverishment, a sharp increase in crime, barterization and criminalization of the economy, mass unemployment, wage arrears, and a radical increase in social inequality, reaching the level of 1905: the richest 10% owned 50% of all assets in the country; a crisis in the social sphere, catastrophic decline in birth rates, a sharp increase in mortality, and a significant reduction in life expectancy of the population, which led, despite the growth in the number of Russian-speaking migrants from the former USSR countries, to a sharp decrease in the population of Russia. The economic reforms of the 1990s also led to a sharp decline in the country's economy: industrial production fell by 60%, and in light and food industries, production fell by 70%, reaching 30% of the pre-reform level.
On October 3-4, 1993, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet were dispersed in Moscow, resulting in human casualties and contradicting the Constitution in force at that time. On October 9, 1993, the president terminated the powers of the people's deputies' councils at all levels, and in December, a new Constitution of Russia came into effect, finally consolidating the change of the socio-political structure on its territory.
In 1994, a conflict erupted in the Chechen Republic between federal troops and Chechen separatists. The results of this conflict included the withdrawal of Russian units, mass destruction and casualties, de facto independence of Chechnya until the Second Chechen War, and a wave of terror that swept across Russia.
The presidential elections of 1996 were the only ones in Russian history where a second round of elections was needed to determine the winner, resulting in B. N. Yeltsin, who was significantly lagging behind his opponent at the beginning of the election campaign, defeating the leader of the CPRF G. A. Zyuganov, with significant violations noted during the elections.
In the first half of the 1990s, a large number of enterprises were privatized through voucher privatization and pledge auctions. However, this was not enough to cover the enormous state debt. On August 17, 1998, the Russian government announced a sharp budget sequestration, halting payments on a number of obligations, including GKO and OFZ (technical default), and the emergency loan from the IMF of four billion dollars under obligations to sharply reduce social and defense budget items could not support the Russian economy, as it did not reach the Russian economy. According to researchers (Academician V. I. Suslov), in the 1990s, tens of billions of dollars were exported from Russia and disappeared without a trace each year, and the amount of Russian assets in offshore accounts became approximately equal to the amount of assets within the country, reaching one trillion dollars. During this period, the socio-economic situation of the population significantly worsened; however, the fall in the ruble's exchange rate increased the competitiveness of Russian producers. In 1999, after a series of government resignations, economic growth began in the Russian Federation, lasting several years, with industrial production growth reaching 10% in 2000.
On December 31, 1999, Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation as president, appointing the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin as acting president.
2000s
In March 2000, Vladimir Putin won the elections and became the second President of the Russian Federation. In the 2000s, a number of socio-economic reforms were carried out in Russia: tax, land, pension, banking, monetization of benefits, labor relations, energy, and railway transport reforms. In September 2005, "National Projects" were launched in the Russian Federation to address the most important social issues: healthcare, education, housing policy, and agriculture. From 2000 to 2008, Russia experienced economic growth, investment growth, and an increase in the population's income, facilitated by the reforms carried out, political stability, and rising prices for Russian export goods (especially mineral raw materials). There was a strengthening of the vertical of executive power in the country and the formation of a ruling party resulting from the merger of political blocs into "United Russia," which, according to the results of the Duma elections of 2003 and 2007, occupied the majority of seats in the State Duma and supported key decisions of the president and government.
The introduction of maternity capital in 2007 as a form of stimulating birth rates and supporting large families played a significant role in stabilizing the demographic sphere in Russia and transitioning to expanded population reproduction.
The establishment of the post of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the federal district in 2000 significantly strengthened the power vertical, increased the level of governability of the Russian administrative system, and reduced the risk of the disintegration of Russia.
In 2000, the active phase of the war in Chechnya ended, which remained part of Russia. In 2009, the counter-terrorism operation regime was officially lifted in Chechnya.
On August 8, 2008, an armed conflict began in South Ossetia, as a result of which Russia officially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, significantly slowing down the process of Georgia's accession to NATO.
In 2008, a large-scale reform of the armed forces of Russia was initiated, aimed at significantly increasing the combat potential of the Russian armed forces and ensuring effective protection of Russian interests.
During this period, the poverty level significantly decreased, and the consumption level in the country increased compared to the Yeltsin era, approaching the consumption level in the USSR, significantly surpassing it in some respects, while at the same time falling short of the Soviet period in terms of relative poverty, degree of social inequality, accessibility of education, healthcare (significantly: sanatorium treatment), housing (on average, twice as much), and public services. The level of social inequality ceased to grow and slightly decreased compared to the Yeltsin era, while remaining very high, multiple times exceeding Soviet indicators.
Assessments by Russian and Western researchers of this period of Russian history are largely polarized, but many assert that Russia began to defend its sovereignty and national interests to a greater extent; the economy became much more powerful compared to the Yeltsin period, the poverty level among the population decreased, economic development replaced economic collapse, the significance of the federal center strengthened, and the authorities managed to regain control over most oil and gas companies, with Russia being taken seriously in the world again; however, on the other hand, relations with the USA soured, and some media were placed under state control.
Since 2000, the country has pursued a course of strengthening central (federal) power and weakening the political influence of individual regional authorities on national policy, nationalizing some large enterprises, which contributed to strengthening state structures and federal authorities. At the same time, by 2012, a decision was made to conduct large-scale privatization of state property (or enterprises in which the state owns a controlling stake) over the next five years, including Russian Railways, Rosneft, VTB, Sberbank, Aeroflot, and RusHydro.
