Background: 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 Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened communist rule and 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 Russia and 14 other 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 the erosion of nascent democratic institutions. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya and threatens to destabilize the North Caucasus region.

Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N 100 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Total: 17,075,200 km²
Land: 16,995,800 km²
Water: 79,400 km²
Comparative: approximately 1.8 times the size of the US

Land boundaries
Total: 20,096.5 km
Border countries: (14) Azerbaijan 284 km; , Belarus 959 km; , China (southeast) 3,605 km; , China (south) 40 km; , Estonia 294 km; , Finland 1,340 km; , Georgia 723 km; , Kazakhstan 6,846 km; , North Korea 19 km; , Latvia 217 km; , Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 280.5 km; , Mongolia 3,485 km; , Norway 196 km; , Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 232 km; , Ukraine 1,576 km

Coastline: 37,653 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate: ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast

Terrain: broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m
Extremes highest point: Gora El'brus 5,633 m

Natural resources
Note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources

Land use
Arable land: 7.17%
Permanent crops: 0.11%
Other: 92.72% (2005)

Irrigated land: 46,000 km² (2003)

Natural hazards: permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development; volcanic activity in the Kuril Islands; volcanoes and earthquakes on the Kamchatka Peninsula; spring floods and summer/autumn forest fires throughout Siberia and parts of European Russia

Geography
Note: largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world; despite its size much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture; Mount El'brus is Europe's tallest peak

Population: 142,893,540 (July 2006 est.)
Growth rate: -0.37% (2006 est.)
Below poverty line: 17.8% (2004 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Russian
Adjective: Russian

Ethnic groups: Russian 79.8% Tatar 3.8% Ukrainian 2% Bashkir 1.2% Chuvash 1.1% other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)

Languages: Russian many minority languages

Religions
Note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule

Age structure
0-14 years: 14.2% (male 10,441,151/female 9,921,102)
15-64 years: 71.3% (male 49,271,698/female 52,679,463)
65 years and over: 14.4% (male 6,500,814/female 14,079,312) (2006 est.)

Median age
Total: 38.4 years
Male: 35.2 years
Female: 41.3 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.37% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 9.95 births/1000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 14.65 deaths/1000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.03 migrant(s)/1000 population (2006 est.)

Environment
Current issues: air pollution from heavy industry emissions of coal-fired electric plants and transportation in major cities; industrial municipal and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and seacoasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination; groundwater contamination from toxic waste; urban solid waste management; abandoned stocks of obsolete pesticides
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulfur 94

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.06 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male/female
65 years and over: 0.46 male/female
Total population: 0.86 male/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 15.13 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 17.43 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 12.7 deaths/1000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 67.08 years
Male: 60.45 years
Female: 74.1 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 1.1% (2001 est.)
People living with hivaids: 860,000 (2001 est.)
Deaths: 9,000 (2001 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 99.6%
Male: 99.7%
Female: 99.5% (2003 est.)

Country name
Conventional long form: Russian Federation
Conventional short form: Russia
Local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
Local short form: Rossiya
Former: Russian Empire, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Government type: federation

Capital
Name: Moscow
Geographic coordinates: 55 45 N, 37 35 E
Time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Note: Russia is divided into eleven time zones

Administrative divisions
Oblasts: Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver', Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl'
Republics: Adygeya (Maykop), Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Bashkortostan (Ufa), Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chuvashiya (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Ingushetiya (Magas), Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik), Kalmykiya (Elista), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk), Kareliya (Petrozavodsk), Khakasiya (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordoviya (Saransk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz), Sakha [Yakutiya] (Yakutsk), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)
Autonomous okrugs: Aga Buryat (Aginskoye), Chukotka (Anadyr'), Evenk (Tura), Khanty-Mansi, Koryak (Palana), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Taymyr [Dolgano-Nenets] (Dudinka), Ust'-Orda Buryat (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
Krays: Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Permskiy, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'
Federal cities: Moscow (Moskva), Saint Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg)
Autonomous oblast: Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)
Note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

Independence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Russia Day 12 June (1990)

