1.
President of Russia
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The President of the Russian Federation is the elected head of state, Supreme Commander-in-Chief and holder of the highest office within the Russian Federation. The current President of Russia is Vladimir Putin, in 1991, the office was briefly known as the President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until 25 December 1991. According to the 1978 Russian Constitution, the President of Russia was head of the executive branch, according to the current 1993 Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is not a part of the Government of Russia, which exercises executive power. In all cases where the President of the Russian Federation is unable to fulfill his duties, they shall be temporarily delegated to the Prime Minister, the Chairman of the Federation Council is the third important position after the President and the Prime Minister. In the case of incapacity of both the President and Prime Minister, the chairman of the house of parliament becomes acting head of state. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the Russian Federation, the president is elected directly through a popular vote to a six-year term. The law prohibits anyone from ever being elected to the presidency for a consecutive term. In all,3 individuals have served 4 presidencies spanning 6 full terms, on May 7,2012, Vladimir Putin became the 4th and current president. A candidate for office must be a citizen of the Russian Federation who is at least 35 years old and has resided in Russia for at least 10 years. The Constitution of Russia limits the election of one person to the Presidency to two consecutive terms, since the constitution contains no ruling on a total number of terms that a President may serve, a former president may seek re-election after sitting out one complete term. The election of the President is mainly regulated by the Presidential Election Law, the Federation Council calls the presidential elections. If it does not call an election that is due. The Election Day is the second Sunday of the month and the electoral constituency is the territory of the Russian Federation as a whole. Each faction in the State Duma, the house of the Russian parliament has the right to nominate a candidate for the presidential elections. The minimum number of signatures for a presidential candidate fielded by a party with no parliamentary representation is 100,000. Terms were extended from four to six years in 2008, during Dmitry Medvedevs administration, the President is elected in a two-round system every six years, with a two consecutive term limitation. If no candidate wins by an majority in the first round
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Vladimir Puchkov
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Vladimir Andreyevich Puchkov is a Russian political figure who is the Minister of Emergency Situations since May 2012. He holds the rank of General Lieutenant. 1979 — graduated from Tyumen High Military Engineering Command School 1988 — attended The Kuybishev Military Engineering Academy, which he graduated in 1991 with specialty in Command Staff of Civil Defense. 2000 — graduated from the Russian Academy for State Service under the President of Russia, 1979-1983 — Served in the Engineering Troops in Far East Military District of the Soviet Army. 1983-1986 — Senior Officer of Civil Defense Command, 1991-1994 — Teacher of Military courses in Civil Defense affairs. 1995-1997 — Head of Science research Management of the All-Russian Institute of Science Research for Civil Defense, 1997-1999 — Deputy of Head Department for Activities of Population and Territory Protection of the Ministry for Emergencies Situations. 1999-2003 — Deputy Head Department of Civil Defense, 2003-2004 — Head Department of Civil Defense. 2004-2006 — Director for Civil Defense Department of the Emergencies Ministry, 2006-2007 — Head of North-West Regional Center of the Emergencies Control Ministry. 2007-2012 — State Secretary - Deputy Minister for Civil Defense, Emergencies, since 2012 — Minister for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters. Medal 200 Years of the Ministry of Defence Awards of the Ministry for Emergency Situations of Russia Order of Friendship Order for Personal Courage Order of Courage Interview
4.
Government of Russia
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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. 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, the large body was preceded by Government of the Soviet Union. Since the Russian Federation emerged in 1991 to 1992, the 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. Yeltsin was a reformer and promised Western-styled democracy, in 1993 the new Russian Constitution was adopted. The new Constitution gained legitimacy through its legislature, independent judiciary, the position of the president and the prime minister
5.
Russian State Fire Service
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Russian State Fire Service is the highest fire service body of Russian Federation. A part of the Ministry of Emergency Situations since 2001, the State Fire Service is divided into the Federal Fire Service and the Fire Service of the Federal subjects of Russia. State Fire Services 220000 personnel operate out of 13,600 buildings and structures, the State Fire Service divisions participate in over two million operations a year, rescue over 90000 lives, save property evaluated as high as 120 billion rubles. The Institute for Fire Defense and Scientific Research and 70 special laboratories are responsible for the SFS scientific support, new technologies and methods of work. The first fire service in Russia was established by Czar Alexey Mikhailovich under signed decree named Direction on Municipal rescue, until 2001 the Fire Services were part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. On April 30,1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a document that declared the April 30th as the celebrating date for Fire Services in Russia,350 years after their creation. On 2001 the State Fire Service became a body within the Ministry of Emergency Situations. In Russia, the decals are applied symmetrically on both sides of the helmet, the location of the decals on the special clothing and SCBA is established for each fire department of the same type within the territorial entity. Auxiliary vehicles lack the white doors, a unique feature is the mounting of canisters for suction hoses and ladders on top of the appliance. The Russian Fire Service uses a number of different models of appliances which range greatly in age, tankers can be used as independent fighting units and a pumping station for pumping, with one or more tanker trucks or pump and hose cars. The fire in the calculation of each tanker, from 3 to 7 persons, PNS is used in conjunction with a Hose_layer. In addition, the PNS can be used to create a stock of water in the fire pond, capacity
6.
Boris Yeltsin
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Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was a Soviet and Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the reforms as one of Gorbachevs most powerful political opponents. During the late 1980s, Yeltsin had been a member of the Politburo, no one had resigned from the Politburo before. This act branded Yeltsin as a rebel and led to his rise in popularity as an anti-establishment figure, on 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet. However, Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after a series of economic. He vowed to transform Russias socialist economy into a capitalist market economy and implemented economic shock therapy, price liberalization, due to the sudden total economic shift, a majority of the national property and wealth fell into the hands of a small number of oligarchs. The well-off millionaire and billionaire oligarchs likened themselves to 19th century robber barons, in October 1993, troops loyal to Yeltsin stopped an armed uprising outside of the parliament building, leading to a number of deaths. Yeltsin then scrapped the existing Russian constitution, banned political opposition, on 31 December 1999, under enormous internal pressure, Yeltsin announced his resignation, leaving the presidency in the hands of his chosen successor, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin left office widely unpopular with the Russian population, Yeltsin kept a low profile after his resignation, though he did occasionally publicly criticise his successor. Yeltsin died of heart failure on 23 April 2007. Boris Yeltsin was born in the village of Butka, Talitsky District, Sverdlovsk, USSR, growing up in rural Sverdlovsk, he studied at the Ural State Technical University, and began his career in the construction industry. In 1934 Nikolai Yeltsin was convicted of anti-Soviet agitation and sentenced to hard labour in a gulag for three years, Nikolai remained unemployed for a period of time and then worked again in construction. His mother, Klavdiya Vasilyevna Yeltsina, worked as a seamstress, Boris studied at Pushkin High School in Berezniki. In 1949 he was admitted to the Ural Polytechnic Institute in Sverdlovsk, majoring in construction, the subject of his degree paper was Construction of a Mine Shaft. From 1955 to 1957 he worked as a foreman with the building trust Uraltyazhtrubstroy, from 1957 to 1963 he worked in Sverdlovsk, and was promoted from construction site superintendent to chief of the Construction Directorate with the Yuzhgorstroy Trust. In 1963 he became chief engineer, and in 1965 head of the Sverdlovsk House-Building Combine, responsible for sewerage and he joined the ranks of the CPSU nomenklatura in 1968 when he was appointed head of construction with the Sverdlovsk Regional Party Committee. In 1975 he became secretary of the committee in charge of the regions industrial development. In 1976 the Politburo of the CPSU promoted him to the post of the first secretary of the CPSU Committee of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Yeltsin was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 17 March 1961 to 13 July 1990, and a nomenklatura member from 1968
7.
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
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The Republic comprised sixteen autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais, and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group, the capital of the Russian SFSR was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. The Russian Soviet Republic was proclaimed on November 7,1917 as a sovereign state, the first Constitution was adopted in 1918. In 1922 the Russian SFSR signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, the economy of Russia became heavily industrialized, accounting for about two-thirds of the electricity produced in the USSR. It was, by 1961, the third largest producer of petroleum due to new discoveries in the Volga-Urals region and Siberia, trailing only the United States and Saudi Arabia. In 1974, there were 475 institutes of education in the republic providing education in 47 languages to some 23,941,000 students. A network of territorially organized public-health services provided health care, the effects of market policies led to the failure of many enterprises and total instability by 1990. On June 12,1990, the Congress of Peoples Deputies adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty, on June 12,1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected the first President. On December 8,1991, heads of Russia, Ukraine, the agreement declared dissolution of the USSR by its founder states and established the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 12, the agreement was ratified by the Russian Parliament, therefore Russian SFSR denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and de facto declared Russias independence from the USSR. On December 25,1991, following the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union, on December 26,1991, the USSR was self-dissolved by the Soviet of Nationalities, which by that time was the only functioning house of the Supreme Soviet. After dissolution of the USSR, Russia declared that it assumed the rights and obligations of the dissolved central Soviet government, the new Russian constitution, adopted on December 12,1993 after a constitutional crisis, abolished the Soviet system of government in its entirety. Initially, the state did not have a name and wasnt recognized by neighboring countries for five months. Meanwhile, anti-Bolsheviks coined the mocking label Sovdepia for the nascent state of the Soviets of Workers, on January 25,1918 the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets renamed the unrecognized state the Soviet Russian Republic. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on March 3,1918, on July 10,1918, the Russian Constitution of 1918 renamed the country the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. By 1918, during the Russian Civil War, several states within the former Russian Empire seceded, internationally, in 1920, the RSFSR was recognized as an independent state only by Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania in the Treaty of Tartu and by the short-lived Irish Republic. On December 30,1922, with the creation of the Soviet Union, the final Soviet name for the republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was adopted in the Soviet Constitution of 1936. By that time, Soviet Russia had gained roughly the same borders of the old Tsardom of Russia before the Great Northern War of 1700
8.
