1.
Autonomous okrugs of Russia
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As of 2014, Russia comprises eighty-five federal subjects, of which four are autonomous okrugs. Originally called national okrug, this type of unit was created in the 1920s. In 1990, ten autonomous okrugs existed within the RSFSR, between 2005 and 2008, the three autonomous okrugs in which the titular nationality constituted more than 30% of the population were abolished. Since then, three more have been abolished, leaving four, the ten autonomous okrugs in 1990 were, The table below also includes autonomous okrugs which have since changed status. Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union Federal subjects of Russia Republics of Russia
2.
Flag of Nenets Autonomous Okrug
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The flag of Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in the Russian Federation, is a white field charged with green stripe and a blue ornament strand near the bottom. A blue stripe separates the bottom most green stripe from the ornament, the flag was adopted as the winning design of a competition on an unspecified date
3.
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
4.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
5.
Federal districts of Russia
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The federal districts are groupings of the federal subjects of Russia. Plenipotentiary Representatives are appointed by the President and are employees of the Presidential Administration, source, President Vladimir Putin established seven federal districts in May 2000. On January 19,2010 the new North Caucasian Federal District split from the Southern Federal District, on March 2014, after the Russian military intervention in and annexation of Crimea, the Crimean Federal District was established. The legality of this annexation is disputed by most states as well as NATO, on July 28,2016 the Crimean Federal District was abolished and merged into the Southern Federal District in order to improve the governance
6.
Economic regions of Russia
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No federal subject can belong to more than one economic region. Economic regions are grouped into economic zones. An economic region or its parts can belong to more than one economic zone, establishment and abolition of economic regions and economic zones or any changes in their composition are decided upon by the federal government of Russia. The following is the list and composition of the economic regions, sorted by population
7.
Northern economic region (Russia)
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Northern Economic Region is one of twelve economic regions of Russia. Arkhangelsk Oblast Republic of Karelia Komi Republic Murmansk Oblast Nenets Autonomous Okrug Vologda Oblast Northern economic region accounted for almost 4 per cent of the national GRP in 2008. In the partly arctic zone of Russia, monthly wages appear much higher than the national average, a higher proportion in the region are employed in a state enterprise, and a lower proportion are secure in their jobs. Unemployment is more than one fifth higher in the region than across Russia as a whole, although climatic conditions can be daunting, the life expectancy in the Northern region is almost exactly the national average for both men and women. Youths ambitious for a higher education tend to leave the region, and, for those who live in the region, the expectation of life improving is lower than the national average
8.
Naryan-Mar
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Naryan-Mar is a sea and river port town and the administrative center of Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The town is situated on the bank of the Pechora River,110 kilometers upstream from the rivers mouth. Naryan-Mar lies north of the Arctic Circle, industrial development in the area around Naryan-Mar began in 1930, in the course of the First Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union. The growth of the region was the result of the development of the Pechora coalfield. Naryan-Mar was for years a center of the lumber industry, and possesses several large. At present, the biggest employer in the town is the petroleum company LUKoil, the towns importance derives from being the only developed commercial port in an area of several thousand square miles. As a result, Naryan-Mar has a well developed tourist and hospitality services, with several saunas. The town also hosts a museum, a large World War II memorial, an Orthodox church. Sports fishing is possible in the area. Naryan-Mar is the center of the autonomous okrug. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the town of significance of Naryan-Mar—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of significance of Naryan-Mar is incorporated as Naryan-Mar Urban Okrug. The town is served by the Naryan-Mar Airport, which is connected to the town by the 3 kilometres -long A-381, Naryan-Mar has a subarctic climate with short, mild summers that may exceed +25 °C and very cold winters. Precipitation is somewhat greater in summer than in winter, the town is twinned with, Arkhangelsk, Russia Mariupol, Ukraine Moscow, Russia Ukhta, Russia Trondheim, Norway Собрание депутатов Ненецкого автономного округа. Закон №557-ОЗ от24 февраля2005 г, «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ненецкого автономного округа», в ред. Закона №155-ОЗ от1 декабря2015 г, «О внесении изменений в часть1 статьи2 Закона Ненецкого автономного округа Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ненецкого автономного округа». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Няръяна Вындер, №28,28 февраля2005 г
9.
Federal subjects of Russia
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Since March 18,2014, the Russian Federation constitutionally consists of 85 federal subjects, although the two most recently added subjects are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Three Russian cities of importance have a status of both city and separate federal subject which comprises other cities and towns within federal city keeping old structure of postal address. In 1993, there were 89 federal subjects listed, by 2008, the number of federal subjects had been decreased to 83 because of several mergers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, every federal subject has its own head, a parliament, and a constitutional court. Federal subjects have their own constitution and legislation, subjects have equal rights in relations with federal government bodies. The federal subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council and they do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy. Composition of post-Soviet Russia was formed during the history of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR, the Federation Treaty was included in the text of the 1978 Constitution of the Russian SFSR. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the system became de jure closer to other modern federal states with a republican form of government in the world. There are several groupings of Russian regions, Federal subjects should not be confused with the eight Federal districts which are not subdivisions of Russia, are much larger and each encompass many federal subjects. Federal districts were created by Executive Order of the President of Russia specially for presidential envoys, an official government translation of the Constitution of Russia in Article 5 states,1. Another translation of the Constitution of Russia gives for article 65, each federal subject belongs to one of the following types, b. ^ According to Article 13 of the Charter of Leningrad Oblast, however, St. Petersburg is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ According to Article 24 of the Charter of Moscow Oblast, however, Moscow is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast. ^ Not recognized internationally as a part of Russia, the merging process was finished on March 1,2008. No new mergers have been planned since March 2008, Федерального конституционного закона №7-ФКЗ от30 декабря2008 г. Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Российская газета, №237,25 декабря1993 г
10.
Time in Russia
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There are eleven time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02,00 to UTC+12,00. Daylight saving time is not used in Russia, since 4 December 2016, the time zones are as follows, Daylight saving time in Russia was originally introduced on 30 June 1917 by a decree of the Russian Provisional Government. However, it was abandoned by a Decree of the Soviet government five months later, Daylight saving time was re-introduced in the USSR on 1 April 1981, by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The usage of daylight saving time continued after the Soviet collapse but ended in 2011, on 27 March 2011, clocks were advanced as usual, but they did not go back on 30 October 2011, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently. In the Russian Empire, most of the observed solar time. During the late 19th century, Moscow Mean Time was introduced on 1 January 1880,2,30,17 corresponds to 37. 6166667°, the longitude of Moscow. Other parts of Russia kept solar time for several years. At this time, Russia had the Julian calendar with 12 or 13 days less date compared to Western Europe, so it is possible to say the Moscow actually had GMT-285,29,43, GMT-309,29,43 and GMT-309,28,41. Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar on Thursday,14 February 1918, after the Soviet Union was created, Moscow Time became UTC+2 and the various other time zones were introduced throughout Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union, for example Irkutsk Time GMT+7. Between 1917-1922 the time was ordered, with daylight savings time some of those years. On 21 June 1930, the Soviet Union advanced all clocks by one hour, Moscow Time was now GMT+3 and Irkutsk Time GMT+8. On 1 April 1981, daylight saving time was re-introduced, clocks were moved one hour forward on 1 April, on 1 April 1981,00,00,00, Oymyakonsky District changed its time zone from MSK+6 to MSK+8. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+9 to UTC+12, on 1 April 1982,00,00,00, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug changed its time zone from MSK+10 to MSK+9, thus eliminating Anadyr Time. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+14 to UTC+13, on 27 March 1988,02,00,00, Saratov and Volgograd oblasts changed its time zone from MSK+1 to MSK. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+5 to UTC+4, on 23 May 1993,00,00,00, Novosibirsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. The change occurred during DST effectively changing the offset from UTC+8 to UTC+7, on 28 May 1995,00,00,00, Altai Krai and Altai Republic changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 30 March 1997,02,00,00, Sakhalin Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+8 to MSK+7, on 1 May 2002,03,00,00, Tomsk Oblast changed its time zone from MSK+4 to MSK+3. On 1 January 2004,00,00,00, New Siberian Islands, Tomponsky District, the following time zone changes occurred on 28 March 2010, which, in particular, led to abolition of two of the eleven time zones
11.
