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Russia country profile - Overview Russia country profile
(about 2 months later)
Russia - the largest country on earth in terms of surface area - emerged from a decade of post-Soviet economic and political turmoil to reassert itself as a world power.Russia - the largest country on earth in terms of surface area - emerged from a decade of post-Soviet economic and political turmoil to reassert itself as a world power.
Income from vast natural resources, above all oil and gas, have helped Russia overcome the economic collapse of 1998. The state-run gas monopoly Gazprom is the world's largest producer and exporter, and supplies a large share of Europe's needs.Income from vast natural resources, above all oil and gas, have helped Russia overcome the economic collapse of 1998. The state-run gas monopoly Gazprom is the world's largest producer and exporter, and supplies a large share of Europe's needs.
Economic strength has allowed Vladimir Putin - Russia's dominant political figure since 2000 - to enhance state control over political institutions and the media - a process supplemented more recently by an emphasis on fierce nationalism and hostility to the West.Economic strength has allowed Vladimir Putin - Russia's dominant political figure since 2000 - to enhance state control over political institutions and the media - a process supplemented more recently by an emphasis on fierce nationalism and hostility to the West.
A period of rapid privatisation under the rule of President Boris Yeltsin in the early 1990s created a powerful group of magnates - known as "oligarchs" - with vast energy, media and other business interests, in a sharp contrast to widespread economic hardship among ordinary Russians. President: Vladimir Putin
Yeltsin's handpicked successor, former KGB officer Vladimir Putin, quickly moved to break the oligarchs' influence, and a close-knit circle of his associates has since - directly or indirectly - to a large replaced extent them in their control of key economic assets. Vladimir Putin has been Russia's dominant political figure since his election as president in 2000, serving two terms and then a four-year stint as prime minister, before resuming the presidency in 2012.
Russia resurgent Since his re-election against only token opposition, Russia's authorities have further tightened control over the media, muffled an embryonic opposition movement, and adopted a stridently nationalist and anti-Western course at home and abroad to shore up domestic support, in contrast to a previous emphasis on stability and prosperity.
Back by a booming economy, Russia in the 2000s adopted a more assertive foreign policy stance, and began to promote its perceived interests in former Soviet states more openly, even at the cost of antagonising the West. The president presents himself as a strong leader who took Russia out of the economic, social and political crisis of the 1990s and defends Russia's national interests, particularly against what he portrays as Western to corner Russia and foist its cultural values on it.
The resulting tensions first became acute in August 2008, when a protracted row over two breakaway regions of Georgia escalated into a military conflict between Russia and Georgia. Russian TV is dominated by channels that are either run directly by the state or owned by companies with close links to the Kremlin.
Further diplomatic friction followed over US missile defence plans in Eastern Europe - since shelved - and Moscow's role in Iran's nuclear energy programme. The government controls Channel One and Russia One - two of the three main federal channels - while state-controlled energy giant Gazprom owns NTV.
A "reset" of Russia-US ties early in 2010 resulted in a new nuclear arms treaty to replace the expired 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), but fell foul of Kremlin anger at US criticism of its treatment of opposition activists. TV is the main news source for most Russians. There is a fast-growing pay-TV market, led by satellite broadcaster Tricolor. The government is undertaking a project to bring digital TV to every Russian home.
The Ukrainian revolution of February 2014, which ousted Russian ally President Viktor Yanukovych and ushered in a Western-leaning leadership, triggered an even more serious crisis in East-West relations, especially after Russia responded by annexing Crimea. Some key dates in Russia's history:
The US, EU and other Western states accused Moscow of directly supporting the subsequent pro-Russian rebellions in eastern Ukraine, and imposed sanctions against businesses and individuals close to President Putin. 1552-56 - Grand Prince Ivan the Terrible of Moscow conquers the Tatar khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan and establishes the Tsardom of Russia.
Add to this Syria's increasing military support for the Assad government in Syria's civil war, and some begin to fear the start of a protracted stand-off between West and Russia - and even a new Cold War. 1689-1725 - Peter the Great introduces far-reaching reforms.
Economic muscle 1798-1815 - Russia takes part in the European coalitions against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, defeating Napoleon's invasion in 1812 and contributing to his overthrow.
Russia's recent economic power has lain in its key natural resources - oil and gas. 1853-57 - Russia suffers setback in attempt to seize territory from declining Ottoman Empire through its defeat in Crimean War.
The energy giant Gazprom is close to the Russian state and critics say it is little more than a tool used by the Kremlin to bolster control both at home and abroad. 1904-05 - Russian expansion in Manchuria leads to war with Japan - and the 1905 revolution, which forced Tsar Nicholas II to grant a constitution and establish a parliament, the Duma.
Moscow has more than once reminded the rest of the world of the power it wields as a major energy supplier, most recently in the Ukraine conflict in 2014. 1914 - Russian-Austrian rivalry in Balkans contributes to outbreak of World War I, in which Russia fought alongside Britain and France.
A long economic boom based on high oil and gas prices started to end in 2013, when Russia's economic prospects began to worsen. 1917 - Nicholas II abdicates. Bolshevik revolutionaries led by Lenin topple the provisional government and take power.
This was exacerbated by a sharp fall in world oil prices and the imposition of Western sanctions over Ukraine the following year. 1918-22 - Civil war between Red Army and anti-communist White Russians.
Some observers say the root cause is that the economy is still too dependent on raw material exports, as well as the Putin regime's reluctance to embark on reform to encourage diversification for fear of imperilling its control. 1922 - Bolsheviks reorganise remnants of Russian Empire as Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Ethnic and religious divisions 1945 - Allied victory over Nazi Germany followed by swift establishment of Soviet hegemony in Central and Eastern Europe, and Balkans. The end of the war sees the start of decades of Cold War rivalry between USSR and the West.
While Russians make up more than 80% of the population and Orthodox Christianity is the main religion, there are many other ethnic and religious groups. Muslims are concentrated among the Volga Tatars and the Bashkirs and in the North Caucasus. 1953 - Death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ushers in less repressive rule at home, although Communist Party political dominance is firmly upheld.
Separatists and latterly armed Islamists have made the Caucasus region of Chechnya a war zone for much of the post-Soviet era. 1991 - Russia becomes independent as the Soviet Union collapses and, together with Ukraine and Belarus, forms the Commonwealth of Independent States, which is eventually joined by all former Soviet republics except the Baltic states.
Many thousands have died since Moscow - fearful of its control of the wider North Caucasus - sent in troops to put down a separatist rebellion in Chechnya in 1994, and again five years later.
With a pro-Kremlin now firmly in charge in Chechnya, Russian has since declared the insurgency effectively finished, although sporadic violence continues.