Sergey Shoygu
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Sergey Kuzhugetovich Shoygu is a Russian politician who has served in the Government of Russia as Minister of Defence since 2012. Previously, Shoygu was Minister of Emergency Situations from 1991 to 2012, Shoygu holds the military rank of General of the Army. Shoygu is also the President of the International Sport Federation of Firefighters and Rescuers, Shoygu was born on 21 May 1955 in Chadan, Tuva, to a Tuvan father and a Russian mother. He graduated School No.1 of Kyzyl city in Tyva Republic, in 1977, Shoygu graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute with a degree in civil engineering. Following graduation in 1977, Shoygu worked in the construction projects nationwide for the next decade, in 1988, Shoygu became a minor functionary in the Abakan branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and then in Komsomol for a few years. In 1990, Shoygu moved to Moscow from Siberia, and was appointed Deputy Chief of State Architecture and he became popular because of his hands-on management style and high visibility during emergency situations, such as floods, earthquakes and acts of terrorism. In 1999 he became one of the leaders of the Russian pro-government party Unity and he was awarded Russias most prestigious state award – Hero of the Russian Federation – in 1999. In March 2012, he was announced as one of the candidates for the Governor of Moscow Oblast. On 5 April 2012, he was elected by Moscow Oblast Duma as the 3rd Governor of Moscow Oblast, on 6 November 2012, Shoygu was appointed Minister of Defence when Putin ousted his longtime ally, Anatoly Serdyukov. But Putin didn’t want to them, so he took the neutral figure Shoygu. On 7 November 2012, the decided to resurrect the tradition of Suvorov and Nakhimov cadets participating in the 9 May parade. In August that year he ordered to dress all Defense Ministry civilian workers, other staff, in July 2014, Ukraine opened a criminal case against Shoygu, he was accused of helping to form illegal military groups in Eastern Ukraine who at the time fought against the Ukrainian army. At the initiative of Shoygu were created Arctic troops intended to ensure the safety of Russias Arctic region, with the 30 September 2015, Russia conducted a military operation in Syria. The operation carried out by forces created by 1 August 2015 the Space Forces, with the support of the Russian Navy. Also he led the Tuvan State Archives and spent six years editor of the newspaper Pravda, wrote the novel Time and People, Feather black vulture, Tannu Tuva, born in the village of Yakovlev in the Oryol Oblast. From there, shortly before the war, her moved to Kadievka in the Luhansk Oblast. Sisters — Larisa Kuzhugetovna Shoygu and Irina Zakharova, President of the business tourism company Expo-EM. Sergey Shoygu enjoys studying the history of Russia of Peter the Greats time, Shoygu is fond of sports and is a fan of the CSKA Moscow hockey team
9.
Tsar
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Tsar /zɑːr/ or /tsɑːr/, also spelled tzar, csar, or czar, is a title used to designate certain Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, occasionally, the word could be used to designate other secular supreme rulers. Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have borne the title Tsar, the title Tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors, Caesar. In the history of the Greek language, basileus had originally meant something like potentate and it gradually approached the meaning of king in the Hellenistic Period, and it came to designate emperor after the inception in the Roman Empire. Thus, tsar was not only used as an equivalent of Latin imperator but was used to refer to Biblical rulers. From this ambiguity, the development has moved in different directions in the different Slavic languages, thus, the Bulgarian language and Russian language no longer use tsar as an equivalent of the term emperor/imperator as it exists in the West European tradition. Currently, the term refers to native sovereigns, ancient and Biblical rulers, as well as monarchs in fairy tales. The title of king is sometimes perceived as alien and is by some Russian-speakers reserved for European royalty, foreign monarchs of imperial status, both inside and outside of Europe, ancient as well as modern, are generally called imperator, rather than tsar. Biblical rulers in Serbian are called цар and in Croatian kralj, in the Polish language however tsar is always used as imperator, never as king. The term tsar is very used to refer to the Russian rulers after Peter the Great. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named Tervel of Bulgaria Caesar, the first foreigner to receive this title, the sainted Boris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his time Bulgaria was converted to Christianity. However, the tsar was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for two emperors, Eastern and Western, the Bulgarian ruler was crowned basileus as a spiritual son of the Byzantian basileus. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated Emperor of Zagora, various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks. During the five-century period of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, the sultan was referred to as tsar. This may be related to the fact that he had claimed the legacy of the Byzantine Empire or to the fact that the sultan was called Basileus in medieval Greek, after Bulgarias liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at first autonomous prince. With the declaration of independence, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria adopted the traditional title tsar in 1908. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of emperor any longer, in the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted
10.
Alexis of Russia
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Aleksey Mikhailovich was the Russian Tsar during some of Russias most eventful decades in the mid-17th century. His reign saw wars with Poland and Sweden, schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, on the eve of his death in 1676, the Tsardom of Russia spanned almost 2,000,000,000 acres. Born in Moscow on 29 March 1629, the son of Tsar Michael and Eudoxia Streshneva and he was committed to the care of his tutor Boris Morozov, a shrewd boyar open to Western ideas. Morozovs pursued a foreign policy, securing a truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. His domestic policy aimed at relieving limiting the privileges of foreign traders and abolishing a useless, on 17 January 1648 Morozov procured the marriage of the tsar with Maria Miloslavskaya, himself marrying her sister, Anna, ten days later, both daughters of Ilya Danilovich Miloslavsky. Morozov was regarded as a corrupt self-seeking 17th-century boyar and accused of sorcery, in May 1648 Muscovites rose against his faction in the Salt Riot, and the young Tsar was compelled to dismiss them and exile Boris to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Four months later, Boris secretly returned to Moscow to regain some of his power, the popular discontent demonstrated by the riot was partially responsible for Alexis 1649 issuance of a new legal code, the Sobornoye Ulozhenie. Throughout his reign, Alexei faced rebellions across Russia, after resolving the 1648 Salt Riot Alexei faced rebellions in 1650 in the cities of Pskov and Great Novgorod. Alexei put down the Novgorod rebellion quickly, but was unable to subdue Pskov, the Metropolitan Nikon distinguished himself at Great Novgorod and in 1651 became the Tsars chief minister. As a result, angry Moscow residents revolted in the 1662 Copper Riot, in 1669, the Cossacks along the Don in southern Russia erupted in rebellion. The rebellion was led by Stenka Razin, a disaffected Don Cossack who had captured the Russian terminus of Astrakhan, from 1670 to 1671, Razin seized multiple towns along the Volga River. The turning point in his campaign was his failed siege of Simbirsk in October 1670, Razin was finally captured on the Don in April 1671, and was drawn and quartered in Moscow. Safavid troops and allies accompanied the troops, in 1653 Alexis, initially thinking about sending the Zaporozhian Cossacks, eventually decided to send an embassy to Persia for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. In August 1653 courtier Prince Ivan Lobanov-Rostov and steward Ivan Komynin traveled from Astrakhan to Isfahan, shah Abbas II agreed to settle the conflict, stating that the conflict was initiated without his consent. In 1653 the weakness and disorder of Poland, which had just emerged from the Khmelnytsky Uprising, encouraged Alexei to attempt to annex from her rival the old Rus’ lands. On 1 October 1653 a national assembly met at Moscow to sanction the war and find the means of carrying it out, and in April 1654 the army was blessed by Nikon, who had been elected patriarch in 1652. The campaign of 1654 was a triumph, and scores of towns, including the important fortress of Smolensk. In the summer of 1655, the invasion by Charles X of Sweden for the moment swept the Polish state out of existence
11.
Peter the Great
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Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a larger empire that became a major European power. He led a revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized. Peters reforms made an impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government trace their origins to his reign. From an early age, Peters education was put in the hands of tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peters elder half-brother and this position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family and Naryshkin family over who should inherit the throne, Peters other half-brother, Ivan V, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent and this arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis daughters from his first marriage, in the subsequent conflict some of Peters relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and this throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name and he engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peters mother sought to force him to adopt a conventional approach. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun, by the summer of 1689, Peter planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with the leaders of the Streltsy, Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name, still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina and it was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became an independent sovereign
12.
