Russia
Russia, officially known as the Russian Federation, sprawls across eastern Europe and northern Asia. Four-fifths of the people live in the European part of Russia, west of the Ural Mountains.
In the 14th and 15th centuries a powerful Russian state began to grow around Moscow. Russia emerged as a great world power during the reign of Peter the Great, who built Saint Petersburg as Russia’s new “window on the West” and moved the seat of government there in 1712. Moscow regained its capital status after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when militant socialists called Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian monarchy.
In 1922 they founded the world’s first communist state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, or Soviet Union). After the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, Russia began transforming itself into a more democratic society with an economy based on market mechanisms and principles. For many Russians the transformation brought a severe decline in standard of living. At the same time, Russia became more integrated with the global economy and benefited from improved relations with the countries of the European Union as well as its neighbors in Asia.
General websites about Russia
Embassy of the Russian Federation in Washington, D.C.
http://www.russianembassy.org/
U.S. State Department http://www.state.gov/p/eur/ci/rs/
Russian Resources at Auburn University
From the Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/rutoc.html
http://www.therussiasite.org/index.html
Art and Museums
Hillwood Museum and Gardens Russian Imperial Art Collection
Russki Album webportal of modern art of St. Petersburg
Russian Painting from Rollins College
State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg
Educational System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Russia
http://www.studyrussian.com/MGU/russian-education-system.html
Film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Cinema of Russian Empire
Government
The Constitution of the Russian Federation
http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/
const/constit.html
This site provides links to the official websites for the three branches of government in Russia and more
http://www.therussiasite.org/gov/gov.html
The St. Petersburg (Russia) Times (English)
http://www.russianinternet.com/radio/
History of Russia
http://www.geographia.com/russia/rushis01.htm
Cold War Files: Interpreting History through Documents
The Face of Russia the PBS documentary series
Kennan Institute-National Public Radio Russian History Audio Archive
The history of the Russian Navy
http://www.neva.ru/EXPO96/book/book-cont.html
Language and Literature
Information about the languages spoken in Russia (including those on the verge of extinction)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia
Yasnaya Poliana Leo Tolstoy's birthplace
Maps of Russia
From the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth.html
Music/culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_Russian_music
Russian National Orchestra
http://www.russianarts.org/rno/index.cfm
Live radio and video
http://broadcast-live.com/russia.html
Holidays and Festivals
http://www.russian.net/russianfestivals.htm
News and Politics
Russian Television Interviews by Vladimir Pozner (in Russian)
Interfax, one of Russia's leading news sources
ITAR-TASS, Russia's main news source
Izvestia, Russia's nation-wide newspaper (Russian only
The Moscow Times (English)
Political Transformation and the Electoral Process in Post-Communist Europe at the University of Essex
Pravda Online (English)
The Russian Federation on Political Resources.net
Russian Law and Policy Institute at the University of Minnesota
Photos
A collection of historical photos
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/thompson/menu.html
Religion in Russia
http://www.russianembassy.org/RUSSIA/religion.htm
http://www.valley.net/~transnat/russrel.htm
Russian Religion News, hosted by Stetson University Department of History
