Russia

"Russian Federation" redirects here. For the Soviet republic also referred to as the "Russian Federation", see Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. For other uses of "Russia", see Russia (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 60°N 90°E

Russian Federation Российская Федерация Rossiyskaya Federatsiya (Russian)
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  "Государственный гимн Российской Федерации" "Gosudarstvennyy gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii"  (transliteration) "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" MENU 0:00
Russia proper (dark green) Crimean peninsula (disputed) (light green)a
Capital and largest city		Moscow 55°45′N 37°37′E
Official languages		Russian
Recognised languages		35 other languages co-official in various regions[citation needed]
Ethnic groups(2010[1])		81.0% Russian 3.7% Tatar 1.4% Ukrainian 1.1% Bashkir 1.0% Chuvash 0.8% Chechen 11.0% others / unspecified
Demonym		Russians
Government		Federal semi-presidentialconstitutional republic
-	President	Vladimir Putin
-	Prime Minister	Dmitry Medvedev
-	Chairman of the Federation Council	Valentina Matviyenko
-	Chairman of the State Duma	Sergey Naryshkin
Legislature		Federal Assembly
-	Upper house	Federation Council
-	Lower house	State Duma
Formation
-	Arrival of Rurik, considered as a foundation event by the Russian authorities[2]	862
-	Kievan Rus'	882
-	Grand Duchy of Moscow	1283
-	Tsardom of Russia	16 January 1547
-	Russian Empire	22 October 1721
-	Russian SFSR	6 November 1917
-	Soviet Union	10 December 1922
-	Russian Federation	25 December 1991
-	Adoption of the current Constitution of Russia	12 December 1993
Area
-	Total	17,098,242 (Crimea not included) km2 (1st) 6,592,800 (Crimea not included) sq mi
-	Water (%)	13[3] (including swamps)
Population
-	2015 estimate	143,975,923[4] (not including the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol) (9th)
-	Density	8.4/km2 (217th) 21.5/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2014 estimate
-	Total	$3.559 trillion[5] (6th)
-	Per capita	$24,764[5] (46th)
GDP (nominal)		2014 estimate
-	Total	$2.057 trillion[5] (9th)
-	Per capita	$14,317[5] (53rd)
Gini (2012)		42[6] medium · 83rd
HDI (2013)		0.778[7] high · 57th
Currency		Russian ruble (RUB)
Time zone		(UTC+2 to +12)
Date format		dd.mm.yyyy
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+7
ISO 3166 code		RU
Internet TLD		.ru .su .рф
a.	The Crimean Peninsula is recognized as territory ofUkraine by most of the international community, but is de facto administered by Russia.[8]

Russia (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation^[9] (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia.^[10] It is a federal semi-presidential republic. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's ninth most populous nation with nearly 144 million people as of 2015.^[11]

Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans nine time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.

The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs, who emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD.^[12] Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire,^[13] beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium.^[13] Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde.^[14]The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde, and came to dominate the cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus'. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland in Europe to Alaskain North America.^[15][16]

Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Soviet Union, the world's first constitutionally socialist state and a recognized superpower,^[17] which played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II.^[18][19] The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite, and the first man in space. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and is recognized as the continuing legal personality (the sole successor state) of the Union state.^[20]

The Russian economy ranks as the ninth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2014.^[21] Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources, the largest reserves in the world,^[22] have made it one of the largest producers of oil and natural gas globally.^[23][24] The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.^[25]Russia was the world's second biggest exporter of major arms in 2010-14, according to SIPRI data.^[26] Russia is a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the G20, the Council of Europe, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Eurasian Economic Community, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and theWorld Trade Organization (WTO), as well as being the leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Etymology

Main articles: Rus' people and Rus (name)

The name Russia is derived from Rus, a medieval state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this proper name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants "Русская Земля" (russkaya zemlya), which can be translated as "Russian Land" or "Land of Rus'". In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus' by modern historiography. The name Rus itself comes from Rus people, a group of Varangians (possibly Swedish Vikings)^[27][28] who founded the state of Rus (Русь).

An old Latin version of the name Rus' was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus' that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия (Rossiya), comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus', Ρωσσία Rossía—spelt Ρωσία (Rosía pronounced [roˈsia]) in Modern Greek.^[29]

The standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is as "Russians" (Rossiyane).

History

Main article: History of Russia

Early periods

Further information: Eurasian nomads, Scythia, Bosporan Kingdom, Goths, Khazars and East Slavs

Kurgan hypothesis: South Russia as the urheimat of Indo-European peoples

In prehistoric times the vast steppes of Southern Russia were home to tribes of nomadic pastoralists.^[30] Remnants of these steppe civilizations were discovered in such places as Ipatovo,^[30] Sintashta,^[31] Arkaim,^[32]and Pazyryk,^[33] which bear the earliest known traces of mounted warfare, a key feature in the nomadic way of life.

