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Portal:Russia

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Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world, and extends across eleven time zones; sharing land borders with fourteen countries. Russia is the most populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous country in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia, while Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and cultural centre.

Human settlement on the territory of modern Russia dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. The East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire, which remains the third-largest empire in history. However, with the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule was abolished and eventually replaced by the Russian SFSR—the world's first constitutionally socialist state. Following the Russian Civil War, the Russian SFSR established the Soviet Union with three other Soviet republics, within which it was the largest and principal constituent. The Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in the 1930s, amidst the deaths of millions under Joseph Stalin's rule, and later played a decisive role for the Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front. With the onset of the Cold War, it competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements, including the first human-made satellite and the first human expedition into outer space. (Full article...)

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Konstantin Makovsky

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Alliances formed as a result of the Diplomatic Revolution

A coulibiac (‹The template Lang-rus is being considered for deletion.› Russian: кулебяка, romanized: kulebyaka [kʊlʲɪˈbʲakə]) is a type of pirog usually filled with salmon or sturgeon, rice or buckwheat, hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, onions, and dill. The pie is baked in a pastry shell, usually of brioche or puff pastry.

In the early part of the 20th century, French chef Auguste Escoffier brought it to France and included recipes for it in his book The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery. (Full article...)

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Putin in 2024

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. He is the longest-serving Russian president since the independence of Russia from the Soviet Union.

Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, he moved to Moscow to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He briefly served as the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and then as secretary of the Security Council of Russia before being appointed prime minister in August 1999. Following Yeltsin's resignation, Putin became acting president and, less than four months later in May 2000, was elected to his first term as president. He was reelected in 2004. Due to constitutional limitations of two consecutive presidential terms, Putin served as prime minister again from 2008 to 2012 under Dmitry Medvedev. He returned to the presidency in 2012, following an election marked by allegations of fraud and protests, and was reelected in 2018. (Full article...)

In the news

1 May 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Odesa strikes
An overnight Russian drone attack on Odesa, Ukraine, kills two people and injures 15 others. High-rise apartments, residential homes, a supermarket and a school were among those targeted, according to Governor of Odesa Oblast Oleh Kiper. (Reuters)
30 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
North Korean involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
South Korean intelligence claims North Korean troops have suffered around 4,700 casualties, including about 600 fatalities among 15,000 soldiers. Their combat capability has also significantly improved, with increasing proficiency in new weapons such as drones. (CBC News)
29 April 2025 –
Eighteen Russians are injured in a bus crash in Side, Turkey. (Telegrafi)
President of Russia Vladimir Putin signs a decree restoring the "Stalingrad" name to the Volgograd Airport. (Reuters)

More Did you know (auto generated)

  • ... that street artist TVBoy, known for his murals of footballers in Barcelona, painted uplifting art in regions of Kyiv ahead of the one-year anniversary of the 2022 Russian invasion?
  • ... that former Czech Army doctor Marek Obrtel returned his military decorations from NATO operations in 2014, citing his pro-Russian and anti-American views?
  • ... that to raise funds for the Council of District Dumas, its chairman led an armed squad to storm the Moscow headquarters of the State Bank?
  • ... that the Russian and Belarussian military exercise Zapad 2009 involved nuclear-capable ballistic missiles?
  • ... that Wallachian statesman Radu Golescu, who worked with Russian occupiers in 1806, was described as "immeasurably thirsty for wealth, and mean-spirited"?
  • ... that Vostok 2022 marked the most comprehensive participation of Chinese forces in a Russian military exercise to date?

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Leo Tolstoy
A Frenchman is self-assured because he regards himself personally, both in mind and body, as irresistibly attractive to men and women. An Englishman is self-assured, as being a citizen of the best-organized state in the world, and therefore as an Englishman always knows what he should do and knows that all he does as an Englishman is undoubtedly correct. An Italian is self-assured because he is excitable and easily forgets himself and other people. A Russian is self-assured just because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, since he does not believe that anything can be known. The German's self-assurance is worst of all, stronger and more repulsive than any other, because he imagines that he knows the truth--science--which he himself has invented but which is for him the absolute truth.
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