1992 Edition

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

Coastline

37,653 km

Comparative area

slightly more than 1.8 times the size of the US

Contiguous zone

NA nm

Continental shelf

200-meter depth or to depth of exploitation

Disputes

China, a section of the boundary with Tajikistan; boundary with Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia; Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan Islands and the Habomai island group occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, claimed by Japan; maritime dispute with Norway over portion of the Barents Sea; has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation

inherited disputes from former USSR including

sections of the boundary with

Environment

despite its size, only a small percentage of land is arable and much is too far north; permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development; catastrophic pollution of land, air, water, including both inland waterways and sea coasts

Exclusive economic zone

200 nm

Exclusive fishing zone

NA nm

Land area

16,995,800 km2

Land boundaries

20,139 km total; Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 290 km, Finland 1,313 km, Georgia 723 km, Kazakhstan 6,846 km, North Korea 19 km, Latvia 217 km, Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 227 km, Mongolia 3,441 km, Norway 167 km, Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 432 km, Ukraine 1,576 km

Land use

NA% arable land; NA% permanent crops; NA% meadows and pastures; NA% forest and woodland; NA% other; includes NA% irrigated

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

Note

largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world

Terrain

broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions

Territorial sea

12 nm

Total area

17,075,200 km2

Birth rate

15 births/1,000 population (1992)

Death rate

11 deaths/1,000 population (1992)

Ethnic divisions

Estonian NA%, Latvian NA%, Lithuanian NA%, Russian NA%, other NA%

Infant mortality rate

31 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)

Labor force

78,682,000 (1989); industry and construction 43.0%, agriculture and forestry 13.0%, transport and communication 7.9%, trade and distribution 7.9%, other 28.2%

Languages

Estonian NA%, Latvian NA%, Lithuanian NA%, Russian NA%, other NA%

Life expectancy at birth

63 years male, 74 years female (1992)

Literacy

NA% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write

Nationality

noun - Russian(s); adjective - Russian

Net migration rate

1 migrant/1,000 population (1992)

Organized labor

NA

Population

149,527,479 (July 1992), growth rate 0.4% (1992)

Religions

Russian Orthodox NA%, unknown NA%, none NA%, other NA%

Total fertility rate

2.1 children born/woman (1992)

Administrative divisions

20 autonomous republics (avtomnykh respublik, singular - automnaya respublika); Adygea (Maykop), Bashkortostan (Ufa), Buryatia (Ulan-Ude), Checheno-Ingushetia (Groznyy), Chuvashia (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Gorno-Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Kabardino-Balkaria (Nal`chik), Kalmykia (Elista), Karachay-Cherkessia (Cherkessk), Karelia (Petrozavodsk), Khakassia (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mari El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordvinia (Saransk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz; formerly Ordzhonikidze), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tuva (Kyzyl), Udmurtia (Izhevsk), Yakutia (Yakutsk); 49 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'); Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchata (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhegorod (Nizhniy Novgorod; formerly Gor'kiy), Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orel, Orenburg, Penza, Perm', Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara (formerly Kuybyshev), Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver' (formerly Kalinin), Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladmir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl'; 6 krays (krayer, singular - kray); Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol; note - the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg have oblast status; an administrative division has the same name as its administrative center (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses); it is possible that 4 more administrative divisions will be added

Capital

Moscow

Communists

NA

Congress of People's Deputies

last held March 1990 (next to be held 1995); results - percent of vote by party NA%; seats - (1,063 total) number of seats by party NA

Constitution

a new constitution is in the process of being drafted

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador LUKIN; Chancery at 1125 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036; telephone (202) 628-7551 US: Ambassador Robert S. STRAUSS; Embassy at Ulitsa Chaykovskogo 19/21/23, Moscow (mailing address is APO AE 09721); telephone [7] (095) 252-2450 through 59; there is a consulate at St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad); future consulates will be in Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok

Executive branch

president, vice president, Security Council, President's Administration, Council of Ministers

Flag

tricolor; three equal bands of white (top), blue, red (bottom)

Independence

24 August 1991, declared by Supreme Council (from Soviet Union; formerly Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic); 1 December 1991 referendum on independence passed

Judicial branch

Constitutional Court

Legal system

based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

Congress of People's Deputies, Supreme Soviet

Long-form name

Russian Federation

Member of

CIS, CSCE, ESCAP, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IMF, INTERPOL, IMO, INMARSAT, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NACC, NSG, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNTSO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZG

National holiday

NA

Other political or pressure groups

NA

Political parties and leaders

Democratic Russia, A. Lev PONOMAREV and Gleb YAKUNIN, cochairmen; Democratic Party of Russia, Nikolay TRAVKIN, chairman; People's Party of Free Russia, Aleksandr RUTSKOY, chairman; Russian Movement for Democratic Reforms, Gavriil POPOV, chairman

President

last held 12 June 1991 (next to be held 1996); results - percent of vote by party NA%

Suffrage

universal at age 18

Supreme Soviet

last held May 1990 (next to be held 1995); results - percent of vote by party NA%; seats - (252 total) number of seats by party NA

