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From the World Factbook | | Russia Russia | |
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Background: | Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and 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 Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. While some progress has been made on the economic front, and Russia's management of its windfall oil wealth has improved its financial standing, recent years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir PUTIN and democratic institutions remain weak. Russia has severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus. |
Location: | Northern Asia (the area west of the Urals is considered part of Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean | Geographic coordinates: | 60 00 N, 100 00 E | Map references: | Asia | Area: | total: 17,075,200 sq km
land: 16,995,800 sq km
water: 79,400 sq km | Area - comparative: | approximately 1.8 times the size of the US | Land boundaries: | total: 20,096.5 km
border countries: Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 294 km, Finland 1,340 km, Georgia 723 km, Kazakhstan 6,846 km, North Korea 19 km, Latvia 217 km, Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 280.5 km, Mongolia 3,485 km, Norway 196 km, Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 232 km, Ukraine 1,576 km | Coastline: | 37,653 km | Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation | 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 | Terrain: | broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions | Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m
highest point: Gora El'brus 5,633 m | Natural resources: | wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber
note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources | Land use: | arable land: 7.17%
permanent crops: 0.11%
other: 92.72% (2005) | Irrigated land: | 46,000 sq km (2003) | Natural hazards: | permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development; volcanic activity in the Kuril Islands; volcanoes and earthquakes on the Kamchatka Peninsula; spring floods and summer/autumn forest fires throughout Siberia and parts of European Russia | Environment - current issues: | air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of coal-fired electric plants, and transportation in major cities; industrial, municipal, and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and seacoasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination; groundwater contamination from toxic waste; urban solid waste management; abandoned stocks of obsolete pesticides | Environment - international agreements: | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulfur 94 | Geography - note: | largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world; despite its size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture; Mount El'brus is Europe's tallest peak |
Population: | 142,893,540 (July 2006 est.) | Age structure: | 0-14 years: 14.2% (male 10,441,151/female 9,921,102)
15-64 years: 71.3% (male 49,271,698/female 52,679,463)
65 years and over: 14.4% (male 6,500,814/female 14,079,312) (2006 est.) | Median age: | total: 38.4 years
male: 35.2 years
female: 41.3 years (2006 est.) | Population growth rate: | -0.37% (2006 est.) | Birth rate: | 9.95 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) | Death rate: | 14.65 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) | Net migration rate: | 1.03 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) | Sex ratio: | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.46 male(s)/female
total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2006 est.) | Infant mortality rate: | total: 15.13 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 17.43 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 12.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) | Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 67.08 years
male: 60.45 years
female: 74.1 years (2006 est.) | Total fertility rate: | 1.28 children born/woman (2006 est.) | HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | 1.1% (2001 est.) | HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 860,000 (2001 est.) | HIV/AIDS - deaths: | 9,000 (2001 est.) | Nationality: | noun: Russian(s)
adjective: Russian | Ethnic groups: | Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census) | Religions: | Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule | Languages: | Russian, many minority languages | Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.6%
male: 99.7%
female: 99.5% (2003 est.) |
Country name: | conventional long form: Russian Federation
conventional short form: Russia
local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
local short form: Rossiya
former: Russian Empire, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic | Government type: | federation | Capital: | name: Moscow
geographic coordinates: 55 45 N, 37 35 E
time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
note: Russia is divided into eleven time zones | Administrative divisions: | 48 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respublik, singular - respublika), 7 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov, singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 7 krays (krayev, singular - kray), 2 federal cities (goroda, singular - gorod), and 1 autonomous oblast (avtonomnaya oblast')