Constitution: adopted 12 December 1993

Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (acting president 31 December 1999-6 May 2000, president since 7 May 2000)
Head of government: Premier Mikhail Yefimovich FRADKOV (since 5 March 2004); First Deputy Premier Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV (since 14 November 2005), Deputy Premiers Aleksandr Dmitriyevich ZHUKOV (since 9 March 2004) and Sergey Borisovich IVANOV (since 14 November 2005)
Cabinet: Ministries of the Government or 'Government' composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the president
Note: there is also a Presidential Administration (PA) that provides staff and policy support to the president, drafts presidential decrees, and coordinates policy among government agencies; a Security Council also reports directly to the president
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 14 March 2004 (next to be held March 2008); note - no vice president; if the president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election is held, which must be within three months; premier appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
Election results: Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN reelected president; percent of vote - Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN 71.2%, Nikolay KHARITONOV 13.7%, other (no candidate above 5%) 15.1%

Legislative branch
Elections: State Duma - last held 7 December 2003 (next to be held in December 2007)
Election results: State Duma - percent of vote received by parties clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of the 225 party list seats - United Russia 37.1%, CPRF 12.7%, LDPR 11.6%, Motherland 9.1%; seats by party - United Russia 222, CPRF 53, LDPR 38, Motherland 37, People's Party 19, Yabloko 4, SPS 2, other 7, independents 65, repeat election required 3; composition as of 1 July 2006 - United Russia 309, CPRF 45, LDPR 35, Motherland 29, People's Party 12, independents 18, vacant 2

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Supreme Arbitration Court; judges for all courts are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president

Political parties and leaders: A Just Russia or JR [Sergei MIRONOV] (formed from the merger of three small political parties: Motherland Party (Rodina) Pensioner's Party and Party of Life); Communist Party of the Russian Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; People's Party [Gennady RAIKOV]; Union of Right Forces or SPS [Nikita BELYKH]; United Russia or UR [Boris Vyacheslavovich GRYZLOV]; Yabloko Party [Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY]

International organization participation: APEC Arctic Council ARF ASEAN (dialogue partner) BIS BSEC CBSS CE CERN (observer) CIS EAPC EBRD G- 8 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICCt (signatory) ICFTU ICRM IDA IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Interpol IOC IOM (observer) IPU ISO ITU LAIA (observer) MIGA MINURSO MONUC NAM (guest) NSG OAS (observer) OIC (observer) ONUB OPCW OSCE Paris Club PCA PFP SCO UN UN Security Council UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNITAR UNMEE UNMIL UNMIS UNMOVIC UNOCI UNOMIG UNTSO UPU WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTO (observer) ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Yuriy Viktorovich USHAKOV
In the us chancery: 2,650 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,007
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 298-5,700, 5,701, 5,704, 5,708
In the us fax: [1] (202) 298-5,735
In the us consulates general: Houston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador William J. BURNS
From the us embassy: Bolshoy Deviatinskiy Pereulok No. 8, 121,099 Moscow
From the us mailing address: PSC-77, APO AE 9,721
From the us telephone: [7] (495) 728-5,000
From the us fax: [7] (495) 728-5,090
From the us consulates general: Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of white (top) blue and red

Economy overview: Russia ended 2005 with its seventh straight year of growth averaging 6.4% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble are important drivers of this economic rebound since 2000 investment and consumer-driven demand have played a noticeably increasing role. Real fixed capital investments have averaged gains greater than 10% over the last five years and real personal incomes have realized average increases over 12%. During this time poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand. Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis with its foreign debt declining from 90% of GDP to around 31%. Strong oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from only $12 billion to some $180 billion at yearend 2005. These achievements along with a renewed government effort to advance structural reforms have raised business and investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects. Nevertheless serious problems persist. Economic growth slowed to 5.9% for 2005 while inflation remains high. Oil natural gas metals and timber account for more than 80% of exports leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth. Other problems include a weak banking system a poor business climate that discourages both domestic and foreign investors corruption and widespread lack of trust in institutions. In addition a string of investigations launched against a major Russian oil company culminating with the arrest of its CEO in the fall of 2003 and the acquisition of the company by a state owned firm have raised concerns by some observers that President PUTIN is granting more influence to forces within his government that desire to reassert state control over the economy. State control has increased in the past year with a number of large acquisitions. Most fundamentally Russia has made little progress in building the rule of law the bedrock of a modern market economy.

