Russia

ABOUT Russia

Country Briefs: The largest country in the world, the land caressed by nature and embellished by its culture, tradition, historical monuments, vibrant events and the modesty of its inhabitants, Russia is a place worth visiting.

Spreading over an area of 17,075,200 square kilometers, Russia stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. Russia shares its borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea.

An approximate population of 142,800,000 people makes Russia the 8th most populous country of the world. The capital city of Russia is its city with maximum population, Moscow. Moscow is a wonderful city that keeps mesmerizes all the visitors with its wonderful lures such as the Red Square, the Kremlin, and Saint Basil?s Cathedral etc.

Like its large area, the history of Russia too is a long and intricate story. It commences with the distribution of the Russian land into different tribes that were variously ruled by the Goths, Huns and Turkish Avars.

Around 8th century a group of Scandinavians, the Varangians came to prominence and established a capital at the Slavic city of Novgorod. The Varangians fused into the Slavs that constituted maximum population at that time.

During their prosperous reign, the Varangians affiliated with the Byzantines and they moved the capital to Kiev. However during the 11th century the nomadic Turkish people Kipchaks invaded several parts of southern Russia and founded a nomadic state there.

Near 13th century the southern and central regions of Europe were invaded and plundered by the Tatars (Turkic people of eastern Europe and central Asia) whereas the western part of Russia was included under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The northern Russia was largely affected by the Mongol invasion till 14th century.

In 1571 Moscow suffered large-scale devastation due to the Crimean War. In 1469 Ivan the Great married the Byzantine Princess, Sophia Paleologue and became the "grand duke of all the Russias".

At the end of 16th century Russian Cossacks established fist settlements in Western Serbia. By 17th century Eastern Siberia also witnessed Russian settlements. In 1648 when the Cossack Semyon Dzhnev discovered the strait between America and Asia, a greater Russian empire was born.

Russia further progressed a lot under the reign of Catherine the Great. Catherine did not just establish Russia as a significant Asian power but also put it parallel to Britain, France and Germany. She also augmented the Russian empire by Partitions of Poland. Russian territory also enhanced due to the Russian Turkish Wars.

In 1812 Russia faced an attack from napoleon armies. In 1813 Russian army and its allies successfully defeated French armies at the Battle of Leipzig. Russia also won the War of 1877-1878 that led to the recognition of independence of Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria.

 

But Russian side was badly wrecked during the First World War. The gradual decay of the economy led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and the deposition of the Romanovs.

When the 1917 Russian Revolution ended, St. Petersburg acquired control over Bolsheviks (who later changed their name to the Communist Party) and Moscow went under the governance of Vladimir Lenin. After Lenin?s death in 1924, Stalin came to power.

In 1941 Germany and its allies invaded Soviet Union. In 1943 the historic Battle of Stalingrad took place in which the Soviet troops ruined the German army and other Axis powers in and around the city. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad marked the commencement of liberation of Soviet Union.

In 1980 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and introduced policies of glasnost and perestroika. But these policies caused immense chaos in the government of Soviet Union. Finally due to the ongoing turmoil and disputes USSR disintegrated into 15 independent republics and so Russia acquired independence.

Boris Yeltsin was declared the president of Russia before its separation from USSR. However Yeltsin remained in power till 1990 after whom Vladimir Putin was elected the president in 2000. Under Putin's presidency Russia witnessed significant development in each and every area.

