1.
Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia)
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The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is the interior ministry of Russia. Its predecessor was founded in 1802 by Alexander I in Imperial Russia, the Ministry is headquartered in Moscow. The current Minister of Internal Affairs is General of Police Vladimir Kolokoltsev, as the central government began to further partition the countryside, the ispravniks were distributed among the sections. Serving under them in their localities were commissaries. These uryadniks rapidly became the terror of the countryside and its most famous development was the so-called Third Section instituted by the emperor Nicholas I in 1826. This was entirely independent of the police, but was associated with the previously existing Special Corps of Gendarmes. By World War I, the Department had spawned a counter-intelligence section, after the February Revolution of 1917, the Gendarmes and the Okhrana were disbanded as anti-revolutionary. Having won the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks disbanded the tsarist police forces and formed an all-proletarian Workers, after the establishment of the USSR there was no Soviet NKVD until 1934. In March 1946, all of the Peoples Commissariats were redesignated as Ministries, the NKVD was renamed the MVD of the USSR, along with its former subordinate, the NKGB which became the MGB of the USSR. The NKVDs of Union Republics also became Ministries of Internal Affairs subordinate to MVD of the USSR, Secret police became a part of MVD after Lavrenty Beria merged the MGB into the MVD in March 1953. Within a year Berias downfall caused the MVD to be split up again, after that, in his efforts to fight bureaucracy and maintain Leninist principles, Nikita Khrushchev, as the Premier of the Union, called for the dismissal of the All-Union MVD. The Ministry ceased to exist in January 1960 and its functions were transferred to the respective Republican Ministries, the MVD of the Russian SFSR was renamed the Ministry for Securing the Public Order in 1962. The MVD regained its title in 1968. Another role of the reformed MVD was to combat economic crimes and this fight was never successful due to the pervasive nature of the black market. By the mid-1980s, the image of the militsiya was largely compromised by the corruption. Many high-ranking MVD officers, including the Minister himself, were revealed to be bribed by illegal shadow businesses. It currently controls the politsiya, the Main Directorate for Road Traffic Safety, since the disbanding of the Tax Police, it also investigates economic crimes. The last reorganization abolished Main Directorates inherited from the NKVD in favour of Departments, the current minister of internal affairs in Russia is Vladimir Kolokoltsev
Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia)
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A 1970s- or 80s-vintage
GAZ-24 Volga, in the period
squad car livery, installed as a monument in front of the
Nizhny Novgorod Main Directorate for Road Traffic Safety headquarters.
Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia)
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Ministry emblem
2.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
Russia
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Kievan Rus' in the 11th century
Russia
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Flag
Russia
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The
Baptism of Kievans, by
Klavdy Lebedev
Russia
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Sergius of Radonezh blessing
Dmitry Donskoy in
Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the
Battle of Kulikovo, depicted in a painting by
Ernst Lissner
3.
Abkhazia
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Abkhazia is a partially recognised state on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus Mountains, south of Russia and northwest of Georgia proper. It covers 8,660 square kilometres and has a population of around 240,000, the separatist Abkhazian polity, formally the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny, is recognised only by Russia and a small number of other countries. The status of Abkhazia is an issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The region enjoyed autonomy within Soviet Georgia at the time when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate in the late 1980s, despite the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the dispute remained unresolved. The long-term presence of a United Nations Observer Mission and a Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping force failed to prevent the flare-up of violence on several occasions. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia declared Abkhazia a Russian-occupied territory, the Abkhazians call their homeland Аҧсны, popularly etymologised as a land/country of the soul, yet literally meaning a country of mortals. It possibly first appeared in the century in an Armenian text as Psin. The state is designated as the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. The Russian Абхазия is adapted from the Georgian აფხაზეთი, in Mingrelian, Abkhazia is known as აბჟუა or სააფხაზო. Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the territory of modern Abkhazia was part of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Colchis and this kingdom was subsequently absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi, known to Byzantine Roman sources as Lazica. Classical authors described various peoples living in the region and the multitude of languages they spoke. Arrian, Pliny and Strabo have given accounts of the Abasgoi and Moschoi peoples somewhere in modern Abkhazia on the shore of the Black Sea. Around the mid 6th century AD, the Byzantines and the neighbouring Sassanid Persia fought for supremacy over Abkhazia for 20 years, Abkhazia, or Abasgia in classic sources, formerly part of Colchis and later of Egrisi until the late 690s, was a princedom under Byzantine authority. The country was mostly Christian, with the seat in Pityus. An Arab incursion into Abkhazia led by Marwan II, was repelled by Leon I jointly with his Egrisian and Kartlian allies in 736, after acquiring Egrisi via a dynastic union in the 780s the Kingdom of Abkhazia was established and became a dominant power in western Caucasus. During this period the Georgian language replaced Greek as the language of literacy, the western Georgian kingdom flourished between 850 and 950 when it annexed significant parts of central Georgia. In the 16th century, after the break-up of the Georgian Kingdom into small kingdoms and principalities, since the 1570s, when the Ottoman navy occupied the fort of Tskhumi, Abkhazia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam. Under Ottoman rule, the majority of Abkhaz elite converted to Islam, the principality retained a degree of autonomy
Abkhazia
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Abkhazia in 1899. Abkhazia was administered as Sukhumi District of
Kutaisi Governorate when it was part of the
Russian Empire.
