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Portal:Russia

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Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. It is the world's ninth-most populous country and Europe's most populous country. Russia is a highly urbanised country, with 16 of its population centres having more than 1 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Moscow. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and its cultural capital.

The East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire, which remains the third-largest empire in history. However, with the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule was abolished and eventually replaced by the Russian SFSR—the world's first constitutionally socialist state. Following the Russian Civil War, the Russian SFSR established the Soviet Union with three other Soviet republics, within which it was the largest and principal constituent. At the expense of millions of lives, the Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in the 1930s and later played a decisive role for the Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front. With the onset of the Cold War, it competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements, including the first human-made satellite and the first human expedition into outer space. (Full article...)

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Feodor I of Russia

Çibörek and ayran in a Turkish cafe

Cheburek (plural: Chebureki) are deep-fried turnovers with a filling of ground or minced meat and onions. A popular street dish, they are made with a single round piece of dough folded over the filling in a crescent shape. They have become widespread in the former Soviet-aligned countries of Eastern Europe in the 20th century.

Chebureki is a national dish of Crimean Tatar cuisine. They are popular as a snack and street food throughout the Caucasus, West Asia, Central Asia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Europe, as well as in Turkey, Greece and Romania. (Full article...)

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Detail from portrait by Valentin Serov, 1898
Rimsky-Korsakov's signature

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March 1844 – 21 June 1908) was a Russian composer, a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his fifteen operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects.

Rimsky-Korsakov believed in developing a nationalistic style of classical music, as did his fellow composer Mily Balakirev and the critic Vladimir Stasov. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony, and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of The Five. Rimsky-Korsakov's techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner. (Full article...)

In the news

6 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Kherson strikes, Attacks on civilians during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
A Russian drone attacks a civilian passenger bus in Kherson, Ukraine, reportedly killing at least one person and injuring at least nine others. (Reuters)
6 January 2025 – 2022–2023 Russia–European Union gas dispute
According to Slovakia, a planned meeting between Slovak, Ukrainian, and European Commission officials over gas supplies scheduled for Tuesday has been cancelled due to Ukraine's refusal to participate in the meeting. (Reuters)
5 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Kursk offensive
The Ukrainian Army launches a new offensive in Kursk Oblast, Russia. (BBC News)
4 January 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Eastern Ukraine campaign, Journalists killed during the Russo-Ukrainian War

More Did you know (auto generated)

  • ... that Russia launched an Iranian satellite into orbit just three weeks after Putin and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed to cooperate against the West?
  • ... that Michael S. Farbman's reporting of the Russian Civil War in winter 1917–18 was described by The Observer as "one of the outstanding successes of the time in special correspondence"?
  • ... that Romanian-born Helen O'Brien escaped advancing Russians on the King's horse, opened Eve, and worked as a spy for MI5 and MI6?
  • ... that after the Russian invasion, the daughter of the Ukrainian ambassador to Indonesia was evacuated together with Indonesian citizens in Ukraine?
  • ... that Maria Leshern von Herzfeld helped to organise the prison escape of the Russian revolutionary Peter Kropotkin?
  • ... that American teacher Marc Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in Russian prison for possessing a small amount of marijuana, but has gotten little public attention compared to Brittney Griner?

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I would have preferred to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work - for example, a lawn-mower.
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