oblasts: Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver', Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl'
republics: Adygeya (Maykop), Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Bashkortostan (Ufa), Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chuvashiya (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Ingushetiya (Magas), Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik), Kalmykiya (Elista), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk), Kareliya (Petrozavodsk), Khakasiya (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordoviya (Saransk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz), Sakha [Yakutiya] (Yakutsk), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)
autonomous okrugs: Aga Buryat (Aginskoye), Chukotka (Anadyr'), Khanty-Mansi, Koryak (Palana), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Ust'-Orda Buryat (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
krays: Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Permskiy, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'
federal cities: Moscow (Moskva), Saint Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg)
autonomous oblast: Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses) | Independence: | 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) | National holiday: | Russia Day, 12 June (1990) | Constitution: | adopted 12 December 1993 | Legal system: | based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts | Suffrage: | 18 years of age; universal | Executive branch: | chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (acting president 31 December 1999-6 May 2000, president since 7 May 2000)
head of government: Premier Mikhail Yefimovich FRADKOV (since 5 March 2004); First Deputy Premiers Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV (since 14 November 2005) and Sergey Borisovich IVANOV (since 15 February 2007), Deputy Premier Aleksandr Dmitriyevich ZHUKOV (since 9 March 2004)
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the president
note: there is also a Presidential Administration (PA) that provides staff and policy support to the president, drafts presidential decrees, and coordinates policy among government agencies; a Security Council also reports directly to the president
elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 14 March 2004 (next to be held in March 2008); note - no vice president; if the president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election is held, which must be within three months; premier appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
election results: Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN reelected president; percent of vote - Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN 71.2%, Nikolay KHARITONOV 13.7%, other (no candidate above 5%) 15.1% | Legislative branch: | bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye consists of the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (178 seats; as of July 2000, members appointed by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 88 federal administrative units - oblasts, krays, republics, autonomous okrugs and oblasts, and the federal cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats; currently elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 7% of the vote; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: State Duma - last held 7 December 2003 (next to be held in December 2007)
election results: State Duma - percent of vote received by parties clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of the 225 party list seats - United Russia 37.1%, CPRF 12.7%, LDPR 11.6%, Motherland 9.1%; seats by party - United Russia 222, CPRF 53, LDPR 38, Motherland 37, People's Party 19, Yabloko 4, SPS 2, other 7, independents 65, repeat election required 3; note - seats by party as of 1 July 2006 - United Russia 309, CPRF 45, LDPR 35, Motherland 29, People's Party 12, independents 18, vacant 2 | Judicial branch: | Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Supreme Arbitration Court; judges for all courts are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president | Political parties and leaders: | A Just Russia or JR [Sergey MIRONOV] (formed from the merger of three small political parties: Rodina (Motherland), Pensioners Party, and Party of Life); Communist Party of the Russian Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; People's Party [Gennadiy GUDKOV]; Union of Right Forces or SPS [Nikita BELYKH]; United Russia or UR [Boris Vyacheslavovich GRYZLOV]; Yabloko Party [Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY] | Political pressure groups and leaders: | NA | International organization participation: | APEC, Arctic Council, ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, BSEC, CBSS, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAEC, EAPC, EBRD, G- 8, GCTU, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM (guest), NSG, OAS (observer), OIC (observer), ONUB, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, SCO, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMOVIC, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer), ZC | Diplomatic representation in the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Yuriy Viktorovich USHAKOV
chancery: 2650 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007
telephone: [1] (202) 298-5700, 5701, 5704, 5708
FAX: [1] (202) 298-5735
