Tag: Russia

According to the law, emergency treatment in state clinics is generally free of charge, but the state clinics often do not meet the German standard in terms of equipment. In Moscow, St. Petersburg and some other large cities there are some, mostly private hospitals, which also meet higher demands in terms of accommodation and technical and professional equipment. As a rule, knowledge of Russian is required in medical care facilities.…

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Culture The most important Russian writers include Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Lev Tolstoy, Nikolaj Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Bulgakov, Boris Pasternak and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In painting, among others, Wassily Kandinsky, Kasimir Malewitsch and Marc Chagall achieved fame that reached far beyond the country’s borders. The largest collections of Russian art are in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and in the Russian Museum united in St. Petersburg.…

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Languages Russian is the only official language used everywhere. At the same time, the respective vernacular is used as the second official language in the individual autonomous republics (such as Tatar, Bashkir, Buryat, Mari etc.) The languages of the small indigenous peoples are protected by law. In the European part of Russia there are three linguistically different areas: Northern, Central and Southern Russia, which are further divided into individual dialects.…

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The natural population development has been characterized by low birth rates and rising death rates since the end of the 1980’s. The lower fertility rate and the persistently high death rate associated with inadequate medical care, poor nutrition, alcoholism and environmental pollution were the causes of the demographic crisis. The decline has affected the ethnically Russian population more than most non-Russian ethnic groups. This means that the balance between the…

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Estimated GDP: US $ 1,572 billion (2019) Per capita income (purchasing power parity): US $ 25,036 (2019) Human Development Rank (HDI): Rank 49 (of 189) (2019) Proportion of poverty (less than $ 2 per day): 0.1% Distribution of income (Gini coefficient): 37.7 (2019) Economic Transformation Index (BTI): Rank 50 (of 137) (2020) The most important economic sector is trade, hospitality and transport with 30.3% of the gross domestic product. Financing,…

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Russia is one of the largest producers of raw materials in the world and has significant resources with a quarter of the world’s gas reserves (25.2%), around 6.3% of the world’s oil reserves and the second largest coal reserves (19%). The lack of diversification of the Russian economy leads to a disproportionately high dependence of economic development on the income from the sale of oil and gas. Raw materials represent…

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United States Security and disarmament policy remain at the forefront of cooperation with the USA. In 2007, relations with the US reached their lowest level in years: Putin saw the US plan to station a missile shield with bases in Poland and the Czech Republic as a project directed against Russia and a threat to global security. In 2009, however, both sides were converging again: the administration under Barack Obama…

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Georgia In August 2008, Georgia embarked on a military offensive in the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia to regain control of the area. Russia responded by marching in its own troops into a buffer zone in the Georgian heartland and into Abkhazia. Four days after the invasion, Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia agreed – on the basis of mediation by the EU – on a six-point plan to…

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The Russian foreign policy is based on a multipolar world in which Russia’s interests pursued pragmatic. Russia is striving for a new legally binding treaty on the Euro-Atlantic security architecture. In addition to the partnership with the West, the development of relations with the neighboring states of the Commonwealth of Independent States has priority. Relations with the Asian states, especially the People’s Republic of China, as well as important states…

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Although censorship is prohibited by law, most of the media in Russia is under direct or indirect state control. The scope for dissenting opinions, independent media and organizations is getting smaller. Critical media like TV Doschd or Radio Echo Moskwi regularly come under pressure. Journalists have to reckon with violence or targeted attacks, most of which remain unpunished. More than 50 reporters have died since the end of the Soviet…

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