Type

federation

Agriculture

grain, meat, milk, vegetables, fruits; because of its northern location Russia does not grow citrus, cotton, tea, and other warm climate products

Budget

NA

Currency

ruble (plural - rubles); 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks

Economic aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $NA; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-86), $NA; Communist countries (1971-86), $NA million

Electricity

42,500 MW capacity; 1,100 billion kWh produced, 7,430 kWh per capita (1991)

Exchange rates

150 rubles per US$1 (20 July 1992) but subject to wide fluctuations

Exports

$58.7 billion (f.o.b., 1991) commodities: petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, coal, nonferrous metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures partners: Western Europe, Japan, Eastern Europe

External debt

$40 billion (end of 1991 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

purchasing power equivalent - $NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate - 9% (1991)

Illicit drugs

illicit producers of cannabis and opium; mostly for domestic consumption; government has active eradication program; used as transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Imports

$43.5 billion (c.i.f., 1991) commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, consumer goods, grain, meat, semifinished metal products partners: Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, Third World countries, Cuba

Industrial production

-8% after adjustment for inflation due to shift to more expensive products, -2% before this adjustment (1991)

Industries

complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; ship- building; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

89% (1991)

Overview

Russia, one of the world's largest economies, possesses a wealth of natural resources and a diverse industrial base. Within the now-dismantled USSR, it had produced 60% of total output, with 55% of the total labor force and 60% of the total capital stock. Russia depends on its world-class deposits of oil and gas not only for its own needs but also for vital hard currency earnings. Self-sufficient in coal and iron ore, it has a crude steel production capacity of about 95 million tons, second only to Japan. Russia's machine-building sector - 60% of the old USSR's - lags behind world standards of efficiency and quality of product. Other major industrial sectors - chemicals, construction materials, light industry, and food processing - also suffer from quality problems, obsolescent capital equipment, and pollution. Consumer goods have had lower priority, and the product mix has not mirrored household preferences. Furthermore, the transition to a more market-oriented economy has disrupted channels of supply to factories and distribution outlets; substantial imports of foods and medical supplies have helped maintain minimum standards of consumption. Russia inherited 70% of the former USSR's defense production facilities and is experiencing major social problems during conversion of many of these plants to civilian production. Russia produces almost half of the old USSR's farm products, but most warm-climate crops must be imported. Under the old USSR, production of industrial and agricultural goods often was concentrated in a single firm or a single republic. Today, producing units often have lost their major customers and their major sources of supply, and the market institutions and incentives for adjusting to the new political and economic situations are only slowly emerging. Rank-and-file Russians will continue to suffer major deprivations in 1992 and beyond before the country begins to realize its great economic potential. The comprehensive economic reform program enacted in January 1992 faces many economic and political hurdles before it will lead to sustained economic growth.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Airports

NA total, NA usable; NA with permanent-surface runways; NA with runways over 3,659 m; NA with runways 2,440-3,659 m; NA with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

NA major transport aircraft

Highways

879,100 km total (1990); 652,500 km hard-surfaced, 226,600 km earth

Inland waterways

NA km perennially navigable

Merchant marine

842 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,151,393 GRT/11,308,812 DWT; includes 494 cargo, 39 container, 2 barge carrier, 3 roll-on/float-off, 69 roll-on/roll-off, 131 petroleum tanker, 53 bulk cargo, 9 chemical tanker, 2 specialized liquid carriers, 17 combination ore/oil, 23 passenger

Pipelines

crude oil and petroleum products 68,400 km, natural gas NA km

Ports

maritime - St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Arkhangel'sk, Novorossiysk, Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Kholmsk, Korsakov, Magadan, Tiksi, Tuapse, Vanino, Vostochnyy, Vyborg; inland - Astrakhan', Nizhniy Novgorod (Gor'kiy), Kazan', Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Samara (Kuybyshev), Moscow, Rostov, Volgograd

Railroads

87,180 km all 1.520-meter broad gauge (includes NA km electrified); does not include industrial lines (1990)

Telecommunications

the telephone system is inadequate for a large industrial country, consisting of about 36 million lines of which only about 3% are switched automatically; as of 31 January 1990, 10.8 million applications for telephones for household use could not be satisfied; telephone density is 11 per 100 persons; international connections are made via satellite, land line, microwave, and outdated submarine cables, and are generally unsatisfactory; the international gateway switch in Moscow handles international traffic for the other former Soviet republics as well as for Russia; broadcast stations - 1,050 AM/FM/SW (reach 98.6% of population), 310 TV (580 repeaters) (reach 98% of population); satellite ground stations - INTELSAT, Intersputnik, INMARSAT, Orbita

Branches

Russian defence forces will be comprised of those ground-, air-, and sea-based conventional assets currently on Russian soil and those scheduled to be withdrawn from other countries; strategic forces will remain under CIS control

Defense expenditures

$NA, NA% of GDP

Manpower availability

males 15-49, 36,288,000; 27,216,000 fit for military service; 1,020,341 reach military age (18) annually