Russia

Russia Federation
Security Council
Total area: 17,075,400 km2
Boundaries: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongoliaand North Korea.
Littoral: Coastline 37,653 km.
Population: 2012 estimate 143,300,000 million people.
Ethnic distribution: 81.0% Russians 3.7% Tatars1.4% Ukrainians 1.1% Bashkirs 1.0% Chuvashe11.8% others / unspecified
Religions: Protestant 45.6% Anglican 31.8% Uniting Church in Australia 10.6%
Seventh day Adventist 3.2% Roman Catholic 11.5% Other Christian 5.6%
None 19.9% Unspecified16.6%
Languages: English, Norfolk (is mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian)
Government System: Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic
Legal System: civil law system,judicial review of legislative acts
Suffrage: 18 years of age, universal
Member of: APEC, Arctic Council, ARF, ASEAN, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, SCO, UN, UNCTAD, etc.
History
Viking tribes fromScandinavia moved southward into European Russia, tracing a path along the main waterway connecting the Baltic and Black Seas. The various tribes were united by the spread of Christianity in the 10thand 11th centuries; Vladimir the Saint was converted in 988. During the 11th century, the grand dukes of Kiev held such centralizing power as existed. World War I demonstrated tsarist corruption andinefficiency and only patriotism held the poorly equipped army together for a time.  The humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918) concluded the war with Germany, but a brutal civil war andforeign intervention delayed Communist control of all Russia until 1920. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established as a federation on Dec. 30, 1922 and the new economic policy startedwhich installed the community as owners of land and property. Dissolution of the U.S.S.R. The possible beginning of the fragmentation of the Communist Party and the Soviet era took place when Boris...