Issue Background - Russia
Transcript: ISSUE BACKGROUND Allies and Enemies Economic Data - 79.8% Russian - 3.8% Tatar - 2% Ukrainian - 1.2% Bashkir - 1.1% Chuvash - 12.1% unspecified (based on 2002 census) - People are already worried about Putin's growing power *He's been in power for 12 consecutive years -Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, a prominent figure in the Russian Orthodox Church, is widely recognized as Putin's spiritual leader *Russia is a largely secular culture, so most Russians don't like the idea that Putin is "advised" by a man who doesn't represent the ideas of most Russians *Many Russians think Shevkunov is trying to impose fundamental orthodoxy on Russia - In August, a female music group, Pussy Riot, staged an anti-Putin/Russian Orthodox Protest * They wanted to make a statement against the church patriarch, Kirill I's support of Putin's 3rd presidential term *They were sentenced to 2 years in a prison camp *The story has sparked outrage across the world in governments and human rights groups Moscow RUSSIA - GDP of $2.414 trillion; 7th largest economy in the world - Unemployment rate: 6.6% (74th lowest in world) - World's leading oil producer, 2nd largest producer of natural gas - Largest exporter of steel and primary aluminum - Mining/Extractive (coal, oil, gas, chemicals, metals, etc.) and Machine Building (aircrafts, defense products, heavy equipment) industries are very important - Imports: pharmaceuticals, vehicles, meat, fruit, nuts, semi-finished metal products * China, Germany, Ukraine, Italy - Exports: petroleum, natrual gas, metals, wood, chemicals, military manufactures *Netherlands, China, Italy, Germany, Poland - Close allies with India and China *All part of the BRIC nations; they also compete economically - Relationship with the United States *Formally ALLIES *BUT (in polls of American citizens): - Russia was included in a list of countries considered to be America's greatest enemy - People are split almost even on whether or not they view Russia favorably - 52% of people consider Russia's military power an "important" threat - 37% of people say that Russia is "not friendly but not an enemy" - 73% of people think that a nuclear Russia would pose a serious threat to the USA Summary: Current Leadership photo credit Nasa / Goddard Space Flight Center / Reto Stöckli Troubling bond between the Church and the Kremlin - President (Chief of State): Vladmir Putin *Prime Minister (1999-2000, 2008-2012) *President (2000-2004, 2004-2008, 2012 present) - Prime Minister (Head of Government): Dmitriy Anatolyevich - Both members of the United Russia party - Russian Orthodox: 15-20% - Muslim: 10-15% - Other Christians: 2% *** Russia has a huge population of non-practicing believers due to Soviet Russia's discouragement of religious worship Religious Composition - Federation * Formal Name: Russian Federation - Semi-Presidential Constitutional Republic * Constitution Adopted December 12, 1993 - Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches - NOT under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice Type of Government Languages Spoken - Spends 3.9% of GDP on education (108th in world) - 99.6% of population is literate - Primary to Tertiary Education: 14 years - Official Language: Russian - Many other minority languages also spoken ISSUE Educational Data Ethnic Composition
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