Sneak Preview

After the disintegration of the former USSR, Russia is still struggling to make itself a true free market economy. In the days of the Soviet Union, shortages and queues were the order of the day. Today, the shops are filled with merchandise from the west, but unfortunately the wage structure has not kept up with rising price lines. The result is that crime is on the upswing and mafia gangs rule the roost.

Notwithstanding the negative aspects of modern Russia, the country has lifted it "iron curtain" and visitors come to discover the hitherto hidden treasures of ancient Rossiya, the land of many hues. The historical Smolensk area, the changing expanse of Siberia, the breathtaking Baikal reserve, the snowy world of the Transurals, the precipices of the Caucasus and the fire breathing volcanoes of Kamchatka cover the diverse natural landscape of Russia.

Peter the Great, Pushkin, Lenin, Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Sergei Eisenstein, Leo Tolstoy, Yuri Gagarin, Svetlana Savitskaya, Anna Pavlova, Andrei Sakharov, Mikhail Gorbachev - the list of illustrious Russians is endless and their contribution to

their nation immense.

more

hide

Be warned! Underground metros, overnight trains, railway stations and airports are amongst the places that tourists get mugged in, most often. So watch your step and your belongings!

Historically Speaking

Scandinavian migration from northern Europe towards the north eastern parts of Eurasia were the beginnings of the behemoth that was to later become Russia. The founding father was the leader of the Varangians, the legendary Viking Rurik of Jutland, who founded the city of Novgorod in 862 AD. This is taken as the birth of what was to later became the Russian Empire. Early Russia was not Russia as we know it but a collection of cities that gradually coalesced into an empire - the first few cities were Pskov, Chernigov, Smolensk and Novgorod. Rurik's successor Oleg acquired the Slavic city of Kiev and made it the commercial hub of his kingdom, relegating Novgorod to a trading backwater. The empire came to be known as Kievan Rus and flourished as it opened up safer trade routes between Scandinavia and Constantinople.

The prosperity lasted till 1054 AD before the empire began to break up into many little princedoms. Even that was ultimately destroyed by the Mongolian Tatars in the 13th century, when internecine feuds between the various princes reached such proportions that the Mongols under Ghenghis Khan's grandson found

it easy to conquer Russia and establish supremacy over the region, a domination that was to last for the next three centuries. The Mongols did not stay back to rule but forced the princes to send regular tribute to the Tatar Empire of the Golden Horde. Around this time, European kingdoms repeatedly invaded Russian border areas. Sweden too tried to annex the territory of Kievan Rus till the decisive battle of Chudskoe Lake in 1242 AD put paid to their ambitions. The Russian fightback was led by their first war hero, Alexander Nevskii.

Moscow became the capital of Russia during this period, although the exact dates are vague but the first mention of Moscow occurs in 1147. It wasn't until 1480 that Russia, under the rule of Ivan the Great, became strong enough to throw off Tatar rule for good. Russia became a unified state under Ivan's grandson, Ivan IV who unleashed his might on Poland, Sweden and Siberia with the intention of expanding his empire. Ivan adopted the title of Tsar in 1547 but his terrible temper that gained him the title of Ivan the Terrible saw to it that his successors were a weak and incompetent lot who could not hold his empire together. The Rurik dynasty ended after a 700 year reign with Prince Fyodor who was childless. Consequently, both the Poles and the Swedes laid claim to the throne of Russia.

A time of uncertainity followed with the Poles setting up their own representative on the Russian throne. Finally matters came to a head, the Poles were evicted from Moscow and the Boyars elected the 16 year old Mikhail Romanov, king. The Romanov dynasty was to rule Russia for the next 304 years, until the Russian Revolution brought an end to the Tsarist state. One of the greatest of Romanov rulers was Peter the Great who did the groundwork of the modernisation of Russia in 1697. He became the first Tsar to visit Europe and signed strategic alliances with Poland and Denmark. He also built the city of St. Petersburg in 1712, a city that was to become symbolic of European Russia.

From the time of Ivan the Terrible, a conscientious effort had been made to concentrate political power in the hands of the Tsars. The nobility were given land and workers in lieu of the power that was usurped from them by the Tsars. Rampant feudalism led to the extreme oppression of the serfs and peasants, who were considered devoid of any rights. But the 19th century saw the emergence of new philosophies, industrialisation gave the labour classes a voice and slowly the demand for basic human rights grew more and more vociferous.

