Legend:
 Definition
 Field Listing
 Rank Order
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Background:
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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. 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 Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. While some progress has been made on the economic front, recent years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir PUTIN and an erosion in nascent democratic institutions. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya.
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Location:
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Northern Asia (that part west of the Urals is included with Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean
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Geographic coordinates:
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60 00 N, 100 00 E
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Map references:
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Asia
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Area:
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total: 17,075,200 sq km
land: 16,995,800 sq km
water: 79,400 sq km
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Area - comparative:
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approximately 1.8 times the size of the US
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Land boundaries:
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total: 20,017 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) 227 km, Mongolia 3,485 km, Norway 196 km, Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 206 km, Ukraine 1,576 km
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Coastline:
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37,653 km
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Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
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Climate:
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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
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Terrain:
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broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m
highest point: Gora El'brus 5,633 m
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Natural resources:
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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
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Land use:
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arable land: 7.33%
permanent crops: 0.11%
other: 92.56% (2001)
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Irrigated land:
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46,630 sq km (1998 est.)
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Natural hazards:
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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
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Environment - current issues:
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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
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Environment - international agreements:
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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, 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, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
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Geography - note:
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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
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Population:
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143,782,338 (July 2004 est.)
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 15% (male 11,064,109; female 10,518,595)
15-64 years: 71.3% (male 49,534,076; female 52,958,107)
65 years and over: 13.7% (male 6,177,580; female 13,529,871) (2004 est.)
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Median age:
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total: 37.9 years
male: 34.7 years
female: 40.7 years (2004 est.)
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Population growth rate:
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-0.45% (2004 est.)
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Birth rate:
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9.63 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
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Death rate:
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15.17 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
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Net migration rate:
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1.02 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
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Sex ratio:
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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: 0.87 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
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Infant mortality rate:
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total: 16.96 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 19.58 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 14.18 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth:
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total population: 66.39 years
male: 59.91 years
female: 73.27 years (2004 est.)
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Total fertility rate:
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1.26 children born/woman (2004 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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0.9% (2001 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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700,000 (2001 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
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9,000 (2001 est.)
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Nationality:
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noun: Russian(s)
adjective: Russian
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Ethnic groups:
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Russian 81.5%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%, Bashkir 0.9%, Belarusian 0.8%, Moldavian 0.7%, other 8.1% (1989)
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Religions:
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Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other
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Languages:
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Russian, other
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Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.6%
male: 99.7%
female: 99.5% (2003 est.)
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Country name:
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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
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Government type:
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federation
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Capital:
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Moscow
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Administrative divisions:
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49 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respublik, singular - respublika), 10 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov, singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 6 krays (krayev, singular - kray), 2 federal cities (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, Perm', 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), Sakha [Yakutiya] (Yakutsk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)
: autonomous okrugs: Aga Buryat (Aginskoye), Chukotka (Anadyr'), Evenk (Tura), Khanty-Mansi, Komi-Permyak (Kudymkar), Koryak (Palana), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Taymyr [Dolgano-Nenets] (Dudinka), Ust'-Orda Buryat (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
: krays: Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'
: federal cities: Moscow (Moskva), St. 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)
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Independence:
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24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
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National holiday:
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Russia Day, 12 June (1990)
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Constitution:
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adopted 12 December 1993
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Legal system:
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based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts
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Suffrage:
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18 years of age; universal
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Executive branch:
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chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (acting president since 31 December 1999, president since 7 May 2000)
head of government: Premier Mikhail Yefimovich FRADKOV (since 5 March 2004); Deputy Premier Aleksandr Dmitriyevich ZHUKOV (since 9 March 2004)
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputy, 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; election last held 14 March 2004 (next to be held NA 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 succeeds him; 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%
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Legislative branch:
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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 89 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 225 seats elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 5% of the vote, and 225 seats from single-member constituencies; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: State Duma - last held 7 December 2003 (next to be held NA 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, Union of Rightist Forces 2, other 7, independents 65, repeat election required 3
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Judicial branch:
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Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Superior Court of Arbitration; judges for all courts are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president
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Political parties and leaders:
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Communist Party of the Russian Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; Motherland Bloc (Rodina) [Dmitriy ROGOZIN]; People's Party [Gennadiy RAYKOV]; Union of Rightist Forces or SPS [Anatoliy Borisovich CHUBAYS, Yegor Timurovich GAYDAR, Irina Mutsuovna KHAKAMADA, Boris Yefimovich NEMTSOV]; United Russia [Boris Vyacheslavovich GRYZLOV]; Yabloko Party [Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY]
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Political pressure groups and leaders:
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NA
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International organization participation:
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APEC, ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, BSEC, CBSS, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAPC, EBRD, G- 8, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM (guest), NSG, OAS (observer), ONUB, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, SCO, UN, UN Security Council, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMISET, UNMOVIC, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UNTSO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer), ZC
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Diplomatic representation in the US:
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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: New York, San Francisco, and Seattle
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Diplomatic representation from the US:
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chief of mission: Ambassador Alexander VERSHBOW
embassy: Bolshoy Devyatinskiy Pereulok No. 8, 121099 Moscow
mailing address: PSC-77, APO AE 09721
telephone: [7] (095) 728-5000
FAX: [7] (095) 728-5090
consulate(s) general: Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg
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Flag description:
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three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red
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Economy - overview:
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Russia ended 2003 with its fifth straight year of growth, averaging 6.5% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble are important drivers of this economic rebound, since 2000 investment and consumer-driven demand have played a noticeably increasing role. Real fixed capital investments have averaged gains greater than 10% over the last four years and real personal incomes have averaged increases over 12%. Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis, with its foreign debt declining from 90% of GDP to around 28%. Strong oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from only $12 billion to some $80 billion. These achievements, along with a renewed government effort to advance structural reforms, have raised business and investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects. Nevertheless, serious problems persist. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth. Other problems include a weak banking system, a poor business climate that discourages both domestic and foreign investors, corruption, local and regional government intervention in the courts, and widespread lack of trust in institutions. In addition, a string of investigations launched against a major Russian oil company, culminating with the arrest of its CEO in the fall of 2003, have raised concerns by some observers that President PUTIN is granting more influence to forces within his government that desire to reassert state control over the economy.
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GDP:
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purchasing power parity - $1.282 trillion (2003 est.)
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GDP - real growth rate:
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7.3% (2003 est.)
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GDP - per capita:
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purchasing power parity - $8,900 (2003 est.)
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GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 5.2%
industry: 35.1%
services: 59.8% (2003 est.)
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Investment (gross fixed):
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18.2% of GDP (2003)
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Population below poverty line:
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25% (January 2003 est.)
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Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 5.9%
highest 10%: 47% (2001)
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Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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39.9 (2001)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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13.7% (2003 est.)
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Labor force:
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71.68 million (2003 est.)
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Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture 12.3%, industry 22.7%, services 65% (2002 est.)
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Unemployment rate:
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8.5% plus considerable underemployment (2003 est.)
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Budget:
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revenues: $83.99 billion
expenditures: $73.75 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003)
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Public debt:
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34.1% of GDP (2003)
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Agriculture - products:
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grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk
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Industries:
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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; 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
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Industrial production growth rate:
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7% (2003 est.)
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Electricity - production:
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915 billion kWh (2003)
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Electricity - consumption:
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773 billion kWh (2001)
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Electricity - exports:
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21.16 billion kWh (2001)
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Electricity - imports:
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7 billion kWh (2001)
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Oil - production:
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7.286 million bbl/day (2001 est.)
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Oil - consumption:
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2.595 million bbl/day (2001 est.)
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Oil - exports:
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NA (2001)
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Oil - imports:
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NA (2001)
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Oil - proved reserves:
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51.22 billion bbl (1 January 2002)
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Natural gas - production:
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580.8 billion cu m (2001 est.)
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Natural gas - consumption:
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408.1 billion cu m (2001 est.)
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Natural gas - exports:
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205.4 billion cu m (2001 est.)
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Natural gas - imports:
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32.7 billion cu m (2001 est.)
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Natural gas - proved reserves:
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47.86 trillion cu m (1 January 2002)
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Current account balance:
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$35.91 billion (2003)
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Exports:
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$134.4 billion (2003 est.)
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Exports - commodities:
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petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
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Exports - partners:
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Germany 7.8%, Netherlands 6.5%, Italy 6.3%, China 6.2%, Belarus 5.7%, Ukraine 5.7%, US 4.6%, Switzerland 4.4% (2003)
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Imports:
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$74.8 billion (2003 est.)
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Imports - commodities:
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machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products
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Imports - partners:
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Germany 14%, Belarus 8.6%, Ukraine 7.7%, China 5.8%, US 5.2%, Kazakhstan 4.7%, Italy 4.2%, France 4.1% (2003)
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Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
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$76.94 billion (2003)
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Debt - external:
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$175.9 billion (2003)
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Economic aid - recipient:
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in FY01 from US, $979 million (including $750 million in non-proliferation subsidies); in 2001 from EU, $200 million (2000 est.)