Moscow Time
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Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, Belarus, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the time zones of Russia. It has been set to UTC+3 permanently on 26 October 2014, Moscow Time is used to schedule trains, ships, etc. throughout Russia, while airplane travel is scheduled using local time. Times in Russia are often announced throughout the country on radio stations as Moscow Time, descriptions of time zones in Russia are often based on Moscow Time rather than UTC. For example, Yakutsk is said to be MSK+6 within Russia, on 27 March 2011, Muscovites set their clocks forward for a final time, effectively observing MSD, or UTC+4, permanently. On 1 July 2014, the State Duma passed a bill repealing the 2011 change, most of the European Russia uses Moscow Time. In Kaliningrad Oblast, Kaliningrad time is used, Samara Oblast and Udmurtia use Samara time and Perm Krai, Bashkortostan and Orenburg Oblast use Yekaterinburg time. Prior to 27 March 2011, Moscow Time was UTC+3, daylight saving time was used in the summer, advancing it to UTC+4. UTC+3 was also used in European parts of what was then the USSR, Belarus, in 1930–1991. Estonia, in 1940–1989 Latvia, in 1940–1989 Lithuania, in 1940–1989 Moldova, in 1940–1991 Ukraine, in 1930–1990 Kaliningrad Oblast, in 1946–1991 Samara Oblast, in 1989–1991, and again from 2010–2011. Moscow Summer Time, was first applied in 1981 and was used, until 1988 in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania until 1989 in Belarus, Moldova, between 1989 and 1990 and in 2010 in Samara Oblast. In 1922–1930 and 1991–1992, Moscow observed EET, daylight saving time was observed in the summer of 1991, and the city and region reverted to UTC+3 by the summer of 1992. The time in Moscow has been as follows, Time in Russia East Africa Time, also in UTC+03,00 Current time in Moscow Moscow time
12.
Vehicle registration plates of Russia
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Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in Russia for many decades. Most motor vehicles which are used on roads are required by law to display them. The current format uses a letter followed by 3 digits and two more letters, to improve legibility of the numbers for Russian cars abroad, only a small subset of Cyrillic characters that look like Latin characters are used. Finally, the number and letters RUS are included, as well as the national flag. There is a different format for trailers, motorcycles, mopeds and scooters plates are made of square reflective plates and its format is 4 digits at the top and two letters at the bottom. Some autonomous regions are not required to have the flag on the licence plates, vehicles used by certain organisations or categories of persons carry special plates, Special plates in the above categories never carry the Russian flag, except for trailers. There are special reserved for government officials. The license plates for government officials originally had a larger flag instead of the regional code. Rich businessmen, prominent politicians and crime lords often use para-legally acquired special licence plates to get preferential treatment from the transport police, often, this is used in conjunction with a flashing siren. The Society of Blue Buckets is a protest movement that opposes this trend, as of 2014, there are new codes for Russian plates, number 82 for the Republic of Crimea and 92 for Sevastopol. The Russian Federation then officially annexed Crimea from Ukraine and now administers it as two federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Ukraine, backed by most of the community, refuses to accept the annexation. As per GOST provision, only 1,726,272 combinations may be issued within one administration unit, in certain regions, the amount of vehicles exceeds that number, and the combination may not be reused after a vehicle was taken off the registration. All this creates an issue of running out of numbers, a short-term solution was introducing more codes for those regions. Introduction of new license plate is being considered as a future solution. In the following years some codes were reassigned or discontinued, as the populous regions started running out of license plate combinations, new codes past code 89 were assigned to them as well. Additional triple-digit codes were created by adding a 1 or a 7 to the regional code. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs Order 282 from March 28,2002, 1Code 059 is a former code for Syria
13.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
14.
Arkhangelsk Oblast
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Arkhangelsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. It includes the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, Arkhangelsk Oblast also has administrative jurisdiction over Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Including Nenetsia, Arkhangelsk Oblast has an area of 587,400 km2 and its population was 1,227,626 as of the 2010 Census. The city of Arkhangelsk, with a population of 348,716 as of the 2010 Census, is the center of the oblast. The second largest city is the nearby Severodvinsk, home to Sevmash, Plesetsk Cosmodrome is one of three spaceports in Russia. Arkhangelsk Oblast, which includes Nenets Autonomous Okrug, borders Kirov Oblast, Vologda Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, the Komi Republic, Cape Fligely in Franz Josef Land and Cape Zhelaniya in Novaya Zemlya are both located within Arkhangelsk Oblast. Arkhangelsk Oblast is located on the East European Plain, and most of it represents forested hilly landscape, the north-eastern part belongs to the Timan Ridge, a highland mostly situated east from the oblast. The Nenets Autonomous Okrug is essentially a flat tundra with several hill chains like Pay-Khoy Ridge, the Arctic islands including Novaya Zemlya and Franz Joseph Land are mountainous with glaciers and eternally snow-covered. This region has a distinct population of polar bears associated with the Barents Sea area. Almost all of the area of the Oblast belongs to the basin of the Arctic Ocean, with the rivers being Onega River, Northern Dvina River, Kuloy River, Mezen River. A minor area in the west of the Oblast, most notably the basin of the Ileksa River, drains into the Lake Onega and eventually to the Baltic Sea. A very minor area in Kargopolsky District in the south-west of the Oblast drains into the Kema River which belongs to the basin of the Caspian Sea. The area in the Onega River basin containing the biggest lakes in the oblast, such as Lake Lacha, Lake Kenozero, Lake Undozero, the tundra of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug also contains a number of bigger lakes. The river basin of the Pinega is characteristic of the karst, the White Sea coast within the Oblast is split into the Onega Bay, the Dvina Bay, and the Mezen Bay. Solovetsky Islands, as well as a number of islands, are located in the Onega Bay. The Onega Bay and the Dvina Bay are separated by the Onega Peninsula, the Mezen Bay is separated from the main body of the White Sea by Morzhovets Island. Almost all of the oblast is covered by taiga, the coniferous forest dominated by pine, spruce, large areas in the middle of taiga are devoid of trees and covered by swamps. In the floodplains of the rivers, there are meadows, a number of areas in Arkhangelsk Oblast have been designated as protected natural areas
15.
