Russian Federation

　　With the city of Moscow as its capital, the country's formal name is the Russian Federation that emerged after the Soviet Uniondisintegrated into 15 separate geopolitical entities in 1991.

　　Covering more than 17 million square km in Europe and Asia, Russia succeeded the Soviet Union as the largest country in the world.

　　It has a population of 145.3 million (2002). The official language is Russian. The national currency is ruble and the country's major religion is the Russian Orthodox Church followed by Islam.

　　Russia abounds in natural resources, especially oil, natural gas and timber. The oil and gas industries are the backbone of thenational economy.

　　Russia's administrative divisions include 21 autonomous republics, 49 oblasts or provinces, six territories (kray), 10 autonomous regions (okrug) and one autonomous oblast. The cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg have separate status at oblast level.Under the 1993 constitution, Russia has a democratic and federal government system divided into executive, legislative and judicialbranches.

　　The president, elected for a four-year term, sets the basic tone of domestic and foreign policies. The prime minister appointsa cabinet to administer executive functions. The prime minister administers policy according to the constitution, laws and presidential decrees.

　　The parliament, a bicameral Federal Assembly, has a lower house-- the State Duma -- with 450 members serving four-year terms, and an upper house -- the Federation Council -- with 178 seats. The three highest judicial bodies are the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Superior Court of Arbitration. Judges are appointed by the president with confirmation from the Federation Council.

　　Russia's armed forces, consisting of land, navy, air and strategic missile forces, totaled 1.12 million troops in 2002. In 1992, the Russian Federation inherited the bulk of the Soviet Union's armed forces, but between 1992 and 1996 the size of the military was reduced from about 2.8 million troops to 1.5 million.

　　In December 1996, the State Duma recommended the establishment of a federal department to set military reform guidelines through 2005.