In classical antiquity, the Pontic Steppe was known as Scythia. Since the 8th century BC, Ancient Greek traders brought their civilization to the trade emporiums in Tanais and Phanagoria. The Romans settled on the western part of the Caspian Sea, where their empire stretched towards the east.^[34] In 3rd – 4th centuries AD a semi-legendary Gothic kingdom of Oium existed in Southern Russia till it was overrun by Huns. Between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, the Bosporan Kingdom, a Hellenistic polity which succeeded the Greek colonies,^[35] was also overwhelmed by nomadic invasions led by warlike tribes, such as the Huns and Eurasian Avars.^[36] A Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the lower Volga basin steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas until the 10th century.^[37]

The ancestors of modern Russians are the Slavic tribes, whose original home is thought by some scholars to have been the wooded areas of the Pinsk Marshes.^[38] The East Slavs gradually settled Western Russia in two waves: one moving from Kiev toward present-day Suzdal and Murom and another from Polotsk toward Novgorod and Rostov. From the 7th century onwards, the East Slavs constituted the bulk of the population in Western Russia^[39] and slowly but peacefully^{[citation needed]} assimilated the native Finno-Ugric peoples, including the Merya, the Muromians, and the Meshchera.

Kievan Rus'

Main articles: Rus' Khaganate, Kievan Rus' and List of early East Slavic states

Kievan Rus' in the 11th century

The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with the arrival of Varangians, the traders, warriors and settlers from the Baltic Sea region. Primarily they were Vikings of Scandinavian origin, who ventured along the waterways extending from the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas.^[40] According to the Primary Chronicle, a Varangian from Rus' people, named Rurik, was elected ruler of Novgorod in 862. In 882 his successor Oleg ventured south and conquered Kiev,^[41] which had been previously paying tribute to the Khazars, founding Kievan Rus'. Oleg, Rurik's son Igor and Igor's son Sviatoslav subsequently subdued all local East Slavic tribes to Kievan rule, destroyed the Khazar khaganate and launched several military expeditions to Byzantium and Persia.

In the 10th to 11th centuries Kievan Rus' became one of the largest and most prosperous states in Europe.^[42] The reigns of Vladimir the Great (980–1015) and his son Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054) constitute the Golden Age of Kiev, which saw the acceptance of Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium and the creation of the first East Slavic written legal code, the Russkaya Pravda.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as the Kipchaks and the Pechenegs, caused a massive migration of Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, particularly to the area known as Zalesye.^[43]

The Baptism of Kievans, by Klavdy Lebedev

The age of feudalism and decentralization was marked by constant in-fighting between members of the Rurik Dynasty that ruled Kievan Rus' collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east, Novgorod Republic in the north-west and Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west.

Ultimately Kievan Rus' disintegrated, with the final blow being the Mongol invasion of 1237–40,^[44] that resulted in the destruction of Kiev^[45] and the death of about half the population of Rus'.^[46] The invading Mongol elite, together with their conquered Turkic subjects (Cumans, Kipchaks, Bulgars) became known as Tatars, formed the state of the Golden Horde, which pillaged the Russian principalities; the Mongols ruled the Cuman-Kipchak confederation and Volga Bulgaria (modern-day southern and central expanses of Russia) for over two centuries.^[47]

Galicia-Volhynia was eventually assimilated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while the Mongol-dominated Vladimir-Suzdal and Novgorod Republic, two regions on the periphery of Kiev, established the basis for the modern Russian nation.^[13] The Novgorod together with Pskov retained some degree of autonomy during the time of the Mongol yoke and were largely spared the atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Led by PrinceAlexander Nevsky, Novgorodians repelled the invading Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in 1240, as well as the Germanic crusaders in the Battle of the Ice in 1242, breaking their attempts to colonize the Northern Rus'.

Grand Duchy of Moscow

Main article: Grand Duchy of Moscow

Sergius of Radonezh blessingDmitry Donskoy in Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the Battle of Kulikovo, depicted in a painting by Ernst Lissner

The most powerful state to eventually arise after the destruction of Kievan Rus' was the Grand Duchy of Moscow^[48] ("Moscovy" in the Western chronicles), initially a part of Vladimir-Suzdal. While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the Central Rus' in the early 14th century, gradually becoming the main leading force in the process of the Rus' lands' reunification and expansion of Russia.

Those were hard times, with frequent Mongol-Tatar raids and agriculture suffering from the beginning of the Little Ice Age. As in the rest of Europe, plague was a frequent occurrence between 1350 and 1490.^[49] However, because of the lower population density and better hygiene (widespread practicing of banya, the wet steam bath), the death rate from plague was not as severe as in Western Europe,^[50] and population numbers recovered by 1500.^[49]

Led by Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow and helped by the Russian Orthodox Church, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted a milestone defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. Moscow gradually absorbed the surrounding principalities, including the formerly strong rivals, such as Tver and Novgorod.

Ivan III ("the Great") finally threw off the control of the Golden Horde, consolidated the whole of Central and Northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first to take the title "Grand Duke of all the Russias".^[51] After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire. Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, and made the Byzantinedouble-headed eagle his own, and eventually Russia's, coat-of-arms.