Russian Census (2010)
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The Russian Census of 2010 is the first census of the Russian Federation population since 2002 and the second after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Preparations for the census began in 2007 and it took place between October 14 and October 25, the census was originally scheduled for October 2010, but was moved to 2013 allegedly for financial reasons, although it was also speculated that political motives were influential in the decision. However, in late 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the Government of Russia allocated 10.5 billion rubles in order to conduct the census as originally scheduled, Results showed the population to stand at 142.9 million. Since the previous 2002 census, population has decreased by 2.3 million, according to the 2010 census, urban population is 105.3 million, rural population is 37.5 million. The urbanisation rate is currently 73. 7%, the median age is 38 years. The ethnic composition is dominated by Russians, demographics of Russia Russian Census 2010 final results Results of 2010 All-Russia population census Official website of the 2010 Census
16.
Polar bear
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The polar bear is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is a bear, approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear. A boar weighs around 350–700 kg, while a sow is about half that size, although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means maritime bear and derives from this fact, Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of expected habitat loss caused by change, the polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species. For decades, large-scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species, for thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of circumpolar peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures. Constantine John Phipps was the first to describe the polar bear as a species in 1774. He chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for maritime bear, the Inuit refer to the animal as nanook. The Yupik also refer to the bear as nanuuk in Siberian Yupik, the bear is umka in the Chukchi language. In Russian, it is usually called бе́лый медве́дь, though a word still in use is ошку́й. In the Norwegian-administered Svalbard archipelago, the bear is referred to as Isbjørn. The polar bear was considered to be in its own genus. The bear family, Ursidae, is thought to have split off from other carnivorans about 38 million years ago, the Ursinae subfamily originated approximately 4.2 million years ago. The oldest known polar bear fossil is a 130,000 to 110, 000-year-old jaw bone, fossils show that between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, the polar bears molar teeth changed significantly from those of the brown bear. Polar bears are thought to have diverged from a population of bears that became isolated during a period of glaciation in the Pleistocene or from the eastern part of Siberia. The evidence from DNA analysis is more complex, the mitochondrial DNA of the polar bear diverged from the brown bear, Ursus arctos, roughly 150,000 years ago. The mtDNA of extinct Irish brown bears is particularly close to polar bears, when the polar bear was originally documented, two subspecies were identified, Ursus maritimus maritimus by Constantine J. Phipps in 1774, and Ursus maritimus marinus by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776. This distinction has since been invalidated, one alleged fossil subspecies has been identified, Ursus maritimus tyrannus became extinct during the Pleistocene
17.
Genetics
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Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in living organisms. It is generally considered a field of biology, but intersects frequently with other life sciences and is strongly linked with the study of information systems. The father of genetics is Gregor Mendel, a late 19th-century scientist, Mendel studied trait inheritance, patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring. He observed that organisms inherit traits by way of discrete units of inheritance and this term, still used today, is a somewhat ambiguous definition of what is referred to as a gene. Gene structure and function, variation, and distribution are studied within the context of the cell, the organism, genetics has given rise to a number of subfields, including epigenetics and population genetics. Organisms studied within the broad field span the domain of life, including bacteria, plants, animals, genetic processes work in combination with an organisms environment and experiences to influence development and behavior, often referred to as nature versus nurture. The intracellular or extracellular environment of a cell or organism may switch gene transcription on or off, a classic example is two seeds of genetically identical corn, one placed in a temperate climate and one in an arid climate. The word genetics stems from the ancient Greek γενετικός genetikos meaning genitive/generative, the observation that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. The modern science of genetics, seeking to understand this process, prior to Mendel, Imre Festetics, a Hungarian noble, who lived in Kőszeg before Mendel, was the first who used the word genetics. He described several rules of inheritance in his work The genetic law of the Nature. His second law is the same as what Mendel published, in his third law, he developed the basic principles of mutation. Other theories of inheritance preceded his work, a popular theory during Mendels time was the concept of blending inheritance, the idea that individuals inherit a smooth blend of traits from their parents. Mendels work provided examples where traits were not blended after hybridization. Blending of traits in the progeny is now explained by the action of genes with quantitative effects. Another theory that had some support at that time was the inheritance of acquired characteristics, other theories included the pangenesis of Charles Darwin and Francis Galtons reformulation of pangenesis as both particulate and inherited. Modern genetics started with Gregor Johann Mendel, a scientist and Augustinian friar who studied the nature of inheritance in plants, the importance of Mendels work did not gain wide understanding until the 1890s, after his death, when other scientists working on similar problems re-discovered his research. William Bateson, a proponent of Mendels work, coined the word genetics in 1905, Bateson popularized the usage of the word genetics to describe the study of inheritance in his inaugural address to the Third International Conference on Plant Hybridization in London in 1906. After the rediscovery of Mendels work, scientists tried to determine which molecules in the cell were responsible for inheritance, in 1911, Thomas Hunt Morgan argued that genes are on chromosomes, based on observations of a sex-linked white eye mutation in fruit flies
18.
Barents Sea
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The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters. Known among Russians in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea and it is a rather shallow shelf sea, with an average depth of 230 metres, and is an important site for both fishing and hydrocarbon exploration. Novaya Zemlya, an extension of the part of the Ural Mountains. The southern half of the Barents Sea, including the ports of Murmansk, in September, the entire Barents Sea is more or less completely ice-free. Until the Winter War, Finlands territory also reached to the Barents Sea, with the harbor at Petsamo being Finlands only ice-free winter harbor. There are three types of water masses in the Barents Sea, Warm, salty Atlantic water from the North Atlantic drift, cold Arctic water from the north, and warm. Between the Atlantic and Polar waters, a front called the Polar Front is formed, the lands of Novaya Zemlya attained most of their early Holocene coastal deglaciation approximately 10,000 years before present. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Barentsz Sea as follows, On the west, on the northwest, The eastern shore of West Spitzbergen, Hinlopen Strait up to 80° latitude north, south and east coasts of North-East Land to Cape Leigh Smith. On the north, Cape Leigh Smith across the Islands Bolshoy Ostrov, Gilles and Victoria, on the east, Cape Kohlsaat to Cape Zhelaniya, west and southwest coast of Novaya Zemlya to Cape Kussov Noss and thence to western entrance Cape, Dolgaya Bay on Vaigach Island. Through Vaigach Island to Cape Greben, thence to Cape Belyi Noss on the mainland, on the south, The northern limit of the White Sea. Other islands in the Barents Sea include Chaichy and Timanets, most of its geological history is dominated by extensional tectonics, caused by the collapse of the Caledonian and Uralian orogenic belts and the break-up of Pangaea. These events created the rift basins that dominate the Barents Shelf, along with various platforms. Due to the North Atlantic drift, the Barents Sea has a high biological production compared to other oceans of similar latitude. The spring bloom of phytoplankton can start quite early close to the ice edge, the phytoplankton bloom feeds zooplankton such as Calanus finmarchicus, Calanus glacialis, Calanus hyperboreus, Oithona spp. and krill. The zooplankton feeders include young cod, capelin, polar cod, whales, the capelin is a key food for top predators such as the north-east Arctic cod, harp seals, and seabirds such as common guillemot and Brunnichs guillemot. The fisheries of the Barents Sea, in particular the cod fisheries, are of importance for both Norway and Russia. There is a genetically distinct polar bear population associated with the Barents Sea and its eastern corner, in the region of the Pechora Rivers estuary, has been known as Pechorskoye Morye, that is, Pechora Sea. This sea was given its present name in honor of Willem Barentsz, Barentsz was the leader of early expeditions to the far north, at the end of the sixteenth century
19.
