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. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905 which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. 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 shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state in which the leadership seeks to legitimize its rule through managed national elections populist appeals by President PUTIN and continued economic growth. Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.

Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N 100 00 E

Area
Rank: 1
Land: 16,377,742 km²
Water: 720,500 km²

Land boundaries
Border countries: (14) Azerbaijan 338 km; Belarus 1312 km; China (southeast) 4,133 km; China (south) 46 km; Estonia 324 km; Finland 1309 km; Georgia 894 km; Kazakhstan 7,644 km; North Korea 18 km; Latvia 332 km; Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 261 km; Mongolia 3,452 km; Norway 191 km; Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 209 km; Ukraine 1944 km

Coastline: 37,653 km

Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 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 highest point: Gora El'brus 5,633 m (highest point in Europe)

Natural resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil natural gas coal and many strategic minerals reserves of rare earth elements timber

Land use
Permanent crops: 0.1%
Other: 92.79% (2011)

Irrigated land: 43,460 km² (2008)

Total renewable water resources: 4,508 km³ (2011)

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
Volcanism: significant volcanic activity on the Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands; the peninsula alone is home to some 29 historically active volcanoes with dozens more in the Kuril Islands; Kliuchevskoi (elev. 4,835 m) which erupted in 2007 and 2010 is Kamchatka's most active volcano; Avachinsky and Koryaksky volcanoes which pose a threat to the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy have been deemed Decade Volcanoes by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior worthy of study due to their explosive history and close proximity to human populations; other notable historically active volcanoes include Bezymianny Chikurachki Ebeko Gorely Grozny Karymsky Ketoi Kronotsky Ksudach Medvezhia Mutnovsky Sarychev Peak Shiveluch Tiatia Tolbachik and Zheltovsky

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; Lake Baikal the deepest lake in the world is estimated to hold one fifth of the world's fresh water

Population: 142,470,272 (July 2014 est.)
Rank: 10
Growth rate: -0.03% (2014 est.)
Growth rate rank: 200
Below poverty line: 11% (2013 est.)

Nationality
Adjective: Russian

Ethnic groups: Russian 77.7% Tatar 3.7% Ukrainian 1.4% Bashkir 1.1% Chuvash 1% Chechen 1% other 10.2% unspecified 3.9%

Languages: Russian (official) 96.3% Dolgang 5.3% German 1.5% Chechen 1% Tatar 3% other 10.3%

Religions: Russian Orthodox 15-20% Muslim 10-15% other Christian 2% (2006 est.)

Age structure
15-24 years: 10.7% (male 7,828,947/female 7,482,143)
25-54 years: 45.8% (male 31,928,886/female 33,319,671)
55-64 years: 13.8% (male 8,408,637/female 11,287,153)
65 years and over: 13.1% (male 5,783,983/female 13,105,896) (2014 est.)

Dependency ratios
Youth dependency ratio: 22.8 %
Elderly dependency ratio: 18.5 %
Potential support ratio: 5.4 (2014 est.)

Median age
Male: 36 years
Female: 41.9 years (2014 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.03% (2014 est.)
Rank: 200

Birth rate: 11.87 births/1000 population (2014 est.)
Rank: 168

Death rate: 13.83 deaths/1000 population (2014 est.)
Rank: 10

Net migration rate: 1.69 migrant(s)/1000 population (2014 est.)
Rank: 52

Urbanization
Rate of urbanization: 0.13% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Major urban areas
Population: MOSCOW (capital) 11.621 million; Saint Petersburg 4.866 million; Novosibirsk 1.478 million; Yekaterinburg 1.355 million; Nizhniy Novgorod 1.245 million; Samara 1.166 million (2011)

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 signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulfur 94

Sex ratio
0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 0.86 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.44 male(s)/female
Total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2014 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth: 24.6 (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Rank: 160
Male: 7.93 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 6.18 deaths/1000 live births (2014 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Rank: 151
Male: 64.37 years
Female: 76.3 years (2014 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.61 children born/woman (2014 est.)
Rank: 179

Contraceptive prevalence rate: 79.5%

Drinking water source:

Physicians density: 4.31 physicians/1000 population (2006)

