1.
Eastern Slavic naming customs
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They are also featured in the non-Slavic Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan as a result of the expansion of Russia and the result of Russification. As with most cultures, a person has a name chosen by the parents. First names in East Slavic languages mostly originate from two sources, Orthodox church tradition and native pre-Christian Slavic lexicons, all first names are single, non-doubled. Doubled first names are a very rare foreign-influenced instance, most doubled first names are spelled with the dash. Being highly synthetic, Eastern Slavic languages treat personal names as grammatical nouns and this auxiliary stem may be identical to the word stem of the full name while most names have it derived unproductively. Most commonly, Russian philologists distinguish the forms of given names, The short name, historically also half-name, is the most simple. Some names, such as Zhanna, Mark, etc. do not possess short forms, in the latter case, one form is usually more informal than the other. Diminutive forms are produced from the name by means of various suffixes. Unlike the full name, a diminutive name carries a particular emotional attitude, depending on the nature of this attitude, nameforms can be subdivided in three broad groups, affectionate, familiar and slang. Typically formed by suffixes -еньк-, -оньк-, -ечк-, -ушк and it is often used to address children or intimate friends. Within a more official context, this form may be combined with honorific plural to address a female colleague. Colloquial diminutives are derived from short names by means of -к- suffix, expressing a highly familiar attitude, it may be considered rude or even pejorative outside of friendly context. Slang forms mostly exist for male names, being produced though suffixes -ян, -он and these suffixes give off the sense of male brotherhood once expressed by patronymic-only form of address in Soviet Union. Originating in criminal communities, these came into wide usage in Russia in the 1990s. During the days of revolutionary enthusiasm, as part of the campaign to rid Russia of bourgeois culture, there was a drive to invent new, as a result, a large number of Soviet children were given unusual or atypical names. The patronymic name is based on the first name of the father and is written in all legal, if used with the first name, the patronymic always follows it. The patronymic is formed by a combination of the fathers name, the suffix -ович is used for son, suffix -овна - for daughter. For example, if the name was Иван, then the patronymic will be Иванович for a son
2.
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
3.
Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician. Putin is the current President of the Russian Federation, holding the office since 7 May 2012 and he was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, President from 2000 to 2008, and again Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. During his second term as Prime Minister, he was the Chairman of the ruling United Russia Party, born in Leningrad, Putin studied German in high school and speaks the language fluently. He studied Law at the Saint Petersburg State University, graduating in 1975, Putin was a KGB Foreign Intelligence Officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring in 1991 to enter politics in Saint Petersburg. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsins administration, rising quickly through the ranks and becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999, when Yeltsin resigned. Putin won the subsequent 2000 Presidential election by a 53% to 30% margin, thus avoiding a runoff with his Communist Party of the Russian Federation opponent and he was re-elected President in 2004 with 72% of the vote. During Putins first presidency, the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, the growth was a result of the 2000s commodities boom, high oil prices, and prudent economic and fiscal policies. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third presidential term in 2008. The 2008 Presidential election was won by Dmitry Medvedev, who appointed Putin Prime Minister, in September 2011, after presidential terms were extended from four to six years, Putin announced he would seek a third term as president. He won the March 2012 Presidential election with 64% of the vote, under Putins leadership, Russia has scored poorly on both the Democracy index and the Corruption index. Putin has enjoyed high approval ratings during his career. In 2007, he was the Time Person of the Year, in 2015, he was #1 on the Times Most Influential People List. Forbes ranked him the Worlds Most Powerful Individual every year from 2013 to 2016, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, the youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina. His birth was preceded by the death of two brothers, Viktor and Albert, born in the mid-1930s, Albert died in infancy and Viktor died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad. Putins mother was a worker and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy. Early in World War II, his father served in the battalion of the NKVD. Later, he was transferred to the army and was severely wounded in 1942. On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No.193 at Baskov Lane and he was one of a few in the class of approximately 45 pupils who was not yet a member of the Young Pioneer organization
4.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
5.
