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Outreach
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Introduction:
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Russia 
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Background:
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The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the Communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1924-53) 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. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya.
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Location:
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Northern Asia (that part west of the Urals is sometimes included with Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean
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Land boundaries:
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total: 19,990 km
border countries: Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 294 km, Finland 1,313 km, Georgia 723 km, Kazakhstan 6,846 km, North Korea 19 km, Latvia 217 km, Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 227 km, Mongolia 3,485 km, Norway 196 km, Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 206 km, Ukraine 1,576 km
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Climate:
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ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast
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Terrain:
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broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions
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Area Comparative
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slightly less than 1.8 times the size of the US
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143,420,309 (July 2005 est.)
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Age structure: |
0-14 years: 31.5% (male 4,479,278/female 4,323,356)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 8,891,785/female 8,776,343)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 685,179/female 769,687) (2005 est.) |
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Population growth rate: |
-0.37% (2005 est.) |
| Birth rate: |
9.8 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
| Death rate: |
14.52 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
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Infant mortality rate:
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total: 15.39 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 17.7 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 12.94 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth:
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total population: 67.1 years
male: 60.55 years
female: 74.04 years (2005 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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1.1% (2001 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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860,000 (2001 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
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9,000 (2001 est.)
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Nationality:
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noun: Russian(s)
adjective: Russian
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Ethnic groups:
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Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)
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Religions:
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Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other
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Languages:
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Russian, other
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Country name:
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conventional long form: Russian Federation
conventional short form: Russia
local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
former: Russian Empire, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
local short form: Rossiya
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Government type:
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federation
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Capital:
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Moscow
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Independence:
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24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
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Flag description:
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three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red
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