Hospital bed density: 9.7 beds/1000 population (2006)

Sanitation facility access:

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 1% (2009 est.)
Adult prevalence rate rank: 47
People living with hivaids: 980,000 (2009 est.)
People living with hivaids rank: 12
Deaths: NA

Major infectious diseases
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea
Vectorborne disease: tickborne encephalitis

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 26.5% (2008)
Rank: 46

Education expenditures: 4.1% of GDP (2008)
Rank: 110

Literacy
Total population: 99.7%
Male: 99.7%
Female: 99.6% (2010 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Male: 14 years
Female: 15 years (2009)

Country name
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
Geographic coordinates: 55 45 N 37 36 E
Time difference: UTC+4 (9 hours ahead of Washington DC during Standard Time)
Daylight saving time: +1hr; note - Russia has announced that it will remain on daylight saving time permanently which began on 27 March 2011

Administrative divisions: 46 provinces (oblastey singular - oblast) 21 republics (respublik singular - respublika) 4 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov singular - avtonomnyy okrug) 9 krays (krayev singular - kray) 2 federal cities (goroda singular - gorod) and 1 autonomous oblast (avtonomnaya oblast')
Oblasts: Amur (Blagoveshchensk) Arkhangel'sk Astrakhan' Belgorod Bryansk Chelyabinsk Irkutsk Ivanovo Kaliningrad Kaluga 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: Chukotka (Anadyr') Khanty-Mansi (Khanty-Mansiysk) Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar) Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
Krays: Altay (Barnaul) Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy) Khabarovsk Krasnodar Krasnoyarsk Perm' Primorskiy [Maritime] (Vladivostok) Stavropol' Zabaykal'sk (Chita)
Federal cities: Moscow [Moskva] Saint Petersburg [Sankt-Peterburg]
Autonomous oblast: Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)

Independence: 24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union); notable earlier dates: 1157 (Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal created); 16 January 1547 (Tsardom of Muscovy established); 22 October 1721 (Russian Empire proclaimed); 30 December 1922 (Soviet Union established)

National holiday: Russia Day 12 June (1990)

Constitution: several previous (during Russian Empire and Soviet eras); latest drafted 12 July 1993 adopted by referendum 12 December 1993 effective 25 December 1993; amended 2008 (2013)

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

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Head of government: Premier Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV (since 8 May 2012); First Deputy Premier Igor Ivanovich SHUVALOV (since 12 May 2008); Deputy Premiers Arkadiy Vladimirovich DVORKOVICH (since 21 May 2012) Olga Yuryevna GOLODETS (since 21 May 2012) Aleksandr Gennadiyevich KHLOPONIN (since 19 January 2010) Dmitriy Nikolayevich KOZAK (since 14 October 2008) Dmitriy Olegovich ROGOZIN (since 23 December 2011) Sergey Eduardovich PRIKHODKO (since 22 May 2013) Yuriy Petrovich TRUTNEV (since 31 August 2013)
Cabinet: the 'Government' is composed of the premier his deputies and ministers; all are appointed by the president and the premier is also confirmed by the Duma
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 4 March 2012 (next to be held in March 2018); note - the term length was extended from four to six years in late 2008 effective after the 2012 election; there is 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 PUTIN elected president; percent of vote - Vladimir PUTIN 63.6% Gennadiy ZYUGANOV 17.2% Mikhail PROKHOROV 8% Vladimir ZHIRINOVSKIY 6.2% Sergey MIRONOV 3.9% other 1.1%; Dmitriy MEDVEDEV approved as premier by Duma; vote - 299 to 144

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye consists of an upper house the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (166 seats; two members appointed by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 83 federal administrative units - oblasts krays republics autonomous okrugs and oblasts and the federal cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg; term lengths are not fixed but instead are determined by the regional bodies represented) and a lower house the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats; as of 2007 all members elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 7% of the vote; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
Elections: State Duma - last held on 4 December 2011 (next to be held in December 2016)
Election results: State Duma - United Russia 49.6% CPRF 19.2% Just Russia 13.2% LDPR 11.7% other 6.3%; total seats by party - United Russia 238 CPRF 92 Just Russia 64 LDPR 56

