General information about Russia

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General information about Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world. It measures 17 mln sq. km and covers eleven time zones. The capital of Russia is Moscow. St. Petersburg is also a very important administrative, business and cultural centre and is often called the second or the Northern capital of Russia. The Russian Federation is composed of 83 administrative and territorial units: republics (21), territories (9), regions (46), federal cities (2), autonomous region (1) and autonomous districts (4). The largest cities, with the population of more than one million people, are Moscow (10,4 mln inhabitants), St. Petersburg (about 4.7 mln), Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Omsk, Tcheliabinsk, Kazan, Perm, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd.

Russia is a democratic federative republic with the presidential form of government and two-chamber parliament consisting of the State Duma and the Federation Council. The head of state is elected once in four years. In 2008, Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of the Russian Federation. Prime Minister heads the Government - at present, it is Vladimir Putin.

Population and language

There are 142,5 million people constantly living in Russia. They belong to more than 100 nationalities speaking their own languages. The most numerous are Russians (81.5%) followed by Tatars (3.8%), Ukranians (3%), Chuvashs (1.2%), Bashkirs (0.9%), Byelorussians (0.8%), Mordvinians (0.7%), Germans and Chechens (0.6% each), Avarians, Armenians, Jews (0.4% each). Russian is the state language used everywhere. At the same time, in the territories where other peoples live their native languages are widely used, the national press is issued and schools with the teaching process in the native languages are acting.

Geography

Russia measures over 9.000 km from West to East and between 2.500 to 4.000 km from North to South. Russia with its Western enclave of Kaliningrad oblast is bounded in the West by Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine, in the South by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and in the East by Japan and the USA.

Russia's shores are washed by 12 seas of three oceans: the Atlantic (Baltic, Black and Azov seas), the Arctic Ocean (Barents, White, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Chukotka seas), and the Pacific Ocean (Bering, Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan).

Some 14% of the Russian territory lies beyond the Arctic Circle, within the perennial permafrost zone, with a long arctic night (occasionally, up to 60 days with the sun below the horizon).

Russia displays a variety of landforms and environments. Its chief regions (from West to East) are the Russian (or East European) Plain, the Ural Mountains, the West Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau, and the Far East. The Russian Plain occupies North-Western, or European, Russia and consists of a series of low, rolling uplands and broad river basins. In the northern half of the plain, which was formerly covered by glaciers, the relief between the river valleys is strewn with lakes and swamps, while in the southern half the watersheds are higher and are cut into by valleys and ravines. The Russian Plain contains Russia's most economically important rivers, among them the Don and Volga. In the South, the Russian Plain is bordered by the Caucasus Mountains between the Black and Caspian seas.

The Ural Mountains form the Eastern limit of the Russian Plain, as well as the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia, and run for about 2,100 km from North to South. The highest peak, Mount Narodnaya, reaches 1,895 m, and other summits range from 900 to 1,500 m, but the many passes make the Urals no barrier to transport.

East of the Urals lies one of the most extensive lowlands in the world, the West Siberian Plain, which is drained by the Ob and Yenisey rivers. The West Siberian Plain merges in the East with the Central Siberian Plateau, which lies mainly at heights of 300-700 m between the Yenisey and Lena river basins. This plateau is bordered in the South by minor mountain ranges that are centred on Lake Baikal. The easternmost portion of Russia is bounded by the Pacific Ocean and is fringed by various mountain chains. This Far East area also includes the Kamchatka peninsula and the Kuril and Sakhalin islands.

Climate

Extending thousands of kilometres from North to South, Russia spans four climatic zones - arctic, subarctic, temperate and subtropical.

Most of the country's area lies in a temperate continental climate, with all the seasons following cyclically one another, with a long cold and snowy winter and a warm summer. The continental character of the climate grows more rigorous in Siberia and the northern districts of the Far East, which have a pronounced continental climate that makes the weather generally quite severe, with wide differences between the seasonal and daily temperatures and a thick bed of permafrost under the topsoil. The absolute minimum temperature of -71 degrees C has been registered in the Oimyakon mountain depression, a short distance from Verkhoyansk, in East Siberia, rightly ranked among the cold poles of the Northern Hemisphere.