Abkhazia
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Flag
Abkhazia
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Abkhaz and Georgian generals in the
Imperial Russian Army, 19th century
Abkhazia
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The 12th anniversary of ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia which was held in Tbilisi in 2005. One of the visitors of the gallery recognised her dead son on the photograph.
4.
Armenia
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Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
Armenia
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Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map c. 450 BC, with Armenia shown in the center
Armenia
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Flag
Armenia
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The Armenian pagan
Temple of Garni, probably built 1st century AD, is the only "Greco-Roman
colonnaded building" in Armenia and the entire
former Soviet Union.
Armenia
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The
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
5.
Belarus
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Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres is forested and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian Peoples Republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921, during WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years, in 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR. The parliament of the declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled Europes last dictatorship by some Western journalists, Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Though not directly espousing communism like the five remaining communist countries of China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea, in 2000 Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, with some hints of forming a Union State. Over 70% of Belaruss population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas, more than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages, Belarusian and Russian, the Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Belarus is the only European country to retain capital punishment in both law and practice, the name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus, i. e. White Rus. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus, an alternate explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. A third theory suggests that the old Rus lands that were not conquered by the Tatars had been referred to as white, other sources claim that, before 1267, the land not conquered by the Mongols was considered White Rus. The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, in some languages, including German and Dutch, the country is generally called White Russia to this day. The Latin term Alba Russia was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo, approbo. The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey. During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used White Rus to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Belarus
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Stamp with the
Cross of St. Euphrosyne from 1992
Belarus
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Flag
Belarus
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Principalities of Kievan Rus'
Belarus
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Khatyn Memorial. The Nazis murdered civilians in 5,295 different localities in
occupied Soviet Belarus.
6.
Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is the worlds largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the regions GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources, Kazakhstan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people as of 2014, Given its large area, its population density is among the lowest. The capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic tribes. This changed in the 13th century, when Genghis Khan occupied the country as part of the Mongolian Empire, following internal struggles among the conquerors, power eventually reverted to the nomads. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, the Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times, in 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy, especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry. Kazakhstans 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, the Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes. The name Kazakh comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, to wander, the name Cossack is of the same origin. The Persian suffix -stan means land or place of, so Kazakhstan can be translated as land of the wanderers. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age, the regions climate, archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the regions vast steppes. Central Asia was originally inhabited by the Scythians, the Cuman entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Under the Mongol Empire, the largest in history, administrative districts were established. These eventually came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate, throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe. Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south, at its height the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control Cumania
Kazakhstan
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Artistic depiction of medieval
Taraz situated along the Silk Road
Kazakhstan
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Flag
Kazakhstan
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Ablai Khan served as khan of the
Middle jüz from 1771 to 1781
Kazakhstan
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Inside a Kazakh
yurt
7.
Kyrgyzstan
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Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and its capital and largest city is Bishkek. Kyrgyzstans recorded history spans over 2,000 years, encompassing a variety of cultures and empires, ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the countrys 5.7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians. Kyrgyz is closely related to other Turkic languages, although Russian remains widely spoken and is the official language, the majority of the population are non-denominational Muslims. In addition to its Turkic origins, Kyrgyz culture bears elements of Persian, Mongolian and Russian influence. Kyrgyz is believed to have derived from the Turkic word for forty, in reference to the forty clans of Manas. Literally, Kyrgyz means We are forty, at the time, in the early 9th century AD, the Uyghurs dominated much of Central Asia, Mongolia, and parts of Russia and China. King, Scythians were early settlers in present-day Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz state reached its greatest expansion after defeating the Uyghur Khaganate in 840 A. D. From the 10th century the Kyrgyz migrated as far as the Tian Shan range, in the twelfth century the Kyrgyz dominion had shrunk to the Altay Range and Sayan Mountains as a result of the Mongol expansion. With the rise of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century, the Kyrgyz peacefully became a part of the Mongol Empire in 1207. The descent of the Kyrgyz from the autochthonous Siberian population is confirmed on the hand by the recent genetic studies. Issyk Kul Lake was a stopover on the Silk Road, a route for traders, merchants. Kyrgyz tribes were overrun in the 17th century by the Mongols, in the century by the Manchurian Qing Dynasty. In the late century, the majority part of what is today Kyrgyzstan was ceded to Russia through two treaties between China and Russia. The territory, then known in Russian as Kirghizia, was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876. The Russian takeover was met with numerous revolts against Tsarist authority, in addition, the suppression of the 1916 rebellion against Russian rule in Central Asia caused many Kyrgyz later to migrate to China. Soviet power was established in the region in 1919. On 5 December 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was established as a republic of the Soviet Union
Kyrgyzstan
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Silk road caravansary utilized during the
Islamic Golden Age
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
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Kyrgyz nomads, 1869–1870, by Vasily Vereshchagin
Kyrgyzstan
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Kyrgyz yurt, 1869–1870, by
Vasily Vereshchagin
8.