Zapolyarny District
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Zapolyarny District is an administrative and municipal district, the only one in Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The area of the district is approximately 170,000 square kilometers and its administrative center is the urban locality of Iskateley. The population of Iskateley accounts for 33. 7% of the total population. The name of the district is an adjective which means beyond the Arctic Circle. The main economic drivers are oil and gas, although reindeer husbandry is still seen as a part of the culture of the indigenous Nenets people. Закон №557-ОЗ от24 февраля2005 г, «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ненецкого автономного округа», в ред. Закона №155-ОЗ от1 декабря2015 г, «О внесении изменений в часть1 статьи2 Закона Ненецкого автономного округа Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ненецкого автономного округа». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Няръяна Вындер, №28,28 февраля2005 г
20.
Kharuta
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Khoseda-Khardsky, sometimes written as Khoseda-Khard, Hoseda-Hardsky, or Hoseda-Hard is a rural locality in Zapolyarny District, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Its center is the village of Kharuta, population, 538 , Khoseda-Khardsky is served by the Kharuta Airport. Winters are severely cold with temperatures from −24.5 °C to −15.4 °C in January. Precipitation is moderate, and is higher from July to October than at other times of the year
21.
Enclave and exclave
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An enclave is a territory, or a part of a territory, that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state. Territorial waters have the same attributes as land, and enclaves may therefore exist within territorial waters. An exclave is a portion of a state or territory geographically separated from the part by surrounding alien territory. Enclave is sometimes used improperly to denote a territory that is partly surrounded by another state. Vatican City and San Marino, enclaved by Italy, and Lesotho, unlike an enclave, an exclave can be surrounded by several states. The Azeri exclave of Naxçıvan is an example of an exclave. Semi-enclaves and semi-exclaves are areas that, except for possessing an unsurrounded sea border, Enclaves and semi-enclaves can exist as independent states, while exclaves always constitute just a part of a sovereign state. A pene-enclave is a part of the territory of one country that can be approached conveniently — in particular by wheeled traffic — only through the territory of another country, pene-enclaves are also called functional enclaves or practical enclaves. Many pene-exclaves partially border their own territorial waters, a pene-enclave can also exist entirely on land, such as when intervening mountains render a territory inaccessible from other parts of a country except through alien territory. A commonly cited example is the Kleinwalsertal, a part of Vorarlberg, Austria. The word enclave is French and first appeared in the century as a derivative of the verb enclaver. In law, this created a servitude of passage for the benefit of the owner of the surrounded land, the first diplomatic document to contain the word enclave was the Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1526. Later, the term began to be used also to refer to parcels of countries, counties, fiefs, communes, towns, parishes. This French word eventually entered the English and other languages to denote the same concept although local terms have continued to be used, in India, the word pocket is often used as a synonym for enclave. In British administrative history, subnational enclaves were usually called detachments or detached parts, in English ecclesiastic history, subnational enclaves were known as peculiars. The word exclave, modeled on enclave, is a extension of the concept of enclave. Enclaves exist for a variety of historical, political and geographical reasons, in particular, this state of affairs persisted into the 19th century in the Holy Roman Empire, and these domains exhibited many of the characteristics of sovereign states. Prior to 1866 Prussia alone consisted of more than 270 discontiguous pieces of territory, thus, over time enclaves have tended to be eliminated. This exchange thus effectively de-enclaved another two dozen second-order enclaves and one third-order enclave, eliminating 197 of the Indo-Bangladesh enclaves in all, the residents in these enclaves had complained of being effectively stateless
22.
Komi Republic
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The Komi Republic is a federal subject of Russia. Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar, the republic is situated to the west of the Ural mountains, in the north-east of the East European Plain. Forests cover over 70% of the territory and swamps cover approximately 15%, area,415,900 square kilometers Borders, Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets, Khanty–Mansi, Sverdlovsk, Perm Krai, Kirov, and Arkhangelsk. Major lakes include, Sindorskoye Lake Yam-Ozero Lake The republics natural resources include coal, oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds, native reindeer are in abundance, and have been intentionally bred for human usage by the indigenous population. Around 32,800 km² of mostly boreal forest in the Republics Northern Ural Mountains have been recognized in 1995 as a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is the first natural UNESCO World Heritage site in Russia and the largest expanse of virgin forests in Europe. The site includes two pre-existing protected areas, Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve and Yugyd Va National Park, winters in the republic are long and cold, and the summers, while short, are quite warm. Average January temperature, −17 °C to −20 °C Average July temperature,11 °C to 15 °C Lowest recorded temperature, manpupuner is a very popular attraction in Russia, but not on an international level. Information regarding its origin is scarce and we know however that their height and abnormal shapes make the top of these rock giants inaccessible even to experienced rock-climbers. The Komi first appear in the records of the Novgorod Republic in the 12th century, the Komi territories came under the influence of Muscovy in the late Middle Ages. The site of Syktyvkar has been settled since the 16th century, in 1780, under Catherine the Great, it was renamed to Ust-Sysolsk and used as a penal colony. Many of the settlers who came in the early 20th century were prisoners of the Gulag who were sent by the hundreds of thousands to perform forced labor in the Arctic regions of the USSR. Towns sprang up around labor-camp sites, which were carved out of the untouched tundra. Prisoners built Komis railways and roads, as well as its industrial infrastructure. Source, Russian Federal State Statistics Service Source, According to the 2010 Census, ethnic Russians make up 65. 1% of the republics population, while the ethnic Komi are only 23. 7%. Other groups include Ukrainians, Tatars, Belarusians, Ethnic Germans, Chuvash, Azeris, According to a 2012 official survey 30. 4% are members of the Catholic Church. In addition, 41% of the population declared to be spiritual but not religious, 14% is atheist, the head of government in the Komi Republic is the Head of the Republic. As of 2015, the head of the republic is Sergey Gaplikov, the State Council is the legislature. The Komi Republics major industries include oil processing, timber, woodworking, natural gas, major industrial centers are Syktyvkar, Inta, Pechora, Sosnogorsk, Ukhta, and Vorkuta
23.
