Russia


RUSSIA’S POLITICAL SYSTEM
They have a Federal Republic, which means that Russia has states with a Republican form of Government. It is also semi-presidential, which means that both a Prime Minister and a President handle day-to-day business together.
The Russian Federation is made up of 21 republics. Moscow is the capital. It consists of a three branch system of government copied from the US. The executive branch is headed by Boris Nikolayevick Yelstin(since 12 June 1991). The legislative branch is a bicameral federal assembly, it consists of the State Duma and the Federal Council. The State Duma has 450 members that are elected throughout the country based on population of the districts. The Federal Council has 176 members, two each elected from Russia’s 89 territorial units. Judicial Branch: Constitutional Court, Supreme Court(highest court for criminal, and administrative cases), Superior Court of Arbitration (highest court that resolves economic matters) There are more than 20 parties currently competing in Russian politics.
Russia Economic Structure
(The economy of Russia is the twelfth largest economy in the world by nominal value and the seventh largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia
Russia is very rich in natural gas oil, coal, and precious metals as well as Agriculture.There has been a lot of changes for Russia in the past ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They went from completely doing their own thing all the way to being part of the world with every other country. Today they are known as a free market system, but in the past they were a command economy. (very wealthy)
Russia Economy: GDP and Labor
Russia’s GDP – official exchange rate in 2009 was $1.255 trillion.

Russia’s GDP-real growth rate from 2007 to 2009. these are in percentages.

The following chart illustrates Russia’s GDP-per capita from 2007 to 2009. All data are in USD.

Russia’s breakdown of GDP by composition is as follows (data in percentages):
Russia’s labor force totaled to 75.81 million in 2009. The rate of unemployment increased to 8.9% in 2009 from 6.5% in 2008. The following chart shows Russia’s composition of labor force by occupation (data in percentages).

Russia’s Exports
- Oil & other petroleum products …US$10 billion (50.5% of Russia to U.S. exports, up 25.2% from 2005)
- Aluminum … $1.8 billion (9.3%, up 5.9%)
- Semi-finished iron & steel products … $1.5 billion (7.7%, up 128.4%)
- Nuclear fuels … $866.3 million (4.4%, down 0.6%)
- Finished metal products other than steel … $852.9 million (4.3%, up 78.3%)
- Precious metals … $697.6 million (3.5%, up 23.1%)
- Nickel … $645.3 million (3.3%, up 85.5%)
- Steelmaking materials … $635.6 million (3.2%, up 56.5%)
- Fertilizers, pesticides & insecticides … $395 million (2.0%, up 22.9%)
- Fish & shellfish … $375.3 million (2.0%, up 18.5%)
These are some of the major ones in this country but some of them that are starting to grow are aircrafts, train transportation and military products.
Russia exports to countries all over the world. The main ones are
- The US
- Canada
- China
- Japan
- Middle east countries
- And all around Europe
Russia Imports
- Meat incl. poultry … US$636.7 million
- Passenger cars … $399.3 million (8.5%, up 25.1%)
- Civilian aircraft … $384.3 million (8.1%, up 222.6%)
- Oil field drilling equipment … $319.6 million (6.8%, up 2.3%)
- Excavating machinery … $170.7 million (3.6%, down 5.1%)
- Computer accessories … $155.1 million (3.3%, up 9.9%)
- Agricultural machinery … $148.1 million (3.1%, up 1.8%)
- Service industry machinery … $125.2 million (2.7%, up 48.8%)
- Trucks, buses & special purpose vehicles … $117 million (2.5%, up 48%)
- Materials handling equipment … $98.6 million (2.1%, up 96.5%)
Who they import from(major countries)
Other Facts of Russia
Russia today from what we know has a trade surplus with many countries around the world. Many of these countries include those from Europe and Japan because they don’t have a lot of things for themselves so in order to get them they have to buy. When they do this they run out of money and that causes Russia to have a trade surplus with them. They mainly get all of this off of their oil.
From what we know the standard of living in Russia has gotten better over the years. In the past there wasnt a lot of opportunities for people but today there is. When the Soviet union failed things got better and better. Today Russian can find a lot of what they need and their health concern isn’t that big of a deal as what it has been. The drinking has gone down and many russians are eating healthier so it looks as if things have started to get better. Many families have money today and that consists of a Ruble.
Russia is very similar to the US in a lot of ways and the main one consists of Government and economy.
Written by Nate Barnett