South Ossetia
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It has a population of 53,000 people which live in an area of 3,900 km2, south of the Russian Caucasus, with 30,000 living in its capital city of Tskhinvali. South Ossetia declared independence from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, the Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetias autonomy and trying to re-establish its control over the region by force. The crisis escalation led to the 1991–92 South Ossetia War, Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The latter conflict led to the Russo–Georgian War, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. In the wake of the 2008 war, Russia, followed by Nicaragua, Venezuela, Georgia and a significant part of the international community consider South Ossetia to be occupied by the Russian military. South Ossetia relies heavily on military, political and financial aid from Russia, Russia does not allow European Union Monitoring Mission monitors to enter South Ossetia. South Ossetia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Abkhazia are sometimes referred to as post-Soviet frozen conflict zones, the Ossetians are believed to originate from the Alans, a Sarmatian Iranian tribe. In the 17th century, Ossetians started migration from the North Caucasus to Georgia, Ossetian peasants, who were migrating to the mountainous areas of the South Caucasus, often settled in the lands of Georgian feudal lords. The Georgian King of the Kingdom of Kartli permitted Ossetians to immigrate, in the 1770s there were more Ossetians living in Kartli than ever before. This period has been documented in the diaries of Johann Anton Güldenstädt who visited Georgia in 1772. The Baltic German explorer called modern North Ossetia simply Ossetia, while he wrote that Kartli was populated by Georgians, Güldenstädt also wrote that the northernmost border of Kartli is the Major Caucasus Ridge. The Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, part of which was the territory of modern South Ossetia, was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. Following the Russian revolution, the area of modern South Ossetia became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, although the Ossetians were initially discontented with the economic policies of the central government, the tension soon transformed into ethnic conflict. The first Ossetian rebellion began in February 1918, when three Georgian princes were killed and their land was seized by the Ossetians, the central government of Tiflis retaliated by sending the National Guard to the area. However, the Georgian unit retreated after they had engaged the Ossetians, Ossetian rebels then proceeded to occupy the town of Tskhinvali and began attacking ethnic Georgian civilian population. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by Soviet Russia, but even so, were defeated. Between 3,000 and 7,000 Ossetians were killed during the crushing of the 1920 uprising, according to Ossetian sources ensuing hunger, the drawing of administrative boundaries of the South Ossetian AO was quite a complicated process. Many Georgian villages were included within the South Ossetian AO despite numerous protests by the Georgian population, while the city of Tskhinvali did not have a majority Ossetian population, it was made the capital of the South Ossetian AO
South Ossetia
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Historical Russian map of the Caucasus region at the beginning of the 19th century
South Ossetia
–
Flag
South Ossetia
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Fragment of the historical map by
J. H. Colton. The map depicts Caucasus region in 1856. Modern South Ossetia is not labeled. Modern North Ossetia is labeled as "Ossia".
South Ossetia
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Map of South Ossetia (November 2004).
9.
Internal passport
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An internal passport is an identity document that may or may not be used by a country to control and monitor the internal movement and residence of its people. When passports first emerged, there was no distinction between internal and international ones. Later, some countries developed sophisticated systems of passports for various purposes, currently, only Russia is known to still have internal passports as a part of their bureaucratic heritage but do not use them to restrict the movement of people. In such countries, internal passport are essentially identification documents in booklet form, hence the widespread misconception that internal passports are necessarily the instrument of discretionary limitation of traveling and residence in countries that use them. On the other hand, in countries, the word passport is implied to merely mean a primary identification document. Nevertheless, it is extended by analogy to other forms of identification documents. For example, the scheme to replace old-fashioned internal passport booklets with plastic identification cards in Ukraine still calls the latter passports. In 1885 the pass system was introduced in Canada, to restrict, instituted at the time of the North-West Rebellion, it remained in force for 60 years despite having no basis in law. Any First Nation person caught outside his reservation without an issued by an Indian agent was returned to their reservation or incarcerated. In France, in the past, one had to show a passport to change city. Former convicts who had served forced labour, even after having served their sentence, had a yellow passport, a famous holder of the yellow passport is the former bagnard Jean Valjean the hero of the novel by Victor Hugo. In France, the livret de circulation and its variant the carnet de circulation provided to those of no fixed abode were particularly constraining, in South Africa, the pass laws were a component of the apartheid system. These laws also made it compulsory for all black South Africans over the age of 15 to carry a book at all times. However, the legislation required that citizens of all races have on their person an ID book. Labour booklets became the means of personal identification. The passportization process developed gradually involving factories, large, medium, and small cities, settlements, and rural areas, Internal passports were used in the Soviet Union for identification of persons for various purposes. For example, a valid propiska was necessary to receive education or medical treatment. Besides marriage to a resident of another area, university education was the most popular way of circumventing ones propiska, also, since only a minority of dwellings were privately owned, having a propiska at a certain address meant that one had the right to live there
Internal passport
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Pages of internal passport, issued in 1910 in
Imperial Russia
Internal passport
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Russian internal passport: front cover, first page, last page (usage terms)
10.