Judicial branch
Judge selection and term of office: all members of Russia's three highest courts nominated by the president and appointed by the Federation Council (the upper house of the legislature); members of all three courts appointed for life
Subordinate courts: Higher Arbitration Court; regional (kray) and provincial (oblast) courts; Moscow and St. Petersburg city courts; autonomous province and district courts; note - the 14 Russian Republics have court systems specified by their own constitutions

Political parties and leaders:

International organization participation: APEC Arctic Council ARF ASEAN (dialogue partner) BIS BRICS BSEC CBSS CD CE CERN (observer) CICA CIS CSTO EAEC EAPC EAS EBRD FAO FATF G-20 GCTU IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC (national committees) ICRM IDA IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IOM (observer) IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC (NGOs) LAIA (observer) MIGA MINURSO MONUSCO NSG OAS (observer) OIC (observer) OPCW OSCE Paris Club PCA PFP SCO UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNISFA UNMIL UNMISS UNOCI UNSC (permanent) UNTSO UNWTO UPU WCO WFTU (NGOs) WHO WIPO WMO WTO ZC

Diplomatic representation
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 consulate general: Houston New York San Francisco Seattle
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 consulate general: Saint Petersburg Vladivostok Yekaterinburg

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

National symbols: bear; double-headed eagle

National anthem
Lyrics and music: Sergey Vladimirovich MIKHALKOV/Aleksandr Vasilyevich ALEKSANDROV

Economy overview: Russia has undergone significant changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union moving from a globally-isolated centrally-planned economy towards a more market-based and globally-integrated economy but stalling as a partially reformed statist economy with a high concentration of wealth in officials' hands. Economic reforms in the 1990s privatized most industry with notable exceptions in the energy and defense-related sectors. The protection of property rights is still weak and the private sector remains subject to heavy state interference. Russia is one of the world's leading producers of oil and natural gas and is also a top exporter of metals such as steel and primary aluminum. Russia's manufacturing sector is generally uncompetitive on world markets and is geared toward domestic consumption. Russia's reliance on commodity exports makes it vulnerable to boom and bust cycles that follow the volatile swings in global prices. The economy which had averaged 7% growth during 1998-2008 as oil prices rose rapidly was one of the hardest hit by the 2008-09 global economic crisis as oil prices plummeted and the foreign credits that Russian banks and firms relied on dried up. Slowly declining oil prices over the past few years and difficulty attracting foreign direct investment have contributed to a noticeable slowdown in GDP growth rates. In late 2013 the Russian Economic Development Ministry reduced its growth forecast through 2,030 to an average of only 2.5% per year down from its previous forecast of 4.0 to 4.2%. In 2014 following Russia's military intervention in Ukraine prospects for economic growth declined further with expections that GDP growth could drop as low as zero.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 7

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 165

Real gdp per capita:
Rank: 77

Gross national saving:
Rank: 33

Gdp composition by end use
Government consumption: 18.8%
Investment in fixed capital: 22%
Investment in inventories: 1.4%
Exports of goods and services: 29.6%
Imports of goods and services: -23%: (2013 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Industry: 37.5%
Services: 58.3% (2013 est.)

Agriculture products: grain sugar beets sunflower seeds 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 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: 0.1% (2013 est.)
Rank: 165

Labor force: 75.29 million (2013 est.)
Rank: 8
By occupation industry: 27.8%
By occupation services: 62.5% (2012)

Unemployment rate: 5.5% (2012 est.)
Rank: 55

Population below poverty line: 11% (2013 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Highest 10: 42.4% (2011 est.)