Russia's Western and Eastern fringes which are fully exposed to the effect of oceans and their seas have three types of ocean-affected climate: marine, transitional, which is actually a continental variety with different extents of sea influence (in the North-West), and monsoon climate (south of the Russian Far East).

The islands and the mainland littoral of the Arctic Ocean have a severe arctic and subarctic climate. At the opposite end, the resort belt on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, from Tuapse to Anapa, boasts a subtropical climate, with a warm and moist winter and a dry and hot summer.

The daily temperatures of January across the whole of Russia, except for the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, are below zero centigrade, ranging from -1 to -5 degrees C in the West of Russia's European part to -50 degrees C in Yakutia. The summer temperatures, too, differ sharply between the North and South of Russia, from +1 degree in the north of Siberia to +25 degrees C on the Caspian Lowland.

The rainfall is the most plentiful (up to 2.000 mm a year) on the mountain slopes of the Caucasus and the Altai, followed by the southern areas of the Russian Pacific coast (up to 1.000 mm), where summer monsoon rains trigger river flooding, and to a lesser extent, the forests of the East European Plain. The most arid spot in Russia is the semidesert sector of the Caspian Lowland, with its meager 150 mm of rainfall a year.

Natural territories under special protection

Today, Russia has 75 preserves with total area of 19.970.900 hectares. These wildlife refuges offer protection to members of 69% of the mammal species, 83% of the bird, 61% of the reptile, and 96% of the amphibian species, and 40% of the rare plant varieties entered in the Red Data Book. Besides 99.8% of the tree varieties growing in the country's European part are under official protection within these wildlife sanctuaries.

Apart from these preserves, Russia has 1.519 reserves, where restrictions are placed on some types of economic activity. Of these, 71 reserves have a federal status, and the rest are in the charge of regional administrations. The functions of wildlife refuges, reserves and recreational areas are combined in national natural parks, 17 of which, with a total area of 3.6 million hectares, have been established since the early 1980s. For instance, the Valdai National Park (area: 160.000 hectares) in the Novgorod Region is laid out around the hub formed by the town of Valdai and Lake Valdai. The woods of this wildlife refuge boast over 70 lakes and abound in rare plant and animal life.

Museums

Russia is the country with eventful centuries-old history and rich culture, which is reflected in hundreds of large and of small museums. Their profiles are extremely various: all over the country there are historical museums, museums of regional ethnography, museums of arts (collections of arts, galleries, previews), architectural and historical-and-cultural memorials (museums-estates, museums-preserves of arts, monasteries), literary and memorial museums (houses-museums, studios), scientific museums (of anthropology, zoology, paleontology, criminalistics), polytechnic and special museums (of peoples' trades and crafts, watches, furniture, porcelain, stained glass, vodka, automobiles, perfumes, etc.) and the like.

The first museum of Russia was opened in St. Petersburg in 1714 on the initiative of Peter the Great and it was called the Kunstkamera (the chamber of rarities). Demonstrated there were models of ships and machinery, devices and astronomic instruments, stuffed animals and unique collection of anatomic specimens. As distinct from the European museums of those times, which were essentially commercial enterprises with high admission fees, the first Russian museum was the educational one and free of charge for visitors. Moreover, Peter the Great allocated the money annually from the treasury for their regaling.

Another noticeable museum of St. Petersburg is the Palace of Peter the Great (Peterhoff). Equally astonishing in this Palace are not only its interiors, but also the unique park, fountains cascade and statues. Kept in Peterhoff is the collection of belongings of Peter the Great. Also interesting and loved by the public is the Catherine Palace in Pushkin. It was built by Peter the Great for his wife - Catherine I. In the Palace, one can find the parquet of wondrous beauty and gold-plated walls with mirrors in the Throne hall, wonderful tiled stoves, the picture gallery having 130 pictures by famous western painters of the 18th century, the golden lace of the wood carving by Rastrelli, the Bright gallery, the Chinese hall, the amber panel (the attempt to reconstruct the fragments of the famous, but lost, Amber room).