Citizenship of Russia
–
In accordance with the supremacy clause of the Constitution, international treaties of the Russian Federation have precedence over Russian domestic law. In Russian language, there is a distinction between citizens of Russia, referred to as Rossiyane, and ethnic Russians, referred to as Russkie, the word Rossiyane is used much more often than Russkie in media and official documents. Those who have received Russian citizenship via naturalisation are also called Rossiyane, regardless of ethnicity, the word Rossiyane was coined by Mikhail Lomonosov in the 18th century. The Tsardom of Russia became a state in the 16th century. The word Rossiane, coined by Lomonosov, has widely used since then. After the fall of the Russian Empire, the expression Soviet people was used for the population of the Soviet Union, after the dissolution of the USSR, the word Rossiyane became widely used again. Until 1990, the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic was a subject of the Soviet federation, in 1990, state sovereignty of the RSFSR was declared, though the USSR was not abolished until the end of 1991. Article 11 of the declaration of state sovereignty introduced RSFSR citizenship, the text of the citizenship act was ready in the summer of 1991, but was not adopted by the Supreme Council until November 28,1991. In accordance with Article 13, former Soviet citizens among permanent residents on February 6,1992 of the RSFSR were recognized as RSFSR citizens and those who expressed their will not to become RSFSR citizens until February 6,1993 were not recognized as RSFSR citizens. Article 11 stated that all former Soviet citizens and their descendants should be recognized as Russian citizens unless they had declared their intentions to be citizens of foreign states, no official comments have been given as to how this article should be interpreted. Oleg Kutafin, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on citizenship, criticized this Act in his book Russian Citizenship, in 2002, a new citizenship act, supported by President Vladimir Putin, replaced the act of 1991. Restoration of citizenship is granted under the rules as naturalization. A special provision of law made it possible for citizens of the USSR to apply for Russian citizenship before 2009. Citizenship of children generally follows the citizenship of their parents, if one or both parents obtain Russian citizenship, their children become Russian citizens as well. If one or both parents lose Russian citizenship, their children lose it too, a child can acquire or relinquish Russian citizenship by the application of his parents, but at least one parent must be a Russian citizen in this case. Visa requirements for Russian citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other countries placed on citizens of Russia, in 2016, Russian citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 105 countries and territories, ranking the Russian passport 48th in the world according to the Visa Restrictions Index. Smirnov was born on RSFSR territory in 1950, in 1979, he married and moved his permanent residence to the Lithuanian SSR. He divorced in 1992 and returned to the RSFSR on December 8,1992 and he then applied for a notice of Russian citizenship in his passport, but this was rejected by executive officers
Citizenship of Russia
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Russian passports are a very visible feature of Russian citizenship
Citizenship of Russia
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Contents
11.
Russian ruble
–
The Russian ruble is the currency of the Russian Federation, the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the two unrecognized republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The ruble is subdivided into 100 kopeks, the ruble was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. Today apart from Russia, Belarus and Transnistria uses currencies with the same name, the ruble was the worlds first decimal currency, it was decimalised in 1704 when the ruble became legally equal to 100 kopeks. In 1992 the Soviet ruble was replaced with the Russian ruble at the rate 1 SUR =1 RUR. In 1998 following the crisis, the Russian ruble was redenominated with the new code RUB. Today, although RUB being the code of the Russian ruble. The ruble is the oldest national currency after the Pound sterling in the world, the ruble has been used on the Russian territories since the 13th century. The modern Russian ruble actually appeared in December 1991 in parallel with the Soviet ruble, following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet ruble remained the currency of the Russian Federation until 1992. A new set of coins was issued in 1992 and a new set of banknotes was issued in the name of Bank of Russia in 1993. The Russian ruble with the ISO4217 code is RUR and number 810 replaced the Soviet ruble at the rate 1 SUR =1 RUR. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation introduced new coins in 1992 in denominations of 1,5,10,20,50 and 100 rubles, the coins depict the double-headed eagle without a crown, sceptre and globus cruciger above the legend Банк России. It is exactly the same eagle, that the artist Ivan Bilibin painted after the February Revolution as a coat of arms for the Russian Republic. The 1 and 5 ruble coins were minted in brass-clad steel, the 10 and 20 ruble coins in cupro-nickel, in 1993, aluminium-bronze 50 ruble coins and cupro-nickel-zinc 100 ruble coins were issued, and the material of 10 and 20 ruble coins s was changed to nickel-plated steel. In 1995 the material of 50 ruble coins was changed to brass-plated steel, as high inflation persisted, the lowest denominations disappeared from circulation and the other denominations became rarely used. During this period the commemorative one ruble coin was regularly issued and it was practically identical in size and weight to a 5 Swiss franc coin. For this reason, there have been instances of ruble coins being used on a large scale to defraud automated vending machines in Switzerland. In 1961, new State Treasury notes were introduced for 1,3 and 5 rubles, along with new State Bank notes for 10,25,50 and 100 rubles. In 1991, the State Bank took over production of 1,3 and 5 ruble notes and also introduced 200,500 and 1,000 ruble notes, although the 25 ruble note was no longer issued
Russian ruble
–
5,000 rubles (2006)
Russian ruble
Russian ruble
–
Russian ruble
Russian ruble
–
Five hundred rubles featuring
Peter the Great and a
personification of
Mother Russia, 1912
12.
Russian language
–
Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
Russian language
–
Russian language street sign in
Russia.
Russian language
–
Russian minimarket in
Limassol, Cyprus; translation: "Teremok market. Russian goods. Phone number: 96 74 19 63"
Russian language
–
This page from an "ABC" book printed in Moscow in 1694 shows the letter
П.
Russian language
–
The
Ostromir Gospels of 1056 is the second oldest
East Slavic book known, one of many medieval
illuminated manuscripts preserved in the
Russian National Library.
13.
