Russia

Country Profile: Russia

Executive Summary

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state. The leadership seeks to legitimize its rule through managed national elections, populist appeals by President Putin, and continued economic growth. The primary adjudicator of this growth is Russia’s plentiful natural resources. However, government regulations threaten much potential growth from this category.

Brief History

Reaching back to the 12th century, the land that would become Russia escaped Mongol rule and gradually conquered and absorbed areas as far reaching as Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. Ultimately, the Russian Empire coalesced in the 17th and 18th century and included territory around the Baltic Sea. This expansionary trend continued in the 19th century, with more lands in Europe and Asia coming under Russian control. Rioting in major cities after staggering losses in the First World War led to the end of the imperial house of rule and the instatement of a Communist order that formed the USSR under Vladimir Lenin. The brutal rule of Joseph Stalin, which lasted until the mid-20th century, 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 attempt to modernize Communism. Despite these efforts,the USSR splintered into Russia and 14 other independent republics by December 1991.

Political Structure

Political Parties: A Just Russia, Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), Liberal Democratic Party of Russia ( LDPR), Right Cause, Rodina, United Russia, Yabloko Party

Political System: Russia is a federation with a bicameral legislature, the Federal Assembly, consisting of an upper house, the Federation Council, and a lower house, the State Duma. Members of the Federation Council are selected by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 83 federal administrative units. Those in the State Duma are determined by the allocation of the popular vote; all members are chosen by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 7% of the vote. The president’s cabinet consists of the premier, who acts as the head of government, his deputies, and ministers; all are appointed by the president, and the premier is also confirmed by the Duma. There also exists a Presidential Administration 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.

Political Conflicts: Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.

Economic Structure

Economic System: Russia has undergone significant economic changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union, moving from a globally-isolated, centrally-planned economy to a more market-based and globally-integrated economy. Economic reforms in the 1990s privatized most industry, with notable exceptions in the energy and defense-related sectors. However, the protection of property rights remains weak and the private sector is still subject to heavy state interference. Russian industry is primarily split between globally-competitive commodity producers. Russia has capitalized on its vast network of energy resources. In 2011, Russia became the world's leading oil producer, surpassing Saudi Arabia. In addition to possessing the second-largest coal reserves and the eighth-largest crude oil reserves, the state also holds the world's largest natural gas reserves, allowing it to become the second-largest producer of natural gas. Russia is also a top exporter of metals such as steel and primary aluminum.

Economic Trends: Russia's reliance on commodity exports makes it vulnerable to boom and bust cycles that follow the volatile swings in global prices. Yet, since 2007 the government has embarked on an ambitious program to reduce this dependency and build up the country's high technology sectors, but with few results so far. The economy had averaged 7% growth in the decade following the 1998 Russian financial crisis, resulting in a doubling of real disposable incomes and the emergence of a middle class. Although Russia was hard hit by the 2008 global financial crisis, which solicited a response from the government in the form of a sizeable bailout package, the resulting budget deficit was significantly negated by high oil prices in 2011-12. Russia joined the World Trade Organization in 2012, which will reduce trade barriers and help open foreign markets for Russian goods. At the same time, Russia has sought to cement economic ties with countries in the former Soviet space through a Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, and, in the next several years, through a new Russia-led economic bloc called the Eurasian Union.

Economic Resources: The industrial sector includes a complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals. It also produces high-grade defense, transportation and communications equipment, as well as medical and scientific instruments. Exports include petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, metals, wood and wood products, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures.

Social Structure

Religion:

Christian: 79,447,131 adherents (54.07%)
Non-Religious: 45,667,040 adherents (31.08%)
Muslim: 14,987,252 adherents (10.20%)
Other: 3,673,346 adherents (2.5%)
Traditional ethnic: 1,616, 272 adherents (1.10%)
Buddhist: 1,028,537 adherents (0.70%)
Jewish: 470,188 adherents (0.31%)
Baha’i: 44,080 adherents (0.03%)

Ethnicity:

Russian 79.8%
Tatar 3.8%
Ukrainian 2%
Bashkir 1.2%
Chuvash 1.1%
Other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)

Gender:

Overall male population: 65,972,089
Overall female population: 76,545,581
0-14 years: 15.7% (male 11,498,268/female 10,890,853)
15-24 years: 12.4% (male 9,031,057/female 8,662,557)
25-54 years: 45.8% (male 31,894,116/female 33,432,996)
55-64 years: 13.1% (male 7,926,184/female 10,711,347)
65 years and over: 13% (male 5,622,464/female 12,847,828) (2012 est.)

Urbanization:

Urban population: 73% of total population (2010)
Rate of urbanization: -0.2% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Operating Organizations

Political Groups: Association of Citizens with Initiative of Russia (TIGR), Confederation of Labor of Russia (KTR), Federation of Independent Labor Unions of Russia, Freedom of Choice Interregional Organization of Automobilists, Glasnost Defense Foundation, Golos Association in Defense of Voters' Rights, Greenpeace Russia, Human Rights Watch (Russian chapter), Institute for Collective Action, Memorial (human rights group), Movement Against Illegal Migration, Pamjat (preservation of historical monuments and recording of history), Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Federation of Car Owners, Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, Solidarnost, SOVA Analytical-Information Center,Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers, World Wildlife Fund (Russian chapter)
Terrorist/Criminal Organizations: There are as many as 6,000 different criminal groups, with more than 200 of them having a global reach. Russian mafia groups have been said to reach over 50 countries and, as of 2010, have up to 300,000 members. There is also a significant presence of Islamic terrorist groups. Russia has banned seventeen terror organizations, including the Highest Military Majlisul Shura of the United Forces of the Mujahedeen of the Caucasus, the Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Daghestan, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.

Allies and Enemies

Regional Allies: China, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Mongolia
Regional Enemies: Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
Global Allies: Germany, France, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Syria
Global Enemies: N/A

Country Trajectory

Russia has only recently enacted the necessary plans to attract investment capital, which has recently been flowing out of the country at an alarming rate. The investment environment of Russia cannot be made more palatable on the efforts of private entities alone, opening the door for official programs to improve Russia's international investment rankings. A shrinking workforce only puts further pressure on private enterprises, many of which are heavily taxed to an overly burdensome point. Posing further problems for state is the varying levels of corruption within its own government. Renewed focus must be placed on infrastructure investment and eliminating corruption at the highest levels of Russian politics to ensure that the ongoing transition to an increasingly open and democratic Russia is successful

Current Events

Mar. 4th, 2013: An arms sale to Iraq signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in October 2012 makes Russia Iraq’s second-biggest arms supplier after the United States. The deal includes 30 Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says that Baghdad will receive its shipment of Russian attack helicopters and air-defense systems before the summer of 2013.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/04/291892/russia-to-deliver-iraq-weapons-by-june/

Mar. 6th, 2013: Russian failure to repeal taxes that devour more than two-thirds of the revenue from a barrel of crude and have choked oil output. Subsequently, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are approaching Russia as the world’s leading oil producer.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-05/russia-s-oil-lead-challenged-as-taxes-strangle-drilling.html

Sources