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Currency:
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Russian ruble (RUR)
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Currency code:
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RUR
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Exchange rates:
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Russian rubles per US dollar - 30.692 (2003), 31.3485 (2002), 29.1685 (2001), 28.1292 (2000), 24.6199 (1999)
note: the post-1 January 1998 ruble is equal to 1,000 of the pre-1 January 1998 rubles
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Fiscal year:
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calendar year
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Telephones - main lines in use:
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35.5 million (2002)
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Telephones - mobile cellular:
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17,608,800 (2002)
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Telephone system:
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general assessment: the telephone system underwent significant changes in the 1990s; 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; however, a large demand for main line service remains unsatisfied
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
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Radio broadcast stations:
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AM 420, FM 447, shortwave 56 (1998)
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Television broadcast stations:
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7,306 (1998)
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Internet country code:
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.ru; 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
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Internet hosts:
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560,874 (2004)
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Internet users:
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6 million (2002)
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Railways:
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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 (2003)
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Highways:
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total: 532,393 km
paved: 358,833 km
unpaved: 173,560 km (2000)
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Waterways:
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96,000 km
note: 72,000 km system in European Russia links Baltic Sea, White Sea, Caspian Sea, Sea of Azov, and Black Sea (2004)
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Pipelines:
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condensate 122 km; gas 150,007 km; oil 75,539 km; refined products 13,771 km (2004)
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Ports and harbors:
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Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy, Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', De-Kastri, Indigirskiy, Kaliningrad, Kandalaksha, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lazarev, Mago, Mezen', Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Onega, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Rostov, Shakhtersk, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Taganrog, Tuapse, Uglegorsk, Vanino, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg
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Merchant marine:
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total: 958 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 4,521,472 GRT/5,505,118 DWT
by type: barge carrier 1, bulk 20, cargo 562, chemical tanker 13, combination bulk 21, combination ore/oil 36, container 28, multi-functional large load carrier 2, passenger 35, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 179, rail car carrier 1, refrigerated cargo 27, roll on/roll off 21, short-sea/passenger 6, specialized tanker 2
foreign-owned: Belize 2, Cambodia 2, Cyprus 9, Denmark 1, Estonia 3, Germany 1, Greece 3, Hong Kong 1, South Korea 1, Latvia 2, Lithuania 3, Malta 2, Moldova 3, Netherlands 2, Panama 2, Switzerland 4, Turkey 18, Turkmenistan 2, Ukraine 7, United Kingdom 3, United States 4
registered in other countries: 350 (2004 est.)
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Airports:
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2,609 (2003 est.)
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Airports - with paved runways:
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total: 585
over 3,047 m: 56
2,438 to 3,047 m: 201
1,524 to 2,437 m: 122
914 to 1,523 m: 100
under 914 m: 106 (2003 est.)
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Airports - with unpaved runways:
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total: 2,024
over 3,047 m: 19
2,438 to 3,047 m: 34
1,524 to 2,437 m: 120
914 to 1,523 m: 261
under 914 m: 1,590 (2003 est.)
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Heliports:
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36 (2003 est.)
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Military branches:
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Ground Forces, Navy, Air Forces; Airborne troops, Strategic Rocket Forces, and Military Space Forces are classified as independent combat arms, not subordinate to any of the three branches
:
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Military manpower - military age and obligation:
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18-27 years of age; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; 200,000 conscripts were inducted into the armed forces in 2003; length of compulsory military service is 2 years; plans as of August 2004 call for reduction in mandatory service to 1 year by 2008; 2003 planning calls for volunteer servicemen to compose 70% of armed forces by 2010, with the remaining servicemen consisting of conscripts (August 2004)
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Military manpower - availability:
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males age 15-49: 39,127,169 (2004 est.)
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Military manpower - fit for military service:
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males age 15-49: 30,600,088 (2004 est.)
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Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
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males: 1,262,339 (2004 est.)
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Military expenditures - dollar figure:
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NA
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Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
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NA
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Disputes - international:
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China and Russia in 2004 resolved their last border dispute over islands in the Amur and Argun Rivers, but details on demarcation have not yet been worked-out; 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; about a third of the boundary with Georgia remains undelimited and none of it demarcated with several small, strategic segments remaining in dispute; OSCE observers monitor volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia; equidistant seabed treaties have been signed with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea but no consensus on dividing the water column among the littoral states; 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; Russia continues to reject signing and ratifying the joint 1996 technical border agreement with Estonia; the Russian Parliament refuses to consider ratification of the boundary treaties with Estonia and Latvia, but in May 2003, ratified land and maritime boundary treaty with Lithuania, which ratified the 1997 treaty in 1999, legalizing limits of former Soviet republic borders; a simplified transit regime was adopted in July 2003 for residents of the Kaliningrad coastal exclave to travel through Lithuania to Russia; delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine is complete, but demarcation remains unresolved; Ukraine protests Russia's construction of a causeway in the direction of Ukrainian-administered Tuzla Island in the Kerch Strait; Kazakhstan and Russia will complete delimitation of their interstate border in 2004 and demarcation is underway; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US in the Bering Sea
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Refugees and internally displaced persons:
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IDPs: 368,000 (displacement from Chechnya and North Ossetia) (2004)
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Illicit drugs:
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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; heroin increasingly popular in domestic market
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This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005
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