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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 and 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. 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. 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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Monument to Peter the Great

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The Battle of Kulikovo by Blinov

A serving of shchi. This variant contains saffron milk-caps, a type of mushroom.
Shchi (Russian: щи, IPA: [ɕːi] ) is a Russian-style cabbage soup. When sauerkraut is used instead, the soup is called sour shchi, while soups based on sorrel, spinach, nettle, and similar plants are called green shchi (Russian: зелёные щи, IPA: [zʲɪˈlʲɵnɨje ɕːi]). In the past, the term sour shchi was also used to refer to a drink, a variation of kvass, which was unrelated to the soup. (Full article...)

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Olga Alexandrovna c. 1910

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (Russian: Ольга Александровна; 13 June [O.S. 1 June] 1882 – 24 November 1960) was the youngest child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II.

Olga was raised at the Gatchina Palace outside Saint Petersburg. Olga's relationship with her mother, Empress Marie, the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, was strained and distant from childhood. In contrast, she and her father were close. He died when she was 12, and her brother Nicholas became emperor. In 1901, at 19, she married Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, who was privately believed by family and friends to be homosexual. Their marriage of 15 years remained unconsummated, and Peter at first refused Olga's request for a divorce. The couple led separate lives and their marriage was eventually annulled by the Emperor in October 1916. The following month Olga married cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky, with whom she had fallen in love several years before. During the First World War, Olga served as an army nurse and was awarded a medal for personal gallantry. At the downfall of the Romanovs in the Russian Revolution of 1917, she fled with her husband and children to Crimea, where they lived under the threat of assassination. Her brother Nicholas and his family were shot and bayoneted to death by revolutionaries. (Full article...)

In the news

28 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ten people are killed and 22 others are injured in a Russian double tap strike on a medical facility in Sumy, Ukraine. (Reuters)
27 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Eastern Ukraine campaign
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims soldiers captured the village of Marynivka in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Al Arabiya)
Kryvyi Rih strikes
At least one person is killed and five others are injured in a Russian missile strike on a police department in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Reuters)
Nuclear risk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

More Did you know (auto generated)

  • ... that the inclusion of the Canadian song "How Long" in a bootleg Russian DVD resulted in a sixteen-year search for the track's creator?
  • ... that the Aegis BMD at Deveselu Military Base, intended to intercept missiles from Iran, has been called a "direct threat" by Russian officials?
  • ... that Charles Norris-Newman was a war correspondent, a corrupt British colonial official and a Russian intelligence officer?
  • ... that Romanian-born Helen O'Brien escaped advancing Russians on the King's horse, opened Eve, and worked as a spy for MI5 and MI6?
  • ... that the Russian and Belarusian military exercise Zapad 2013 was officially described as counterterrorist, but international observers concluded that it was a preparation for a conventional war?
  • ... that Matei Donici, a general in the Imperial Russian Army, secretly wrote poetry with Romanian-nationalist and anti-Russian messages?

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You know, I never planned to leave. I was not extremely patriotic about Mother Russia. You know, I played their game, pretending, of course. You have to deal with, you know, party people, KGB... Horrifying.
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