Distribution of family income gini index: 41.7 (2011)
Rank: 50

Budget
Expenditures: $450.3 billion (2013 est.)
Surplus or deficit: -0.5% of GDP (2013 est.)
Surplus or deficit rank: 57

Taxes and other revenues: 20.7% of GDP (2013 est.)
Rank: 157

Public debt: 8% of GDP (2012 est.)
Rank: 151

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 5.1% (2012 est.)
Rank: 184

Central bank discount rate: 8% (31 December 2011)
Rank: 33

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 9.1% (31 December 2012 est.)
Rank: 95

Stock of narrow money: $399.3 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 13

Stock of broad money: $893.1 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
Rank: 18

Stock of domestic credit: $922.6 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Rank: 17

Market value of publicly traded shares:
Rank: 16

Current account balance: $71.43 billion (2012 est.)
Rank: 4

Exports: $528 billion (2012 est.)
Rank: 10
Commodities: petroleum and petroleum products natural gas metals wood and wood products chemicals and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
Partners: Netherlands 14.6% China 6.8% Germany 6.8% Italy 6.2% Turkey 5.2% Ukraine 5.2% Belarus 4.7% (2012 est.)

Imports: $335.7 billion (2012 est.)
Rank: 17
Commodities: machinery vehicles pharmaceutical products plastic semi-finished metal products meat fruits and nuts optical and medical instruments iron steel
Partners: China 16.6% Germany 12.2% Ukraine 5.7% Japan 5% United States 4.9% France 4.4% Italy 4.3% (2012 est.)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $537.6 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Rank: 6

Debt external: $636.4 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Rank: 22

Stock of direct foreign investment at home: $497.8 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Rank: 16

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: $387.2 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Rank: 17

Exchange rates:

Electricity
Production: 1.057 trillion kWh (2013 est.)
Production rank: 4
Consumption: 1.038 trillion kWh (2012 est.)
Consumption rank: 4
Exports: 19.14 billion kWh (2012 est.)
Exports rank: 11
Imports: 2.661 billion kWh (2012 est.)
Imports rank: 50
Installed generating capacity: 223.1 million kW (2012 est.)
Installed generating capacity rank: 5
Generation sources fossil fuels: 67.7% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 112
Generation sources nuclear: 17.8% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 12
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 15.1% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 100
Generation sources other renewable sources: 0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 117

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 10.44 million bbl/day (2013 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 3
Crude oil exports: 4.72 million bbl/day (2013 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 2
Crude oil imports: 16,380 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 69
Crude oil proven reserves: 80 billion bbl (1 January 2013 est.)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 8

Refined petroleum
Products production: 4.812 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
Products production rank: 4
Products consumption: 3.196 million bbl/day (2012 est.)
Products consumption rank: 6
Products exports: 2.92 million bbl/day (2012 est.)
Products exports rank: 1
Products imports: 24,300 bbl/day (2013 est.)
Products imports rank: 97

Natural gas
Production: 669.7 billion m³ (2013 est.)
Production rank: 2
Consumption: 457.2 billion m³ (2013 est.)
Consumption rank: 2
Exports: 196 billion m³ (2013 est.)
Exports rank: 1
Imports: 32.5 billion m³ (2012 est.)
Imports rank: 17
Proven reserves: 47.8 trillion m³ (1 January 2013 est.)
Proven reserves rank: 1

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 1.788 billion Mt (2011 est.)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 42.9 million (2012)
Main lines in use rank: 6
Mobile cellular: 261.9 million (2012)
Mobile cellular rank: 5

Telephone system
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 undersea fiber optic cables; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat Intersputnik Eutelsat Inmarsat and Orbita systems (2011)

Broadcast media: 6 national TV stations with the federal government owning 1 and holding a controlling interest in a second; state-owned Gazprom maintains a controlling interest in a third national channel; government-affiliated Bank Rossiya owns controlling interest in a fourth and fifth while the sixth national channel is owned by the Moscow city administration; roughly 3,300 national regional and local TV stations with over two-thirds completely or partially controlled by the federal or local governments; satellite TV services are available; 2 state-run national radio networks with a third majority-owned by Gazprom; roughly 2,400 public and commercial radio stations (2007)

Internet
Country code: .ru; note - Russia also has responsibility for a legacy domain '.su' that was allocated to the Soviet Union and is being phased out
Hosts: 14.865 million (2012)
Hosts rank: 10
Users: 40.853 million (2009)
Users rank: 10

Military expenditures:
Rank: 8

Military service age and obligation: 18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; service obligation is 1 year (conscripts can only be sent to combat zones after 6 months of training); reserve obligation for non-officers to age 50; enrollment in military schools from the age of 16 cadets classified as members of the armed forces