Identity document
–
An identity document is any document which may be used to prove a persons identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, some countries issue formal identity documents, while others may require identity verification using informal documents. When the identity document incorporates a persons photograph, it may be called photo ID, in the absence of a formal identity document, a drivers license may be accepted in many countries for identity verification. Some countries do not accept drivers licenses for identification, often because in countries they do not expire as documents. Most countries accept passports as a form of identification, some countries require all people to have an identity document available at any time. Many countries require all foreigners to have a passport or occasionally a national identity card from their country available at any time if they do not have a permit in the country. The identity document is used to connect a person to information about the person, the photo and the possession of it is used to connect the person with the document. A unique national identification number is the most secure way, a version of the passport considered to be the earliest identity document inscribed into law was introduced by King Henry V of England with the Safe Conducts Act 1414. For the next 500 years and before World War I, most people did not have or need an identity document, both Australia and Great Britain, for example, introduced the requirement for a photographic passport in 1915 after the so-called Lody spy scandal. The shape and size of identity cards were standardized in 1985 by ISO/IEC7810, some modern identity documents are smart cards including a difficult-to-forge embedded integrated circuit, that were standardized in 1988 by ISO/IEC7816. New technologies allow identity cards to contain information, such as photographs, face, hand or iris measurements. Electronic identity cards are available in countries including Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Morocco, Portugal. Law enforcement officials claim that identity cards make surveillance and the search for criminals easier, in countries that dont have a national identity card, there is, however, concern about the projected large costs and potential abuse of high-tech smartcards. There is debate in these countries about whether such cards and their centralised database would constitute an infringement of privacy, most criticism is directed towards the enhanced possibilities of extensive abuse of centralised and comprehensive databases storing sensitive data. None of the countries listed above mandate possession of identity documents, for example, all vehicle drivers must have a driving licence, and young people may need to use specially issued proof of age cards when purchasing alcohol. Arguments for identity documents as such, In order to avoid mismatching people, Every human being already carries their own personal identification in the form of DNA, which is extremely hard to falsify or to discard. For example, in Sweden private companies such as banks refused to issue ID cards to individuals without a Swedish card and this forced the government to start issuing national cards. It is also hard to control information usage by private companies
Identity document
–
Old South African identity card issued to a permanent resident (PR).
Identity document
–
Sample of the second generation ID card issued in
China
Identity document
–
Hong Kong Permanent ID card
Identity document
–
Frontside of ID card issued in
Taiwan
14.
Russian passport
–
The Russian passport is a booklet issued by Ministry of Internal Affairs to the citizens of the Russian Federation for international travel. Russian citizens must use their Russian passports when leaving or entering the Russian Federation, the Russian passport is distinct from the Internal Russian passport, which is is a mandatory identity document for travel and identification purposes within Russia. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet Union passport continued to be issued until 1997, the first version of the Russian passports issued in 1997 were handwritten and passports issued since 2000 were Machine readable passports with 36 pages and validity of 5 years. In 2006, Russia issued the first biometric passport and in 2010, the design of the passports were modified. Citizens under 18 traveling without both parents must have consent of both parents allowing their departure from country. When a child travels with one parent, consent of another parent is not required, in addition to regular passport there are three special-purpose types of passports for travelling abroad, diplomatic passport, service passport and seamans passport. Arrival of foreigners to Russia met with restrictions in the Tsarist period. In troubled times, it begins to produce and to travel within the country system roadways letters in order, as a general rule letters carriageways were built by Peter I, in connection with the entered his conscription and head tax. In 1724, to prevent the possibility to evade the payment of the poll tax, under the legislation in force for the period of 1906 in Russia in the place of residence, as a general rule, the passport is not required. The exception is the capital and other cities, declared an emergency situation or enhanced protection, Law of June 10,1902 the regulations on residence permits June 3,1894 extended to the province of the Kingdom of Poland, with some modifications. Elaborated on these grounds in 1905, a new statute was a passport to postpone consideration until the convocation of the State Duma. Of the emigrants only a small part returned such as Marina Tsvetaeva, by the mid-1930s the Soviet government sealed the borders. The third and final wave of Soviet emigration coincided with the rupture of relations with Israel, as a result, in the 1970s the Soviet Union had left only about 4,000. People, many against their will, for example, such well-known dissidents, like Brodsky, Aksenov, Aleshkovsky, Voinovich, Dovlatov, Gorenstein, Galich. In 1993, exit visas were canceled and allowed a free issue of passports, since 2001, Russian passports were issued with the new design which includes the emblem of Russia, a double headed eagle. Since 2010, the application for registration of passport can be submitted via the website www. gosuslugi. ru, in 2006 biometric passports were introduced in Russia. Since 2009 in all regions of Russia there are points of issue of passport, the data of these items come in a single personalization center data. On March 1,2010 biometric passport are valid for 10 years, each passport has a data page and a signature page
Russian passport
–
The front cover of a contemporary Russian
biometric passport.
Russian passport
–
Soviet passport 1929
Russian passport
–
Data page and signature page of a biometric international passport (2014)
Russian passport
–
Data page and signature page of a non-biometric international passport (2007)
15.