One more place of pilgrimage of tourists is the Hermitage. Invaluable inheritance left to Russia by enlightened empress Catherine II (the Great) is the collection of works of art founded in 1764, and only in 1852 it became open for the public. Among its exhibits is the richest collection of the works by Rembrandt and among them are the "Dania" and "Holy family", the pictures by Raphael and Rubens, the library of Voltaire, the ancient cameos of utter beauty, the Siberian collection of Peter the Great consisting of 250 ancient gold ornaments, treasures of the Scythian burial places.

Of no less pride for St. Petersburg is the "Russian museum". This is a gigantic collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings and specimens of the folk art. One should not forget the museums of Alexander Pushkin and Fedor Dostoevsky.

The first museum of Moscow was opened in 1791 and was called the Cabinet of natural history of the Moscow University (now it is Zoological museum of the Moscow University).

The most significant museums of the Russian capital are the Moscow Kremlin, its Armoury and Faceted Chamber, the Trinity-Sergius museum-preserve (Zagorsk historical-and-artistic museum), the Pushkin Museum of fine arts, the Tretiakov gallery, Historical museum, Museum of theatrical arts, Museum of arts of the oriental peoples, the Diamond treasury of Russia, Museum of the ancient Russian arts, the Temple of Christ the Saviour and Sviato-Danilov monastery, Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia and the Museum of puppets.

Visiting museums-estates is the purpose of a separate kind of tourism, which has been recently actively developed in Russia. This project is called "Wreath of the Russian estates" and includes visiting the estates in Kolomenskoye, Kuskovo, Kuzminki, Ostankino, etc.

The Armoury is the repository of precious treasures and valuables inherited by Grand Princes and Russian Tsars from the end of the 15th century. From the beginning of the 19th century, it is the museum of the antique tsars' regalia and crown clothes, precious gold and silver dishes, ancient tsars' weapons and trophies, as well as rich horse harness and carriages. The most ancient weapon items are two helmets of the 13th century, pishals (ancient pistols), mortars, mushketons (ancient rifles). Exhibited there are also a full collection of Russian orders (up to the year 1917) and banners that accompanied the campaigns of the Russian princes and tsars in different centuries. All the Armoury exhibits are unique and, without exaggeration, invaluable.

Meanwhile, there are museums worth visiting not only in the capitals. For example, located in Tula is the oldest museum of the Russian weapons, in Arkhangelsk - the unique museum of wooden architecture, in Kaluga - the museum of cosmonautics, in the Murmansk region - the museum of stones, in the Vladimir region - the museum-preserve "Aleksandrovskaya sloboda" and in Sochi - the unique arboretum. The status of historical-and-architectural and natural museum-preserve was assigned to the Solovetskie islands. In each of the Golden Ring towns - Vladimir, Great Novgorod, Great Rostov, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Suzdal - there are several historical-and-architectural museums-preserves.

Religions

At the beginning of the nineties there began the mass reconstruction of old Christian temples and construction of new ones. At present, each confession freely professes its own religion and believers can visit the Christian churches, catholic temples, mosques, synagogues, Buddhist temples and datsans. The majority religion in Russia is Christian Orthodox. Traditionally, Catholicism is mostly present in the western regions of Russia, the German evangelical Lutheran church is the largest Lutheran church in Russia (it amalgamates about 300 parishes). Islam is widely spread at the places of traditional dwelling of Tatars and Bashkirs, while Buddhism - among the Mongolian peoples, i.e., Buryats. For example, in the Republic of Bashkiria where about 800 thousand Bashkirs and the same number of Tatars are living, the total number of Muslims is about 1.5 mln. Acting in the Republic of Buryatia there are two Buddhist monasteries-datsans. Synagogues function in almost all large cities.

Traditions, customs, habits

The peculiarities of rites and traditions consist in the fact that they are conveyed from one generation to another. The rites are associated with the religious notions; these are koliada, celebration of Easter, wedding ceremony, mystery of baptism and some other. Traditions are related to secular phenomena and are spread a little bit wider. Such are the charity (patronage), Russian bath, celebration of the "old New year" and as they said in the old times, "drinking process".