Alexander II of Russia
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Alexander II was the Emperor of Russia from 2 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881. He was also the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland, Alexanders most significant reform as emperor was emancipation of Russias serfs in 1861, for which he is known as Alexander the Liberator. In foreign policy, Alexander sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, despite his otherwise pacifist foreign policy, he fought a brief war with Turkey in 1877–78, pursued further expansion into Siberia and the Caucasus, and conquered Turkestan. Although disappointed by the results of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, among his greatest domestic challenges was an uprising in Poland in 1863, to which he responded by stripping that land of its separate constitution and incorporating it directly into Russia. Alexander was proposing additional parliamentary reforms to counter the rise of nascent revolutionary, born in Moscow, Alexander Nikolaevich was the eldest son of Nicholas I of Russia and of Charlotte of Prussia. Personal and official censorship was rife, criticism of the authorities was regarded as a serious offence, aleksandrs alleged lack of interest in military affairs resulted from his reaction to the effects of the unsavoury Crimean War of 1853-1856 on his own family and on the whole country. Unusually for the time, the young Alexander was taken on a tour of Russia. He also visited many prominent Western European countries in 1838 and 1839, as Tsesarevich, Alexander became the first Romanov heir to visit Siberia. Alexander II succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father in 1855, the first year of his reign was devoted to the prosecution of the Crimean War and, after the fall of Sevastopol, to negotiations for peace led by his trusted counsellor Prince Alexander Gorchakov. The country had exhausted and humiliated by the war. Bribe-taking, theft and corruption were everywhere, in 1867 he sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million after recognising the great difficulty of defending it against the United Kingdom or the former British colony of Canada. After Alexander became emperor in 1855, he maintained a generally liberal course, despite this, he was a target for numerous assassination attempts. On 13 March 1881, members of the Narodnaya Volya party killed him with a bomb and this step had been followed by one even more significant. The hint was taken, in all provinces where serfdom existed, the emancipation was not merely a humanitarian question capable of being solved instantaneously by imperial ukase. It contained very complicated problems, deeply affecting the economic, social and political future of the nation, the emperor gave his support to the latter project, and the Russian peasantry became one of the last groups of peasants in Europe to shake off serfdom. The architects of the manifesto were Alexanders brother Konstantin, Yakov Rostovtsev. On 3 March 1861, six years after his accession, the law was signed and published. The changes included universal military conscription, introduced for all classes on 1 January 1874
13.
Soviet Air Defence Forces
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The Soviet Air Defence Forces was the air defence branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. It continued being a branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1998. Unlike Western air defence forces, V-PVO was a branch of the military itself, separate from the Soviet Air Force. During the Soviet period it was ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the Strategic Rocket Forces. Preparations for creation of the air forces started in 1932. At the outbreak of war, air forces were in the midst of rearmament. Anti-aircraft artillery teams had few of the latest 37 mm automatic and 85 mm guns, moreover, the troops were deficient in Yak-1 s and MiG-3s, 46% of the fleet were obsolete aircraft. Increased rates of production were initiated to provide the new equipment. To this end, the formation of parts of the IA, IN, anti-aircraft machine gun, a classic example of a major political organization of defence and industrial center was the defence of Moscow. It was carried out by the 1st Air Defence Corps and the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps PVO, the presence of such large forces, skillful management organisation foiled enemy attempts to inflict massive air strikes. Only 2. 6% of the number of Axis aircraft flew in the outskirts of Moscow as a result of their efforts. Air defence forces defending Moscow destroyed 738 enemy aircraft, in addition, assaults by the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps inflicted heavy blows, destroyed 567 enemy aircraft on the ground. Overall, the Air Defence Forces destroyed 1,305 aircraft, on November 9,1941, the post of the Commander of the Air Defence Forces was created, and Major General Mikhail Gromadin was appointed. In January 1942, to improve the interaction of forces and air defence systems, in April 1942, the Moscow Air Defence Front was founded, and the Leningrad and Baku Air Defence Armies were later raised. There were the first operational formations of the Air Defence Forces, in June 1943, the Office of the Commander of Air Defence Forces of the country was disbanded. In the Far East in March 1945, three air armies were established, Maritime, Amur and Baikal. In carrying out its tasks, the PVO destroyed 7,313 German aircraft, of which 4,168 and 3,145 were targeted by the IA antiaircraft artillery, machine guns, during the war PVO formations were organised as Air Defence Fronts and Air Defence Armies. PVO Fronts normally covered airspace over several ground Army Fronts, these should not be confused with each other, in May 1954, it was established as equal to the other branches of the Soviet Armed Forces, receiving its first commander-in-chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov
14.
NKVD
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The Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs, abbreviated NKVD, was a joint law enforcement agency of the whole Soviet Union that directly executed the will of the All-Union Communist Party. It was closely associated with the Soviet secret police, which at times was part of the agency, the NKVD was headed by Soviet secret police officials. The NKVD contained the regular, public police force of the USSR, including police, firefighting, border guards. It is best known for the activities of the Gulag and the Main Directorate for State Security and it was also tasked with protection of Soviet borders and espionage, influencing foreign governments and enforcing Stalinist policy within communist movements in other countries. After the Russian February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government dissolved the Tsars police, realizing that it was left with no capable security force, the Council of Peoples Commissars of the RSFSR created a secret political police, the Cheka, led by Felix Dzerzhinsky. It gained the right to undertake quick non-judicial trials and executions, the Cheka was reorganized in 1922 as the State Political Directorate, or GPU, of the NKVD of the RSFSR. In 1922, the USSR was formed with the RSFSR as its largest member, the GPU became the OGPU, under the Council of Peoples Commissars of the USSR. The NKVD of the RSFSR retained control of the militsiya, as a result, the NKVD also became responsible for all detention facilities as well as for the regular police. Since its creation in 1934, the NKVD of the USSR underwent many organizational changes, on February 3,1941, the Special Sections of the NKVD responsible for military counterintelligence became part of the Army and Navy. The GUGB was separated from the NKVD and renamed the Peoples Commissariat for State Security, after the German invasion, the NKVD and NKGB were reunited on July 20,1941. The CI sections were returned to the NKVD in January 1942, in April 1943, the CI sections were again transferred to the Peoples Commissariats of Defense and the Navy, becoming SMERSH, at the same time, the NKVD was again separated from the NKGB. In 1946, all Soviet Commissariats were renamed ministries, accordingly, the NKVD of the USSR was renamed as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while the NKGB was renamed as the Ministry of State Security. In 1953, after the arrest of Lavrenty Beria, the MGB was merged back into the MVD, the police and security services were finally split in 1954 to become, The USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for the criminal militia and correctional facilities. The USSR Committee for State Security, responsible for the police, intelligence, counter-intelligence, personal protection. In implementing Soviet internal policy towards perceived enemies of the Soviet state, untold multitudes of people were sent to GULAG camps, formally, most of these people were convicted by NKVD troikas – special courts martial. Evidential standards were low, a tip-off by an anonymous informer was considered sufficient grounds for arrest. Use of physical means of persuasion was sanctioned by a decree of the state. Hundreds of mass graves resulting from operations were later discovered throughout the country
15.
Eastern Front (World War II)
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The battles on the Eastern Front constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterized by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. The Eastern Front, as the site of nearly all extermination camps, death marches, ghettos, of the estimated 70 million deaths attributed to World War II, over 30 million, many of them civilian, occurred on the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome of the European portion of World War II and it resulted in the destruction of the Third Reich, the partition of Germany for nearly half a century and the rise of the Soviet Union as a military and industrial superpower. The two principal belligerent powers were Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, along with their respective allies. Though never engaged in action in the Eastern Front, the United Kingdom. The joint German–Finnish operations across the northernmost Finnish–Soviet border and in the Murmansk region are considered part of the Eastern Front, in addition, the Soviet–Finnish Continuation War may also be considered the northern flank of the Eastern Front. Despite their ideological antipathy, both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union shared a dislike for the outcome of World War I. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed in August 1939 was an agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It contained a secret protocol aiming to return Central Europe to the pre–World War I status quo by dividing it between Germany and the Soviet Union, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would return to Soviet control, while Poland and Romania would be divided. I need the Ukraine so that they cant starve us out, the two powers invaded and partitioned Poland in 1939. The annexations were never recognized by most Western states, the annexed Romanian territory was divided between the Ukrainian and Moldavian Soviet republics. Adolf Hitler had argued in his autobiography Mein Kampf for the necessity of Lebensraum, acquiring new territory for Germans in Eastern Europe, Wehrmacht officers told their troops to target people who were described as Jewish Bolshevik subhumans, the Mongol hordes, the Asiatic flood and the red beast. The vast majority of German soldiers viewed the war in Nazi terms, Hitler referred to the war in unique terms, calling it a war of annihilation which was both an ideological and racial war. In addition, the Nazis also sought to wipe out the large Jewish population of Central, after Germanys initial success at the Battle of Kiev in 1941, Hitler saw the Soviet Union as militarily weak and ripe for immediate conquest. On 3 October 1941, he announced, We have only to kick in the door, thus, Germany expected another short Blitzkrieg and made no serious preparations for prolonged warfare. Throughout the 1930s the Soviet Union underwent massive industrialization and economic growth under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, Stalins central tenet, Socialism in one country, manifested itself as a series of nationwide centralized Five-Year Plans from 1929 onwards. It served as a testing ground for both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army to experiment with equipment and tactics that they would later employ on a wider scale in the Second World War
16.