Primary Chronicle
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The Tale of Past Years or Primary Chronicle is a history of Kievan Rus from about 850 to 1110, originally compiled in Kiev about 1113. The work is considered to be a source in the interpretation of the history of the Eastern Slavs. Tradition long regarded the original compilation as the work of a monk named Nestor, Nestor worked at the court of Sviatopolk II of Kiev and probably shared Sviatopolks pro-Scandinavian policies. The early part of the Chronicle features many anecdotal stories, among them those of the arrival of the three Varangian brothers, the founding of Kiev, the murder of Askold and Dir, ca. 882, the death of Oleg in 912, the cause of which was reported forseen by him, and the thorough vengeance taken by Olga, the wife of Igor, on the Drevlians, who had murdered her husband. Her actions secured Kievan Rus from the Drevlians, preventing her from having to marry a Drevlian prince, in the year 1116, Nestors text was extensively edited by the hegumen Sylvester who appended his name at the end of the chronicle. As Vladimir Monomakh was the patron of the village of Vydubychi where Sylvesters monastery was situated and this second version of Nestors work is preserved in the Laurentian codex. A third edition followed two years later and centered on the person of Vladimirs son and heir, Mstislav the Great, the author of this revision could have been Greek, for he corrected and updated much data on Byzantine affairs. This latest revision of Nestors work is preserved in the Hypatian codex, because the original of the chronicle as well as the earliest known copies are lost, it is difficult to establish the original content of the chronicle. The two main sources for the text as it is known presently are the Laurentian Codex. The Laurentian Codex was compiled in what are today Russian lands by the Nizhegorod monk Laurentius for the Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich in 1377, the original text he used was a lost codex compiled for the Grand Duke Mikhail of Tver in 1305. The account continues until 1305, but the years 898–922, 1263–83, the manuscript was acquired by the famous Count Musin-Pushkin in 1792 and subsequently presented to the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg. The Hypatian Codex dates to the 15th century and it was written in what are today Ukrainian lands and incorporates much information from the lost 12th-century Kievan and 13th-century Halychian chronicles. The language of work is the East Slavic version of Church Slavonic language with many additional irregular east-slavisms. Whereas the Laurentian text traces the Kievan legacy through to the Muscovite princes, the Hypatian codex was rediscovered in Kiev in the 1620s and copy was made for Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozhsky. A copy was found in Russia in the 18th century at the Ipatiev Monastery of Kostroma by the Russian historian Nikolai Karamzin, numerous monographs and published versions of the chronicle have been made, the earliest known being in 1767. Aleksey Shakhmatov published a pioneering textological analysis of the narrative in 1908, Dmitry Likhachev and other Soviet scholars partly revisited his findings. Their versions attempted to reconstruct the pre-Nestorian chronicle, compiled at the court of Yaroslav the Wise in the mid-11th century
24.
Kievan Rus'
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Kievan Rus was a loose federation of East Slavic tribes in Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century, under the reign of the Rurik dynasty. The modern peoples of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia all claim Kievan Rus as their cultural ancestors, according to Russian historiography the first ruler to start uniting East Slavic lands into what has become known as Kievan Rus was Prince Oleg. He extended his control from Novgorod south along the Dnieper river valley to protect trade from Khazar incursions from the east, Sviatoslav I achieved the first major expansion of Kievan Rus territorial control, fighting a war of conquest against the Khazars. Vladimir the Great introduced Christianity with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev and beyond. Kievan Rus reached its greatest extent under Yaroslav the Wise, his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the state declined beginning in the late 11th century and during the 12th century, disintegrating into various rival regional powers. The state finally fell to the Mongol invasion of the 1240s. During its existence, Kievan Rus was known as the land of the Rus, in Greek as Ῥωσία, in Old French as Russie, Rossie, in Latin as Russia, and from the 12th century also Ruthenia. Various etymologies have been proposed, including Ruotsi, the Finnish designation for Sweden, and Ros, the term Kievan Rus was coined in the 19th century in Russian historiography to refer to the period when the centre was in Kiev. Later, the Russian term was rendered into Belarusian and Ukrainian as Кіеўская Русь Kijeŭskaja Rus’ and Ки́ївська Русь Kyivska Rus’, prior to the emergence of Kievan Rus in the 9th century AD, the lands between the Baltic Sea and Black Sea were primarily populated by eastern Slavic tribes. In the northern region around Novgorod were the Ilmen Slavs and neighboring Krivichi, who occupied territories surrounding the headwaters of the West Dvina, Dnieper, to their north, in the Ladoga and Karelia regions, were the Finnic Chud tribe. In the south, in the area around Kiev, were the Poliane, a group of Slavicized tribes with Iranian origins, the Drevliane to the west of the Dnieper, and the Severiane to the east. To their north and east were the Vyatichi, and to their south was forested land settled by Slav farmers, controversy persists over whether the Rus’ were Varangians or Slavs. This uncertainty is due largely to a paucity of contemporary sources, attempts to address this question instead rely on archaeological evidence, the accounts of foreign observers, legends and literature from centuries later. To some extent the controversy is related to the myths of modern states in the region. According to the Normanist view, the Rus were Scandinavians, while Russian and Ukrainian nationalist historians generally argue that the Rus were themselves Slavs. Normanist theories focus on the earliest written source for the East Slavs, nevertheless, archaeological evidence from the area suggests that a Scandinavian population was present during the 10th century at the latest. On balance, it likely that the Rus proper were a small minority of Scandinavians who formed an elite ruling class. Liutprand of Cremona, who was twice an envoy to the Byzantine court, identifies the Russi with the Norse, leo the Deacon, a 10th-century Byzantine historian and chronicler, refers to the Rus as Scythians and notes that they tended to adopt Greek rituals and customs
25.
Nestor the Chronicler
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In 1073, Nestor became a monk of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev. The only other detail of his life that is known is that he was commissioned with two other monks to find the relics of St. Theodosius of Kiev, a mission which he fulfilled successfully. It is also speculated that he supported the reigning prince Svyatopolk II and his chronicle begins with the Deluge, as did those of most Christian chroniclers of the time. The compiler appears to have been acquainted with the Byzantine historians, he makes use especially of John Malalas and he also likely had other Slavonic language chronicles to compile from, which have since been lost. Many legends are mistakenly attributed to Nestors Chronicle, the style is occasionally so poetic that perhaps he incorporated bylinas that are now lost. As an eyewitness, Nestor could only have described the reigns of Vsevolod I and Svyatopolk II, many of the ethnological details given by Nestor of the various tribes of the Slavs are of the highest value. The name of the hegumen Sylvester is affixed to several of the manuscripts as the author, the language of his work, as shown in the earliest manuscripts just mentioned, is Palaeo-Slavonic with many examples of Russianism. St. Nestor died around 1114 and was buried in the Near Caves and he has been glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church. The body of the ancient chronicler may be seen among the preserved in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. His feast day is celebrated on October 27 and he is also commemorated in common with other saints of the Kiev Caves Lavra on September 28 and on the Second Sunday of Great Lent
26.