Koliada is the old Christmas rite of glorifying the celebration of the birth of Christ by way of singing the songs and the song itself. On the night from the 6th to 7th of January before the Orthodox Christmas, the people were usually not asleep: they were wandering from home to home, were making "koliada", i.e., singing the koliadkis - the old Christmas and new-year ritual songs. In the times of tsarism, even tsars went to their subjects for congratulations and making "koliada".

Children and youngsters who sang the songs under windows started the koliada process and they received for this various fares. Before starting for koliada, the rich, as a rule, changed their clothes into carnival and non-ordinary ones, while the poor simply reversed the upper clothes inside out and put on the masks of animals. Nowadays this rite is revived: the people learn the songs, change their clothes as in the old times, put on the masks and go to the neighbours, relatives and colleagues both in cities and in the countryside. Children especially like to participate in the koliada rite because they are necessarily given fares for singing the songs.

Easter, as they said in the old times, is the "Holiday of all holidays and celebration of all celebrations", the day of memory about life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a custom in Russia to congratulate each other with this holiday. The Easter in Russia is celebrated with several rites: the all-night vigil, christening movement around the church, "easter-kissings" procedure, painting of eggs and baking of Easter cakes. The "Easter-kissings" procedure is such a widespread rite in Russia that it cannot be avoided even by practically non-believers. The procedure consists in the exchange of kisses followed by greeting-congratulation "Jesus Christ is resurrected!" and the reply "Resurrected indeed!" and then, the exchange of painted eggs. The egg that was traditionally painted red or tinged with red became the obligatory attribute and symbol of the Christian Easter beginning from the 12th century. Apart from painted natural eggs, prepared for the Easter celebration were also special gift eggs made of glass, crystal, decorated porcelain and precious metals. The most outstanding manufacturer of such eggs was Karl Faberge. The main and obligatory adornment of the Easter table is considered to be the Easter cake (kulich). It is baked of short yeast pastry, it may be of different sizes, but it should be high and have round form. A cross of pastry is laid at the top of kulich. The form of kulich is explained by the fact that according to the legend, the shroud of Christ was round. And it is considered, that if the Easter cake was a success, then the success will accompany the family. Kulich is cut into slices across rather than lengthwise so that the top remains safe in order to cover with it the remaining portion of the kulich.

Baptism is a very old rite, which in the Orthodox and Catholic Church is related to the sort of mysteries. It means that a man was admitted to the lap of Christian Church. After christening the people say: "He (or she) became the God's person", i.e., was drawn into divinity. In the Orthodox Church, a baby is dipped into water three times, while in the Catholic Church, it is simply doused with water. It is a custom to invite relatives and close friends for the christening-party and lay the table to celebrate of the event. Mother and father of a baby do not take part in the christening-party. This ritual in Russia is performed the same way as it has been over centuries with the help of godfather and godmother. Priest pronounces a proclamation prayer, blesses the water, puts the christening shirt on a baby, gives it the neck cross and makes the mystery of anointment and christening. In Russia, the godfather for the parents is "kum" and godmother, "kuma". That day, everybody gives presents to the baby, and godfather with godmother, the most expensive presents.

Wedding ceremonies in Russia were performed during certain seasons of the year. Usually, it happened in autumn or winter, in the intervals between large fasts. The most popular period for wedding ceremonies in Russia was between the Christmas and Shrovetide (a week before the spring fast). This period was called the wedding period. Nowadays, the most popular period for weddings of young couples became the spring, the end of summer or autumn. The ritual of church wedding becomes more frequent now, however, according to the law, the marriage is registered by the state. The church wedding is very beautiful and touching ritual, when standing under the crown, the young couples give the oaths to be faithful in grief and joy. It is considered that after the wedding, they more sharply realize their belonging to each other and get into the mood for long joint life since, as a whole, the divorces are prohibited by the Christian Church. Traditionally, a bridegroom buys for fiancé the ring, wedding dress and shoes and the fiancé's family provide her with dowry, i.e., linen, kitchen utensils and furniture. Present on the wedding-ceremony table should be the dishes of birds symbolizing a happy family life. The wedding pie in Russia is called "kurnik". It is prepared of pancakes or short unleavened pastry interlaid with chicken meat, mushrooms, rice and other stuffing. When the newly married couple comes to the home of the bridegroom parents, his mother meets them according to the Russian tradition with bread-and-salt. All the guests watch who will break off the larger piece of bread because who has done so, will be the head of the home. The modern wedding party usually lasts for 2 - 3 days.

