Economic Geography of Russia

Economic geography is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the world. In the history of economic geography there were many influences coming mainly from economics and geographical sciences.

Russia, also officially known as the Russian Federation, is a state in northern Eurasia. It is known in international law as successor state of the former Soviet Union. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, which comprises federal subjects: republics, krais (territories), oblasts (provinces), autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the United States by the Bering Strait. At more than 17 mln square kilometres, Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of the Earth’s land area. Russia is also the ninth most populous nation with more than 140 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world’s largest reserves of mineral and energy resources. It has the world’s largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world’s fresh water.

The Mineral industry of Russia is one of the world’s leading mineral producing countries and accounts for a large percentage of the CIS’s (Commonwealth of Independent States) production of a range of mineral products, including metals, industrial minerals, and mineral fuels. Russia has a market economy with enormous natural resources, particularly oil and natural gas. Since the turn of the 21^st century, higher domestic consumption and greater political stability have bolstered economic growth in Russia. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of Russian exports abroad. Russia’s agriculture demonstrated steady growth, and the country turned from a grain importer to the third largest grain exporter after EU and the USA.

The country has a large and fully local arms industry, producing most of its own military equipment with only few types of weapons imported. Russia is the world’s top supplier of arms accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales and exporting weapons to about 80 countries.

As the successor to a former superpower, Russia’s geopolitical status has been often debated. While Russia is commonly accepted to be a great power, in recent years it has been characterized by a number of world leaders, scholars, commentators and politicians as a currently reinstating or potential superpower. However, such a characterization has been disputed by others.

As one of five permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, Russia plays a major role in maintaining international peace and security. The country participates in the Quartet on the Middle East and the Six-party talks with North Korea. Russia is a member of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, the Council of Europe, Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Russia usually takes a leading role in regional organizations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), EuroAsian Economic Community (EurAsEC), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (the SCO).

Exercise 4.Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

1. An autonomous okrug is one of the federal subjects. 2. Russia has a hereditary monarchy. 3. Russia is the largest country in the world. 4. The population of Russia is about forty thousand million people. 5. Russia exports weapons to about eighteen countries.

Exercise 5.Answer the following questions.

1. Could you list all land frontiers and maritime borders of Russia? 2. Where is Russian Federation known as successor state of the former Soviet Union? 3. What does Russian Federation do in the UN Security Council as one of five permanent members? 4. What is economic geography? 5. Which of the natural resources does Russia export? 6. What sciences influenced the economic geography of Russia? 7. Where is Russia located? 8. Where can one-quarter of the world’s fresh water be found? 9. How many minerals has Russia got? What are they? 10. What promotes to the economic growth in Russia?

Exersice 6.Now read and translate the text. Use the dictionary when necessary. Pay attention to the differences between Russia and Britain.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 1086