Tsardom of Russia

Main article: Tsardom of Russia

Tsar Ivan the Terrible byVictor Vasnetsov

In development of the Third Rome ideas, the Grand Duke Ivan IV (the "Terrible")^[52] was officially crowned the first Tsar ("Caesar") of Russia in 1547. The Tsar promulgated a new code of laws (Sudebnik of 1550), established the first Russian feudal representative body (Zemsky Sobor) and introduced local self-management into the rural regions.^[53][54]

During his long reign, Ivan the Terrible nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates (parts of disintegrated Golden Horde): Kazan and Astrakhan along the Volga River, and Sibirean Khanatein Southwestern Siberia. Thus, by the end of the 16th century Russia was transformed into a multiethnic, multidenominational and transcontinental state.

However, the Tsardom was weakened by the long and unsuccessful Livonian War against the coalition of Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden for access to the Baltic coast and sea trade.^[55] At the same time the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, the only remaining successor to the Golden Horde, continued to raid Southern Russia.^[56] In an effort to restore the Volga khanates, Crimeans and their Ottoman allies invaded central Russia and were even able to burn down parts of Moscow in 1571.^[57] But next year the large invading army was thoroughly defeated by Russians in the Battle of Molodi, forever eliminating the threat of the Ottoman–Crimean expansion into Russia. The slave raids of Crimeans, however, didn't cease until the late 17th century, though the construction of new fortification lines across Southern Russia, such as the Great Abatis Line, constantly narrowed the area accessible to incursions.^[58]

Monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow

The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient Rurik Dynasty in 1598, and in combination with the famine of 1601–03^[59] led to the civil war, the rule of pretenders and foreign intervention during the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century.^[60] Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied parts of Russia, including Moscow. In 1612, the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps, led by two national heroes, merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. The Romanov Dynasty acceded the throne in 1613 by the decision of Zemsky Sobor, and the country started its gradual recovery from the crisis.

Russia continued its territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age of Cossacks. Cossacks were warriors organized into military communities, resembling pirates and pioneers of the New World. In 1648, the peasants of Ukraine joined the Zaporozhian Cossacks in rebellion against Poland-Lithuania during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, because of the social and religious oppression they suffered under Polish rule. In 1654, the Ukrainian leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, offered to place Ukraine under the protection of the Russian Tsar, Aleksey I. Aleksey's acceptance of this offer led to another Russo-Polish War. Finally, Ukraine was split along the Dnieper River, leaving the western part,right-bank Ukraine, under Polish rule and eastern part (Left-bank Ukraine and Kiev) under Russian. Later, in 1670–71 the Don Cossacks led by Stenka Razin initiated a major uprising in the Volga Region, but the Tsar's troops were successful in defeating the rebels.

In the east, the rapid Russian exploration and colonisation of the huge territories of Siberia was led mostly by Cossacks hunting for valuable furs and ivory. Russian explorers pushed eastward primarily along the Siberian River Routes, and by the mid-17th century there were Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia, on the Chukchi Peninsula, along the Amur River, and on the Pacific coast. In 1648, the Bering Strait between Asia and North America was passed for the first time by Fedot Popov and Semyon Dezhnyov.

Imperial Russia

Main article: Russian Empire

Peter the Great, the firstEmperor of Russia

Under Peter the Great, Russia was proclaimed an Empire in 1721 and became recognized as a world power. Ruling from 1682 to 1725, Peter defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War, forcing it to cede West Karelia and Ingria (two regions lost by Russia in the Time of Troubles),^[61] as well as Estland and Livland, securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade.^[62] On the Baltic Sea Peter founded a new capital called Saint Petersburg, later known as Russia's "Window to Europe". Peter the Great's reforms brought considerable Western European cultural influences to Russia.

The reign of Peter I's daughter Elizabeth in 1741–62 saw Russia's participation in the Seven Years' War (1756–63). During this conflict Russia annexed East Prussia for a while and even took Berlin. However, upon Elisabeth's death, all these conquests were returned to Kingdom of Prussia by pro-Prussian Peter III of Russia.

Catherine II ("the Great"), who ruled in 1762–96, presided over the Age of Russian Enlightenment. She extended Russian political control over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and incorporated most of its territories into Russia during the Partitions of Poland, pushing the Russian frontier westward into Central Europe. In the south, after successful Russo-Turkish Wars against the Ottoman Empire, Catherine advanced Russia's boundary to the Black Sea, defeating the Crimean Khanate. As a result of victories over the Qajar Persian Empire, by the first half of the 19th century Russia also made significant territorial gains in Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus.^[63][64] This continued with Alexander I's (1801–25) wresting of Finland from the weakened kingdom of Sweden in 1809 and of Bessarabia from the Ottomans in 1812. At the same time Russians colonized Alaska and even founded settlements in California, like Fort Ross.

In 1803–1806, the first Russian circumnavigation was made, later followed by other notable Russian sea exploration voyages. In 1820 a Russian expedition discovered the continent of Antarctica.

The Russian Empire in 1866 and its spheres of influence

In alliances with various European countries, Russia fought against Napoleon's France. The French invasion of Russia at the height of Napoleon's power in 1812 failed miserably as the obstinate resistance in combination with the bitterly cold Russian Winter led to a disastrous defeat of invaders, in which more than 95% of the pan-European Grande Armée perished.^[65] Led by Mikhail Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly, the Russian army ousted Napoleon from the country and drove through Europe in the war of the Sixth Coalition, finally entering Paris. Alexander I headed Russia's delegation at the Congress of Vienna that defined the map of post-Napoleonic Europe.

