Russia

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. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. 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 Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and 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 Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national elections, former President PUTIN's genuine popularity, and the prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth. Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Ruble (ISO code: RUB)
* Central bank discount rate: 13% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 12.23% (2008 average)
* Stock of money (M1): $252.5 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $318.4 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Russia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	195 906	259 708	306 603	345 470	431 487	591 742	764 531	991 450	1 294 930	1 679 480
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Russia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	48.984 	41.353 	 	 	16.649 	9.896 	10.470 	6.434
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Russia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	31.723 	27.512 	26.817 	 	28.708 	31.457 	33.365
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Russia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	 	 	 	22.535 	22.985 	21.547 	 	19.510 	23.101 	21.330
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	1.304 	 	 	 	0.345 	0.333 	0.193
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Russia on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Russia
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
* How China Won and Russia Lost by Paul R. Gregory and Kate Zhou, December 2009
* Russia plans to slash 100,000 bureaucrat jobs by 2013, AFP, September 2010
Category:Countries