consulate(s) general: Houston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle | Diplomatic representation from the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador William J. BURNS
embassy: Bolshoy Deviatinskiy Pereulok No. 8, 121099 Moscow
mailing address: PSC-77, APO AE 09721
telephone: [7] (495) 728-5000
FAX: [7] (495) 728-5090
consulate(s) general: Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg | Flag description: | three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red |
Economy - overview: | Russia ended 2006 with its eighth straight year of growth, averaging 6.7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since 2003-04 consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played a significant role. Over the last five years, fixed capital investments have averaged real gains greater than 10% per year and personal incomes have achieved real gains more than 12% per year. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand. Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis. The federal budget has run surpluses since 2001 and ended 2006 with a surplus of 7.4% of GDP on a cash basis. Over the past several years, Russia has used its stabilization fund based on oil taxes to prepay all Soviet-era sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and the IMF. Foreign debt has decreased to 31% of GDP, mainly due to decreasing state debt, although commercial debt to foreigners has risen strongly. Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $315 billion at yearend 2006, the third largest reserves in the world. During Putin's first administration, a number of important reforms were implemented in the areas of tax, bankng, labor, and land codes. These achievements have raised business and investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects, with foreign direct investment rising from $14.6 billion in 2005 to an estimated $30 billion in 2006. In 2006, Russia's GDP grew 6.6%, while inflation was below 10% for the first time in the past 10 years. Growth was driven by non-tradable services and goods for the domestic market, as opposed to oil or mineral extraction and exports. Russia has signed a bilateral market access agreement with the US as a prelude to possible WTO entry, and its companies are involved in global merger and acquisition activity in the oil and gas, metals, and telecom sectors. Despite Russia's recent success, serious problems persist. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of exports and 32% of government revenues, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world commodity prices. Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth. A 20% appreciation of the ruble over 2005-2006 has made attracting additional investment more difficult. The banking system, while increasing consumer lending and growing at a high rate, is still small relative to the banking sectors of Russia's emerging market peers. Political uncertainties ahead of the elections, corruption, and widespread lack of trust in institutions continue to dampen domestic and foreign investor sentiment. From 2002 to 2005, the government bureaucracy increased by 17% - 10.9% in 2005 alone. President PUTIN has granted more influence to forces within his government that desire to reassert state control over the economy. Russia has made little progress in building the rule of law, the bedrock of a modern market economy. The government has promised additional legislation to make its intellectual property protection WTO-consistent, but enforcement remains problematic. | GDP (purchasing power parity): | $1.723 trillion (2006 est.) | GDP (official exchange rate): | $733 billion (2006 est.) | GDP - real growth rate: | 6.6% (2006 est.) | GDP - per capita (PPP): | $12,100 (2006 est.) | GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 5.3%
industry: 36.6%
services: 58.2% (2006 est.) | Labor force: | 73.88 million (2006 est.) | Labor force - by occupation: | agriculture: 10.8%
industry: 29.1%
services: 60.1% (2005 est.) | Unemployment rate: | 6.6% plus considerable underemployment (2006 est.) | Population below poverty line: | 17.8% (2004 est.) | Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 1.7%
highest 10%: 38.7% (1998) | Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 40.5 (2005) | Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 9.8% (2006 est.) | Investment (gross fixed): | 18.2% of GDP (2006 est.) | Budget: | revenues: $222.2 billion
expenditures: $157.3 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) | Public debt: | 8% of GDP (2006 est.) | Agriculture - products: | grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk | Industries: | complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; defense industries including radar, missile production, and advanced electronic components, shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts | Industrial production growth rate: | 4.8% (2006 est.) | Electricity - production: | 952.4 billion kWh (2005) | Electricity - production by source: | fossil fuel: 66.3%
hydro: 17.2%
nuclear: 16.4%