Federation Council (Russia)
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The Federation Council is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, according to the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation. The two houses of the Federal Assembly are physically separated, with the State Duma residing in another part of Moscow, sessions of the Federation Council are held in Moscow from January 25 to July 15, and from September 16 to December 31. Sessions are open to the public, although the location of sessions can be changed if the Federation Council so desires, for purposes of succession, the chairman of the Federation Council is the third highest position, after the president and the prime minister. In the case of incapacity of the President and Prime Minister, in the midst of the increasingly tense crisis, on September 21, Yeltsin issued Presidential Decree №1400. The constitution also called for the creation of a bicamerial Federal Assembly, consisting of a State Duma, similar to the United States Senate, the Federation Council would consist of two representatives from each of Russia’s federal subjects. Unlike the State Duma, which consisted of hundreds of districts across the nation, early debate on its creation centered on whether or not the Federation Council should be elected at all. To solve some problems on the Council’s first scheduled election in December and this helped previous territorial elites remain within national politics. The decree also stipulated a single term of two years before new elections in 1995, the Council’s first elections were held on December 12,1993, simultaneously with State Duma elections and a referendum on the new Constitution of the Russian Federation. This later was codified in 1995 when the Council’s first term expired, the constitution, however, did not specify how senators were to be elected. By 1995, using this constitutional anomaly, regional executives could sit ex officio in both their own regional executive posts and within the Federation Council. While the State Duma did much of the debates on Russian policy during this time. The ascension of President Vladimir Putin following Yeltsins resignation on December 31,1999 brought many new changes to the Federation Council. The Council furiously resisted Putins plan, conscious that their role in politics, their very ability to enjoy the fruits of living within Moscow. In their place, a wave of new Kremlin-friendly senators took the vacated seats, the last of these dual senator-governors were rotated out of office in early 2002. These appointments could later be confirmed or rejected by the regional legislatures, the move further placed more control over the Council by the executive branch, due to laws which stipulate that regional executives have a say in choosing delegates to the Federation council. Since 2000, the Federation Council has largely remained a stable body, as set in Article 101 of the Russian Constitution, the Federation Council “shall elect among its deputies the chairman of the Council. The current chairman is Valentina Matviyenko, senators are able to retain membership to their respective parties, however they are asked not to bring party factionalism to the floor itself. Since the reforms of 2000, the Council has enjoyed a close relationship with the Kremlin
6.
Dmitry Medvedev
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Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is a Russian politician who is the current Prime Minister. From 2008 to 2012, Medvedev served as the third President of Russia, born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Leningrad State University Law Department in 1987. Medvedev defended his dissertation in 1990, and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed the Saint Petersburg State University, Medvedevs political career began as the Election Campaign Manager, and later as an adviser of the St. Petersburg Mayor, Anatoly Sobchak. During this time, Medvedev befriended Vladimir Putin, in November 1999, Medvedev was hired by the Russian Presidential Administration, where he worked as the Deputy Chief of Staff. In the 2000 Russian Presidential Elections, Medvedev was Putins Campaign Manager, on 14 November 2005, Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister, and was tasked with overseeing National Priority Projects. Medvedev worked as the Chairman of Gazproms Board of Directors, a post that he held until 2008, Medvedevs candidacy was backed by the popular outgoing President, Vladimir Putin, thus giving a significant boost to his popularity. The 2008 Presidential election, held on 2 March 2008, was won by Medvedev with 70. 28% of the popular vote, and he was inaugurated on 7 May 2008. Medvedev did not run for a term as President, and therefore was appointed Prime Minister by President Vladimir Putin. On 26 May 2012, Medvedev was appointed to be the Leader of United Russia Party, during Medvedevs tenure, Russia emerged victorious in the Russo-Georgian War, and recovered from the Great Recession. Medvedev launched a campaign, and initiated a substantial law enforcement reform. Dmitry Medvedev was born on 14 September 1965 in Leningrad, in the Soviet Union and his father, Anatoly Afanasyevich Medvedev, was a chemical engineer teaching at the Leningrad State Institute of Technology. Dmitrys mother, Yulia Veniaminovna Medvedeva, studied languages at Voronezh University, later, she would also work as a tour guide at Pavlovsk Palace. The Medvedevs lived in a 40 m² apartment at 6 Bela Kun Street in the Kupchino Municipal Okrug of Leningrad, Dmitry was his parents only child. The Medvedevs were regarded as Soviet intelligentsia family of the time and his maternal grandparents were Ukrainians, whose surname was Kovalev, originally Koval. Medvedev traces his roots to the Belgorod region. As a child, Medvedev was bookish and studious, described by his first grade teacher Vera Smirnova as a dreadful why-asker, after school, he would spend some time playing with his friends before hurrying home to work on his assignments. In the third grade, Medvedev studied the ten-volume Small Soviet Encyclopedia belonging to his father, in the second and third grades, he showed interest in dinosaurs and memorized primary Earths geologic development periods, from the Archean up to the Cenozoic. In the fourth and fifth grades, he demonstrated interest in chemistry, conducting elementary experiments, in grade seven, adolescent curiosity blossomed through Svetlana Linnik, his future wife, studying at the same school in a parallel class
7.