Breakup of the Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26,1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and that evening at 7,32, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag. Previously, from August to December, all the individual republics, the week before the unions formal dissolution,11 republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also signalled the end of the Cold War, on the other hand, only the Baltic states have joined NATO and the European Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo on March 11,1985, Gorbachev, aged 54, was the youngest member of the Politburo. His initial goal as general secretary was to revive the Soviet economy, the reforms began with personnel changes of senior Brezhnev-era officials who would impede political and economic change. On April 23,1985, Gorbachev brought two protégés, Yegor Ligachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov, into the Politburo as full members. He kept the power ministries happy by promoting KGB Head Viktor Chebrikov from candidate to full member and this liberalisation, however, fostered nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the Soviet Union. Under Gorbachevs leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989 introduced limited competitive elections to a new central legislature, in May 1985, Gorbachev delivered a speech in Leningrad advocating reforms and an anti-alcohol campaign to tackle widespread alcoholism. Prices of vodka, wine, and beer were raised in order to make these drinks more expensive and a disincentive to consumers, unlike most forms of rationing intended to conserve scarce goods, this was done to restrict sales with the overt goal of curtailing drunkenness. Gorbachevs plan also included billboards promoting sobriety, increased penalties for public drunkenness, however, Gorbachev soon faced the same adverse economic reaction to his prohibition as did the last Tsar. The disincentivization of alcohol consumption was a blow to the state budget according to Alexander Yakovlev. Alcohol production migrated to the market, or through moonshining as some made bathtub vodka with homegrown potatoes. The purpose of these reforms, however, was to prop up the centrally planned economy, unlike later reforms. The latter, disparaged as Mr Nyet in the West, had served for 28 years as Minister of Foreign Affairs, gromyko was relegated to the largely ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, as he was considered an old thinker. In the fall of 1985, Gorbachev continued to bring younger, at the next Central Committee meeting on October 15, Tikhonov retired from the Politburo and Talyzin became a candidate. Finally, on December 23,1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party replacing Viktor Grishin, Gorbachev continued to press for greater liberalization. The CTAG Helsinki-86 was founded in July 1986 in the Latvian port town of Liepāja by three workers, Linards Grantiņš, Raimonds Bitenieks, and Mārtiņš Bariss and its name refers to the human-rights statements of the Helsinki Accords
Breakup of the Soviet Union
–
Tanks at
Red Square during the
1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt
Breakup of the Soviet Union
–
Mikhail Gorbachev (1987 photo)
Breakup of the Soviet Union
–
Figure of Liberty on the
Freedom Monument in Riga, focus of 1986 Latvian demonstrations.
Breakup of the Soviet Union
–
The Dawn of Liberty monument in
Almaty (Alma-Ata).
16.
Passport system in the Soviet Union
–
The Soviet passport is an identity document issued upon the laws of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the citizen of the USSR. The passport system of the Soviet Union underwent a number of transformations in the course of its history, in the late Soviet Union citizens of age sixteen or older had to have an internal passport. In addition, a passport for travel abroad was required for travel abroad, there were several types of abroad passport, an ordinary one, known simply as USSR zagranpasport, a civil service passport, a diplomatic passport, and a sailors passport. Internal passports were serviced by passport offices of local offices of the MVDs of Soviet republics, abroad passports were handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the corresponding Soviet republic. Internal passports were used in the Soviet Union for identification of persons for various purposes, in particular, passports were used to control and monitor the place of residence by means of propiska. For example, a valid propiska was necessary to receive education or be employed. The passports recorded the information, surname, first name and patronymic, date and place of birth and ethnicity, family status, propiska. Sometimes the passport also had special notes, for blood group. As mentioned, the internal passports identified every bearer by ethnicity, e. g. Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Estonian, Jew, when an individual applied for his passport at age 16, he had to select ethnicity of one of parents. The internal passports were written in the Russian language and the language of the republic where it was issued, the green cover internal passports and passports for travel abroad were written exclusively in the Russian language. All residents were required by law to record their address on the document, in Ukraine, these laws were abolished by its Constitutional Court in 2001 on the grounds of unconstitutionality. In Russia, similar cases have so far failed, and the remains in place. The system of internal passport registration remains strongly in place in Moscow, Russian passport Passport system in the Soviet Union Eastern Bloc emigration and defection 101st kilometre Propiska V
Passport system in the Soviet Union
–
Cover page of the Soviet Union passport.
Passport system in the Soviet Union
Passport system in the Soviet Union
–
USSR passport for travel abroad, year 1929
Passport system in the Soviet Union
–
Passport USSR, year 1974 - 1991
17.
Russian Government
–
The Government of the Russian Federation exercises executive power in the Russian Federation, also known as the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. The members of the government are the Prime Minister, the deputy ministers. It has its basis in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. According to the 1991 amendment to the 1978 Russian Constitution, the President of Russia was the head of the executive branch, according to the current 1993 Constitution of Russia, the President is not a part of the Government of Russia, which exercises executive power. But, the President does appoint the Prime Minister, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Council of Ministers had become the main executive body. At some points it contained over 69 state committees, 16–17 ministers,5 federal services, after the 2004 reform, government duties were split between 17 ministries,5 federal services, and over 30 governmental agencies. The Russian Federation practices asymmetrical federalism and this means that not all regions are treated fairly and that some regions have been given more autonomy than others. There are 7 super regions with a governor that answers to the President. Those super regions include the South, Central, North-West, Far East, Siberia, Ural, Volga and they were established in May of 2000. The prime minister, currently Dmitry Medvedev, is appointed by the president and he or she succeeds to the presidency if the current president dies, is incapacitated, or resigns. Corruption is common and widespread in the government, according to 2016 results of Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, Russia ranked 131th place out of 176 countries with score 29. A big portion of their corruption stems from their lack of rule of law and this means that government officials are getting away with crimes and are being treated above the law. Multiple anti-corruption campaigns have launched to try to curb corruption. One of the biggest stances taken against corruption is the formation of the Anti-Corruption Council in 2008, Vladimir Putin, the current president and the man controlling most of the power in the Russian Federation, is extremely corrupt just within himself. Russian oligarchs are another example of corruption within the Russian Federations government, Russian oligarchs are wealthy businessmen in Russia that have political power strictly because of their wealth. The large body was preceded by Government of the Soviet Union, since the Russian Federation emerged in 1991 to 1992, the governments structure has undergone several major changes. In the initial years, an amount of government bodies, primarily the different ministries. On 28 November 1991, President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin signed presidential decree No.242 On reorganization of the government bodies of the RSFSR, Yeltsin officially declared the end of the Soviet Union and became the President of the Russian Federation
Russian Government
–
Government of Russia
18.
