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Russia
1992, 2003,
2007
Professor Vladimir Shipulin, Tomsk, Siberia
Professor Leo Bockeria, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bakoulev
Scientific Center for CV Surgery,
Moscow, Russia
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The defeat of the Russian Empire
in World War I led to the seizure of power by the communists and the
formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1924-53)
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.
Location: |
Northern Asia (that part
west of the Urals is sometimes included with Europe), bordering the
Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean
60 00 N, 100 00 E |
Population: |
145,470,197 (July 2001
est.) |
Area: |
total: 17,075,200
sq km
land: 16,995,800 sq km
water: 79,400 sq km
slightly less than 1.8 times the size of the US |
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: |
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 |
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