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. The country's capital as well as its largest city is Moscow. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and cultural capital. Other major cities in the country include Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don.

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. Rus' ultimately disintegrated, with the Grand Duchy of Moscow growing to become the Tsardom of Russia. 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 global ideological 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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Pyotr Ivanovich Potemkin

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Nativity Cathedral built by Dmitrievich (ca. 1405)

Oladyi

Oladyi (Russian: оладьи pl., diminutive: оладушки, oladushki, sg. оладья, oladya, Ukrainian: оладки, oladky) are small thick pancakes or fritters common in Russian and Ukrainian cuisines. The batter for oladyi is made from wheat or (nowadays more rarely) buckwheat flour, eggs, milk, salt, and sugar with yeast or baking soda. The batter may also contain kefir, soured milk or yoghurt. Oladyi may also include various additions, such as apple or raisins.

Oladyi are usually served with smetana (sour cream), as well as with sweet toppings such as jam, powidl, honey etc. Savoury versions may be served with caviar, similarly to blini. (Full article...)

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Manuscript miniature of Manuel I (part of double portrait with Maria of Antioch, Vatican Library, Rome)

Manuel I Komnenos (Greek: Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, romanizedManouḗl Komnēnós; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (Greek: Πορφυρογέννητος; "born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire had seen a resurgence of its military and economic power and had enjoyed a cultural revival.

Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the superpower of the Mediterranean world, Manuel pursued an energetic and ambitious foreign policy. In the process he made alliances with Pope Adrian IV and the resurgent West. He invaded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, although unsuccessfully, being the last Eastern Roman emperor to attempt reconquests in the western Mediterranean. The passage of the potentially dangerous Second Crusade through his empire was adroitly managed. Manuel established a Byzantine protectorate over the Crusader states of Outremer. Facing Muslim advances in the Holy Land, he made common cause with the Kingdom of Jerusalem and participated in a combined invasion of Fatimid Egypt. Manuel reshaped the political maps of the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, placing the kingdoms of Hungary and Outremer under Byzantine hegemony and campaigning aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in the east. (Full article...)

In the news

25 April 2024 – Russia–NATO relations
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warns that Russia will make NATO nuclear weapons in Poland one of its primary targets if they are deployed there. (The Jerusalem Post)
24 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
The United States announces a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine as part of a bill that was recently approved after being stalled in the US Congress for months. The package includes ammunition for artillery and air defense systems, along with armoured fighting vehicles. (CNN)
24 April 2024 –
Moldova announces that it has brought a criminal case against Gagauzia governor Evghenia Guțul for using Russian funds to finance the now-banned Șor Party. (Reuters)
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov is arrested on suspicion of bribery. (CNN)
22 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Eastern Ukraine campaign

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Leon Trotsky
Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain — at least in a poor country like Russia — and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.

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