The officers of the Napoleonic Wars brought ideas of liberalism back to Russia with them and attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive Decembrist revolt of 1825. At the end of the conservative reign of Nicolas I (1825–55), a zenith period of Russia's power and influence in Europe was disrupted by defeat in the Crimean War. Between 1847 and 1851, about one million people died of Asiatic cholera.^[66]

Nicholas's successor Alexander II (1855–81) enacted significant changes in the country, including the emancipation reform of 1861. These Great Reforms spurred industrialization and modernized the Russian army, which had successfully liberated Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War.

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

The late 19th century saw the rise of various socialist movements in Russia. Alexander II was killed in 1881 by revolutionary terrorists, and the reign of his son Alexander III (1881–94) was less liberal but more peaceful. The last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II (1894–1917), was unable to prevent the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905, triggered by the unsuccessful Russo-Japanese War and the demonstration incident known as Bloody Sunday. The uprising was put down, but the government was forced to concede major reforms, including granting the freedoms of speech and assembly, the legalization of political parties, and the creation of an elected legislative body, the State Duma of the Russian Empire. The Stolypin agrarian reform led to a massive peasant migration and settlement into Siberia. More than four million settlers arrived in that region between 1906 and 1914.^[67]

In 1914, Russia entered World War I in response to Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Russia's ally Serbia, and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its Triple Entente allies. In 1916, the Brusilov Offensive of the Russian Army almost completely destroyed the military of Austria-Hungary. However, the already-existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war, high casualties, and rumors of corruption and treason. All this formed the climate for the Russian Revolution of 1917, carried out in two major acts.

Revolution and Russian Republic

Main articles: February Revolution, Russian Provisional Government and Russian Republic

Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Great October Socialist Revolution

The February Revolution forced Nicholas II to abdicate; he and his family were imprisoned and later executed during the Russian Civil War. The monarchy was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared itself the Provisional Government. An alternative socialist establishment existed alongside, the Petrograd Soviet, wielding power through the democratically elected councils of workers and peasants, called Soviets. The rule of the new authorities only aggravated the crisis in the country, instead of resolving it. Eventually, the October Revolution, led by Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government and gave full governing power to the Soviets, leading to the creation of the world's first socialist state.

Soviet Russia and civil war

Main articles: October Revolution, Russian Civil War and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

See also: Soviet Russia (disambiguation) and Russian Constitution of 1918

The symbols of the early Soviet era:Tatlin's Tower project and the giantWorker and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture group

Following the October Revolution, a civil war broke out between the anti-Communist White movement and the new Soviet regime with its Red Army. Bolshevist Russia lost its Ukrainian, Polish, Baltic, and Finnish territories by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that concluded hostilities with the Central Powers of World War I. The Allied powers launched an unsuccessful military intervention in support of anti-Communist forces. In the meantime both the Bolsheviks and White movement carried out campaigns of deportations and executions against each other, known respectively as the Red Terror and White Terror. By the end of the civil war, the Russian economy and its infrastructure were heavily damaged. Millions became White émigrés,^[68] and the Povolzhye famine of 1921 claimed up to 5 million victims.^[69]

Soviet Union

Main article: Soviet Union

See also: Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, History of the Soviet Union and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Russian SFSR as a part of the USSR in 1922.

The Russian SFSR as a part of the USSR in 1936, after intra-Soviet territorial changes.

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (called Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic at the time) together with the Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasion Soviet Socialist Republics, formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet Union, on 30 December 1922. Out of the 15 republics that would make up the USSR, the largest in size and over half of the total USSR population was the Russian SFSR, which came to dominate the union for its entire 69-year history.

Following Lenin's death in 1924, a troika was designated to govern the Soviet Union. However, Joseph Stalin, an elected General Secretary of the Communist Party, managed to suppress all opposition groups within the party and consolidate power in his hands. Leon Trotsky, the main proponent of world revolution, was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929, and Stalin's idea of Socialism in One Country became the primary line. The continued internal struggle in the Bolshevik party culminated in the Great Purge, a period of mass repressions in 1937–38, during which hundreds of thousands of people were executed, including original party members and military leaders accused of coup d'état plots.^[70]

Millions of Soviet citizens were forced to work on massive government projects such as the construction of theWhite Sea–Baltic Canal, 1931–1933.

Under Stalin's leadership, the government launched a planned economy, industrialisation of the largely rural country, and collectivization of its agriculture. During this period of rapid economic and social change, millions of people were sent to penal labor camps,^[71] including many political convicts for their opposition to Stalin's rule; millions were deported and exiled to remote areas of the Soviet Union.^[71] The transitional disorganisation of the country's agriculture, combined with the harsh state policies and a drought, led to the Soviet famine of 1932–1933.^[72] The Soviet Union, though with a heavy price, was transformed from a largely agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in a short span of time.

The Appeasement policy of Great Britain and France towards Adolf Hitler's annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia did not stem an increase in the power of Nazi Germany and put a threat of war to the Soviet Union. Around the same time the Third Reich allied with the Empire of Japan, a rival of the USSR in the Far East and an open enemy of the USSR in the Soviet–Japanese Border Wars in 1938–39.