2010s
In March 2011, Russia abstained from voting in the UN on the resolution regarding the participation of NATO troops in the civil war in Libya.
On December 4, 2011, elections were held for the State Duma of the VI convocation, in which the ruling party "United Russia" retained its parliamentary majority but lost its constitutional majority. In the presidential elections of Russia on March 4, 2012, Vladimir Putin won in the first round. He took office on May 7. On May 8, the State Duma consented to Vladimir Putin's appointment of Dmitry Medvedev as Chairman of the Government.
After the elections to the State Duma, multiple mass political protests by citizens of Russia began. They continued during the campaign for the presidential elections and after the presidential elections held on March 4, 2012, in which V. V. Putin officially won in the first round. The participants of the protests claimed that the elections were accompanied by violations of legislation and mass falsifications. The protests also had an anti-Putin orientation.
In August 2012, the process of Russia's accession to the WTO was completed. In December 2012, in response to the American "Magnitsky Act," the "Dima Yakovlev Law" was adopted.
In February-March 2014, Crimea was annexed to the Russian Federation — new subjects were formed within Russia (the Republic of Crimea and the city of federal significance Sevastopol). Ukraine and most UN member states do not recognize Crimea's annexation to Russia (see the issue of Crimea's ownership). Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia in connection with the events in Ukraine in 2014, to which Russia also applied a sanctions policy against these countries. The assessment of the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia in expert circles is diametrically opposed and includes evaluations of both negative and positive effects of sanctions on Russia's socio-economic development. On May 29, 2014, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan signed an agreement to create the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) — an international integration economic association (union) established on the basis of the Customs Union of the Eurasian Economic Community. The EAEU began functioning on January 1, 2015.
On September 30, 2015, a military operation began in Syria against terrorist groups and the opposition. The actual defeat of terrorist groups allowed some analysts to positively assess the effectiveness of the actions of the Russian Armed Forces.
After the collapse of the USSR at the end of 1991, the Russian Federation was recognized by the international community as the successor state of the USSR in matters of nuclear potential, external debt, state property abroad, as well as membership in the UN Security Council. Russia is a member of several international organizations: UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, EAEU, CIS, CSTO, G20, and others.
A nuclear power, one of the leading industrial and space powers in the world; ranks 2nd in the ranking of the most influential countries in the world (2019). The Russian language is of global significance, one of the six official and working languages of the UN, UNESCO, and other international organizations. Russia ranks 2nd in the world in terms of reading countries; 2nd in the ranking of the best programmers in the world; 1st in the world in the number of citizens receiving engineering education; one of the world leaders in mineral reserves and processing technologies. Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power; one of the modern great powers of the world.
The economy of Russia ranks 6th among countries in the world in terms of GDP by PPP, which amounted to $4,016 billion in 2017. The nominal GDP of Russia for 2017 was $1,578 billion — by this indicator, Russia ranks 11th in the world. In terms of GDP per capita by PPP, Russia ranks 48th as of 2017.
The population of Russia accounts for about 2.0% of the world total; the country's contribution to the world economy reaches 3.2%, while the share of Russian financial instruments in total world assets is about 1.0%. The country's economic development is geographically very uneven. Since 1990, inequality in wealth has significantly increased in Russia (much more than in China and Eastern European countries). Credit Suisse characterized economic inequality in Russia as so extreme compared to other countries that it "deserves to be placed in a separate category." According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, whose main focus is combating monopolism, the contribution of the state and state companies to Russia's GDP is 70%.
GDP
Dynamics of GDP growth per capita by PPP in Russia and other major states formed as a result of the collapse of the USSR.
As a result of the economic reforms of the early 1990s, Russia's GDP halved compared to the pre-reform period. Russia's share in the world GDP, which was 3.4% in 1991, decreased to 1% by 2001. By the end of the 20th century, Russia lost the advantage of a large-scale economy and, in terms of GDP (by purchasing power parity), moved from 5th place (USSR in 1991) to 10th place in the world, and at current market rates, fell behind China, Mexico, Brazil, and India.
Since 2000, the situation stabilized, and the country's GDP began to increase steadily. Growth was recorded across all indicators until 2012, when overall growth slowed down and GDP began to decline steadily.
According to World Bank data, in terms of GDP (by PPP) for 2016, Russia ranked 6th in the world ($3,397 billion). In terms of GDP (in nominal terms) — 12th in the world ($1,281 billion).
According to the Federal State Statistics Service, Russia's GDP in 2016 in nominal terms amounted to 86,043 billion rubles. In constant prices of 2011, GDP amounted to 62,119 billion rubles.
GDP per capita
According to IMF data, in terms of GDP (by PPP) per capita for 2016, Russia ranked 47th in the world. Since 1991, Russia's GDP per capita by PPP has increased by 207% by 2014. In terms of GDP (in nominal terms) per capita for 2016, Russia ranked 67th in the world: it amounted to $8,928 (the nearest neighbors on the list: Venezuela — $9,258 and Brazil — $8,727).
According to the International Monetary Fund, the volume of GDP by PPP for 2018 amounted to $4.213 trillion (29,267 dollars per person).
