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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 land area, 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 the 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. 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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Yevgeny Samoylov

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Feodor Romanov

Baked piroshki stuffed with meat, mushroom, rice and chocolate putting with coffey

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

12 February 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Kyiv strikes
Russian forces launch an overnight ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine, killing one person and injuring four others. (Reuters)
11 February 2025 – Russia–United States relations
Russia releases U.S. citizen Marc Fogel, after talks with Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff. (The New York Times)
11 February 2025 –
Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States announce sanctions on a Russian bulletproof hosting services provider that is allegedly ignoring law enforcement requests, along with two Russians who are operating the network. (AP)
7 February 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Battle of Toretsk
Russia says its forces have taken full control of Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast, after months of urban warfare. (Reuters)

More Did you know (auto generated)

  • ... that Russia launched an Iranian satellite into orbit just three weeks after Putin and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed to cooperate against the West?
  • ... that the 2022 essay and short story collection Kilometer 101 was published shortly after the author fled Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
  • ... 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 founder of the Guide to the Free World, helping people leave Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, said she was told: "It's good that you get out of Russia, but a pity that you won't be shot"?
  • ... 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 the Union of Assyrians's mishandling of shoe-polishing stations led to violent conflicts in 1920s Moscow?

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Mikhail Kalashnikov
I would have preferred to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work - for example, a lawn-mower.
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