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"
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The Order For Merit to the Fatherland is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on March 2,1994 by Presidential Decree 442, until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest Order of the Russian Federation, though it is still the highest Civilian decoration of the state. The Order of St. Andrew decoration is given to Military personnel only, the statute of the Order was modified on January 6,1999 by Presidential Decree 19 and again on September 7,2010 by Presidential Decree 1099. The Order For Merit to the Fatherland is a mixed civilian, the highest of the four classes is the Order I class, the lowest being the Order IV class. These classes are awarded sequentially from the IV to the I class, in exceptional cases, the President of the Russian Federation may decide to award the Order For Service to the Fatherland to persons not previously awarded state awards of the Russian Federation. Soldiers receiving the Order For Merit to the Fatherland for distinction in combat will receive the Order with Swords, the order has a collar and four classes. The collar is the insignia of the President of the Russian Federation. The four classes of the Order are individually identified by the size, cross, Is a silver-gilt ruby-enamelled cross pattée bearing the gilt state emblem of the Russian Federation on its obverse. On the reverse of the cross is a circular medallion surrounded by the motto BENEFIT, HONOUR, in the center of the medallion, the year of the establishment of the Order 1994. On the reverse of the arm of the cross, laurel leaves. The cross for the Order I class measures 60mm across and is affixed to a 100mm wide red sash worn over the right shoulder. The cross of the II and III classes measures 50mm across and is worn on a 45mm wide red neck ribbon for the II class, the cross for the IV class measures 40mm across and hangs from a standard pentagonal mount covered by a red 24mm wide ribbon. Star, The star of the Order is eight pointed, 82mm across and of highly polished silver. At its center on the obverse if a circular medallion bearing the gilt state emblem of the Russian Federation. Around the medallion, a red enameled band with the motto of the Order BENEFIT, HONOUR, the reverse has the serial number of the Order engraved on the lower arm. A cavalier of an order is an individual who as received a grade of an order, a full cavalier of an order is an individual who has sequentially earned every class of that order. The individuals listed below are among those who have been so honoured, Awards and decorations of the Russian Federation The Commission on State Awards to the President of the Russian Federation
8.
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
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It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour began solely as an award of the Russian SFSR on December 28,1920. The all-Union equivalent was established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on September 7,1928, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour could be awarded multiple times to the same recipient for successive deeds and long time merit. The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was worn on the side of the chest. If worn in the presence of Orders or medals of the Russian Federation, the design of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour evolved over the years. Its original design, called type 1 was amended in 1936, the type 1 Order consisted of a 38 mm wide by 43 mm high silver badge in the shape of a cogwheel, at center, a disc bordered along its entire outer diameter by panicles of wheat. Protruding from under the half of the central disc, a red enamelled triangle pointing downwards. On the central disc in the background, an electric dam, at center, a gilded hammer and sickle, at the top. At the very bottom of the cogwheel, the relief inscription USSR on a stylised horizontal shield bisected by a smaller cogwheel meshing into the larger one, the Order was secured to clothing with a threaded screw and nut arrangement. The earlier nuts were 28 mm in diameter, later ones measured 32 mm, the type 2 Order also consisted of a silver badge in the shape of a cogwheel, it measured 38 mm wide by 44 mm high. On the lower circumference of the cogwheel, the relief inscription Proletarians of the World, below the cogwheel, a red enamelled relief five pointed star superimposed on a shield from which four short panicles of wheat protrude left and right. Along the outer circumference of the central wreath, white enamelled slots spaced equally on the cogwheel. The individuals listed below were recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, the first recipient of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour of the RSFSR was Nikita Menchukov for saving an important bridge from being destroyed by flowing ice. Order of the Red Banner of Labour of the USSR number 1 was presented to the Putilov Works in Leningrad, the first individual awardees were V. Fedetov, A. Shelagin and M. Kyatkovsky for the rescue of a polar expedition. Mikhail Gorbachev received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour for harvesting a crop on his familys collective farm in 1949 at age 17. He is one of the Orders youngest recipients
9.