Real gdp purchasing power parity: $1.584 trillion (2005 est.)

Real gdp growth rate: 6.4% (2005 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $11,000 (2005 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 5.4%
Industry: 37.1%
Services: 57.5% (2005 est.)

Agriculture products: grain sugar beets sunflower seed vegetables fruits; beef milk

Industries: complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal oil gas chemicals and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; defense industries including radar missile production and advanced electronic components shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery tractors and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables textiles foodstuffs handicrafts

Industrial production growth rate: 4% (2005 est.)

Labor force: 74.22 million (2005 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 10.3%
By occupation industry: 21.4%
By occupation services: 68.3% (2004 est.)

Unemployment rate: 7.6% plus considerable underemployment (2005 est.)

Population below poverty line: 17.8% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 1.7%
Highest 10: 38.7% (1998)

Distribution of family income gini index: 40 (2002)

Budget
Revenues: $176.7 billion
Expenditures: $125.6 billion; including capital expenditures of $N/A (2005 est.)

Public debt: 12.9% of GDP (2005 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 12.7% (2005 est.)

Current account balance: $84.25 billion (2005 est.)

Exports: $245 billion (2005 est.)
Commodities: petroleum and petroleum products natural gas wood and wood products metals chemicals and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
Partners: Netherlands 10.3% Germany 8.3% Italy 7.9% China 5.5% Ukraine 5.2% Turkey 4.5% Switzerland 4.4% (2005)

Imports: $125 billion (2005 est.)
Commodities: machinery and equipment consumer goods medicines meat sugar semifinished metal products
Partners: Germany 13.6% Ukraine 8% China 7.4% Japan 6% Belarus 4.7% US 4.7% Italy 4.6% South Korea 4.1% (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $182.2 billion (2005 est.)

Debt external: $215.3 billion (2005 est.)

Exchange rates: Russian rubles per US dollar - 28.284 (2005) 28.814 (2004) 30.692 (2003) 31.349 (2002) 29.169 (2001)

Electricity
Production: 931 billion kWh (2004)
Consumption: 811.5 billion kWh (2004)
Exports: 24 billion kWh (2003)
Imports: 14 billion kWh (2002)

Natural gas
Production: 587 billion m³ (2005 est.)
Consumption: 402.1 billion m³ (2004 est.)
Exports: 157.2 billion m³ (2004 est.)
Imports: 12 billion m³ (2004 est.)
Proven reserves: 47.57 trillion m³ (2003)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 40.1 million (2005)
Mobile cellular: 120 million (2005)

Telephone system
General assessment: the telephone system underwent significant changes in the 1990s; there are more than 1,000 companies licensed to offer communication services; access to digital lines has improved, particularly in urban centers; Internet and e-mail services are improving; Russia has made progress toward building the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a market economy; however, a large demand for main line service remains unsatisfied
Domestic: cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk; the telephone systems in 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas; in rural areas, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density
International: country code - 7; Russia is connected internationally by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita systems

Internet
Country code: .ru; note - Russia also has responsibility for a legacy domain '.su' that was allocated to the Soviet Union and whose legal status and ownership are contested by the Russian Government ICANN and several Russian commercial entities
Hosts: 1,979,924 (2006)
Users: 23.7 million (2005)

Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: NA

Military service age and obligation: Russia has adopted a mixed conscript-contract force; 18-27 years of age; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; length of compulsory military service is two years; plans call for reduction in mandatory service to 18 months in 2007 and to one year by 2008; 30% of Russian army personnel were contract servicemen at the end of 2005; planning calls for volunteer servicemen to compose 70% of armed forces by 2010 with the remaining servicemen consisting of conscripts; as of November 2006 the Armed Forces had more than 60 units manned with contract personnel totalling over 78,000 contract privates and sergeants; 88 Ministry of Defense units have been designated as permanent readiness units and are expected to become all-volunteer by end 2007; these include most air force naval and nuclear arms units as well as all airborne and naval infantry units most motorized rifle brigades and all special forces detachments (2006)

Airports: 1623 (2006)
With paved runways total: 616
With paved runways over 3047 m: 51
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 198
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 130
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 100
With paved runways under 914 m: 137 (2006)
With unpaved runways total: 1,007
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 9
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 16
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 75
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 127
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 780 (2006)

