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Portal:Russia

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Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. It is the world's ninth-most populous country and Europe's most populous country. Russia is a highly urbanised country including 16 population centres with over a million inhabitants. Its capital as well as its largest city is Moscow. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and its cultural capital.

The East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Rus' ultimately disintegrated, with the Grand Duchy of Moscow growing to become the Tsardom of Russia. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire, which remains the third-largest empire in history. However, with the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule was abolished and eventually replaced by the Russian SFSR—the world's first constitutionally socialist state. Following the Russian Civil War, the Russian SFSR established the Soviet Union with three other Soviet republics, within which it was the largest and principal constituent. At the expense of millions of lives, the Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in the 1930s and later played a decisive role for the Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front. With the onset of the Cold War, it competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements, including the first human-made satellite and the first human expedition into outer space. (Full article...)

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In this month

Sviatoslav depicted in artwork by Ivan Akimov

Cellar in the Abrau-Durso winery, near Novorossiysk

Russian wine refers to wine made in Russia, at times also including the disputed region of Crimea. The vast majority of Russia's territory is unsuitable for grape growing, with most of the production concentrated in parts of Krasnodar and Rostov regions, as well as Crimea.

The Russian market is characterized by the presence of many low-cost products, with a significant part of local wines having a retail price of less than 100 rubles ($1.71). Attempts to shift away from the low-quality reputation of Soviet wines has been moderately successful, though 80% of wines sold in Russia in 2013 were made from grape concentrates. (Full article...)

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Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan, also known as Hovhannes Khachaturi Baghramyan (2 December [O.S. 20 November] 1897 – 21 September 1982), was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union of Armenian origin.

During World War II Bagramyan was the second non-Slavic military officer, after Latvian Max Reyter, to become a commander of a Front. He was among several Armenians in the Soviet Army who held the highest proportion of high-ranking officers in the Soviet military during the war. (Full article...)

In the news

16 July 2024 –
A malfunction causes an emergency shutdown of one of the four reactors at the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant in Rostov Oblast, Russia. Background radiation levels are reported as normal. (Reuters)
Ukrainian state electrical grid operator Ukrenergo begins emergency power shutdowns in seven eastern and central oblasts amid a record heat wave and equipment failures worsened by ongoing Russian attacks. (Reuters)
16 July 2024 – Estonia–Russia relations, Latvia–Russia relations, Lithuania–Russia relations
The Baltic states announce their exit from Russia's and Belarus's electricity grid along with plans to synchronize their grid with the continental Europe grid on February 9, 2025. (AP)
15 July 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine–NATO relations
NATO establishes a new command centre in Wiesbaden, Germany, to plan and coordinate support for the Ukrainian military as part of the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine. (Euronews)
15 July 2024 – Belarus–Latvia relations
Latvia issues a ban on Belarus-registered passenger vehicles entering Latvian territory from Belarus or Russia. (Reuters)

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We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone. Freedom is like that. It's like air. When you have it, you don't notice it.

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