A person who disinterestedly makes good deeds and helps the poor and ill was called in Russia a philanthropist. The founder of charity is considered to be prince Vladimir Krasnoye Solnishko (Fair Sun) who converted Russia to Christianity. Later on, tsars and tsarinas gave to widows and orphans for living, to dowerless for wedding, to the children of poor people for studying, to convicts in prisons for food and clothes, and so on. Rich traders (merchants) gave the money near churches and gave bed, food and clean clothes to disabled and beggars in their homes. At the end of the 19th century, there was rapidly growing number of charity societies, which took care of poverty-stricken and aged people, and treated the sick and crippled. Meanwhile, the citizens were doing the charity personally. Even peasants followed the tradition of giving alms to the poor.

Traditionally the bath was the first need of the domestic life. The bath was visited regularly. At present, this is more frequently amusement or the element of the healthy way of life. The bath now is one of the best ways to associate with friends. It is considered that the best way of visiting the bath is once a week or once in ten days. The main accessories of the Russian bath are the steam, switch of birch or oak twigs, fragrant tea with herbs, kvass or beer. In the bath it is not a custom to swear or to speak loudly. The people in Russia believe in the medicinal force of bath, which is very effective to prevent catching cold and also serves as a means of psychological relaxation and removal of stresses.

Almost all Russians celebrate the Old New year on the 13th of January. Before 1918, effective in Russia was the Julian calendar, which was ahead the Gregorian calendar used in Europe by 13 days. According to the Decree of the Soviet Government dated January 24, 1918, Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar. However, all the dates were indicated for a long time with the notice "by new style" or "by old style". But on January 13 by new style the majority of families continued to celebrate the Old New Year. With the passage of time, the people got used to new calendar. But the tradition to celebrate the Old New Year remained. As a rule, many Russians celebrate the New Year at home with their families. However, on the eve of the Old New Year, it is a custom to lay the table and invite the friends and relatives to celebrate, and until that day, decorated X-trees are retained in each home. This holiday sometimes is celebrated more cheerfully and democratically than the New Year.

The chronicle says that prince Vladimir Krasnoye Solnishko did not choose the Christian faith at once. Historians assert that the prince, having decided to avert his people from paganism, first thought of making the country Mohammedan. The eastern ambassadors almost convinced him. But when the prince heard that the Koran prohibits "drinking", he turned them out. He said, "Merriment of Russia is drinking" and refused to deprive his people of this amusement. However, the recent Christian priests say, while drinking the alcohol in the period of no fast, "Not only for merriment, but for good health".

The customs change more frequently than traditions. The most widely spread customs now are as follows: to let elder people have seats in transport, to live together with the children who reached the age of 18 until they get married, to marry at the age of 23 - 25 years and if the mother of children is working, to let the children under school age stay with the grand mothers to be looked after, rather than stay in kindergartens, to cook jam in summer and to preserve vegetables, to have, apart from flat, the countryside small house (dacha) and most frequently, with garden and vegetable allotment. In Russia, it is a custom to give hand to female companions when they step out of bus or trolley bus, to shake hands with friends and to kiss thrice when you meet them, to go to see friends or relatives not only on week-ends and to bring something "for tea" and to go to see friends or relatives without warning. The Russians usually go to sleep late, they like to drink tea in the kitchen while talking long tales, they do not feel shy to borrow salt or matches from their neighbours when they suddenly finished. During parties, they always raise their glasses to the health of the host and hostess. Practically all the Russians read in the transport because of time deficit and love for literature. Among the family customs is the habit to buy the necessary things for a baby only after he is born. The attitude of Russians to the public use of abusive words is very negative: in the Russian language these words continue to remain indecent as distinct from the American vocabulary where these words almost lost the abusive shadow. It is considered that to avoid using non-normative words means to manifest private culture and estimation toward encircling people. It is customary for Russians to ask a companion private questions about his family, incomes, hobbies, health, job or business and to expect a non-formal reply to these questions.