Russia Subjects
Subject HASC ISO FIPS Reg Post Population Area(km.²) Capital
Adygey RU.AD AD RS01 Y 352 447,000 7,600 Maykop
Aga Buryat RU.AB AGB RS02 S 674 72,200 19,000 Aginskoye
Altay RU.AL ALT RS04 S 656 2,607,200 169,100 Barnaul
Amur RU.AM AMU RS05 D 675 902,500 363,700 Blagoveshchensk
Arkhangel'sk RU.AR ARK RS06 V 163 1,294,200 410,700 Archangel
Astrakhan' RU.AS AST RS07 Y 414 1,007,200 44,100 Astrakhan'
Bashkortostan RU.BK BA RS08 P 450 4,102,900 143,600 Ufa
Belgorod RU.BL BEL RS09 T 308 1,512,400 27,100 Belgorod
Bryansk RU.BR BRY RS10 T 241 1,378,900 34,900 Bryansk
Buryat RU.BU BU RS11 S 670 981,000 351,300 Ulan-Ude
Chechnya RU.CN CE RS12 Y 366 1,100,300 12,300 Groznyy
Chelyabinsk RU.CL CHE RS13 U 454 3,606,100 87,900 Chelyabinsk
Chita RU.CT CHI RS14 S 672 1,084,000 412,500 Chita
Chukot RU.CK CHU RS15 D 686 53,600 737,700 Anadyr'
Chuvash RU.CV CU RS16 P 428 1,313,900 18,300 Cheboksary
Dagestan RU.DA DA RS17 Y 367 2,584,200 50,300 Makhachkala
Evenk RU.EN EVE RS18 S 663 17,700 767,600 Tura
Gorno-Altay RU.GA AL RS03 S 659 202,900 92,600 Gorno-Altaysk
Ingush RU.IN IN RS19 Y 366 468,900 3,750 Magas
Irkutsk RU.IR IRK RS20 S 664 2,446,300 745,500 Irkutsk
Ivanovo RU.IV IVA RS21 T 153 1,148,900 23,900 Ivanovo
Kabardin-Balkar RU.KB KB RS22 Y 360 900,500 12,500 Nal'chik
Kaliningrad RU.KN KGD RS23 V 236 955,200 15,100 Kaliningrad
Kalmyk RU.KL KL RS24 Y 358 292,400 76,100 Elista
Kaluga RU.KG KLU RS25 T 248 1,040,900 29,900 Kaluga
Kamchatka RU.KA KAM RS26 D 683 333,800 170,800 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy
Karachay-Cherkess RU.KC KC RS27 Y 357 439,700 14,100 Cherkessk
Karelia RU.KI KR RS28 V 185 716,700 172,400 Petrozavodsk
Kemerovo RU.KE KEM RS29 S 650 2,900,200 95,500 Kemerovo
Khabarovsk RU.KH KHA RS30 D 680 1,435,400 752,600 Khabarovsk
Khakass RU.KK KK RS31 S 662 546,100 61,900 Abakan
Khanty-Mansiy RU.KM KHM RS32 U 626 1,433,100 523,100 Khanty-Mansiysk
Kirov RU.KV KIR RS33 P 610 1,503,600 120,800 Vyatka
Komi RU.KO KO RS34 V 167 1,019,000 415,900 Syktyvkar
Koryak RU.KR KOR RS36 D 684 25,000 301,500 Palana
Kostroma RU.KT KOS RS37 T 156 737,500 60,100 Kostroma
Krasnodar RU.KD KDA RS38 Y 350 5,124,400 76,000 Krasnodar
Krasnoyarsk RU.KY KYA RS39 S 660 2,908,700 648,100 Krasnoyarsk
Kurgan RU.KU KGN RS40 U 640 1,019,900 71,000 Kurgan
Kursk RU.KS KRS RS41 T 305 1,235,600 29,800 Kursk
Leningrad RU.LN LEN RS42 V 190 1,671,100 85,900 Saint Petersburg
Lipetsk RU.LP LIP RS43 T 398 1,213,400 24,100 Lipetsk
Magadan RU.MG MAG RS44 D 685 182,700 461,400 Magadan
Mariy-El RU.ME ME RS45 P 424 728,000 23,200 Yoshkar-Ola
Mordovia RU.MR MO RS46 P 430 888,700 26,200 Saransk
Moscow City RU.MC MOW RS48 T 103 10,357,800 804 Moscow
Moskva RU.MS MOS RS47 T 141 6,627,000 47,000 Moscow
Murmansk RU.MM MUR RS49 V 183 893,300 144,900 Murmansk
Nenets RU.NN NEN RS50 V 164 41,500 176,700 Nar'yan-Mar
Nizhegorod RU.NZ NIZ RS51 P 603 3,524,000 74,800 Nizhniy Novgorod