Novgorod
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It is situated on the M10 federal highway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg. The city lies along the Volkhov River just downstream from its outflow from Lake Ilmen, UNESCO recognized Novgorod as a World Heritage Site in 1992. At its peak during the 14th century, the city was the capital of the Novgorod Republic, the Charter of Veliky Novgorod recognizes 859 as the year when the city was first mentioned. Archaeological dating is fairly easy and accurate to within 15–25 years, as the streets were paved with wood, and most of the houses made of wood, allowing tree ring dating. The Varangian name of the city Holmgård/Holmgard is mentioned in Norse Sagas as existing at a yet earlier stage, originally, Holmgård referred only to the stronghold southeast of the present-day city, Rurikovo Gorodische. First mention of this Nordic or Germanic etymology to the name of the city of Novgorod occurs in the 10th-century policy manual De Administrando Imperio by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, in 882, Ruriks successor, Oleg of Novgorod, conquered Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus. Novgorods size as well as its political, economic, and cultural influence made it the second most important city in Kievan Rus, according to a custom, the elder son and heir of the ruling Kievan monarch was sent to rule Novgorod even as a minor. When the ruling monarch had no son, Novgorod was governed by posadniks, such as the legendary Gostomysl, Dobrynya, Konstantin. Of all their princes, Novgorodians most cherished the memory of Yaroslav the Wise and his son, Vladimir, sponsored construction of the great St. Sophia Cathedral, more accurately translated as the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, which stands to this day. In Norse sagas the city is mentioned as the capital of Gardariki, four Viking kings—Olaf I of Norway, Olaf II of Norway, Magnus I of Norway, and Harald Hardrada—sought refuge in Novgorod from enemies at home. No more than a few decades after the 1030 death and subsequent canonization of Olaf II of Norway, the town of Visby in Gotland functioned as the leading trading center in the Baltic before the Hansa League. At Novgorod in 1080, Visby merchants established a trading post which they named Gutagard, later, in the first half of the 13th century, merchants from northern Germany also established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as Peterhof. At about the time, in 1229, German merchants at Novgorod were granted certain privileges. In 1136, the Novgorodians dismissed their prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, the year is seen as the traditional beginning of the Novgorod Republic. One of the most important local figures in Novgorod was the posadnik, or mayor, the tysyatsky, or thousandman, originally the head of the town militia but later a commercial and judicial official, was also elected by the Veche. Another important local official was the Archbishop of Novgorod who shared power with the boyars, archbishops were elected by the Veche or by the drawing of lots, and after their election, were sent to the metropolitan for consecration. While a basic outline of the officials and the Veche can be drawn up. The boyars and the archbishop ruled the city together, although where one officials power ended, throughout the Middle Ages, the city thrived culturally
27.
Muscovy
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The Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Grand Principality of Moscow, was a late medieval Rus principality centered on Moscow and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia. The state originated with Daniel I, who inherited Moscow in 1283, eclipsing and it later annexed the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485. After the Mongol invasion of Rus, Muscovy was a vassal to the Mongol ruled Golden Horde until 1480. By his marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, he established Muscovy as the state of the Roman Empire. Ivans successor Vasili III also enjoyed success, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512. Vasilis son Ivan IV was an infant at his fathers death in 1533 and he was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar together with the proclamation of Tsardom of Russia. As with many states the country had no particular official name. The Duke of Moscow or the Sovereign of Moscow were common short titles, in rivalry with other duchies Moscow dukes also designated themselves as the Grand Dukes, claiming a higher position in the hierarchy of Russian dukes. During the territorial growth and later acquisitions, the title became rather lengthy. Since the 14th century various Moscow dukes added of all Rus to their titles, after the title of Russian metropolitans, Dmitry Shemyaka was the first Moscow duke who minted coins with the title the Sovereign of all Rus. Under the Polish-Lithuanian influence the country began to be called Muscovy in Western Europe, the first appearances of the term were in an Italian document of 1500. Initially Moscovia was the Latinized name of the city of Moscow itself, not of the state, later it acquired its meaning and has been used alongside of the older name. The term Muscovy persisted in the West until the beginning of the 18th century and is used in historical contexts. When the Mongols invaded the lands of Kievan Rus in the 13th century, the first ruler of the principality of Moscow, Daniel I, was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky of Vladimir-Suzdal. He started to expand his principality by seizing Kolomna and securing the bequest of Pereslavl-Zalessky to his family, daniels son Yuriy controlled the entire basin of the Moskva River and expanded westward by conquering Mozhaisk. He then forged an alliance with the overlord of the Rus principalities, Uzbeg Khan of the Golden Horde, the Khan allowed Yuriy to claim the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, a position which allowed him to interfere in the affairs of the Novgorod Republic to the north-west. Yuriys successor, Ivan I, managed to retain the title of Grand Duke by cooperating closely with the Mongols and by collecting tribute and taxes from other Rus principalities on their behalf. This relationship enabled Ivan to gain regional ascendancy, particularly over Moscows chief rival, the city of Tver
28.
Pustozyorsk
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Pustozersk or Pustozyorsk was the administrative center of Yugra and Pechora krais of Muscovy and Imperial Russia. It was situated in what is today Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia, Pustozersk was founded in 1499 in the lower reaches of the Pechora River by the members of a military party led by S. Kurbsky, P. Ushaty, and V. Zabolotsky-Brazhnik. The town was built in an area on barren soil, hence the name Pustozersk. It was the most distant northern outpost of Muscovy and the first Russian settlement on the Pechora, Pustozersk was supposed to play the role of a military fort on the northern borders of the Russian state. Beginning in 1644, the city was attacked by Samoyedic peoples. Pustozersk had been the center of Pustozersk volost for more than two and a half centuries. The town was most active in the 17th century, when notable people as Artamon Matveyev, Vasily Galitzine. The spot where the latter was burnt at the stake is now commemorated by a wooden cross. In the 18th century, Pustozersk gradually lost its economic importance, in 1924, Pustozersk lost city status and was described as not a city, but an ordinary, small northern village, numbering 25-30 houses and about forty non-residential buildings. During World War II,41 residents fought in the war, during the war, the population increased to 106, mostly from refugees, however after the war, the population dropped to 28 in 1951, and just 6 in 1959. The last residents left in 1962, the wooden Church of Transfiguration is the only structure that remained after the abandonment of Pustozeorsk. It was moved to the village of Ustye, located on the Lake Gorodetskoye
29.
Vaygach Island
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Vaygach Island is an island in the Arctic Sea between the Pechora Sea and the Kara Sea. Vaygach Island is separated from the Yugorsky Peninsula in the mainland by the Yugorsky Strait, the island is a part of Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. There are many rivers about 20–40 kilometres in length, swamps, for the most part it consists of tundra. Slight rocky ridges run generally along its length, and the coast has low cliffs in places, the island consists mostly of limestone, and its elevation above the sea is geologically recent. The rocks are heavily scored by ice, but this was probably marine ice, the settlements of Vaygach, Dolgaya Guba, and Varnek are located on the island. Grasses, mosses and Arctic flowering plants are abundant, but there are no trees excepting occasional dwarf willows, foxes and lemmings are spotted occasionally. While there are not many animals on the island, birds are very numerous. At least five polar bears are known to inhabit the island, in 2007, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Russian government have approved a nature reserve on Vaygach island. The islands surrounding seas are home to marine mammals such as walruses, seals. The name of the island translates from the Nenets as alluvial shore, until the 19th century, the island was an important shrine of the Nenets people. There were polycephalic wooden idols painted with blood of holy animals, some of their sacrificial piles, consisting of drift-wood, deers horns and the skulls of bears and deer, have been observed by travellers. In spite of their conversion to Christianity, the Nenets still regard these piles with superstition, list of islands of Russia This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Vaygach. Vaigach - The Easter Island of the Arctic
30.
