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MOSCOW RUSSIA PHOTOS
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Click Map to Enlarge
Lowest point: Caspian Sea -28
m
Highest point: Gora El'brus
5,633 m
Capital: Moscow
(Moscow
Hotels)
Largest City: Moscow
Religion: Russian Orthodox,
Muslim, other
Languages Spoken: Russian,
many minority languages
See also: Languages
spoken in Europe, Languages of
the world
Information & Brief History
Founded in the 12th century, the
Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol
domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding
principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued
this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled
1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was
renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions
were made in Europe and Asia. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian
army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the
Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household.
The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed
the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian
dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The
Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General
Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and
perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his
initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered
the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled
in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy
to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist
period. While some progress has been made on the economic front, recent
years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir PUTIN and an
erosion in nascent democratic institutions. A determined guerrilla conflict
still plagues Russia in Chechnya.
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Novgorod
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Petersburg
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