Airports: 1218 (2013)
Rank: 5
With paved runways over 3047 m: 54
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 197
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 123
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 95
With paved runways under 914 m: 125 (2013)
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 4
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 13
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 69
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 81
With unpaved runways: 457 (2013)

Heliports: 49 (2013)

Pipelines: condensate 122 km; gas 163,872 km; liquid petroleum gas 1378 km; oil 80,820 km; oil/gas/water 40 km; refined products 13,658 km; water 23 km (2013)

Railways
Rank: 2
Broad gauge: 86,200 km 1.520-m gauge (40,300 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 957 km 1.067-m gauge (on Sakhalin Island)

Roadways
Rank: 5
Paved: 927,721 km (includes 39,143 km of expressways)
Unpaved: 355,666 km (2012)

Waterways: 102,000 km (including 48,000 km with guaranteed depth; the 72,000 km system in European Russia links Baltic Sea White Sea Caspian Sea Sea of Azov and Black Sea) (2009)
Rank: 2

Merchant marine
Rank: 11
By type: bulk carrier 20 cargo 642 carrier 3 chemical tanker 57 combination ore/oil 42 container 13 passenger 15 passenger/cargo 7 petroleum tanker 244 refrigerated cargo 84 roll on/roll off 13 specialized tanker 3
Foreign owned: 155 (Belgium 4 Cyprus 13 Estonia 1 Ireland 1 Italy 14 Latvia 2 Netherlands 2 Romania 1 South Korea 1 Switzerland 3 Turkey 101 Ukraine 12)
Registered in other countries: 439 (Antigua and Barbuda 3 Belgium 1 Belize 30 Bulgaria 2 Cambodia 50 Comoros 12 Cook Islands 1 Cyprus 46 Dominica 3 Georgia 6 Hong Kong 1 Kiribati 1 Liberia 109 Malaysia 2 Malta 45 Marshall Islands 5 Moldova 5 Mongolia 2 Panama 49 Romania 1 Saint Kitts and Nevis 13 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 11 Sierra Leone 7 Singapore 2 Spain 6 Vanuatu 7 unknown 19) (2010)

Ports and terminals
River port: Saint Petersburg (Neva River)
Oil terminal: Kavkaz oil terminal
Container port: Saint Petersburg (2,365,174)

Disputes international: Russia remains concerned about the smuggling of poppy derivatives from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries; China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with the 2004 Agreement ending 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's military support and subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence in 2008 continue to sour relations with Georgia; Azerbaijan Kazakhstan and Russia ratified Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea; Norway and Russia signed a comprehensive maritime boundary agreement in 2010; various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to the Soviet Union following World War II but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands; Russia and Estonia signed a technical border agreement in May 2005 but Russia recalled its signature in June 2005 after the Estonian parliament added to its domestic ratification act a historical preamble referencing the Soviet occupation and Estonia's pre-war borders under the 1920 Treaty of Tartu; Russia contends that the preamble allows Estonia to make territorial claims on Russia in the future while Estonian officials deny that the preamble has any legal impact on the treaty text; Russia demands better treatment of the Russian-speaking population in Estonia and Latvia; 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 an EU member state with an EU external border where strict Schengen border rules apply; preparations for the demarcation delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine have commenced; the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov is suspended due to the occupation of Crimea by Russia; Kazakhstan and Russia boundary delimitation was ratified on November 2005 and field demarcation should commence in 2007; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Bering Sea Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US; Denmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental shelf (CLCS) and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Stateless persons: 178,000 (2012); note - Russia's stateless population consists of Roma Meskhetian Turks and ex-Soviet citizens from the former republics; between 2003 and 2010 more than 600,000 stateless people were naturalized; most Meskhetian Turks followers of Islam with origins in Georgia fled or were evacuated from Uzbekistan after a 1989 pogrom and have lived in Russia for more than the required five-year residency period; they continue to be denied registration for citizenship and basic rights by local Krasnodar Krai authorities on the grounds that they are temporary illegal migrants

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 c