Citizens of Leningrad during the 872-day siege, in which about one million civilians died

In August 1939, after another failure of attempts to establish an anti-Nazi alliance with Britain and France, the Soviet government decided to improve relations with Germany by concluding the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, pledgingnon-aggression between the two countries and dividing their spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. While Hitler conquered Poland, France and other countries actied on single front at the start of World War II, the USSR was able to build up its military and claim some of the former territories of the Russian Empire as a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland, Winter War and the occupation of the Baltic states.

Soviet T-34/76s and infantry advance past a destroyed Panzer IV.Kharkov, August 1943

On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany broke the non-aggression treaty and invaded the Soviet Union with the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history,^[73] opening the largest theater of World War II. Although theGerman army had considerable early success, their attack was halted in the Battle of Moscow. Subsequently, the Germans were dealt major defeats first at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–43,^[74] and then in theBattle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. Another German failure was the Siege of Leningrad, in which the city was fully blockaded on land between 1941–44 by German and Finnish forces, and suffered starvation and more than a million deaths, but never surrendered.^[75] Under Stalin's administration and the leadership of such commanders as Georgy Zhukov and Konstantin Rokossovsky, Soviet forces took Eastern Europe in 1944–45 and captured Berlin in May 1945. In August 1945 the Soviet Army ousted the Japanese from China's Manchukuo and North Korea, contributing to the allied victory over Japan.

The 1941–45 period of World War II is known in Russia as the "Great Patriotic War". During this conflict, which included many of the most lethal battle operations in human history, Soviet military and civilian deaths were 10.6 million and 15.9 million respectively,^[76] accounting for about a third of all World War II casualties. The full demographic loss to the Soviet peoples was even greater.^[77] The Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation,^[78] but the Soviet Union emerged as an acknowledged military superpower on the continent.

Sputnik 1 was the world's first artificial satellite

The Red Army occupied Eastern Europe after the war, including East Germany. Dependent socialist governments were installed in the Eastern Bloc satellite states. Becoming the world's second nuclear weapons power, the USSR established the Warsaw Pact alliance and entered into a struggle for global dominance, known as the Cold War, with the United States and NATO. The Soviet Union supported revolutionary movements across the world, including the newly formed People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and, later on, the Republic of Cuba. Significant amounts of the Soviet resources were allocated in aid to the other socialist states.^[79]

After Stalin's death and a short period of collective rule, new leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced the cult of personality of Stalin and launched the policy of de-Stalinization. The penal labor system was reformed and many prisoners were released and rehabilitated (many of them posthumously).^[80] The general easement of repressive policies became known later as the Khrushchev Thaw. At the same time, tensions with the United States heightened when the two rivals clashed over the deployment of the U.S. Jupiter missiles in Turkey and Soviet missiles in Cuba.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, thus starting the Space Age. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 1 manned spacecraft on12 April 1961.

Following the ousting of Khrushchev in 1964, another period of collective rule ensued, until Leonid Brezhnev became the leader. The era of the 1970s and the early 1980s was designated later as the Era of Stagnation, a period when the economic growth slowed and social policies became static. The 1965 Kosygin reform aimed for partial decentralization of the Soviet economy and shifted the emphasis from heavy industry and weapons to light industry and consumer goods but was stifled by the conservative Communist leadership.

Soviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Red Square during theMoscow Summit, 31 May 1988

In 1979, after a Communist-led revolution in Afghanistan, Soviet forces entered that country at request of the new regime. The occupation drained economic resources and dragged on without achieving meaningful political results. Ultimately the Soviet Army was withdrawn from Afghanistan in 1989 due to international opposition, persistent anti-Soviet guerilla warfare, and a lack of support by Soviet citizens.

From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who sought to enact liberal reforms in the Soviet system, introduced the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to end theperiod of economic stagnation and to democratise the government. This, however, led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements. Prior to 1991, the Soviet economy was the second largest in the world,^[81] but during its last years it was afflicted by shortages of goods in grocery stores, huge budget deficits, and explosive growth in money supply leading to inflation.^[82]

Incumbent Russian President Boris Yeltsin stands on a tank during theAugust Coup of 1991. 2 months afterpresidential election.

By 1991, economic and political turmoil began to boil over, as the Baltic republics chose to secede from the Union. On 17 March, a referendum was held, to which the vast majority of participating citizens voted in favour of preserving the Soviet Union as a renewed federation. In August 1991, a coup d'état attempt by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Despite the will expressed by the people, on 25 December 1991, the USSR was dissolved into 15 post-Soviet states.

Russian Federation

Main article: History of Russia (1992–present)

Moscow International Business Center

In June 1991, Boris Yeltsin became the first directly elected President in Russian history when he was elected President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which became the independent Russian Federation in December of that year. During and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, wide-ranging reforms including privatization and market and trade liberalization were undertaken,^[83]including radical changes along the lines of "shock therapy" as recommended by the United States and the International Monetary Fund.^[84] All this resulted in a major economic crisis, characterized by a 50% decline of both GDP and industrial output between 1990–95.^[83][85]

The privatization largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government. Many of the newly rich moved billions in cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous capital flight.^[86] The depression of the economy led to the collapse of social services; the birth rate plummeted while the death rateskyrocketed.^[87] Millions plunged into poverty, from 1.5% level of poverty in the late Soviet era, to 39–49% by mid-1993.^[88] The 1990s saw extreme corruption and lawlessness, the rise of criminal gangs and violent crime.^[89]

The 1990s were plagued by armed conflicts in the North Caucasus, both local ethnic skirmishes and separatist Islamist insurrections. From the time Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war has been fought between the rebel groups and the Russian military. Terrorist attacks against civilians carried out by separatists, most notably the Moscow theater hostage crisis and Beslan school siege, caused hundreds of deaths and drew worldwide attention.

