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Russia: Countries
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Russia is a federation, but the precise distribution of powers between the central government and the regional and local authorities is still evolving. The Russian Federation consists of 89 regional administrative units, including two federal cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The constitution explicitly defines the federal government's exclusive powers, but it ... describes most key regional issues as the joint responsibility of the federal government and the regional administrative units. In 2000, President Putin grouped the regions into seven federal districts, with presidential appointees established in Moscow and six provincial capitals. In March 2004, the Constitution was amended to permit the merger of some regional administrative units. A law enacted in December 2004 eliminated the direct election of the country's regional leaders.
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Russia is the largest country in the world by far; spanning twelve time zones, its territory covers nearly twice as much of the earth as that of the next largest country, Canada. Despite its massive size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture. Instead it has huge reserves of some of the world's most important resources (oil, gas, coal, platinum, gold, chrome, asbestos). Mount Elbrus (Gora El'brus), at 5,633 m, is Europe's, and Russia's, tallest peak.
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Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water, providing it with one of the world's largest surface water resources. The most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake Baikal, the world's deepest, purest and most capacious freshwater lake.[15] Lake Baikal alone contains over one fifth of the world's fresh surface water.[16] Of its 100,000 rivers,[17] The Volga is the most famous—not only because it is the longest river in Europe but ... because of its major role in Russian history. Major lakes include Lake Baikal, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. Russia has a wide natural resource base including major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, timber and mineral resources unmatched by any other country.[1][18]
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Russia has a very lively hitchhiking culture, with many hitchhiking clubs, there is even an Academy of Hitchhiking. There are many competitions. Despite horror stories about bad things happening in Russia, it is relatively safe to hitchhike, especially in the countryside. In some regions Russians expect a little bit of money for a ride.
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Russia has strongly and unequivocally backed the Tajikistan government in the civil war. The Russian-Tajikistan Friendship Treaty of May 25, 1993, stipulates that the Russian troops shall remain until the Tajikistan government forms its own border guard. Russia's troops in Tajikistan consist of the 201st Motorized Rifle Division, which is subordinate to the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense and is stationed in Dushanbe and Kurgan Tiube, and some 3,500 border guards, which are the overwhelming majority of forces guarding the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. The 201st Division was stationed in Tajikistan prior to the outbreak of hostilities; the border guards... came in December of 1992 on the basis of the joint decision of the CIS countries. President Yeltsin dismissed Security Minister Viktor Barannikov in July of 1993 following the attack that left twenty-five Russian guards dead, because of the poor performance of Russian guards on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. (There are allegations that the dismissal may have also been punishment for Barannikov's disloyalty to President Yeltsin in political matters.)
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Russia and China sign friendship pact July 16, 2001 - Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putkin have signed a friendship treaty - the first between their countries in over 50 years. It is intended to replace a 1949 Communist-era pact. They ... signed a separate declaration stressing their commitment to the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The evident purpose of this declaration is to stress their opposition to the new U.S. missile defence plans.
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