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Russia

General Background

Population: 148.18 million (July 1996)

Area: 17,075,200 sq. km

Capital: Moscow

Other cities: St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok

Language: Russian

Religions: Russian Orthodox, Muslim

Economy and Economic Data

GDP per capita: $5,300 (1995)

Currency: ruble; = $1 ( )

Average wage:

Major industries: mining industries including coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; machine building, shipbuilding, road and rail equipment, communications equipment, agricultural machinery, construction equipment, electric power generating equipment, medical and scientific instruments, consumer durables, textiles, food processing

Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk

Natural resources: oil, natural gas, coal, many minerals, timber

Government

Head of State: President Boris Yeltsin (since June 1991; re-elected June 1996)

Prime Minister: Viktor Chernomyrdin (since December 1992)

Parliament: two house parliament; Federation Council (178 seats) is filled by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 89 federal administrative units; State Duma (450 seats) is directly elected (half from constituencies and the rest from party lists).

Government coalition:

Elections: Last held December 1994, next elections due December 1998

Treaties and Agreements in Force

European Union: no

OECD: no

Central European Free Trade Agreement: no

World Trade Organization: no (applicant)

GATT: no (observer status)

EFTA: no

Most-Favored-Nation status with United States: yes

General System of Preferences with United States:

International environmental agreements: Party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands. Signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea

Recent Policy Developments Related to Russia

Articles related to Russia in the East/West Letter

• The Luck Ran Out: Russian financial crisis triggers devaluation, near default; by Steven J. Norton and Lynda L. Maillet (September 1998)
• Mistakes Were Made: The "tabula rasa" syndrome and Russian reform; by Steven J. Norton and Lynda L. Maillet (September 1998)
• "Russia's Political Rollercoaster: Yeltsin Commits Himself to Reform, Again" by Steven Norton, March/April 1997.
• "Russia's Reshuffled Cabinet" in March/April 1997.
• "Heavy Net, Large Holes: Russian Taxation: Regulation and Reality (Part II)" by Oksana Baidina with Steven Norton, January/February 1997.
• "Russia's Tax Travails: Russia's Government Contorts Itself to Raise Revenue" by Steven Norton, January/February 1997.
• "Tax Policy in Wonderland: Russian Taxation: Regulation and Reality (Part I)" by Oksana Baindina, September/October 1996.
• "Not So Quick, But Pretty Dirty: Russian Privatization Policy Review and Forecast" by Alexander Radygin, July/August 1996.
• "Yeltsin & Co. Take the Helm" by Lynda Maillet, July/August 1996.
• "Transport Solutions in Russia: One Company's Efforts to Revamp Russian Shipping" by Thomas Sigel, March/April 1996.
• "In the Eco Trenches: Profile: Russian Environmental Adviser Aleksei Yablokov," March/April 1996.
• "Picture not good for heavy metal pollutants in Russia," [brief] March/April 1996.
• "And Then There Was None: Politics, Economics and the Direction of Russian Reform" by Thomas Sigel, December/January 1995/6.
• "Think Globally, Privatize Locally: Reform Implementation: The St. Petersburg Local Privatization Center" by Thomas Sigel, December/January 1995/6.
• "Conservatives Resurgent in Russian Vote" [box with chart], December/January 1995/6.
• Russian Environmental Legislation in 1995 [box], December/January 1995/6.
• "To Help 'Stop the Bleeding:' Coping with the USSR's Environmental Legacy" by Lynda Maillet. Review of Ecological Disaster by Murrary Feshbach, October/November 1995.
• "Russian loan-for-shares auction," October/November 1995.
• "Hope Lives Only in the Long Term: Interview: Russian Macroeconomic Policy in Perspective" by Thomas Sigel, August/September 1995.
• "Needed: A Few Good G-Men: The Roots, and Fruit, of Crime and Corruption in the ex-USSR" by Lynda Maillet. Review of Comrade Criminal by Stephen Handelman, July 1995.
• "Houses Built on Sand: Russian Banking's Coming Shakeout" by Oksana Baidina and Evgeniy Baidin, July 1995.
• "What's Yours in Mine: Privatization and Problems of Management in Russia Today, Part II" by Oksana Baidina and Evgeniy Baidin, March/April 1995.
• "Always the Same Hands: Privatization and Problems of Management in Russia Today, Part I" by Oksana Baidina and Evgeniy Baidin, January/February 1995.
• "Russians and Foreign Aid" [opinion poll charts], November/December 1994.
• "Russia's 'Black Tuesday:' Political Fallout from the Ruble's Crash" by Lynda Maillet, September/October 1994.
• "A Reprieve for the Jackrabbit?: Russia-Belarus Monetary Union Plans Falter" by Bryan Prohm, July/August 1994.
• "Russian Democracy in Action: Russia's New Parliament," January/February 1994.
• "Russian Export Controls: Stemming the Flow" by Valeri Jakushev, November/December 1993.
• "The Final Days of the Ruble Zone," November/December 1993.
• "Bullets and Ballots: Yeltsin Gains in Power Struggle," September/October 1993.
• "A New Monetary Union for the CIS" [box] September/October 1993.
• "Russia's Leaky Borders: International Aspects of Crime & Corruption in the ex-USSR" by Lynda Maillet, July/August 1993.
• "Foreign Investors Take Note: New Foreign Currency and Banking Regulations in Russia" by Valeri Jakushev, July/August 1993.
• "The July Surprise: Russia's Banknote Scandal," July/August 1993.
• "Russia After the Referendum: Politics, Economics & the Fight for a New Constitution" by Steven Norton, Spring 1993.
• The 'Ruble Zone' Revisited: Monetary Policy in the former Soviet Union" by Thomas Sigel, Spring 1993.
• "Russian Agencies Aid Investment: Three New Agencies to Assist Western Investors" by Lynda Maillet, Spring 1993.
• "The Rising Tide of Graft: Organized Crime & Corruption in the former Soviet Union" by Lynda Maillet, Winter 1993.
• "A Russian Silent Spring?" by Lynda Maillet. Review of Ecocide in the USSR: Health and Nature Under Siege by Murray Feshbach and Alfred Friendly, Jr., Winter 1993.
• "Russian Vouchers' Ups & Downs: Privatization Update: Is It More than Just Paper?" by Charles Sauer, Fall 1992.
• "Life on the Russian Extreme: Pamiat's Tocsin Sounds, But Do the Russian People Answer?" by Charles Sauer, Fall 1992.
• Books in Brief: Review of Open for Business: Russia's Return to the Global Economy by Ed A. Hewett with Clifford G. Gaddy, Fall 1992.
• "In Search of... the 'Ruble Zone:' Currency Tribulations" by Lynda Maillet, Summer 1992.
• "Tax Trends: Taxation in East Europe and the ex-USSR" [Legislation Update], Summer 1992.
• "Gushers for Some...: Oil Industry in the ex-USSR" by Lynda Maillet, Spring 1992.
• "End of the Iron Borscht Bowl: Unemployment in Russia" by Lynda Maillet, Spring 1992.
• "In the Wake of the August Coup: Change in the ex-USSR" by Lynda Maillet and Steven Norton, January 1992.
• "Aid is Not What's Needed: Russian Food Shortages" by Thomas Sigel, January 1992.
• "The Tren-Mos Restaurant: A Joint Venture Case Study" by Lynda Maillet, January 1992.

Links to other Russia-related web sites

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