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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, and extends across eleven time zones; sharing land borders with fourteen countries. Russia is the most populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous country in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia, while Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and cultural centre.

Human settlement on the territory of modern Russia dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. 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. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. 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. The Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in the 1930s, amidst the deaths of millions under Joseph Stalin's rule, 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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Nativity Cathedral built by Dmitrievich (ca. 1405)

Baked piroshki stuffed with meat, rice, onion and mushroom

Pirozhki (Russian: пирожки́, romanized: pirožkí, IPA: [pʲɪrɐʂˈkʲi]) (lit.'Smallpie') are Eastern European baked or fried yeast-leavened boat-shaped buns with a variety of fillings. Pirozhki are a popular street food and comfort food in Eastern Europe. (Full article...)

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Vasilevsky in 1944

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky (Russian: Александр Михайлович Василевский; 30 September 1895 – 5 December 1977) was a Soviet general who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, he served as the chief of the General Staff and deputy Minister of Defense, and later served as Minister of Defense from 1949 to 1953.

Born in central Russia, Vasilevsky began his military career in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and earned the rank of captain by 1917. After the October Revolution of 1917 and the start of the Russian Civil War, he was conscripted into the Red Army and took part in the Polish-Soviet War. Following the war, Vasilevsky quickly rose through the ranks, and in 1931 was appointed to the Directorate of Military Training. In 1939, after Joseph Stalin's Great Purge, he was appointed deputy chief of operations of the Red Army. (Full article...)

In the news

2 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian forces target Kharkiv with at least 13 Geran-2 drones, causing fires in industrial and residential areas and injuring eight people, including a child. (Ukrainska Pravda)
A Russian missile strike on an industrial park in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, kills at least four people and injures 14 others. (Reuters)
2 April 2025 – Tariffs in the second Trump administration
Exceptions include Canada, Cuba, Mexico, North Korea, and Russia. Canada and Mexico had tariffs placed on them in February, while Cuba, North Korea, and Russia are under U.S. sanctions. (BBC News) (France 24) (India Today)
2 April 2025 –
A Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-22M strategic bomber crashes due to a technical malfunction in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, killing one crew member and injuring three others. (Reuters)
1 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Eastern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

More Did you know (auto generated)

  • ... that the Russian government has been blamed for helping to escalate the Wars in the Caucasus by pursuing a policy of neocolonialism?
  • ... that Ivan Beshoff, the last survivor of the mutiny on the Potemkin, emigrated to Ireland where he established a fish and chip shop that is still run by his descendants?
  • ... that Matei Donici, a general in the Imperial Russian Army, secretly wrote poetry with Romanian-nationalist and anti-Russian messages?
  • ... that in the 1916 Declaration of Sainte-Adresse Britain, France and Russia committed to securing the political and economic independence of Belgium after the First World War?
  • ... that American teacher Marc Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in Russian prison for possessing a small amount of marijuana, but has gotten little public attention compared to Brittney Griner?
  • ... that Russia funded the building of the Russian Memorial Church in Leipzig as a monument to the 22,000 Russians who died in the 1813 Battle of Leipzig against Napoleon?

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Leon Trotsky
Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain — at least in a poor country like Russia — and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.
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