Soviet Armed Forces
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The OGPU was later made independent and amalgamated with the NKVD in 1934, and thus its Internal Troops were under the joint management of the Defense and Interior Commisariats. The Council of Peoples Commissars set up the Red Army by decree on January 15,1918, credit as the founder of the Red Army generally goes to Leon Trotsky, the Peoples Commissar for War from 1918 to 1924. At the beginning of its existence, the Red Army functioned as a voluntary formation, however, a decree of May 29,1918 imposed obligatory military service for men of ages 18 to 40. To service the massive draft, the Bolsheviks formed regional military commissariats, Democratic election of officers was also abolished by decree, while separate quarters for officers, special forms of address, saluting, and higher pay were all reinstated. After General Aleksei Brusilov offered the Bolsheviks his professional services in 1920, the Bolshevik authorities set up a special commission under the chair of Lev Glezarov, and by August 1920 had drafted about 315,000 ex-officers. Most often they held the position of military advisor, a number of prominent Soviet Army commanders had previously served as Imperial Russian generals. In fact, a number of former Imperial military men, notably a member of the Supreme Military Council, Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich, had joined the Bolsheviks earlier, the Polish-Soviet War represented the first foreign campaign of the Red Army. The Soviet counter-offensive following the 1920 Polish invasion of Ukraine at first met with success, in 1934, Mongolia and the USSR, recognising the threat from the mounting Japanese military presence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, agreed to co-operate in the field of defence. On March 12,1936, the co-operation increased with the ten-year Mongolian-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, in May 1939, a Mongolian cavalry unit clashed with Manchukuoan cavalry in the disputed territory east of the Halha River. There followed a clash with a Japanese detachment, which drove the Mongolians over the river, the Soviet troops quartered there in accordance with the mutual defence protocol intervened and obliterated the detachment. Escalation of the conflict appeared imminent, and both sides spent June amassing forces, on July 1 the Japanese force numbered 38,000 troops. The combined Soviet-Mongol force had 12,500 troops, the Japanese crossed the river, but after a three-day battle their opponents threw them back over the river. The Japanese kept probing the Soviet defences throughout July, without success, on August 23 the entire Japanese force found itself encircled, and on August 31 largely destroyed. Artillery and air attacks wiped out those Japanese who refused to surrender, Japan requested a cease-fire, and the conflict concluded with an agreement between the USSR, Mongolia and Japan signed on September 15 in Moscow. In the conflict, the Red Army losses were 9,703 killed in action, the Japanese lost 25,000 KIA, the grand total was 61,000 killed, missing, wounded and taken prisoner. Shortly after the cease-fire, the Japanese negotiated access to the battlefields to collect their dead, finding thousands upon thousands of dead bodies came as a further shock to the already shaken morale of the Japanese soldiers. The Soviet invasion opened a front for the Poles and forced them to abandon plans for defence in the Romanian bridgehead area. The Soviet and German advance halted roughly at the Curzon Line, the defined Soviet sphere of interest matched the territory subsequently captured in the campaign
17.
1988 Armenian earthquake
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The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake occurred in the northern region of Armenia on December 7 at 11,41 local time. The earthquake measured 6.8 on the surface wave magnitude scale and had a maximum perceived intensity of X on the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale. The region that the earthquake occurred is vulnerable to occasional large, activity in the area is associated with tectonic plate boundary interaction and the source of the event was a slip of a thrust fault just to the north of Spitak. The cities of Spitak, Leninakan, and Kirovakan were greatly affected with large losses of life and devastating effects to buildings, a number of the smaller outlying villages away from the larger population centers were also severely affected. In support of the effort, recording artists united to produce several music-related contributions for the victims of the quake. A song was produced by a duo of French composers and a album that featured songs donated by mainstream rock bands was released from the Rock Aid Armenia effort by the British music industry. Beginning with late 1987 the Caucasus region was experiencing a surge in political turmoil with large, the unrest and the opposition movement began in September 1988 with negotiations between the Karabakh Committee and Gorbachev taking place throughout most of 1989. The source of the event was a fault rupture 40 kilometers south of the Caucasus Mountains, a range that has been produced by the convergence of the Arabian. The range is situated along an active seismic belt that stretches from the Alps in southern Europe to the Himalayas in Asia, the seismicity along this belt is marked by frequent major earthquakes from the Aegean Sea, through Turkey and Iran, and into Afghanistan. Mount Ararat, a 5,137 m dormant volcano, lies 100 kilometers to the south of the epicenter in Turkey. The earthquake occurred along a known 60 km thrust fault striking parallel to the Caucasus range, during the earthquake, the northeast-facing side of the Spitak section rode up and over the southwest-facing side. The mainshock produced surface rupture and propagated to the west with a separate strike-slip sub-event occurring two seconds later that propagated to the southeast, going westward the fault split into two branches, a north-dipping reverse fault and a right slip fault, but neither produced surface rupture. A total of five sub-events occurred in the first eleven seconds, some of the strongest shaking occurred in industrial areas with chemical and food processing plants, electrical substations, and power plants. It was reopened in 1995 amid criticism of lack of training, political instability in the Caucasus region, at that time the International Atomic Energy Agencys assistant director general Morris Rosen said of the situation. You would never build a plant in that area, thats for sure, buildings that didnt collapse featured well-maintained masonry and skeletal components that were joined together adequately in a way that allowed for the building to resist seismic waves. Most bridges and tunnels and other public infrastructure withstood the earthquake, most collapsed, killing two-thirds of the doctors, destroying equipment and medicine, and reducing the capacity to handle the critical medical needs in the region. The Soviet news media and government officials began to discuss the apparent substandard construction styles that had caused so many of Armenias buildings to collapse. The official communist party newspaper Pravda said that construction, like other issues of neglect in the Soviet system
18.
Chernobyl disaster
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The Chernobyl disaster, also referred to as the Chernobyl accident, was a catastrophic nuclear accident. Practically all of this material would then go on to fall-out/precipitate onto much of the surface of the western USSR. The Chernobyl accident dominates the Energy accidents sub-category, of most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history, both in terms of cost and casualties. It is one of two nuclear energy accidents classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The remains of the No.3 continuing to produce electricity into 2000, the accident motivated safety upgrades on all remaining Soviet-designed reactors in the RBMK family, of which eleven continued to power electric grids as of 2013. These events exposed the graphite moderator of the reactor to air, the resulting fire sent week long plumes of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere over an extensive geographical area, including Pripyat. The plumes drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union. According to official data, about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus. The surveying and detection of isolated fallout hotspots outside this zone over the year eventually resulted in 135,000 long-term evacuees in total. Many thousands of these evacuees would have been better off staying home, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus have been burdened with the continuing and substantial decontamination and monthly compensation costs, of the Chernobyl accident.5 and 6, were eventually cancelled. There was a drop in the prior rate of new startups. The government coverup of the Chernobyl disaster was a catalyst for glasnost, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency examines the environmental consequences of the accident. Thirty-one deaths are attributed to the accident, all among the reactor staff. An UNSCEAR report places the total confirmed deaths from radiation at 64 as of 2008. 01% of all incident cancers since the accident. Along similar lines, the 2006 TORCH report, commissioned by the European Greens political party, predicts an eventual 30,000 to 60,000 excess cancer deaths in total, greenpeace itself advocates a figure of at least 200,000 or more. Balonov published by the New York Academy of Sciences concludes that the report is of value because it has very little scientific merit while being highly misleading to the lay reader. It characterized the estimate of nearly a million deaths as more in the realm of fiction than science. On 26 April 1986, at 01,23, reactor four suffered a power increase
19.
Fire department
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Other life safety services, such as technical rescue, hazardous materials, and emergency medical services may also be provided by the agency. In the United States a fire brigade is the private firefighting organization of a company or enterprise, a fire department usually contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, or a combination thereof. A fire department may provide fire protection or fire prevention services, whereby firefighters visit homes and give fire safety advice. In many countries fire protection or prevention is seen as an important role for the service, as preventing a fire from occurring in the first place can save lives. Fire departments are organized in a system of administration, services, training, and operations, for example, Administration is responsible for supervision, budgets, policy, Service offers protection, safety, and education to the public. Training prepares skilled people with the knowledge to perform their duties, operations performs the tasks to successfully save the public from harm. Larger departments have branches within themselves to increase efficiency, composed of volunteers, support, volunteers give advantages to the department in a state of emergency. Support organizing the resources within and outside of the department, research is to give advantages in new technologies for the department. A fire departments jurisdiction is organized by the body that controls the department. This comes from a municipality, county, prefecture, state, province, the most common type of government control is at the municipality level. The jurisdiction size and organisation would be set up by a department or the government in charge of these duties and this deals with the placement of fire stations, equipment, and personnel within the area of control. Fire departments periodically survey their areas and use the data for redeploying proper coverage. This data comes from time, range from station, and/or a population survey. This brings equal service to the community and gives the department efficient places to launch operations. The earliest known firefighting service was formed in Ancient Rome by Egnatius Rufus who used his slaves to provide a fire service. These men fought fires using bucket chains and also patrolled the streets with the authority to impose corporal punishment upon those who violated fire-prevention codes, the Emperor Augustus established a public fire department in 24 BCE, composed of 600 slaves distributed amongst seven fire stations in Rome. Fire departments were formed by property insurance companies beginning in the 17th century after the Great Fire of London in 1666. The first insurance brigades were established the following year, each company had its own fire mark, a durable plaque that would be affixed to the building exterior
20.
Civil defense
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Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attacks and natural disasters. It uses the principles of operations, prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation. Programs of this sort were initially discussed at least as early as the 1920s and were implemented in some countries during the 1930s as the threat of war and it became widespread after the threat of nuclear weapons was realized. Since the end of the Cold War, the focus of civil defense has largely shifted from military attack to emergencies, in some countries, civil defense is seen as a key part of total defense. For example, in Sweden, the Swedish word totalförsvar refers to the commitment of a range of resources of the nation to its defense - including to civil protection. Respectively, some countries may have or have had military-organized civil defense units as part of their armed forces or as a paramilitary service, the advent of civil defence was stimulated by the experience of the bombing of civilian areas during the First World War. The bombing of the United Kingdom began on 19 January 1915 when German zeppelins dropped bombs on the Great Yarmouth area, German bombing operations of the First World War were surprisingly effective, especially after the Gotha bombers surpassed the zeppelins. The most devastating raids inflicted 121 casualties for each ton of bombs dropped, the Committee produced figures estimating that in London there would be 9,000 casualties in the first two days and then a continuing rate of 17,500 casualties a week. It was believed there would be total chaos and panic. To control the population harsh measures were proposed, bringing London under almost military control, a different government department proposed setting up camps for refugees for a few days before sending them back to London. A special government department, the Civil Defence Service, was established by the Home Office in 1935 and its remit included the pre-existing ARP as well as wardens, firemen, fire watchers, rescue, first aid post, stretcher party and industry. Over 1.9 million people served within the CD, nearly 2,400 lost their lives to enemy action, the organisation of civil defence was the responsibility of the local authority. Volunteers were ascribed to different units depending on experience or training, each local civil defence service was divided into several sections. Wardens were responsible for reconnaissance and reporting, and leadership, organisation, guidance. Wardens would also advise survivors of the locations of rest and food centres, Rescue Parties were required to assess and then access bombed-out buildings and retrieve injured or dead people. In addition they would turn off gas, electricity and water supplies, medical services, including First Aid Parties, provided on the spot medical assistance. The expected stream of information that would be generated during an attack was handled by Report, a local headquarters would have an ARP controller who would direct rescue, first aid and decontamination teams to the scenes of reported bombing. If local services were deemed insufficient to deal with the incident then the controller could request assistance from surrounding boroughs
21.