other: 0.1% (2003) | Electricity - consumption: | 940 billion kWh (2005) | Electricity - exports: | 22.3 billion kWh (2005) | Electricity - imports: | 9.9 billion kWh (2005) | Oil - production: | 9.4 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | Oil - consumption: | 2.5 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | Oil - exports: | 7 million bbl/day (2005) | Oil - imports: | 100,000 bbl/day (2005) | Oil - proved reserves: | 74.4 billion bbl (2005 est.) | Natural gas - production: | 641 billion cu m (2005 est.) | Natural gas - consumption: | 445.1 billion cu m (2005 est.) | Natural gas - exports: | 216.8 billion cu m (2004 est.) | Natural gas - imports: | 36.6 billion cu m (2004 est.) | Natural gas - proved reserves: | 47.57 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.) | Current account balance: | $105.3 billion (2006 est.) | Exports: | $317.6 billion (2006 est.) | Exports - commodities: | petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures | Exports - partners: | Netherlands 10.3%, Germany 8.3%, Italy 7.9%, China 5.5%, Ukraine 5.2%, Turkey 4.5%, Switzerland 4.4% (2005) | Imports: | $171.5 billion (2006 est.) | Imports - commodities: | machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products | Imports - partners: | Germany 13.6%, Ukraine 8%, China 7.4%, Japan 6%, Belarus 4.7%, US 4.7%, Italy 4.6%, South Korea 4.1% (2005) | Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: | $314.5 billion (2006 est.) | Debt - external: | $287.4 billion (30 June 2006 est.) | Economic aid - recipient: | in FY01 from US, $979 million (including $750 million in non-proliferation subsidies); in 2001 from EU, $200 million (2000 est.) | Currency (code): | Russian ruble (RUR) | Currency code: | RUR | Exchange rates: | Russian rubles per US dollar - 27.2 (2006), 28.284 (2005), 28.814 (2004), 30.692 (2003), 31.349 (2002) | Fiscal year: | calendar year |
Telephones - main lines in use: | 40.1 million (2005) | Telephones - mobile cellular: | 120 million (2005) | Telephone system: | general assessment: the telephone system is experiencing significant changes; there are more than 1,000 companies licensed to offer communication services; access to digital lines has improved, particularly in urban centers; Internet and e-mail services are improving; Russia has made progress toward building the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a market economy; the estimated number of mobile subscribers jumped from fewer than 1 million in 1998 to 120 million in 2005; a large demand for main line service remains unsatisfied, but fixed-line operators continue to grow their services
domestic: cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk; the telephone systems in 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas; in rural areas, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density
international: country code - 7; Russia is connected internationally by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita systems | Radio broadcast stations: | AM 323, FM 1,500 est., shortwave 62 (2004) | Radios: | 61.5 million (1997) | Television broadcast stations: | 7,306 (1998) | Televisions: | 60.5 million (1997) | Internet country code: | .ru; note - Russia also has responsibility for a legacy domain ".su" that was allocated to the Soviet Union, and whose legal status and ownership are contested by the Russian Government, ICANN, and several Russian commercial entities | Internet hosts: | 1.98 million (2006) | Internet Service Providers (ISPs): | 300 (June 2000) | Internet users: | 23.7 million (2005) |
Airports: | 1,623 (2006) | Airports - with paved runways: | total: 616
over 3,047 m: 51
2,438 to 3,047 m: 198
1,524 to 2,437 m: 130
914 to 1,523 m: 100
under 914 m: 137 (2006) | Airports - with unpaved runways: | total: 1,007
over 3,047 m: 9
2,438 to 3,047 m: 16
1,524 to 2,437 m: 75
914 to 1,523 m: 127
under 914 m: 780 (2006) | Heliports: | 52 (2006) | Pipelines: | condensate 122 km; gas 156,285 km; oil 72,283 km; refined products 13,658 km (2006) | Railways: | total: 87,157 km
broad gauge: 86,200 km 1.520-m gauge (40,300 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 957 km 1.067-m gauge (on Sakhalin Island)
note: an additional 30,000 km of non-common carrier lines serve industries (2005) | Roadways: | total: 871,000 km
paved: 738,000 km (including 29,000 km of expressways)
unpaved: 133,000 km
note: includes public and departmental roads (2004) | Waterways: | 102,000 km (including 33,000 km with guaranteed depth)
note: 72,000 km system in European Russia links Baltic Sea, White Sea, Caspian Sea, Sea of Azov, and Black Sea (2005) | Merchant marine: | total: 1,178 ships (1000 GRT or over) 5,080,341 GRT/6,287,784 DWT
by type: barge carrier 1, bulk carrier 46, cargo 743, chemical tanker 25, combination ore/oil 38, container 13, passenger 12, passenger/cargo 7, petroleum tanker 219, refrigerated cargo 54, roll on/roll off 15, specialized tanker 5
foreign-owned: 100 (Belgium 4, Canada 1, Cyprus 2, Estonia 1, Germany 2, Greece 1, Latvia 2, Malta 4, Norway 1, Switzerland 7, Turkey 63, Ukraine 11, US 1)
registered in other countries: 465 (Antigua and Barbuda 6, Bahamas 6, Belize 36, Bulgaria 1, Cambodia 105, Comoros 4, Cyprus 53, Dominica 2, Finland 1, Georgia 28, North Korea 1, Liberia 77, Malta 70, Marshall Islands 1, Mongolia 13, Panama 7, Saint Kitts and Nevis 5, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 29, Sierra Leone 1, Tuvalu 2, Ukraine 1, Vanuatu 1, Venezuela 1, unknown 14) (2006) | Ports and terminals: | Anapa, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Novorossiysk, Rostov-na-Donu, Saint Petersburg, Taganrog, Vanino, Vostochnyy |