Universal electronic card
–
Universal electronic card is an identity E-card that is issued to Russian citizens starting from January 2013. In July 2010, the Federal Law No, 210-FZ of July 27,2010 On the organization of public and municipal services, which defines the universal electronic card, the objectives of its creation and application areas. It became known that the Russian companies do not have time to make a 2012 microprocessor, use the map to the microprocessor foreign production Federal Security Service, Russias internal secret police considers dangerous. It was a political decision temporarily, in 2012, a foreign production. In October 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the application of the national emblem on the universal electronic card. They also found there were difficulties in the implementation of the electronic systems of interdepartmental cooperation. And without starting the system to issue a map is meaningless, the term of issue of the universal electronic card rescheduled for January 1,2013. Also in October 2011, it was decided to use only the Russian UEC payment system PRO100, excluding the participation of international payment systems Visa, and in the Savings Bank promised to neutralize lobbyists international payment systems in the bodies of the Russian government. Since February 2012, in nine regions of Russia, Moscow. In September 2012 it was reported that the used and tested in the UEC will be used in an electronic passport. In November 2012, on the website of UEC was launched availability monitoring of Russian regions for the launch of the project. Willingness implies a destination charge of UEC in the region, providing secure channels of communication, providing access to public services by UEC. The monitoring data is updated once a week, in December 2012, there was an order that all multi-function centers, providing state and municipal services should be equipped with card readers for universal electronic cards. In January 2013, the certification of microprocessors for universal electronic cards from the Russian company Mikron was completed, also, in some universal electronic card with a microprocessor foreign production, presented by JSC Atlas of cards. This is done to during the competition between the two companies to reduce cost of production of UEC, map started to give the citizens of Russia on the application, which can be fed into the open across Russia points for receiving applications and issuing cards. President of UEC Alex Popov said that the uses a electronic signature CryptoPro. In February 2013, it was announced that some regions of the Russian Federation does not have money to ensure the production. In the spring 2013, issue of regional social cards stopped, instead, citizens there would be given the universal electronic cards
Universal electronic card
–
An example of the universal electronic card
19.
Propiska in the Soviet Union
–
A propiska was both a residency permit and a migration-recording tool - in the Russian Empire before 1917 and in the Soviet Union from the 1930s. Literally, the word propiska means inscription, alluding to the inscription in an internal passport permitting a person to reside in a given place. For a state or third-party owned property, propiska meant a person was included in the rental contract associated with a dwelling, propiska was documented in local police registers and certified with a stamp in internal passports. Residing anywhere without a permit was prohibited, in the USSR, there were both permanent and temporary propiskas. In the transition period to the economy, the permanent propiska in municipal apartments was one factor leading to the emergence of private property rights during privatization. The Russian verb propisat is formed by adding the prefix про~ to the verb писа́ть, here this prefix emphasizes the completion of the action, which supposes permission or other related formal action. Originally, the noun propiska meant the clerical procedure of registration, Dahls Explanatory Dictionary describes this procedure as to enrol in a book and stamp it. Page 20 of the passport of the Russian Empire was entitled, Russian. Five blank pages were filled with stamps with the residential address written in. It allowed a person to reside in his/her relevant locality, article 61 of the Regulations adopted on February 7,1897 imposed a fine for those found outside the administrative unit in which they were registered to live. As a clerical term, the noun vid is short for Russian, although translated into English as a residential permit, in Russian, this combination of words also conveys a presence of the right of a resident to live somewhere. In the sense of a right the word vid also appears in the Russian, among many explanations of вид, Dahls Explanatory Dictionary indicates a certificate of any kind for free passage, travel and living, mentioning passport as its synonym. Propiska stamps in the passports of the Russian Empire used one of two verbs to describe the act committed, Russian, яви́ть or заяви́ть. Their non-reflexive form clearly rules out the binding of this act to the owner of the document so it is not the person who appeared in a police department, vladimir Dahl mentions both verbs in his description of propiska procedure as related to passport. Presenting a passport to the officer implied the claim of a person to stay at a designated location, in the Russian Empire, a person arriving for a new residency was obliged to enroll in the registers of the local police authorities. The latter could deny undesirable persons the right to settle, in most cases, this would mean the person had to return to the permanent domicile. The verb propisat was used as a verb with vid being the direct object. After internal passports were reintroduced in the USSR in the 1930s, in common speech, the stamp in the passport in which the residential address was written into was also called propiska
Propiska in the Soviet Union
–
Internal passport, issued 1910 in
Imperial Russia
Propiska in the Soviet Union
–
Signing in (top) and signing out (bottom) Propiska in a
Tajikistan Passport.
20.
Constitution of Russia
–
The current Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by national referendum on December 12,1993. Russias constitution came into force on December 25,1993, at the moment of its official publication, the current Constitution is the most long-lived in the history of Russia, except for Stalins constitution. The 1993 Constitutional Conference was attended by over 800 participants, sergei Alexeyev, Sergey Shakhray and sometimes Anatoly Sobchak are considered as co-authors of the constitution. The text of the constitution was inspired by Mikhail Speranskys constitutional project, a constitutional referendum was held in Russia on 12 December 1993. Of all registered voters,58,187,755 people participated in the referendum, of those,32,937,630 voted for adoption of the Constitution. It replaced the previous Soviet-era Constitution of April 12,1978 of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the constitution is divided into two sections
Constitution of Russia
–
Presidential copy of the Constitution.