Search and rescue
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Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, International Search and Rescue Advisory Group is a UN organization that promotes the exchange of information between national urban search and rescue organizations. The duty to render assistance is covered by Article 98 of the UNCLOS, there are many different definitions of search and rescue, depending on the agency involved. Canadian Forces, Search and Rescue comprises the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. United States Coast Guard, The use of resources to assist persons or property in potential or actual distress. One of the worlds earliest well-documented SAR efforts ensued following the 1656 wreck of the Dutch merchant ship Vergulde Draeck off the west coast of Australia, survivors sought help, and in response three separate SAR missions were conducted, without success. All 5 crew members of an oil barge, which had run aground on Penfield Reef, were saved before the barge sank, in 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 with 269 occupants was shot down by a Soviet aircraft near Sakhalin. The Soviets sent SAR helicopters and boats to Soviet waters, while a search, South Korean, and Japanese ships and aircraft in international waters, but no survivors were found. In July 2009, Air France Flight 447 was lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, an international SAR effort was launched, to no avail. A third effort nearly two years later discovered the site and recovered the black boxes. In early 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed under mysterious circumstances, many nations contributed to the initial SAR effort, which was fruitless. 3mn to date on fuel and food in its own effort. The search for Flight 370 has become the largest SAR so far with the largest budget, mountain rescue relates to search and rescue operations specifically in rugged and mountainous terrain. Ground search and rescue is the search for persons who are lost or in distress on land or inland waterways, some ground search teams also employ search and rescue dogs. Urban search and rescue, also referred to as Heavy Urban Search and Rescue, is the location and rescue of persons from collapsed buildings or other urban and industrial entrapments. Due to the nature of the work, most teams are multi-disciplinary and include personnel from police, fire. While earthquakes have traditionally been the cause of US&R operations, terrorist attacks, combat search and rescue is search and rescue operations that are carried out during war that are within or near combat zones. Air-sea rescue refers to the use of aircraft and surface vessels, to search for. This treaty contains the definition of high seas, at Article 1, International Search and Rescue Advisory Group is a UN organization that promotes the exchange of information between national urban search and rescue organizations
22.
Major general
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Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the rank of sergeant major general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral. In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the officer ranks. In the old Austro-Hungarian Army, the general was called a Generalmajor. Todays Austrian Federal Army still uses the same term, see also Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces General de Brigade is the lowest rank amongst general officers in the Brazilian Army. AGeneral de Brigada wears two-stars as this is the level for general officers in the Brazilian Army. In tha Brazilian Air Force, the two-star, three-star and four-star rank are known as Brigadeiro, Major-Brigadeiro, see Military ranks of Brazil and Brigadier for more information. In the Canadian Armed Forces, the rank of major-general is both a Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force rank equivalent to the Royal Canadian Navys rank of rear-admiral, a major-general is a general officer, the equivalent of a naval flag officer. The major-general rank is senior to the ranks of brigadier-general and commodore, prior to 1968, the Air Force used the rank of air vice-marshal, instead. In the Canadian Army, the insignia is a wide braid on the cuff. It is worn on the straps of the service dress tunic. On the visor of the cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. Major-generals are initially addressed as general and name, as are all general officers, major-generals are normally entitled to staff cars. In the Estonian military, the general rank is called kindralmajor. The Finnish military equivalent is kenraalimajuri in Finnish, and generalmajor in Swedish and Danish, the French equivalent to the rank of major general is général de division. In the French military, major général is not a rank but an appointment conferred on some generals, usually of général de corps darmée rank, the position of major général can be considered the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff. In the French Army, Major General is a position and the general is normally of the rank of corps general
23.
Security Council of Russia
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The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidents decisions on national security affairs. Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia and it is the successor of the Security Council of the USSR. Since its formation, it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other centers in the presidential administration. However, the June 1996 appointment of army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organizations standing. In July 1996, a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions, as had been the case previously, the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month. The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security, regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman, if necessary, the Council can hold extraordinary meetings. The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council, the Chairman presides over meetings, while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis. A Presidential decree on the Security Council issued by President Medvedev in early May 2011 appeared to strengthen the role of the administration in overseeing military affairs. The Secretary will also make proposals to the Secretary Council for coordinating the work of federal and regional bodies in national emergencies. ru Information in English
24.
Ministry of Defence (Russia)
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The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation exercises administrative and operational leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In this capacity, the minister exercises day-to-day administrative and operational authority over the armed forces, the General Staff, the executive body of the Ministry of Defence, implements the defence ministers operational instructions and orders. The main ministry building, built in the 1980s, is located on Arbatskaya Square, other buildings of the ministry are located throughout the city of Moscow. The current Russian minister of Defence is Sergey Shoygu, the historical tradition of military command is considerably different in Russia. The tsars were educated as officers, and they wore military uniforms. Josef Stalin in his years in power frequently wore a military uniform. Likewise, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was named Marshal of the Soviet Union, by tradition dating back to the tsars, the Minister of Defense was a uniformed officer, with military background or without. The State Duma also seats a large number of deputies who are active-duty military officers—another tradition that began in the Russian imperial era and these combinations of military and civilian authority ensure that military concerns are considered at the highest levels of the Russian government. In May 1992, President of Russia Boris Yeltsin appointed General of the Army Pavel Grachev to the post of Minister of Defence. At least partly for that reason, Yeltsin retained his defence minister despite intense criticism of Grachevs management of the First Chechen War, finally, Yeltsins victory in the first round of the 1996 Russian presidential election spurred Yeltsin to dismiss Grachev. Putin called the changes in Russias security structures coinciding with Ivanovs appointment as defence minister a step toward demilitarizing public life. Putin also stressed Ivanovs responsibility for overseeing military reform as defence minister, what Putin did not emphasise was Ivanovs long service within the KGB and FSB and his then rank of General-Lieutenant within the FSB. Such military and security agency associated men are known as siloviki, as of 2002 there were four living Marshals of the Soviet Union. Such men are automatically Advisors to the Defence Minister, the Marshals alive at that time were Viktor Kulikov, Vasily Petrov, Sergei Sokolov, a former Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union, and Dmitri Yazov. Serdyukov was a former Tax Minister with little siloviki or military associations beyond his two military service. The executive body of the Ministry of Defence is the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and it is commanded by the Chief of General Staff. U. S. expert William Odom said in 1998 that the Soviet General Staff without the MoD is conceivable, Russian General Staff officers exercise command authority in their own right. In 1996 the General Staff included fifteen main directorates and an number of operating agencies
25.
National Guard of Russia
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The National Guard is separate from the Russian Armed Forces. The establishment of the National Guard is seen an effort to enhance efficiency, the National Guard consolidated and replaced the forces of the MVD Internal Troops, SOBR, OMON and other internal military forces outside of the Russian Armed Forces. The ministrys full name is the Federal National Guard Troops Service of the Russian Federation, in official documents, it may be referred to by the romanized acronym FSVNG RF. In Russian, the less formal acronym Rosgvardiya is commonly used, the corps is a direct successor to Internal Troops of Russia and to OMON and SOBR units formerly under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On 5 April 2016, President Putin created the National Guard of Russia by a Presidential Decree - a legal act having the status of a by-law, on 9 May 2016 the National Guard paraded for the first time. 400 National Guardsmen of the ODON Ind, motorized Division of the National Guard Forces Command, Federal National Guard Service of the Russian Federation Felix Dzerzhinsky formed part of the 2016 Moscow Victory Day Parade. On 18 May 2016, State Duma approved the first of the three readings of the law establishing the National Guard. On 22 June 2016, State Duma approved the last of the three readings of the law, thus establishing the National Guard, the Federation Council soon followed. The first National Guardsmen to be enlisted took their oaths on 1 June 2016. Presidential press secretary Peskov told reporters that the National Guard started operations before the legal basis for its work was actually finalized. According to Federal National Guard Service Director and National Guard Forces Director Viktor Zolotov, the first phase sees the transformation of the Interior Troops, of the OMON units and of the SOBR units into National Guard units. The second step involves the elaboration of the organizational and staff structure, harmonizing regulations. Finally, the third phase envisages the completion of all the organizational activities, the National Guard of Russia is directly subordinated to the supreme commander-in-chief with the incumbent head of this new structure included into the Security Council as a permanent member. In turn, the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Drug Service are to be incorporated into the structure of the Interior Ministry, in operation, the National Guard is expected to number some 350,000 to 400,000 men. However, as of May 2016 the Russian government did not propose the size of the actually needed. The establishing Presidential decree points out that the process should be completed by 1 June 2016. According to the presidential decree, the Federal National Guard Service is part of the executive branch. The Federal Service is led by a Director, and the director is simultaneously the commander of the National Guard Forces Command
26.
