Overview

         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 at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades 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.
 

History

        Beginning about 1200 B.C., the Cimmerians, a Balkan people, lived north  of the Black Sea in what is now southern Ukraine. They were defeated about 700 B.C. by the Scythians, an Iranian people from central Asia. The Scythians controlled the region intil about 200 B.C. They fell to the Sarmatians, another Iranian group. The Scythians and the Sarmatians lived in close contact with the creek colonies-later controlled by the Romans-along the northern coast  of the Black Sea. They absorbed many Greek and Roman ways of life through trade, marriage, and other contacts.
 
 
 

Geography

• Capital: Moscow
• Other Cities: Kazan, Petersburg, Omsk, Murmansk, Anadyr
• Landforms:
• Neighbors: Poland, Ukraine,  China, Norway
• 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 Arctic coast.

• Currency:
• GDP per capita: purchasing power parity - $7,700 (2000 est.)
• Labor force breakdown: 66 million (1997)
• Inflation rate: 20.6% (2000 est.)
• Major exports: Coal, Natural Gas, and Petroleum
• Other industries: Mining
• Trading partners: Germany 13.8%, Belarus 10.7%, Ukraine 8.3%, US 7.9%, Kazakhstan 4.6%, Italy 3.8%
• Debt: $163 billion (2000 est.)
•        Manufacturing. Heavy industry is the most highly developed sector   of the Russian economy. The machine building industry is concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg, along the Volga River, and in the Ural Mountains. It makes various types of tractors and other heavy machinery and electrical equipment. The chemical industry produces chemical fibers, mineral fertilizers, petrochemicals, plastics, soda ash, and synthetic resins. The construction materials industry is also important. The moscow area is Russia's leading manufacturing center. Its factories produce chemicals, electrical equipment, electronics, motor vehicles, processed foods, steel, and textiles. Ships and industrial equipment are manufactured in St. Petersburg. Metal processing and machinery production are important in the urals. Most oil refining takes place in the Volga-Urals region.

 

         Ancestry. About 83 percent of Russia's people are of Russian ancestry. These ethnic Russians make up the largest group of Slavic people. Members of more than 100 other nationality groups also live in Russia. The largest groups include Tatars (or Tartars), Ukrainians, Chuvash, Bashkris, Belarusians, Mordvins, Chechen, Germans, Udmurts, Mari, Kazakhs, Avars, Armenians, and Gews, Who are considered a nationality group in Russia. Many of them live in Russia's autonomous territories. Remote parts of the Far North are sparsely inhabited by small Siberian groups, including Aleuts, Chukchi, Inuit (also called Eskimos), and Koryaks. These northern people differ from one another in ascestry and language, but they share a common way of life shaped by the harsh, cold climate.
 

Current Event: SHIMIZU, Japan (Reuters) - Russia boosted their World Cup preparations with a comfortable 3-0 victory over an under-strength Shimizu S-Pulse side on Thursday. But there was some worrying injury news for Russian coach Oleg Romantsev as he fine-tuned his squad for their opening group H game against Tunisia on Wednesday. injured playmaker Alexander Mostovoi was not even named among the substitutes and doubts persist over the likelihood of the experienced Celta Vigo midfielder, who has a hamstring injury, being fit to face the Tunisians. Romantsev's side looked sluggish and vulnerable in defence before eventually outclassing their J-League opponents in front of a noisy 20,000 sell-out crowd.

Star Player:
#10 Alexandr MOSTOVOI
Birth Date:  22 August 1968
Height:  181 cm
Weight:  77 kg
Position:  MF
Int'l Goals:  12 (as of 27 May 2002)
Int'l Caps:  59 (as of 27 May 2002)
First Int'l Cap:  Italy ( 3 November 1990)

World Cup Information
(source: FIFA Worldcup)
(source:   uefa.com )

Links: CIA World Fact Book
 worldcup.com
Sources:
 CIA World Fact Book
 worldcup.com