Amderma
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Previously an urban-type settlement, it was demoted to a rural locality in November 2005, but its rural status was not officially codified until a law to that effect was passed in April 2015. Amderma has a polar climate with very cool and short summers combined with very long. Although relative winter temperatures are normally hovering around −20 °C, the months of May. As a result of the lack of warm temperatures Amderma is above the tree line. It experiences midnight sun and polar night, however, the cold Arctic Ocean tempers and reduces the heat effect midnight sun brings to inland locations further south such as Naryan-Mar. Brief warm temperatures have been recorded when southerly winds have reached the area with a July record high of 31 °C. Winters are very cold for a location, but in spite of this there are several marine localities at lower parallels in North America that experience colder January lows than Amderma. Fluorite deposits are located in the vicinity of Amderma, but the mines have been abandoned since the 1990s and it is home to the Amderma Airport, a civil airport and military base. An article about Amderma at sevmeteo. ru
31.
Vorkuta
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Vorkuta is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin at the Usa River. Industrial coal fields by the Vorkuta River were discovered in 1930 by geologist Georgy Chernov, Georgy was the son of another geologist, Alexander Chernov, who promoted the development of the Pechora coal basin, which included the Vorkuta fields. With this discovery the coal mining started in the Komi ASSR. At the time only the parts of the field were included in the Komi ASSR. The northern part, including Vorkuta, belonged to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast, in 1931 a geologist settlement was established by the coal field, with most of the workers being inmates of the Ukhta-Pechora Camp of GULAG. The origins of the town of Vorkuta are associated with one of the more notorious forced labour camps of the Gulag which was established in 1932, with the start of mining. In 1941, Vorkuta and the camp system based around it were connected to the rest of the world by a prisoner-built rail line linking Konosha, Kotlas. Town status was granted to Vorkuta on November 26,1943 and it was the largest of the Gulag camps in European Russia and served as the administrative center for a large number of smaller camps and subcamps, among them Kotlas, Pechora, and Izhma. In 1953, the town witnessed a major uprising by the camp inmates, as a municipal division, the town of republic significance of Vorkuta is incorporated as Vorkuta Urban Okrug. By the early 21st century many mines had closed as problems with the costs of operation plagued the mine operators. At one time during the late 1980s and 1990s there were labor actions in the area by miners who had not been paid for a year, Vorkuta has a subarctic climate with short cool summers and very cold and dry winters. The average February temperature is about −20 °C, and in July it is about +13 °C, the town is served by Vorkuta Airport. During the Cold War, an Arctic Control Group forward staging base for bombers was located at Vorkuta Sovetsky. Закон №13-РЗ от6 марта2006 г, «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Республики Коми», в ред. Закона №171-РЗ от26 декабря2014 г, «Об упразднении населённого пункта Верхняя Седка, расположенного на территории Прилузского района Республики Коми, и внесении в связи с этим изменений в некоторые Законы Республики Коми». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Республика, №44,16 марта2006 г. Закон №11-РЗ от5 марта2005 г, «О территориальной организации местного самоуправления в Республике Коми», в ред. Закона №171-РЗ от26 декабря2014 г, «Об упразднении населённого пункта Верхняя Седка, расположенного на территории Прилузского района Республики Коми, и внесении в связи с этим изменений в некоторые Законы Республики Коми»
32.
Zapolyarny Municipal District
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Zapolyarny District is an administrative and municipal district, the only one in Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The area of the district is approximately 170,000 square kilometers and its administrative center is the urban locality of Iskateley. The population of Iskateley accounts for 33. 7% of the total population. The name of the district is an adjective which means beyond the Arctic Circle. The main economic drivers are oil and gas, although reindeer husbandry is still seen as a part of the culture of the indigenous Nenets people. Закон №557-ОЗ от24 февраля2005 г, «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ненецкого автономного округа», в ред. Закона №155-ОЗ от1 декабря2015 г, «О внесении изменений в часть1 статьи2 Закона Ненецкого автономного округа Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ненецкого автономного округа». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Няръяна Вындер, №28,28 февраля2005 г
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Rosneft
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Rosneft is an integrated oil company majority owned by the Government of Russia. Rosneft is headquartered in Moscows Balchug district near the Kremlin, across the Moskva River, Rosneft became Russias leading extraction and refinement company after purchasing assets of former oil giant Yukos at state-run auctions. In March 2013, Rosneft became the largest publicly traded oil company, Rosneft conducts oil and gas exploration and production activities on Sakhalin island, Siberia, Timan-Pechora field and in southern Russia, including Chechnya. It owns and operates two refineries, the refinery in Tuapse, on the Black Sea, focuses on refining high-gravity oil from western Siberia. Another plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur is the easternmost refinery in Russia, Rosneft operates shipping, pipeline and marketing companies. As of 29 December 2006, the market value was US$83.908 billion. Rosneft net income fell 20% for the first quarter of 2009 from $2.56 billion to $2.06 billion due to the weakness of oil price, on December 7,2016,19. 5% of the company was sold to an anonymous buyer. Rosneft was established in 1993 as an enterprise with assets previously held by Rosneftegaz. During the early 1990s almost all Russian oil companies and refineries were extracted from Rosneft to form ten integrated companies, later their number was halved as a result of acquisitions. On 29 September 1995, an Order of the Government of Russia №971 transformed Rosneft into a joint stock company. In October 1998, the Russian government appointed Sergey Bogdanchikov as president, the company owned two obsolete refineries and several low-productive and poorly managed oil-producing assets. In the late 1990s, plans for Rosnefts privatization in Russia were made, in 2001, the company became Russias official representative on projects with production sharing agreements. In 2003, Rosneft began oil production at the Aday block in the Atyrau Region near the Caspian Sea in Western Kazakhstan, in 2004 Rosneft had increased oil output from 98.56 million bbl in 2001 to 148.26 million bbl. In the same year Rosneft agreed to merge with Gazprom but plans were discarded in May 2005 and it is alleged that Bogdanchikov did not wish to take a lesser role in the integrated company answering to Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller. Starting in 2004, the Russian government organized a series of auctions to sell oil giants Yukos assets, on 22 December 2004, Rosneft had purchased a then little known Russian oil company called Baikal Finance Group. Three days earlier, the previously unheard-of Baikal Group had purchased Yukos main asset Yuganskneftegaz at an auction for 9.35 billion dollars. Many viewed this as a de facto nationalization of Yugansk, andrei Illarionov, then a senior Putin economic advisor, denounced it as the scam of the year. With the addition of Yungansk Rosneft became Russias second-largest producer of oil and gas by 2005, in June 2007, Rosneft paid $731 million for the transportation assets of Yukos, which had declared bankrupt in August 2006 after three years of litigation over tax arrears
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Lukoil