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
27.
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
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Mongolia
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Mongolia /mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ is a landlocked unitary sovereign state in East Asia. Its area is equivalent with the historical territory of Outer Mongolia. It is sandwiched between China to the south and Russia to the north, while it does not share a border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia is separated from it by only 36.76 kilometers. At 1,564,116 square kilometers, Mongolia is the 18th largest and it is also the worlds second-largest landlocked country behind Kazakhstan and the largest landlocked country that does not border a closed sea. The country contains very little land, as much of its area is covered by grassy steppe, with mountains to the north and west. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the countrys population, approximately 30% of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic, horse culture is still integral. The majority of its population are Buddhists, the non-religious population is the second largest group. Islam is the dominant religion among ethnic Kazakhs, the majority of the states citizens are of Mongol ethnicity, although Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities also live in the country, especially in the west. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization in 1997 and seeks to expand its participation in regional economic, the area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Turkic Khaganate, and others. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan conquered China to establish the Yuan dynasty, after the collapse of the Yuan, the Mongols retreated to Mongolia and resumed their earlier pattern of factional conflict, except during the era of Dayan Khan and Tumen Zasagt Khan. In the 16th century, Tibetan Buddhism began to spread in Mongolia, being led by the Manchu-founded Qing dynasty. By the early 1900s, almost one-third of the male population were Buddhist monks. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence from the Qing dynasty, shortly thereafter, the country came under the control of the Soviet Union, which had aided its independence from China. In 1924, the Mongolian Peoples Republic was declared as a Soviet satellite state, after the anti-Communist revolutions of 1989, Mongolia conducted its own peaceful democratic revolution in early 1990. This led to a multi-party system, a new constitution of 1992, homo erectus inhabited Mongolia from 850,000 years ago. Modern humans reached Mongolia approximately 40,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic, the Khoit Tsenkher Cave in Khovd Province shows lively pink, brown, and red ochre paintings of mammoths, lynx, bactrian camels, and ostriches, earning it the nickname the Lascaux of Mongolia. The venus figurines of Malta testify to the level of Upper Paleolithic art in northern Mongolia, the wheeled vehicles found in the burials of the Afanasevans have been dated to before 2200 BC
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Latvia
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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic established in 1918. The capital city is Riga, the European Capital of Culture 2014, Latvia is a unitary state, divided into 119 administrative divisions, of which 110 are municipalities and 9 are cities. Latvians and Livs are the people of Latvia. Latvian and Lithuanian are the two surviving Baltic languages. Despite foreign rule from the 13th to 20th centuries, the Latvian nation maintained its identity throughout the generations via the language, Latvia and Estonia share a long common history. Until World War II, Latvia also had significant minorities of ethnic Germans, Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant Lutheran, except for the Latgale region in the southeast, which has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The Russian population has brought a significant portion of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918, however, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule and it ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring de facto independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and it used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes, henry of Latvia coined the Latinisations of the countrys name, Lettigallia and Lethia, both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the name in Romance languages from Letonia. Around 3000 BC, the ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals, by 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia, Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, as well as the Livonians speaking a Finnic language
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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
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Moldova
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Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova (Romanian, Republica Moldova, listen, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia, but Russian rule was restored over the whole of the region in 1878, Bessarabia remained a province of the Russian Empire until 1917, when during the Russian Revolution it became an autonomous and then nominally independent Moldavian Democratic Republic. In 1918, following a vote of its assembly, Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania, the decision was disputed by Soviet Russia, which in 1924, created within the Ukrainian SSR, on a territory east of Bessarabia, a so-called Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, the Soviets decided to split the region between a newly established Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian SSR. The Moldavian SSR included two-thirds of the territory of Bessarabia, on 27 August 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Moldavian SSR declared independence and took the name Moldova. The current Constitution of Moldova was adopted in 1994, the strip of the Moldovan territory on the east bank of the Dniester river has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990. Its economy is the poorest in Europe in per capita terms, Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. The name Moldova derives from the Moldova River, the valley of this served as a political centre at the time of the foundation of the Principality of Moldavia in 1359. The origin of the name of the river remains unclear, the dogs name, given to the river, extended to the Principality. For a short time in the 1990s, at the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country began to use the Romanian name, Moldova. Officially, the name Republic of Moldova is designated by the United Nations, in 2010, Oldowan flint tools were discovered at Bayraki that are 800, 000–1.2 million years old. This demonstrates that humans were present in Moldova during the early Paleolithic era. The inhabitants of this civilization, which lasted roughly from 5500 to 2750 BC, practiced agriculture, raised livestock, hunted, in antiquity, Moldovas territory was inhabited by Dacian tribes. Between the 1st and 7th centuries AD, the south was intermittently under the Roman, and then Byzantine Empires. The Principality of Moldavia, established in 1359, was bounded by the Carpathian Mountains in the west, the Dniester River in the east, and the Danube River and Black Sea to the south. Its territory comprised the territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern eight counties of Romania. Like the present-day republic and Romanias north-eastern region, it was known to the locals as Moldova, Moldavia was invaded repeatedly by Crimean Tatars and, beginning in the 15th century, by the Turks. In 1538, the principality became a tributary to the Ottoman Empire, the title used in the document of 6 July 1600 was The King of the country of Romania, Ardeal and of all of Moldavia
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Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
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Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
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Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is a member of the United Nations Development Group. The UNHCR has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, once in 1954 and again in 1981, following the demise of the League of Nations and the formation of the United Nations the international community was acutely aware of the refugee crisis following the end of World War II. In 1947, the International Refugee Organization was founded by the United Nations, the IRO was the first international agency to deal comprehensively with all aspects of refugees lives. Preceding this was the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, which was established in 1944 to address the millions of people displaced across Europe as a result of World War II. In the late 1940s, the IRO fell out of favor, however, the organization was only intended to operate for 3 years, from January 1951, due to the disagreement of many UN member states over the implications of a permanent body. UNHCRs mandate was set out in its statute, annexed to resolution 428 of the United Nations General Assembly of 1950. This mandate has been broadened by numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and its Economic. According to UNHCR, mandate is to provide, on a non-political and humanitarian basis, international protection to refugees, soon after the signing of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it became clear that refugees were not solely restricted to Europe. In 1956, UNHCR was involved in coordinating the response to the uprising in Hungary, the responses marked the beginning of a wider, global mandate in refugee protection and humanitarian assistance. By the end of the decade, two-thirds of UNHCRs budget was focused on operations in Africa and in just one decade, the organizations focus had shifted from an almost exclusive focus on Europe. In 1967, the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees was ratified to remove the geographical and temporal restrictions of UNHCR under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. In the 1970s, UNHCR refugee operations continued to spread around the globe, adding to the woes in Asia was the Vietnam war, with millions fleeing the war-torn country. The 1980s saw new challenges for UNHCR, with member states unwilling to resettle refugees due to the sharp rise in refugee numbers over the 1970s. Often, these refugees were not fleeing wars between states, but inter-ethnic conflict in newly independent states, the targeting of civilians as military strategy added to the displacement in many nations, so even minor conflicts could result in a large number of displaced persons. As a result, the UNHCR became more involved with assistance programs within refugee camps. The end of the Cold War marked continued inter-ethnic conflict and contributed heavily to refugee flight, UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 and succeeded the earlier United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. UNHCR maintains a database of information, ProGres, which was created during the Kosovo War in the 1990s
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NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
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Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
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Rostov-on-Don