The turn of the century found Russians embroiled in one war after the other, as Tsar Nicholas II began to loose control of his kingdom. World War I and its first three brutal years left the nation reeling; millions of poor Russians lost their lives and many millions were seriously affected, displaced or grievously injured. The Russian Army suffered terrible defeats and the country experienced extreme food shortages and the collapse of the economy. Workers and soldiers alike began to protest after tolerating these conditions for three years.

The Tsar tried to appease his people by conceding some democratic rights by way of the Russian Parliament, the Duma. But it was already too late for the monarchy. The Russian revolution took place in October 1917. It was an event that changed the entire makeup of Russia and affected the whole world. Under the aegis of Vladimir Lenin, the October Revolution of 1917 marked the beginning of the Soviet or communist era and the withdrawal of Russia from the World War I. The erstwhile Russian empire and all its territories became The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under the Bolshevik government. Lenin's death in 1924 was followed by an extended and extremely divisive struggle for power in the Communist Party before Josef Stalin became party boss and supremo.

Despite a non aggression treaty with Hitler, the USSR found itself dragged willy-nilly into World War II. After initial defeats and loss of territory to the Germans, the Russian Red Army and the brutal Russian winter halted Hitler's onward march to Moscow. The aftermath of the war found the USSR in control of considerable territories in East Europe and one of the world's two super powers, alongside the USA. Years of communist rule left the Russians both repressed and the economy at the mercy of whichever party boss was in power. Stalin was followed by Khruschev, Breshnev, Andropov, Chernenko and finally Mikhail Gorbachev. When Gorbachev came into power he introduced the new policies of 'Perestroika’ and 'Glasnost’ (restructuring and openness) in recognition of a changing global and regional ecnomic scenario and in consonance with the demands of the time. His policies liberalised the Russian economy and brought about democratic changes in Russia. On the flip side it also fuelled the secessionist tendencies and led to the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. By 1990, the erstwhile Soviet republics had broken away from Russia and declared their independence from the union.

In the summer of 1991, when radical reform movements were on the upswing, rightwing communists fought back to regain control with the aid of the Russian Army. A coup against Gorbachev brought into the forefront Boris Yeltsin, who persuaded the armed forces to support the reformists. Yeltsin became the new president of Russia in December '91 and the Soviet hammer and sickle was replaced by the Russian tricolour. The breakaway states joined together to form the umbrella organisation, the Commonwealth of Independent States with the Russian Federation as one of the member states.

Democracy, free market economy and liberalisation have not made life any easier or even better for the average Russian. Food and fuel shortages are chronic, government resources are at an all time low, petty crime and organised crime is escalating out of control, corruption is commonplace while drugs and arms mafias run cities and secessionist movements like the one in Chechenya are extracting their pound of flesh from the exchequer and the nation. Under the current president, Vladimir Putin, national and international efforts are underway to prevent the complete and total collapse of the former superpower.

more

hide

Habitat

Russia lies in Northern Asia, west of the Ural Mountains, between the north Pacific Ocean and abutting the Arctic Ocean on its extreme northern borders. It spans a vast amount of land from the Urals, across the Siberian plains to the Sea of Okhotsk in the east. The Russian Federation is almost double the area of the USA. It shares land frontiers with the countries of Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland and Ukraine.

The topography of Mother Russia is as vastly variaed as its size is immense. Broad plains with low hills lie west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along northern border regions touched by the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Gora El’brus is the highest spot at 5,633 m and in contrast is Caspian Sea at 28 m below sea level. Formidable reserves of natural resources include deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, timber and strategic minerals like uranium and plutonium. But major impediments to its development are its environmental conditions like permafrost over much of Siberia,

volcanic activity in the Kuril Islands and volcanoes and earthquakes on the Kamchatka peninsula. Three major rivers the Dnepr, Don and Volga flow into the Black and Caspian Seas.

All the steps taken in the name of development in Russia have led to serious environmental hazards. These comprise of air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of coal-fired electric plants, and transportation in major cities; industrial, municipal, and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and sea coasts; deforestation and soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination and ground water contamination from toxic waste.

There are different flora and fauna for the different environment belts in Russia. In the northern forests reindeers, wolves and brown bears hide between spruce and pine. Deer, lynx and the Siberian tiger live in the mixed deciduous and coniferous forests.

more

hide