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.^[90] High budget deficits caused the 1998 Russian financial crisis^[91] and resulted in a further GDP decline.^[83]

Boris Yeltsin with Vladimir Putin andPatriarch Alexy II

On 31 December 1999, President Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned, handing the post to the recently appointed Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, who then won the 2000 presidential election. Putinsuppressed the Chechen insurgency, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the Northern Caucasus. High oil prices and the initially weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption, and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years, improving the standard of living and increasing Russia's influence on the world stage.^[92] While many reforms made during the Putin presidency have been generally criticized by Western nations as un-democratic,^[93] Putin's leadership over the return of order, stability, and progress has won him widespread admiration in Russia.^[94]

On 2 March 2008, Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of Russia, while Putin became Prime Minister. Putin returned to the presidency following the 2012 presidential elections, and Medvedev was appointed Prime Minister.

In 2014, after President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine fled as a result of a revolution, Putin requested and received authorization from the Russian Parliament to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine.^{[95][96][97][98][99]} Following a Crimean referendum in which separation was favored by a large majority of voters, which was not accepted internationally,^{[100][101][102][103][104][105]} the Russian leadership announced the annexation of Crimea by Russia. On 27 March the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of a non-binding resolution opposing the Russian annexation of Crimea.^[106]

Politics

Main article: Politics of Russia

Governance

Moscow Kremlin, the working residence of the President of Russia

According to the Constitution of Russia, the country is a federation and semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state^[107] and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Russian Federation is fundamentally structured as a multi-party representative democracy, with the federal government composed of three branches:

• Legislative: The bicameral Federal Assembly of Russia, made up of the 450-member State Duma and the 166-member Federation Council, adopts federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purseand the power of impeachment of the President.
• Executive: The President is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Government of Russia (Cabinet) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
• Judiciary: The Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Arbitration and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the President, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.

The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term, but not for a third consecutive term).^[108] Ministries of the government are composed of the Premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (whereas the appointment of the latter requires the consent of the State Duma). Leading political parties in Russia include United Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and A Just Russia. In 2013, Russia was ranked as 122nd of 167 countries in the Democracy Index, compiled by The Economist Intelligence Unit,^[109]while the World Justice Project currently ranks Russia 80th of 99 countries surveyed in terms of rule of law.^[110]

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Russia

As a transcontinental country, Russia is a member of both the Council of Europe (COE) and the Asia Cooperation Dialogue.

The Russian Federation became the 39th member state of the Council of Europe on 28 February 1996

Member states, observers and partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

The Russian Federation is recognized in international law as a successor state of the former Soviet Union.^[20] Russia continues to implement the international commitments of the USSR, and has assumed the USSR's permanent seat in the UN Security Council, membership in other international organisations, the rights and obligations under international treaties, and property and debts. Russia has a multifaceted foreign policy. As of 2009, it maintains diplomatic relations with 191 countries and has 144 embassies. The foreign policy is determined by the President and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.^[111]

As the successor to a former superpower, Russia's geopolitical status has often been debated, particularly in relation to unipolar and multipolar views on the global political system. While Russia is commonly accepted to be agreat power, in recent years it has been characterized by a number of world leaders,^[112][113] scholars,^[114] commentators and politicians^[115] as a currently reinstating or potential superpower.^{[116][117][118]}

As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia plays a major role in maintaining international peace and security. The country participates in the Quartet on the Middle East and the Six-party talks with North Korea. Russia is a member of the G8 industrialized nations, the Council of Europe, OSCE, and APEC. Russia usually takes a leading role in regional organisations such as the CIS, EurAsEC, CSTO, and the SCO.^[119]Russia became the 39th member state of the Council of Europe in 1996.^[120] In 1998, Russia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. The legal basis for EU relations with Russia is the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which came into force in 1997. The Agreement recalls the parties' shared respect for democracy and human rights, political and economic freedom and commitment to international peace and security.^[121] In May 2003, the EU and Russia agreed to reinforce their cooperation on the basis of common values and shared interests.^[122] Former President Vladimir Putin had advocated a strategic partnership with close integration in various dimensions including establishment of EU-Russia Common Spaces.^[123] Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has developed a friendlier relationship with the United States and NATO. The NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002 to allow the United States, Russia and the 27 allies in NATO to work together as equal partners to pursue opportunities for joint collaboration.^[124]

Leaders of the BRIC nations in 2008: (l-r) Manmohan Singh of India,Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Hu Jintaoof China and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvaof Brazil