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Lukoil is one of Russias largest oil companies. It is also one of the largest global producers of oil, in 2012, the company produced 89.856 million tons of oil per day. Headquartered in Moscow, Lukoil is one of the largest public companies in terms of proven oil, in 2008, the company had 19.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent per SPE standards. This amounts to some 1. 3% of global oil reserves, the company has operations in more than 40 countries around the world. The initials of the three companies are preserved in the name Lukoil, the central figure in the companys founding was the Soviet deputy minister of oil production Vagit Alekperov. He came to believe the only way Russians could compete against western companies was to copy their business model and that meant vertically integrating the three branches of the industry—exploration, refining, and distribution—that were strictly separate under the old Soviet system. It is one of the largest tax payers of the Russian Federation, Lukoil became the first company to begin offering shares of stock on the new Russian Trading System, in 1994. Lukoil agreed to buy Hess Corporations Russian unit for $2.05 billion, in September 2004, ConocoPhillips purchased a 7. 6% stake in Lukoil and signed an agreement that could increase this figure in the future to up to 20%. There is risk of course but we believe in the success of this unique project, the consortium was created in September 2005. Lukoil owns seven oil-processing companies in Eastern Europe with total capacity of 54.1 mln tpa, * – 49% and 45% shares respectively The company also owns several petrochemical plants in Budennovsk, Saratov and Kalush, Ukraine, all managed by Lukoil-Neftechim. As of January 2009, the company had proven reserves of 14.5 billion barrels of oil and 29.3 trillion cubic feet of gas, as of the start of 2014, it had 166 tank farms and 5,867 filling stations. The Group owns four large refineries and two mini-refineries in Russia, as well as two plants abroad, and has shares in an oil refining complex in Italy and in the Netherlands. In late 2015 and early 2016, Lukoil announced that its operations are being sold in Latvia, Lithuania, in November 1995 LUKoil filed with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue American depositary receipts, i. e. In 2003, LUKoil split off 3 billion US$ of non-oil or non-core assets to start IFD Kapital Group, LUKOIL has created in September 2012 Shared service centre in the Czech Republic to provide accounting services to its subsidiaries abroad. The shared service centre at end 2014 provided services to LUKOIL subsidiaries in Belgium, Poland and Bulgaria. According to Lukoil, their numbers in 2007 recorded a drop of 7. 8% in the volume of pollutant effects, in an effort to increase productivity, Lukoil organized a contract to begin an oil pumping block in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. It arranged an Environmental Impact Assessment of the site in order to organize a second exploration drill. This block, D-222, was the largest prospective structure in the north-east section of the Caspian Sea as of 2008, the key issue of the assessment was the amount of damage the block would be doing to fish stock in the area
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Total S.A.
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Total S. A. is a French multinational integrated oil and gas company and one of the seven Supermajor oil companies in the world. Total is also a large scale chemicals manufacturer, Total is a major player in solar energy with SunPower and Total Solar. Total has its office in the Tour Total in La Défense district in Courbevoie. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, at Poincarés behest, Col. Ernest Mercier with the support of ninety banks and companies founded Total on 28 March 1924, as the Compagnie française des pétroles, literally the French Petroleum Company. Petroleum was seen as vital in the case of a new war with Germany, the French governments stake in TPC was transferred to CFP, and the Red Line agreement in 1928 rearranged the shareholding of CPF in TPC to 23. 75%. The company from the start was regarded as a private company in view of its listing on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1929. The company during the 1930s was engaged in exploration and production and its first refinery began operating in Normandy in 1933. After World War II, CFP engaged in oil exploration in Venezuela, Canada, Exploration in Algeria, then a French colony, began in 1946, with Algeria becoming a leading source of oil in the 1950s. In 1954, CFP introduced its downstream product – Total brand of gasoline in the African continent and Europe. In 1980, Total Petroleum Ltd. a company controlled 50% by CFP and this purchase gave Total refining capacity, transportation, and a network of 350 service stations in 20 states. The company renamed itself Total CFP in 1985, to build on the popularity of its gasoline brand, later in 1991, the name was changed to Total, when it became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, Total continued to expand its presence in North America under several brand names. In 1989, Denver, Colorado, based Total Petroleum, Total CFPs North American unit, purchased 125 Road Runner retail locations from Texarkana, by 1993, Total Petroleum was operating 2,600 retail stores under the Vickers, Apco, Road Runner, and Total brands. That year, the company began remodeling and rebranding all of its North American gasoline, only four years later, Total sold its North American refining and retail operations to Ultramar Diamond Shamrock for $400 million in stock and $414 million in assumed debt. After Totals takeover of Petrofina of Belgium in 1999, it known as Total Fina. Afterwards it also acquired Elf Aquitaine, first named TotalFinaElf after the merger in 2000, it was later renamed back to Total on 6 May 2003. During that rebranding, the current globe logo was unveiled, in 2003, Total signed for a 30% stake in the gas exploration venture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – South Rub al-Khali joint venture along with Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco. The stake was bought out by its partners
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Surgutneftegas
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Surgutneftegaz is a Russian oil and gas company created by merging several previously state-owned companies owning large oil and gas reserves in Western Siberia. The companys headquarters are located in Surgut, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the company is believed to have still close ties to the Kremlin under Vladimir Putin. Surgutneftegas includes an oil refinery in Kirishi, Leningrad Oblast. The company is engaged in fuel retail activities in north-west Russia by cooperating with the Petersburg Fuel Company. Surgutneftegas is also a shareholder of Oneximbank, from the beginning Surgutneftegas has been led by president and director general Vladimir Bogdanov, who had run the Surgut oil fields since 1983. Surgutneftegas was created in 1993 as a joint stock company, in 1995, the company won a tender for huge oil fields in the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The company also gained permission to build a terminal in the Batareynaya Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Surgutneftegas was widely believed to be behind Baikalfinansgrup which acquired YUKOS main oil production facility Yuganskneftegaz at an auction in 2004. Surgutneftegas is the leading oil supplier to Belarus, accounting in 2006 for some 30% of the total deliveries, the company also developed its foreign contacts, including talks with Iran, Libya and pre-war Iraq on taking part in oil extraction projects. According to the Hoover company review, Surgutneftegas employs more than 82,000 people, construction of the Kirishi Oil Refinery was launched in 1961 in the town of Kirishi, Leningrad Region. The first phase of the refinery was commissioned in March 1966, the refinery was designed to cover the fuel needs of the north-western region of the Soviet Union. The conversion level of the refinery was not very deep, with a degree of masut production. The latter was delivered to the Baltic states, Belarus. In 1980 the plant was reconstructed and started diesel hydrotreating unit with capacity of two million tonnes per year, the main fractionation tower K-5 weighing 335.2 tons, diameter of 5 m and a length of 62 m was delivered by Spetstyazhavtotrans from the factory Dzerzhinskhimmash. In 1993, the refinery was incorporated into the OOO Surgutneftegaz, in 1993, the rated primary crude oil processing output was 16 million tons per year. In April 2016 the company decided to economically support All Russian Bandy Federation