North Ossetia RU.NO SE RS68 Y 362 709,900 8,000 Vladikavkaz
Novgorod RU.NG NGR RS52 V 173 694,700 55,300 Novgorod
Novosibirsk RU.NS NVS RS53 S 630 2,692,200 178,200 Novosibirsk
Omsk RU.OM OMS RS54 S 644 2,079,200 139,700 Omsk
Orel RU.OL ORL RS56 T 302 860,600 24,700 Orel
Orenburg RU.OB ORE RS55 P 460 2,177,500 124,000 Orenburg
Penza RU.PZ PNZ RS57 P 440 1,453,400 43,200 Penza
Perm' RU.PE PER RS58 P 614 2,824,400 160,600 Perm'
Primor'ye RU.PR PRI RS59 D 690 2,068,200 165,900 Vladivostok
Pskov RU.PS PSK RS60 V 180 760,900 55,300 Pskov
Rostov RU.RO ROS RS61 Y 344 4,406,700 100,800 Rostov-na-Donu
Ryazan' RU.RZ RYA RS62 T 390 1,228,000 39,600 Ryazan'
Saint Petersburg City RU.SP SPE RS66 V 193 4,669,400 570 Saint Petersburg
Sakha RU.SK SA RS63 D 677 948,100 3,103,200 Yakutsk
Sakhalin RU.SL SAK RS64 D 693 546,500 87,100 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Samara RU.SA SAM RS65 P 443 3,239,800 53,600 Samara
Saratov RU.SR SAR RS67 P 410 2,669,300 100,200 Saratov
Smolensk RU.SM SMO RS69 T 214 1,050,500 49,800 Smolensk
Stavropol' RU.ST STA RS70 Y 355 2,730,500 66,500 Stavropol'
Sverdlovsk RU.SV SVE RS71 U 620 4,489,800 194,800 Yekaterinburg
Tambov RU.TB TAM RS72 T 392 1,179,600 34,300 Tambov
Tatarstan RU.TT TA RS73 P 420 3,779,800 68,000 Kazan'
Taymyr RU.TM TAY RS74 S 663 39,800 862,100 Dudinka
Tomsk RU.TO TOM RS75 S 634 1,046,000 316,900 Tomsk
Tula RU.TL TUL RS76 T 300 1,675,700 25,700 Tula
Tuva RU.TU TY RS79 S 667 305,500 170,500 Kyzyl
Tver' RU.TV TVE RS77 T 170 1,472,600 84,100 Tver'
Tyumen' RU.TY TYU RS78 U 625 1,325,200 161,800 Tyumen'
Udmurt RU.UD UD RS80 P 426 1,570,500 42,100 Izhevsk
Ul'yanovsk RU.UL ULY RS81 P 423 1,382,300 37,300 Ul'yanovsk
Ust-Orda Buryat RU.UB UOB RS82 S 666 135,300 22,400 Ust'-Ordynskiy
Vladimir RU.VL VLA RS83 T 600 1,524,900 29,000 Vladimir
Volgograd RU.VG VGG RS84 Y 400 2,702,500 114,100 Volgograd
Vologda RU.VO VLG RS85 V 160 1,270,000 145,700 Vologda
Voronezh RU.VR VOR RS86 T 394 2,379,000 52,400 Voronezh
Yamal-Nenets RU.YN YAN RS87 U 626 507,400 750,300 Salekhard
Yaroslavl' RU.YS YAR RS88 T 150 1,367,700 36,400 Yaroslavl'
Yevrey RU.YV YEV RS89 D 682 190,900 36,000 Birobidzhan
88 subjects 145,181,900 16,975,824  
  • Tp: b = autonomous region, a = autonomous province, g = federal city, k = territory, o = region, r = republic.
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes.
  • ISO: Province codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "RU-" to the code (ex:RU-TUL represents Tula).
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
  • Reg: Federal okrug containing the subject. For key, see table below.
  • Post: First three digits of typical postal code (usually the capital).
  • TZ: Time zone (hours offset from GMT during standard time; all areas observe DST). Some divisions are in more than one time zone.
  • Population: 2002-10-09 census, preliminary results.
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