Russia maintains strong and positive relations with other BRIC countries. India is the largest customer of Russian military equipment and the two countries share extensive defense and strategic relations.^[125] In recent years, the country has strengthened bilateral ties especially with the People's Republic of China by signing the Treaty of Friendship as well as building the Trans-Siberian oil pipeline and gas pipeline from Siberia to China.^[126][127]

An important aspect of Russia's relations with the West is the criticism of Russia's political system and human rights management (including LGBT rights, media freedom, and reports about killed journalists) by the Western governments, the mass media and the leading democracy and human rights watchdogs. In particular, such organisations as the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch consider Russia to have not enough democratic attributes and to allow few political rights and civil liberties to its citizens.^[128][129] Freedom House, an international organisation funded by the United States, ranks Russia as "not free", citing "carefully engineered elections" and "absence" of debate.^[130] Russian authorities dismiss these claims and especially criticise Freedom House. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called the 2006 Freedom in the World report "prefabricated", stating that the human rights issues have been turned into a political weapon in particular by the United States. The ministry also claims that such organisations as Freedom House and Human Rights Watch use the same scheme of voluntary extrapolation of "isolated facts that of course can be found in any country" into dominant tendencies.^[131]

Military

Main article: Russian Armed Forces

Modern Russian aircraft Sukhoi Su-35, Sukhoi Su-34 and Sukhoi PAK FA

The Russian military is divided into the Ground Forces, Navy, and Air Force. There are also three independent arms of service: Strategic Missile Troops, Aerospace Defence Forces, and the Airborne Troops. In 2006, the military had 1.037 million personnel on active duty.^[132] It is mandatory for all male citizens aged 18–27 to be drafted for a year of service in Armed Forces.^[92]

Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. It has the second largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines and is the only country apart from the United States with a modern strategic bomber force.^[25][133]Russia's tank force is the largest in the world, its surface navy and air force are among the largest ones.

The country has a large and fully indigenous arms industry, producing most of its own military equipment with only few types of weapons imported. Russia is one of the world's top supplier of arms, a spot it has held since 2001, accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales^[134] and exporting weapons to about 80 countries.^[135] The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, found that Russia was the second biggest exporter of arms in 2010-14, increasing their exports by 37 per cent from the period 2005-2009. In 2010-14, Russia delivered weapons to 56 states and to rebel forces in eastern Ukraine.^[26]

The Russian government's published 2014 military budget is about 2.49 trillion rubles (approximately US$69.3 billion), the third largest in the world behind the US and China. The official budget is set to rise to 3.03 trillion rubles (approximately US$83.7 billion) in 2015, and 3.36 trillion rubles (approximately US$93.9 billion) in 2016.^[136] However, unofficial estimates put the budget significantly higher, for example the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) 2013 Military Expenditure Database estimated Russia's military expenditure in 2012 at US$90.749 billion.^[137] This estimate is an increase of more than US$18 billion on SIPRI's estimate of the Russian military budget for 2011 (US$71.9 billion).^[138] As of 2014, Russia's military budget is higher than any other European nation.

According to 2012 Global Peace Index, Russia is the sixth least peaceful out of 162 countries in the world, principally because of its defense industry. Russia has historically ranked low on the index since its inception in 2007.^[139]

Political divisions

Main article: Subdivisions of Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putinand Akhmad Kadyrov, former rebel andhead of the Chechen Republic, 2000

Russian President Dmitry Medvedevand President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiyev in Kazan, the capital ofTatarstan, 2011

Federal subjects

According to the Constitution, the country comprises eighty-five federal subjects,^[140] including the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol, whose recent establishment is internationally disputed and criticized as illegal annexation.^[141] In 1993, when the Constitution was adopted, there were eighty-nine federal subjects listed, but later some of them were merged. These subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in theFederation Council.^[142] However, they differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy.

• 46 oblasts (provinces): most common type of federal subjects, with locally elected governor and legislature.^[143]
• 22 republics: nominally autonomous; each is tasked with drafting its own constitution, direct-elected^[143] head of republic^[144] or a similar post, and parliament. Republics are allowed to establish their own official language alongside Russian but are represented by the federal government in international affairs. Republics are meant to be home to specific ethnic minorities.
• 9 krais (territories): essentially the same as oblasts. The "territory" designation is historic, originally given to frontier regions and later also to the administrative divisions that comprised autonomous okrugs or autonomous oblasts.
• 4 autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts): originally autonomous entities within oblasts and krais created for ethnic minorities, their status was elevated to that of federal subjects in the 1990s. With the exception ofChukotka Autonomous Okrug, all autonomous okrugs are still administratively subordinated to a krai or an oblast of which they are a part.
• 1 autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast): historically, autonomous oblasts were administrative units subordinated to krais. In 1990, all of them except for the Jewish AO were elevated in status to that of a republic.
• 3 federal cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Sevastopol): major cities that function as separate regions.

Further information: Political status of Crimea and Sevastopol and 2014 Crimean crisis

Federal districts

Federal subjects are grouped into nine federal districts, each administered by an envoy appointed by the President of Russia.^[145] Unlike the federal subjects, the federal districts are not a subnational level of government, but are a level of administration of the federal government. Federal districts' envoys serve as liaisons between the federal subjects and the federal government and are primarily responsible for overseeing the compliance of the federal subjects with the federal laws.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Russia

See also: List of Russian explorers

The topography of Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world; its total area is 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi). There are 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Russia, 40 UNESCO biosphere reserves,^[146] 41 national parks and 101nature reserves. It lies between latitudes 41° and 82° N, and longitudes 19° E and 169° W.

