Embassies
in Russian Federation
Foreign Embassies to the Russian Federation
Embassies of Other Nations to Russia
See also: Russian
Embassies
See also: The
World Factbook - Russian Federation
See also: The
News from Russia
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Russia - Background
Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was
able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th
centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities.
In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this
policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I
(ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the
country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century,
more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Repeated
devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread
rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow
in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir
LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule
of Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the
Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet
economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General
Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness)
and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism,
but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December
1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then,
Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political
system and market economy to replace the strict social, political,
and economic controls of the Communist period. While some progress
has been made on the economic front, recent years have seen a recentralization
of power under Vladimir PUTIN and an erosion in nascent democratic
institutions. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia
in Chechnya.
A-Z
Embassies
in Russia
Foreign Embassies to the Russian Federation
Embassies of Other Nations to Russia