Valentina Matviyenko
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Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko, is a Russian politician who was Governor of Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2011, and has served as Chairman of the Federation Council since 2011. Matviyenko was considered, until recent years, to be the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, born in Ukraine, Matviyenko started her political career in the 1980s in Leningrad, and was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District Communist Party of the City from 1984 to 1986. In the 1990s, Matviyenko served as the Russian Ambassador to Malta, from 1998 to 2003, Matviyenko was Deputy Prime Minister for Welfare, and briefly the Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District in 2003. By that time, Matviyenko was firmly allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Matviyenko became the first female leader of Saint Petersburg. The profile of Saint Petersburg in Russian politics has risen, marked by the transfer of the Constitutional Court of Russia from Moscow in 2008, some actions and practices of Governor Matviyenko have drawn significant criticisms from the Saint Petersburg public, the media, and opposition groups. Another major point of criticism was Matviyenkos handling of the snow removal problems during the unusually cold and snowy winters of 2009–10. On 22 August 2011, soon after completion of the Saint Petersburg Dam, as a member of the ruling United Russia Party, on 21 September 2011, Matviyenko was elected as Chairman of the Federation Council, the countrys third-highest elected office. Valentina Tyutina was born in Shepetivka in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of Western Ukrainian SSR, in 1972, Matviyenko graduated from Leningrad Institute of Chemistry and Pharmaceutics, where she met her husband, Vladimir Vasiyevich Matviyenko. They had a son, Sergey, in 1973, Matviyenko held various leadership positions within the Komsomol organization until 1984. In 1985 Valentina Matviyenko graduated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Unions Academy, in 1984–1986 she was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District Committee of the Party. Matviyenko was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and headed the committee on women, family. Between 1991 and 1998 Matviyenko served in the service and held several diplomatic positions including posts of Russian ambassador to Malta. On 24 September 1998, Matviyenko was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Welfare, in June 1999 she worked on the Board of Directors of the ORT TV channel. Matvyenko was involved in a car accident on 20 November 1999. On 3 February 2000 she was nominated for the presidency, on 29 February 2000, she announced that she was considering running in the St. Petersburg governor elections to be held on 14 May, and on 10 March announced that she was indeed launching her campaign. However, on 4 April she claimed that Vladimir Putin had asked her to withdraw from the elections, on 11 March 2003 she left the Deputy PM position and was appointed presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District by Vladimir Putin. On 24 June 2003, after Saint Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev resigned ahead of schedule and her nomination was supported by the United Russia political party and President Vladimir Putin. Putin publicly supported her candidacy on 2 September in a meeting that was broadcast by two state-owned TV stations
10.
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
11.
National Library of Latvia
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The National Library of Latvia is a national cultural institution under the supervision of the Latvian Ministry of Culture. The National Library of Latvia was formed in 1919 after the independent Republic of Latvia was proclaimed in 1918, the first supervisor of the Library was Jānis Misiņš, a librarian and the founder of the Latvian scientific bibliography. Today the Library plays an important role in the development of Latvias information society, providing Internet access to residents and supporting research and lifelong education. One of the cornerstones of the NLL, which characterizes every national library, is the formation of the collection of national literature, its eternal storage. The NLL is a centre of research and practical analyses of the activities of Latvian libraries. Since the very outset, its main concern has been the national bibliography, the massive union catalogue Ancient Prints in Latvian 1525 -1855, received Spīdola Prize in 2000 and was awarded The Beautiful Book of the Year 99. The NLL includes several collections of posters, digitising collections at the NLL started in 1999. At present the Latvian National Digital Library Letonica, which was formed in 2006, holds digitized collections of newspapers, pictures, maps, books, sheet-music, in 2008 NLL launched two major digital projects. Periodika. lv is the NLLs collection of digitized historical periodicals in Latvian with the possibility to read full texts, Latvia has a tradition of Song and Dance Festivals organized every four years. The historical materials from the first Song Festival in 1864 till the Latgale Song Festival in 1940 can be explored in another collection of the National Library of Latvia. One of the architects is Gunārs Birkerts. It opened its doors to visitors in 2014, today the NLL building is a dominant landmark on the Riga cityscape. It is used for a variety of purposes and hosted a debate chaired by the BBCs Jonathan Dimbleby on 14 March 2016
12.
Chairman of the Federation Council (Russia)
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The Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, also called Speaker, is the presiding officer of the Upper house of the Russian parliament. The third highest position, after the President and the Prime Minister, in the case of incapacity of the President and Prime Minister, the chairman of the Federation Council becomes Acting President of Russia. The Chairman is elected from among the senators and that is the position held by one of the members of the Federation Council. The election is conducted by secret ballot using the ballot, the Federation Council may decide to hold a secret ballot using the electronic system. Candidates for the post of Chairman of the Federation Council senators offered, each member of the Council of the Federation has the right to propose only one candidate. For all candidates who have consented to stand, held a discussion during which they act at the meeting, after discussion, the Chamber approves the list of candidates for voting. A candidate is considered elected if he received a vote of more than half of the votes of the members of the Federation Council. Totally 178 votes, Totally 178 votes, Totally 172 votes, Totally 166 votes, Totally 170 votes, the Chairman remains in his post until the end of his senatorial term. Even if he is re-elected for a new Senatorial term, the chairmanship automatically ends, if the former chairman is re-elected as senator, he can be re-elected as Chairman of the Federation Council. Chairman of the Federation Council can be dismissed by a decision of the Council of Federation, received the majority of votes of the members of the Federation Council
