about russia

Russia is one of the greatest and biggest countries in the world with a rich historical and cultural background. The country spans ten times zones, two continents and reaches out over 17 m sq. kilometres.

Two major cities mostly known to westerners are Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. The treasure of Moscow is embodied in the Tretykov Gallery, the Bolshoy Theatre and the Kremlin collections. The most advantageous Saint-Petersburg art collections are preserved in the Hermitage and the Russian Museum. Other famous Russian towns also can boast their unique living atmosphere – castles, churches and cloisters. You can find it in medieval democratic Novgorod and Pscow or Kaliningrad (former German Konigsberg) on the Baltic Sea Coast, where I lived previously. The Russian countryside has a vast quantity of free land and is rich in mountains, rivers, forests and lakes. Nevertheless village life in Siberia is very different from England and time is endless. Russia lays claim to many remarkable people that have enriched the world. Russian writers have made an special contribution to the golden font of literature. Certain classical traditions were established by Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoyevskiy in Tsarist times and continued by Solzhenitsyn and Brodskiy in the Soviet era. Composers from Glinka, Tchaikovskiy, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev to Shnitke and Shostakovich have left long lasting musical legacies.

Nevertheless only the Russian people can make Russian history and culture. In spite of a hard and dramatic past, Russia today is a nation of enormous diversity and tremendous vitality. Russian people are special: they are very generous, kind and honest. In today’s modern life they keep on trying not to forget their real characters. They save their traditions, celebrate the wealth of Russia past and strive to reach the country’s potential in the future.

It is as if the cultural traditions of a century ago have re-awakened with a newfound strength – ancient cathedrals are being rebuilt and restored, colourful markets hum with activity once again and literature and the arts are quickly regaining the creative reknown they enjoyed decades ago. A new Russia is now coming into full bloom.

In recent years the thriving economic factors in Russia have attracted a lot of interest from foreign enterprises.  Russia has become one of the most important markets in the world. The resource-focused economy is slowly recovering after weathering its deepest contraction in 15 years in 2009 and the World Bank predicts that Russia's economy will grow by up to 5.5 percent this year with improvement of domestic demand.                                                

Russia's federal budget deficit will not exceed 7% of GDP in 2010,  as predicted by the Finance Ministry in February 2010. Federal budget revenues are expected to fall by 38 billion rubles [$1.26 billion], and expenditures will grow by 128.3 billion rubles [$4 billion].

According to the Central Bank's data, Russia's gold and hard currency reserves amounted to $124.5 billion as of December 31, 2004, and to $ 450 billion as of February 24, 2010. The Reserve Fund was reported to have been  1.83 trillion rubles ($60.52 bln) by January 1, 2010. The aggregate amount of the National Wealth Fund was 2.77 trillion rubles, which equivalent to 95.1 billion US dollars. The two funds were created after the Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation was split into two separate investment funds on January 30, 2008. Funds are invested abroad in different level risk securities and used when oil and gas incomes fall.