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Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the part of the East European Plain on the Don River,32 kilometers from the Sea of Azov. The southwestern suburbs of the city abut the Don River delta, from ancient times, the area around the mouth of the Don River has held cultural and commercial importance. Ancient indigenous inhabitants included the Scythian, Sarmat, and Savromat tribes and it was the site of Tanais, an ancient Greek colony, Fort Tana, under the Genoese and Fort Azak in the time of the Ottoman Empire. In 1749, a house was established on the Temernik River, a tributary of the Don, by edict of Empress Elizabeth. It was co-located with a named for Dimitry of Rostov. Azov, a closer to the Sea of Azov on the Don. In 1756, the Russian commercial and trading company of Constantinople was founded at the settlement on the high bank of the Don. In 1796, the settlement was chartered and in 1797, it became the seat of Rostovsky Uyezd within Novorossiysk Governorate, in 1806, it was officially renamed Rostov-on-Don. During the 19th century, due to its connections with Russias interior, Rostov developed into a major trade center. A railway connection with Kharkiv was completed in 1870, with further links following in 1871 to Voronezh, concurrent with improvements in communications, heavy industry developed. Coal from the Donets Basin and iron ore from Krivoy Rog supported the establishment of a foundry in 1846. In 1859, the production of pumps and steam boilers began, the harbor was one of the largest trade hubs in southern Russia, especially for the export of wheat, timber, and iron ore. In 1779, Rostov-on-Don became associated with a settlement of Armenian refugees from the Crimea at Nakhichevan-on-Don, the two settlements were separated by a field of wheat. In 1928, the two towns were merged, the former town border lies beneath the Teatralnaya Square of central Rostov-on-Don. By 1928, following the incorporation of the neighboring city of Nakhichevan-on-Don. In the early 20th century, epidemics of cholera during the months were not uncommon. During the Russian Civil War, the Whites and the Reds contested Rostov-on-Don, by 1928, the regional government had moved from the old Cossack capital of Novocherkassk to Rostov-on-Don
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Samara
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Samara, known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev, is the sixth largest city in Russia and the administrative center of Samara Oblast. It is situated in the part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga. The Volga acts as the western boundary, across the river are the Zhiguli Mountains. The northern boundary is formed by the Sokolyi Hills and by the steppes in the south, the land within the city boundaries covers 46,597 hectares. The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast contains a population of three million. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial and it has a continental climate characterised by hot summers and cold winters. Samaras riverfront is considered one of the recreation places both for local citizens and tourists. After the Soviet novelist Vasily Aksyonov visited Samara, he remarked, I am not sure where in the West one can find such a long, ahmad ibn Fadlan visited the area that is now Samara around the year 921 AD while on his journey up the Volga. The Volga port of Samara appears on Italian maps of the 14th century, before 1586, the Samara Bend was a pirate nest. Lookouts would spot a boat and quickly cross to the other side of the peninsula where the pirates would organize an attack. Officially, Samara started with a built in 1586 at the confluence of the Volga. This fortress was a frontier post protecting the then easternmost boundaries of Russia from forays of nomads, a local customs office was established in 1600. As more and more pulled into Samaras port, the town turned into a center for diplomatic and economic links between Russia and the East. Samara also opened its gates to peasant war rebels headed by Stepan Razin and Yemelyan Pugachyov, welcoming them with traditional bread, the town was visited by Peter the Great and later Tsars. In 1780, Samara was turned into a town of Simbirsk Governorate overseen by the local Governor-General, and Uyezd and Zemstvo Courts of Justice. On January 1,1851, Samara became the center of Samara Governorate with a population of 20,000. This gave a stimulus to the development of the economic, political and cultural life of the community, in 1877, during the Russian-Turkish War, a mission from the Samara city government Duma led by Pyotr V. The quick growth of Samaras economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was determined by the scope of the bread trade and flour milling business
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Yekaterinburg
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At the 2010 Census, it had a population of 1,349,772. Yekaterinburg is the industrial and cultural centre of the Ural Federal District. Between 1924 and 1991, the city was named Sverdlovsk after the Communist party leader Yakov Sverdlov, Vasily Tatishchev and Georg Wilhelm de Gennin founded Yekaterinburg in 1723 and named it after the wife of Tsar Peter the Great, Yekaterina, who later became empress regnant Catherine I. The official date of the foundation is November 18,1723. It was granted town status in 1796, the city was one of Russias first industrial cities, prompted at the start of the eighteenth century by decrees from the Tsar requiring the development in Yekaterinburg of metal-working businesses. The city was built, with use of iron, to a regular square plan with iron works. These were surrounded by fortified walls, so that Yekaterinburg was at the time both a manufacturing centre and a fortress at the frontier between Europe and Asia. It therefore found itself at the heart of Russias strategy for development of the entire Ural region. With the growth in trade and the administrative importance, the ironworks became less critical. Small manufacturing and trading businesses proliferated, following the October Revolution, the family of deposed Tsar Nicholas II were sent to internal exile in Yekaterinburg where they were imprisoned in the Ipatiev House in the city. Other members of the Romanov family were killed at Alapayevsk later the same day, on July 16,1918, the Czechoslovak legions were closing on Yekaterinburg. The Bolsheviks executed the deposed imperial family, believing that the Czechoslovaks were on a mission to rescue them, the Legions arrived less than a week later and captured the city. In 1977, the Ipatiev House was demolished by order of Boris Yeltsin, Yeltsin later became the first President of Russia and represented the people at the funeral of the former Tsar in 1998. On August 24,2007, the BBC reported that Russian archaeologists had found the remains of two children of Russias last Tsar, the discoveries in 2007 are thought to be those of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria. Archaeologist Sergei Pogorelov said bullets found at the site indicate the children had been shot. He told Russian television the newly unearthed bones belonged to two people, a young male aged roughly 10–13 and a young woman about 18–23. The Tsars remains were given a funeral in July 1998. During the 1930s, Yekaterinburg was one of several developed by the Soviet government as a centre of heavy industry
40.
Novosibirsk
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Novosibirsk is the third-most populous city in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is the most populous city in Asian Russia, with a population of 1,473,754 as of the 2010 Census and it is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District. It is split into ten districts and occupies an area of 502.1 square kilometers and it superseded nearby Krivoshchekovskaya village, which was founded in 1696. The bridge was completed in the spring of 1897, making the new settlement the regional transport hub, the importance of the city further increased with the completion of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway in the early 20th century. The new railway connected Novonikolayevsk to Central Asia and the Caspian Sea, at the time of the bridges opening, Novonikolayevsk had a population of 7,800 people. Its first bank opened in 1906, and a total of five banks were operating by 1915, in 1907, Novonikolayevsk, now with a population exceeding 47,000, was granted town status with full rights for self-government. During the pre-revolutionary period, the population of Novonikolayevsk reached 80,000, the city had steady and rapid economic growth, becoming one of the largest commercial and industrial centers of Siberia. It developed a significant agricultural processing industry, as well as a station, iron foundry, commodity market, several banks. In 1913, Novonikolayevsk became one of the first places in Russia to institute compulsory primary education, the Russian Civil War took a toll on the city. There were wartime epidemics, especially of typhus and cholera, that thousands of lives. In the course of the war the Ob River Bridge was destroyed, for the first time in the citys history, the population of Novonikolayevsk began to decline. The Soviet Workers and Soldiers Deputies of Novonikolayevsk took control of the city in December 1917, in May 1918, the Czechoslovak Legions rose in opposition to the revolutionary government and, together with the White Guards, captured Novonikolayevsk. The Red Army took the city in 1919, retaining it throughout the rest of the Civil War, Novonikolayevsk began reconstruction in 1921 at the start of Lenins New Economic Policy period. It was a part of Tomsk Governorate and served as its center from December 23,1919 to March 14,1920. Between June 13,1921 and May 25,1925, it served as the center of Novonikolayevsk Governorate. The city was given its present name on September 12,1926, since then, it has served as the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast. The Monument to the Heroes of the Revolution was erected in the center of the city and has one of the chief historic sites. Neglect in the 1990s while other areas were redeveloped helped preserve it in the post-Soviet era, during Joseph Stalins industrialization effort, Novosibirsk secured its place as one of the largest industrial centers of Siberia
41.
Krasnoyarsk
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Krasnoyarsk is a city and the administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located on the Yenisei River. It is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk and Omsk, Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and one of Russias largest producers of aluminum. The city is notable for its landscapes, author Anton Chekhov judged Krasnoyarsk to be the most beautiful city in Siberia. The total area of the city, including suburbs and the river, is 348 square kilometers, the Yenisei River flows from west to east through the city. Due to the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric dam 32 kilometers upstream, the Yenisei never freezes in winter and never exceeds +14 °C in summer through the city, near the city center, its elevation is 136 meters above sea level. There are several islands in the river, the largest of which are Tatyshev and Otdyha Isles, to the south and west, Krasnoyarsk is surrounded by forested mountains averaging 410 meters in height above river level. The most prominent of them are Nikolayevskaya Sopka, Karaulnaya Gora, and Chornaya Sopka, the major rivers in and near Krasnoyarsk are the Yenisei, Mana, Bazaikha, and Kacha Rivers, the latter flowing throughout the historical center of the city. Due to the nature of the terrain, a few lakes exist in the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk. The forests close to the city are mostly pine and birch, further afield, along with Kansk to the east, it represented the southern limit of Russian expansion in the Yenisei basin during the seventeenth century. In the letter to Tsar Michael I the Cossacks reported, the fort was named Krasny Yar after the Yarin name of the place it was built, Kyzyl Char, which was translated as Krasny Yar. An intensive growth of Krasnoyarsk began with the arrival of the Siberian Route in 1735 to 1741 which connected the towns of Achinsk and Kansk with Krasnoyarsk. In 1749, a meteorite with a mass of about 700 kilograms was found 230 km south of Krasnoyarsk and it was excavated by Peter Simon Pallas in 1772 and transported to Krasnoyarsk and subsequently to St. Petersburg. The Krasnoyarsk meteorite is important because it was the first pallasite ever studied, the name Krasnoyarsk was given in 1822 when the village of Krasny Yar was granted town status and became the administrative center of Yeniseysk Governorate. In the 19th century, Krasnoyarsk was the center of the Siberian Cossack movement, by the end of the 19th century, Krasnoyarsk had several manufacturing facilities and railroad workshops and an engine-house. Growth continued with the discovery of gold and the arrival of a railroad in 1895, in the Russian Empire, Krasnoyarsk was one of the places to which political exiles were banished. For example, eight Decembrists were deported from St. Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk after the failure of the revolt, in 1934, Krasnoyarsk Krai, was formed, with Krasnoyarsk as its administrative center. During Stalinist times, Krasnoyarsk was a center of the gulag system. The most important labor camp was the Kraslag or Krasnoyarsky ITL with the two located in Kansk and Reshyoty
42.
Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai
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Chita is a city and the administrative center of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Chita and Ingoda Rivers and on the Trans-Siberian Railway,900 kilometers east of Irkutsk. For several centuries before the Russians arrived, local Mongolic and Turkic tribes inhabited the Chita region, pyotr Beketovs Cossacks founded Chita in 1653. After 1825, several of the Decembrists suffered exile to Chita, thus, many of the Decembrists were intellectuals and members of the middle class, and consequently their arrival had a positive effect. According to George Kennan, Among the exiles in Chita were some of the brightest, most cultivated, Chita was granted town status on July 11,1851. When Richard Maack visited the city in 1855, he saw a wooden town, with one, also wooden, church. He estimated Chitas population at under 1,000, but predicted that the city would soon experience fast growth, by 1885, Chitas population had reached 5,728, and by 1897 it increased to 11,500. At the end of the 19th century, many Muslims settled in Chita and these Muslims were mainly of Tatar origin. They settled down near the Jewish quarter and built a mosque, many Tatars living in Chita descend from these immigrants. Chita was occupied by the Japanese between 1918 and 1920, from 1920 to 1922, Chita served as the capital of the Far Eastern Republic. From the 1930s to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Chita was a closed city, during this period, foreigners were prohibited from traveling to Chita, as were many Russians. In 1945, Puyi, the last Emperor of China, and some of his associates were held prisoner in the city, as a municipal division, the city of Chita together with one rural locality in Chitinsky District is incorporated as Chita Urban Okrug. The city is subdivided into four districts, Chernovsky, Ingodinsky, Tsentralny. Chernovsky Administrative District used to be a settlement, which was incorporated into Chita in 1941. Chernovskiye mines themselves are a nature monument of international status. The Trans-Siberian Highway passes through Chita, two sections of the highway connect in Chita, the M55 Baikal Highway, which goes from Chita to Irkutsk, and the M58 Amur Highway, which goes from Chita to Khabarovsk. Chita is served by Kadala Airport, situated 15km to the west, FC Chita is Chitas association football club. An indoor arena for speed skating is planned, Chita experiences a borderline subarctic climate/humid continental climate with very cold, very dry winters and warm, wet summers. «Реестр административно-территориальных единиц и населённых пунктов Забайкальского края», в ред, Распоряжения №209-р от10 июня2014 г
43.
Khabarovsk
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The city also became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia in 2002. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, as of the 2010 Census, its population was 577,441. The Russian explorers and raiders of the 1650s set up a number of more or less fortified camps on the Amur, most of them were in use for only a few months, the fort was named after the local tribe whom Khabarovs people called Achans. Already on October 8 the fort was attacked by joint forces of Achans and Duchers. Similar campaign was waged later in winter against the Ducher chief Nechiga, once the ice on the Amur broke in the spring of 1652, Khabarovs people destroyed their fort and sailed away. The exact location of Khabarovs Achansk has long been a subject for the debate among Russian historians, as to the Cape Kyrma ruins, thought by Maack to be the remains of Achansk, B. P. Polevoy identified them as the remains of another ostrog - namely, Kosogorsky Ostrog, after the Treaty of Nerchinsk, the area became an uncontested part of the Qing Empire for the next century and a half. Modern historical maps of the Qing period published in China mark the site of future Khabarovsk as Bólì, all of the middle and lower Amur region was nominally part of the Jilin Province, run first out of Ninguta and later out of Jilin City. French Jesuits who sailed along the Ussury and the Amur in 1709 prepared the first more or less precise map of the region, according to them, the indigenous Nanai people were living on the Ussury and on the Amur down to the mouth of the Dondon River. These people were known to the Chinese as Yupi Dazi, in 1858, the area was ceded to Russia under the Treaty of Aigun. The Russians founded the military outpost of Khabarovka, named after Yerofey Khabarov, the post later became an important industrial center for the region. Town status was granted in 1880, in 1893, it was given its present name, in 1894, a department of Russian Geographical Society was formed in Khabarovsk and to found libraries, theatres and museums in the city. Since then, Khabarovsks cultural life has flourished, the Khabarovsk Art Museum exhibits a rare collection of old Russian icons. In 1916, the Khabarovsk Bridge across the Amur was completed, Chinese Emperor Puyi, captured by Soviet troops in Manchuria, was relocated to Khabarovsk and lived there from 1945 up to 1950, when he was returned to China. On 5 November 1956, the first phase of the city tram was commissioned, the Khabarovsk television studio began broadcasting in 1960. On 1 September 1967, the Khabarovsk Institute of Physical Education, now the Far Eastern State Academy of Physical Culture, on 14 January 1971 Khabarovsk was awarded the Order of October Revolution. In 1975 the first stage of the urban trolley opened, in 1976 the city hosted an international ice hockey tournament with the ball for the prize of the newspaper Sovietskaya Rossia. In 1981 the Bandy World Championship was played in the city, in 1996, Khabarovsk held its first mayoral elections
44.
Beriev Be-200
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The Beriev Be-200 Altair is a multipurpose amphibious aircraft designed by the Beriev Aircraft Company and manufactured by Irkut. Marketed as being designed for fighting, search and rescue, maritime patrol, cargo. The name Altair was chosen after a competition amongst Beriev and Irkut staff in 2002/2003, the Be-200 was designed by the Beriev Aviation Company, with the Russian Irkutsk Aircraft Production Association. Beriev are responsible for development, design and documentation, systems-, static-, flight- and fatigue-testing of prototypes, certification, Irkuts duties comprise production preparation, manufacture of tooling, production of four prototypes and production aircraft, and spare parts manufacture. Both companies now fall under the umbrella of the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation, initiated in 1989 under the design leadership of Alexander Yavkin, Russian government approval for a purpose-designed water bomber was granted on 8 December 1990. Details of the project were announced, and a model displayed at the 1991 Paris Air Show, Beriev developed unique fire-fighting equipment for the Be-200, allowing it to scoop water while skimming the water surface at 90-95% of takeoff speed. This system was developed using a specially modified Be-12P, coded 12 Yellow, after installation of the fire-fighting system, the aircraft was registered RA-00046 and given the designation Be-12P-200. This modified Be-12 was used to both the fire-fighting system and methods of operation. The Be-200s first flight from land was scheduled for 1997, but was achieved by the first prototype aircraft on 24 September 1998. The aircraft was transferred from Irkutsk to Taganrog after 26½ flying hours. The second Be-200 flew on August 27,2002 and this aircraft was built as a Be-200ES, being fitted to the specifications of the launch customer, EMERCOM, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. A total of over 7,600 km was flown across Europe, the study was completed in July 2003, revealing a potential market for up to 320 aircraft over 20 years. The two companies, with Rolls-Royce Deutschland, plan to obtain Western certification during 2008/9 and offer a Rolls-Royce BR715 powered aircraft for Western markets and this version is to be given the designation Be-200RR. The original Be-200 prototype has been earmarked to be converted into the Be-200RR prototype, the first production aircraft, a Be-200ES flew on June 17,2003. It was delivered to EMERCOM on July 31,2003, seven aircraft have been ordered by EMERCOM, five have been delivered. The fifth airframe was used for the European certification process which was expected to be completed in 2008, EASA eventually certified the Be200ES-E on September 7,2010. The remaining two were scheduled for delivery by the end of 2008, EMERCOM has an option to buy a further 8 Be-200s, with a decision expected during the latter part of 2008. In 2010, production of the Be-200 was decided to switch to the Centre of competence for amphibian aircraft, an assembly line was set up using tooling and equipment received from Irkuts main manufacturing site in Irkutsk, Siberia
45.
Kamov Ka-226
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The Kamov Ka-226 is a small, twin-engined Russian utility helicopter. The Ka-226 features an interchangeable mission pod, rather than a conventional cabin, the Ka-226 entered service in 2002. Variants of the Ka-226 have the NATO reporting name of Hoodlum, a twin turbine version of the successful reciprocating-engined Kamov Ka-26, the Ka-226 was initially announced in 1990. Originally developed to meet the requirements of the Russian disaster relief ministry, Certification to Russian AP-29 A and B transport categories was granted on 31 October 2003. The Ka-226 entered production at Motor Sich, Zaporozhye, Ukraine, in December 2014 it was reported that India is in agreement with the Russian Federation to produce on its territory Mi-17 and Ka-226T. The planned scope of the assignment of state signed with the Ministry of Defence in 2011 fully implemented with ahead of schedule deliveries. Prematurely delivered a consignment of helicopters. In April 2015 Certification of Ka-226T light multi-role helicopter powered by Turbomeca Arrius 2G engines has been completed in Russia. Two Ka-226T helicopters took part in the flight test programme, the version of Ka-226T powered by Turbomeca Arrius 2G engines offers much better performance compared to production Ka-226s powered by Allison 250-C20R/2 engines. It was reported earlier that deliveries of Ka-226 helicopters manufactured by Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise, the helicopters were delivered to the Federal Security Service of Russian Federation, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Russian air forces and Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations. Next year the enterprise was to start implementation of a contract for delivery of 18 Ka-226TG helicopters to Gazpromavia, in late March 2017 Russian security structures received first 2 ship-based Ka-226Ts. The design is a refinement of the proven Ka-26, featuring interchangeable mission pods, the aircraft is fitted with a new rotor system, increased visibility nose, and new passenger cabin design. The Ka-226 also features a new system and is made largely from composite materials. The aircraft is fitted with trademark Kamov coaxial rotors, of advanced design, making the Ka-226 highly manoeuvrable. Search and rescue, medivac, disaster relief and patrol variants have developed for the Russian Emergency Ministry. Air ambulance, police and fire fighting variants have developed for the Russian government. Ka-226T Instead of Rolls-Royce 250C engines, this variant is fitted with the more powerful Turbomeca Arrius 2G1, each engine provides 670 shp, increasing the service ceiling to around 7,000 m, providing improved high altitude and high temperature operation. Helicopter has new avionics with multifunctional displays, automatic system, navigation system
Russia
Soviet Union
Ukraine 
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