Military branches: | Ground Forces (SV), Navy (VMF), Air Forces (VVS); Airborne Troops (VDV), Strategic Rocket Troops (RVSN), and Space Troops (KV) are independent "combat arms," not subordinate to any of the three branches | Military service age and obligation: | Russia has adopted a mixed conscript-contract force; 18-27 years of age; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; length of compulsory military service is two years; plans call for reduction in mandatory service to 18 months in 2007 and to one year by 2008; 30% of Russian army personnel were contract servicemen at the end of 2005; planning calls for volunteer servicemen to compose 70% of armed forces by 2010, with the remaining servicemen consisting of conscripts; as of November 2006, the Armed Forces had more than 60 units manned with contract personnel totalling over 78,000 contract privates and sergeants; 88 Ministry of Defense units have been designated as permanent readiness units and are expected to become all-volunteer by end 2007; these include most air force, naval, and nuclear arms units, as well as all airborne and naval infantry units, most motorized rifle brigades, and all special forces detachments (2006) | Manpower available for military service: | males age 18-49: 35,247,049
females age 18-49: 35,986,426 (2005 est.) | Manpower fit for military service: | males age 18-49: 21,049,651
females age 18-49: 29,056,021 (2005 est.) | Manpower reaching military service age annually: | males age 18-49: 1,286,069
females age 18-49: 1,244,264 (2005 est.) | Military expenditures - dollar figure: | NA | Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | NA |
| Transnational Issues | Russia |
Disputes - international: | China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with the 2004 Agreement, ending their centuries-long border disputes; the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kurils," occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Russia and Georgia agree on delimiting all but small, strategic segments of the land boundary and the maritime boundary; OSCE observers monitor volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia signed equidistance boundaries in the Caspian seabed but the littoral states have no consensus on dividing the water column; Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone; various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to the Soviet Union following the Second World War but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands; in May 2005, Russia recalled its signatures to the 1996 border agreements with Estonia (1996) and Latvia (1997), when the two Baltic states announced issuance of unilateral declarations referencing Soviet occupation and ensuing territorial losses; Russia demands better treatment of ethnic Russians in Estonia and Latvia; Estonian citizen groups continue to press for realignment of the boundary based on the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty that would bring the now divided ethnic Setu people and parts of the Narva region within Estonia; Lithuania and Russia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia, while still conforming, as an EU member state with an EU external border, where strict Schengen border rules apply; preparations for the demarcation delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine have commenced; the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov remains unresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and on-going expert-level discussions; Kazakhstan and Russia boundary delimitation was ratified on November 2005 and field demarcation should commence in 2007; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Bering Sea Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US | Refugees and internally displaced persons: | IDPs: 25,000-180,000 (displacement from Chechnya and North Ossetia) (2006) | Trafficking in persons: | current situation: Russia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for various purposes; it remains a significant source of women trafficked to over 50 countries for commercial sexual exploitation; Russia is also a transit and destination country for men and women trafficked from Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and North Korea to Central and Western Europe and the Middle East for purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; internal trafficking remains a problem in Russia with women trafficked from rural areas to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation, and men trafficked internally and from Central Asia for forced labor in the construction and agricultural industries; debt bondage is common among trafficking victims, and child sex tourism remains a concern
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Russia is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List for a third consecutive year for its continued failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking, particularly in the area of victim protection and assistance | Illicit drugs: | limited cultivation of illicit cannabis and opium poppy and producer of methamphetamine, mostly for domestic consumption; government has active illicit crop eradication program; used as transshipment point for Asian opiates, cannabis, and Latin American cocaine bound for growing domestic markets, to a lesser extent Western and Central Europe, and occasionally to the US; major source of heroin precursor chemicals; corruption and organized crime are key concerns; major consumer of opiates |
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