Russia

Statistics
CIA World Factbook


 * Area: 17,075,200 sq km (world’s largest country)
 * Population: 142 million
 * GDP: $2.076 trillion
 * Per capita GDP: $14,600
 * Unemployment: 5.9%
 * Oil production: 9.87 million barrels/day
 * Oil exports: 5.08 million barrels/day
 * Oil reserves: 60 billion barrels/day
 * Natural gas production: 656.2 billion cu m
 * Natural gas exports: 182 billion cu m
 * Natural gas reserves: 47.57 trillion cu m
 * Manpower fit for military service: roughly 50 million

Boris Yeltsin

 * 1990- Boris Yeltsin elected Russian President, quits Communist Party.
 * 1991- Yeltsin and other leaders of Soviet states pass treaty dissolving USSR.
 * 1994- Russia joins NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. Russian troops deployed into separatist region of Chechnya.
 * 1995- Communist Party wins 1/3 seats and majority in Duma.
 * 1996- Russian troops withdrawn from Chechnya. 40,000 killed in conflict.  Russia joins G-7.
 * 1998- Major recession hits Russia as Ruble collapses, government defaults on foreign debts.
 * 1999- Chechens invade Dagestan. Vladimir Putin appointed foreign minister.  Terrorist attacks in Russia blamed on Chechens.  Putin invades Chechnya, gains popularity among nationalist Russians.  Yeltsin resigns, makes Putin acting president.

Vladimir Putin

 * 2000- Putin elected president. Soviet anthem reinstated.
 * 2001- Treaty of friendship signed with China.
 * 2002- TV-6, Russia’s last independent TV network, taken off air to be reinstated under Kremlin supervision. US-Russia agreement announced to cut nuclear arsenals from 6,000 missiles to 2,000 in next ten years.  NATO-Russia Council created, giving Russia and NATO countries equal say in security deliberations.  Various bombings and terrorist acts committed by Chechen rebels.
 * 2003- Referendum vote declares Chechnya part of Russian Federation. TV-6 disbanded.  Russia opens counterterrorism base in Kyrgyzstan, the first foreign base established since fall of Soviet Union.  Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Yukos Oil tycoon and political dissenter, arrested for tax evasion and fraud.  United Russia, Putin’s political party, gains total control over parliament.
 * 2004- Putin wins second term. Yukos subsidiary and production company Yuganskneftegaz seized by Russian government.  Putin ends direct election of regional leaders, proposes Kremlin appointments.  State firm Rosneft buys Yuganskneftegaz.
 * 2005- Cease fire called in Chechnya. Putin signs agreement with Iran to supply fuel to Iranian Bushehr nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel rods.  Khodorkovsky sent to Siberian penal colony for tax evasion and fraud for nine years.  Russian government gains 50% ownership of Gazprom gas company, which goes on to acquire control of Sibneft Oil.  Preparations for German-Russian oil pipeline under Baltic Sea finalized.
 * 2006- Russia cuts Ukrainian gas supply. Law passed extending government surveillance.  Sino-Russian agreement ensuring flow of Russian gas to China passed in conjuction with other economic treaties.  Russia imposes sanctions on Georgia due to its NATO ties and detention of four Russian soldiers.  Exiled security serviceman Aleksandr Litvinenko dies of radioactive poisoning.  Gas prices for sale in Belarus drastically increased.
 * 2007- Flow of gas to Belarus cut, reestablished after deliberations on trade. Suppression of anti-government protestors is common.  American positioning of missile defense systems in Eastern Europe and Russian long-range missile testing spur Putin’s warnings of a new arms race.  Russia claims rights to North Pole and its resources based on geography; Russian flag flown over Arctic Circle.  Russia abandons participation in 1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.  United Russia Party wins landslide victory in dubious elections.  Putin named Time Man of the Year.
 * 2008- Upcoming presidential elections to take place, in which Dmitry Medvedev has gained nomination of various political parties, including United Russia. Medvedev, essentially a useless puppet, will install Putin as prime minister, and delegate much of the president’s authority to Putin.  Landslide victory for Medvedev, and by proxy, for Putin, is expected.

Notes from CIA
CIA World Factbook


 * "Russia ended 2007 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since 2003 consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played a significant role... poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand."
 * "Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $470 billion at yearend 2007, the third largest reserves in the world."
 * "During Putin's first administration, a number of important reforms were implemented in the areas of tax, banking, labor, and land codes. These achievements have raised business and investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects, with foreign direct investment rising from $14.6 billion in 2005 to approximately $45 billion in 2007… In 2006, Russia signed a bilateral market access agreement with the US as a prelude to possible WTO entry, and its companies are involved in global merger and acquisition activity in the oil and gas, metals, and telecom sectors."
 * "Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of exports and 30% of government revenues, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world commodity prices. Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth."
 * "President Putin has granted more influence to forces within his government that desire to reassert state control over the economy. Russia has made little progress in building the rule of law, the bedrock of a modern market economy."

Oil
From US Energy Information Admnistration on Russian Oil Exports


 * Majority of oil exports are fuel oil and diesel fuel, transported through Transneft pipelines.
 * 70% of crude oil is exported, 30% domestically refined.
 * Exports to U.S. have doubled since 2004 to 500,000 barrels/day.
 * Plan in place to expand Russian refining capabilities.
 * Expansion of European Baltic Pipelines System, Murmansk Area and Kharyaga-Indiga Pipeline and Druzhba Pipeline and Adria Reversal Project planned.
 * Construction of Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean Pipeline: Taishet - Skovorodino - Kozmino Bay began in April, 2006 in an effort to export Russian oil to East Asian markets