Russia's territorial expansion was achieved largely in the late 16th century under the Cossack, Yermak Timofeyevich, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, at a time when competing city-states in the western regions of Russia had banded together to form one country. Yermak mustered an army and pushed eastward, where he conquered nearly all the lands once belonging to the Mongols, defeating their ruler, Khan Kuchum.^[147]

Russia has a wide natural resource base, including major deposits of timber, petroleum, natural gas, coal, ores and other mineral resources.

Topography

The two widest separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (4,971 mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60 km (37 mi) long Vistula Spit separating the Gdańsk Bay from theVistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the Kuril Islands. The points which are furthest separated in longitude are 6,600 km (4,101 mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: in the west, the same spit; in the east, the Big Diomede Island. The Russian Federation spans 9 time zones.

Mount Elbrus, the highest point of the Caucasus, Russia and Europe

Most of Russia consists of vast stretches of plains that are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. Russia possesses 10% of the world's arable land.^[148]Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, which at 5,642 m (18,510 ft) is the highest point in both Russia and Europe) and the Altai (containing Mount Belukha, which at the 4,506 m (14,783 ft) is the highest point of Siberia outside of the Russian Far East); and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes of Kamchatka Peninsula (containing Klyuchevskaya Sopka, which at the 4,750 m (15,584 ft) is the highest active volcano in Eurasia as well as the highest point of Asian Russia). The Ural Mountains, rich in mineral resources, form a north-south range that divides Europe and Asia.

Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km (22,991 mi) along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as along the Baltic Sea, Sea of Azov, Black Sea and Caspian Sea.^[92] The Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea,Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, and the Sea of Japan are linked to Russia via the Arctic and Pacific. Russia's major islands and archipelagos include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz Josef Land, the Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin. The Diomede Islands (one controlled by Russia, the other by the U.S.) are just 3 km (1.9 mi) apart, and Kunashir Island is about 20 km (12.4 mi) from Hokkaido, Japan.

Volga River in Samara Oblast

Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water, providing it with one of the world's largest surface water resources. Its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's liquid fresh water.^[149] The largest and most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake Baikal, the world's deepest, purest, oldest and most capacious fresh water lake.^[150] Baikal alone contains over one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water.^[149] Other major lakes include Ladoga and Onega, two of the largest lakes in Europe. Russia is second only to Brazil in volume of the total renewable water resources. Of the country's 100,000 rivers,^[151] the Volga is the most famous, not only because it is the longest river in Europe, but also because of its major role in Russian history.^[92] The Siberian rivers Ob, Yenisey, Lena and Amur are among the longest rivers in the world.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Russia

Taiga forest, Yugyd Va National Park in the Komi Republic

The enormous size of Russia and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of the humid continental climate, which is prevalent in all parts of the country except for the tundra and the extreme southeast. Mountains in the south obstruct the flow of warm air masses from the Indian Ocean, while the plain of the west and north makes the country open to Arctic and Atlantic influences.^[152]

Most of Northern European Russia and Siberia has a subarctic climate, with extremely severe winters in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia (mostly the Sakha Republic, where the Northern Pole of Cold is located with the record low temperature of −71.2 °C or −96.2 °F), and more moderate elsewhere. The strip of land along the shore of the Arctic Ocean, as well as the Russian Arctic islands, have a polar climate.

The coastal part of Krasnodar Krai on the Black Sea, most notably in Sochi, possesses a humid subtropical climate with mild and wet winters. Winter is dry compared to summer in many regions of East Siberia and the Far East, while other parts of the country experience more even precipitation across seasons. Winter precipitation in most parts of the country usually falls as snow. The region along the Lower Volga and Caspian Sea coast, as well as some areas of southernmost Siberia, possesses a semi-arid climate.

[hide]Climate data for Russia (records)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	22.2 (72)	23.8 (74.8)	30.3 (86.5)	34.0 (93.2)	37.7 (99.9)	43.2 (109.8)	45.4 (113.7)	43.5 (110.3)	41.5 (106.7)	33.7 (92.7)	29.1 (84.4)	25.0 (77)	45.4 (113.7)
Record low °C (°F)	−71.2 (−96.2)	−64.4 (−83.9)	−60.6 (−77.1)	−46.4 (−51.5)	−28.9 (−20)	−9.7 (14.5)	−9.3 (15.3)	−17.1 (1.2)	−25.3 (−13.5)	−47.6 (−53.7)	−58.5 (−73.3)	−62.8 (−81)	−71.2 (−96.2)
Source: Pogoda.ru.net[153]

Throughout much of the territory there are only two distinct seasons—winter and summer—as spring and autumn are usually brief periods of change between extremely low temperatures and extremely high.^[152] The coldest month is January (February on the coastline), the warmest usually is July. Great ranges of temperature are typical. In winter, temperatures get colder both from south to north and from west to east. Summers can be quite hot, even in Siberia.^[154] The continental interiors are the driest areas.