Constitution of Russia
–
Dmitry Medvedev takes the presidential
oath with his hand resting on the Constitution, May 7, 2008.
21.
Visa requirements for Russian citizens
–
Visa requirements for Russian citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Russia. Visa on arrival were introduced Iran, Zimbabwe, Bahrain, Guinea-Bissau, United Arab Emirates, provision of visa on arrival was discontinued Oman and Mali. * - Visa policy has been synchronized with visa policy of the EU because of accession of these countries to the European Union. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Albania, Andorra, ireland - holders of valid visa for the United Kingdom do not require a visa. Mexico - Permanent residents of Canada, EU or USA, or holders of a valid USA visa do not require a visa, holders of diplomatic and service Russian passports do not have visa-free access to Israel. Azerbaijan, As a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azerbaijan refuses entry to passport-holders of the Russian Federation and any country of Armenian descent. It also strictly refuses entry to foreigners in general whose passport shows evidence of entry into the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area. Many countries require passport validity of no less than 6 months and one or two blank pages
Visa requirements for Russian citizens
–
A
Russian International passport
22.
Closed cities
–
A closed city or closed town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. They may be sensitive military establishments or secret research installations which require more space or freedom than is available in a conventional military base. There may also be a variety of permanent residents including close family members of workers or trusted traders who are not directly connected with its clandestine purposes. Closed cities are a feature of heavily militarized countries and secretive regimes, in modern Russia, such places are officially known as closed administrative-territorial formations. Sometimes closed cities may only be represented on classified maps which are not available to the general public, in some cases there may be no road signs or directions to closed cities, and they are usually omitted from railroad time tables and bus routes. Sometimes closed cities may be indicated obliquely as an insignificant village. For mail delivery, a city is usually named as the nearest large city. The actual settlement can be distant from its namesakes, for instance, Sarov, designated Arzamas-16, is in the federal republic of Mordovia. People not dwelling in a city were subject to document checks and security checkpoints. To relocate to the city, one would need security clearance by the Organization running it. The closed city was guarded by a security perimeter with barbed wire and towers. The very fact of such an existence was often classified. This lack of freedom was often compensated by better housing conditions, also, in the USSR, people working with classified information received a salary bonus. They fell into two distinct categories, the first category comprised relatively small communities with sensitive military, industrial, or scientific facilities, such as arms plants or nuclear research sites. Examples are the towns of Ozyorsk with a plutonium production plant, and Sillamäe. Even Soviet citizens were not allowed access to places without proper authorization. In addition to this, some cities were closed for unauthorized access to foreigners. These included cities like Perm, a center for Soviet tank production, and Vladivostok, the second category consisted of border cities which were closed for security purposes
Closed cities
–
Central entry checkpoint to the closed city of
Seversk, Tomsk Oblast, Russia
Closed cities
–
A view of
Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia
Closed cities
–
A checkpoint in the closed city of
Zheleznogorsk, in
Krasnoyarsk Krai,
Russia
Closed cities
–
A view of
Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast, Russia
23.
Ghana Card
–
The Ghana Card is a national identity card that is issued by the Ghanaian authorities to Ghanaian citizens – both resident and non-resident, and legally and permanently resident foreign nationals. It is proof of identity, citizenship and residence of the holder, the current version is in ID1 format and biometric. In 1973 national identity cards were issued to citizens in the regions of Ghana including Volta, Northern, Upper East and Upper West, Brong Ahafo. The project was discontinued three years due to problems with logistics and lack of financial support. This was the first time the idea of national identification systems arose, due to economic difficulties, the issue was not pursued. Once again, in 2001, when the National Economic Dialogue was convened, the Technical Committee completed its assignment in 2002 and submitted a report to the Cabinet. By 2003, the National Identification Secretariat was set up to implement, the Act establishing the National Identification Authority was passed in 2006, with Prof. Ernest Dumor appointed as the Executive Secretary. Under his tenure, the NIA was able to acquire a host of items required for institutional building of the NIA. The authority was able to acquire 1,510 Mobile Registration Workstations for the registration exercise that came with chargers. Pick-up trucks, vans and civilian buses were procured for the registration exercise. Drivers were recruited, interviewed and selected, materials like cartridges, registration forms and writing materials were acquired. Individuals were recruited, trained and selected as Mobile Registration Workstation Operators, the National Identification Authority’s Head Office was built and 97% of the building completed. A pilot mass registration exercise was held to test the forms and this pilot registration exercise took place in two communities — Abokobi and Sege — in the Greater Accra Region, for 10 days from July 27 to August 4,2007. The testing selection and training of staff for the Central and Western regions were executed successfully, by the end of July 2008, Prof. Kenneth Attafuah was appointed as the Executive Secretary and oversaw the execution of mass registration in the Western, Eastern, on July 22,2009, Dr. William Ahadzie began his appointment as the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority. The National Identification Authority was set up in 2003 under the Office of the President with the mandate to issue national ID cards and this resulted in the passing of the NIA Act,2006 to give it the necessary legal premises on which to operate. The Automated Fingerprint Identification System, the core technology for the NIS, enables accurate. The AFIS boasts world-class fingerprint identification accuracy of at least 99. 9%, the process of issuing current generation of identity cards started on July 4,2011
Ghana Card
–
Ghana Card (with
chip)
Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs
Russia
Abkhazia
Armenia
Belarus
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
South Ossetia
) are indicated in italics.