Heliports: 52 (2006)

Pipelines: condensate 122 km; gas 156,285 km; oil 72,283 km; refined products 13,658 km (2006)

Railways
Total: 87,157 km
Broad gauge: 86,200 km 1.520-m gauge (40,300 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 957 km 1.067-m gauge (on Sakhalin Island)
Note: an additional 30,000 km of non-common carrier lines serve industries (2005)

Roadways
Total: 871,000 km
Paved: 738,000 km (including 29,000 km of expressways)
Unpaved: 133,000 km
Note: includes public and departmental roads (2004)

Waterways
Note: 72,000 km system in European Russia links Baltic Sea, White Sea, Caspian Sea, Sea of Azov, and Black Sea (2005)

Merchant marine
Total: 1,178 ships (1000 GRT or over) 5,080,341 GRT/6,287,784 DWT
By type: barge carrier 1, bulk carrier 46, cargo 743, chemical tanker 25, combination ore/oil 38, container 13, passenger 12, passenger/cargo 7, petroleum tanker 219, refrigerated cargo 54, roll on/roll off 15, specialized tanker 5
Foreign owned: 100 (Belgium 4, Canada 1, Cyprus 2, Estonia 1, Germany 2, Greece 1, Latvia 2, Malta 4, Norway 1, Switzerland 7, Turkey 63, Ukraine 11, US 1)
Registered in other countries: 465 (Antigua and Barbuda 6, Bahamas 6, Belize 36, Bulgaria 1, Cambodia 105, Comoros 4, Cyprus 53, Dominica 2, Finland 1, Georgia 28, North Korea 1, Liberia 77, Malta 70, Marshall Islands 1, Mongolia 13, Panama 7, Saint Kitts and Nevis 5, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 29, Sierra Leone 1, Tuvalu 2, Ukraine 1, Vanuatu 1, Venezuela 1, unknown 14) (2006)

Ports and terminals: Anapa Kaliningrad Murmansk Nakhodka Novorossiysk Rostov-na-Donu Saint Petersburg Taganrog Vanino Vostochnyy

Disputes international: in 2005 China and Russia ratified the treaty to divide up the islands in the Amur Ussuri and Argun Rivers representing the final portion of their centuries-long border disputes; the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu Kunashiri Shikotan and the Habomai group known in Japan as the 'Northern Territories' and in Russia as the 'Southern Kurils' occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945 now administered by Russia and claimed by Japan remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Russia and Georgia agree on delimiting all but small strategic segments of the land boundary and the maritime boundary; OSCE observers monitor volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia; Azerbaijan Kazakhstan and Russia signed equidistance boundaries in the Caspian seabed but the littoral states have no consensus on dividing the water column; Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone; various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to the Soviet Union following the Second World War but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands; in May 2005 Russia recalled its signatures to the 1996 border agreements with Estonia (1996) and Latvia (1997) when the two Baltic states announced issuance of unilateral declarations referencing Soviet occupation and ensuing territorial losses; Russia demands better treatment of ethnic Russians in Estonia and Latvia; Estonian citizen groups continue to press for realignment of the boundary based on the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty that would bring the now divided ethnic Setu people and parts of the Narva region within Estonia; Lithuania and Russia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia while still conforming as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border to strict Schengen border rules; delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine is complete but states have renewed discussions on demarcation; the dispute over the maritime boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov remains unresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and on-going expert-level discussions; discussions toward economic and political union with Belarus advance slowly; Kazakhstan and Russia boundary delimitation ratified November 2005 and demarcation is underway; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US in the Bering Sea

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Idps: 339,000 (displacement from Chechnya and North Ossetia) (2005)

Illicit drugs: limited cultivation of illicit cannabis and opium poppy and producer of methamphetamine mostly for domestic consumption; government has active illicit crop eradication program; used as transshipment point for Asian opiates cannabis and Latin American cocaine bound for growing domestic markets to a lesser extent Western and Central Europe and occasionally to the US; major source of heroin precursor chemicals; corruption and organized crime are key concerns; heroin increasingly popular in domestic market