Chapter 1 Objectives and Tools of World Regional Geography

DS.Economic Roots of the Second Russian Revolution

DT.Russia’s Period of Misdevelopment

36. Geopolitical Issues

DU.Within Russia

DV.Russia and the Near Abroad

DW.The Far Abroad

All of the countries contained in the Russia and the Near Abroad region were part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until its breakup in 1991. In terms of land area, this is the largest region of the world used by the text; Russia alone spans eleven time zones. However, this vast area is lightly populated, inhabited by only 278 million; Russia contains the bulk of that number. Russia and the regional countries to its west are slowly declining in population, and the remaining eight countries are growing slowly. The overall quality of life throughout the region declined after the dissolution of the USSR, and death rates from violence, alcoholism, and suicide have soared while birth rates have dropped; this phenomenon has been dubbed the “Russian Cross.”

Long, cold winters and short summers characterize this region, and the growing season is too short for many crops to mature. Siberia is covered with vast coniferous forests (taiga) and tundra to the north. Agriculture is more suited to the milder conditions of the area west of the Ural Mountains and along the fertile soil steppes from Ukraine to Kazakhstan. Arid conditions prevail throughout much of Central Asia. Plains dominate the region, though tall mountains ring the southern and eastern stretches. The Don and Volga are important rivers in western Russia, and Siberia has several major rivers.

Russia and the Near Abroad are very complex culturally and linguistically, with over one hundred languages spoken; the Caucasus is an especially diverse region. Orthodox Christianity is widespread, with Islam the main faith in Central Asia and parts of Russia. Repeated invasions into Russian lands early in its history, such as Tatars and Mongols, and later Russian conquests of surrounding areas laid the groundwork for such an ethnolinguistic variety. With the decline of Tatar power in Russia in the fifteenth century, Moscow began a continuous expansion that brought the lands of this region under its control by 1922. The Russian Empire was headed by tsars until the Russian Revolution of 1917, which ushered in the Communist Party under Lenin and established the USSR.

Lenin’s successor, Stalin, instituted the centrally planned command economy, which concentrated on meeting quotas for industrial and agricultural production and national improvement projects. Though inefficient and unpopular the command economy propelled the USSR to superpower status. The German invasion during World War II prompted Stalin to direct agriculture and industry eastward into the “new lands” of Siberia. The Soviet economic model began suffering serious problems in the 1980s, which prompted leader Gorbachev to institute programs such as perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness). Continued unhappiness with the poor economy and lack of freedoms, as well as resurgent ethnic tensions within the USSR, soon tore the country apart.

Yeltsin became Russia’s president in 1991, and he instituted “economic shock therapy,” designed to move Russia quickly towards a free market. The results were disastrous and the country went into a sharp decline; organized crime gangs wound up controlling much of the economy. In recent years Russia’s economic fortunes have brightened from the exports of oil and minerals. Russia has joined with eleven other former Soviet republics to form a mainly economic organization called the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Russia has many autonomous districts within its territory, some of which are demanding independence. Moscow has been reasserting its authority. Chechnya is the most visible area of Russia that desires independence, and has waged a war and ongoing terrorist campaign against Moscow since 1991. The nation of Georgia is also having problems with separatist movements. Outside its borders Russia has generally enjoyed good relations with the West, though there are fears of an increase in authoritarianism under Putin and the spread of Russian nuclear material to terrorist groups. The Caspian Sea area has become a major oil-producing area. The Central Asian nations have seen a rise in Islamic militant activity. And Russia has moved to protect ethnic Russians still living in former Soviet nations, which has increased tensions in some areas.

Key Terms and Concepts

77. 
    There are five main climatic belts in the Russia and the Near Abroad region: tundra, subarctic, humid continental, steppe, and desert. The desert, tundra, and subarctic belts are the least agriculturally productive. The steppe climatic belt, with its grasslands and fertile soils, is the best area in the region for agricultural activity. [pp. 153, 155-158]
    

78. 
    The Volga is the most important riverway in the region. The Don and Dnieper Rivers west of the Urals also have a major impact. Siberia is home to several more major river systems, including the Yenisey, Ob, and Lena Rivers. [pp. 158-159]
    

79. 
    Russia’s population is declining because of the enormous jump in death rates since the breakup of the Soviet Union. In addition to cancer and heart disease, alcoholism, crime and physical violence, an increase of abortions, and HIV and AIDS infections have all risen dramatically since 1990 and have contributed to the soaring death rates. Birth rates also continue to decline, further reducing Russia’s population. [p. 156]
    

80. 
    Russia is referred to as a land empire because it founded or conquered its colonies in its own hinterland, rather than establishing them overseas as European powers like Spain and Great Britain did. Russia spread outward from Moscow in the fifteenth century, and gradually conquered the surrounding lands to the north and east, expanding quickly across lightly populated Siberia and more slowly into Eastern Europe and Central Asia. By 1922 Moscow controlled the entire Soviet Union, which broke up into fifteen countries in 1991. [pp. 163-165]
    

81. 
    Russia has been subject to repeated invasions and conflicts throughout its history. Virtually all of Russia was brought under Mongol and Tatar control after the year 1237. Tatar control declined in the 1400s, and Russia began to expand into lands held by the Tatars. Russia clashed with nomadic Muslim groups along its southern regions. Russia also triumphed over European invaders such as the Swedes in 1709, the French in 1812 and the Germans in 1941 (especially at Stalingrad, which was a strategic city located near the closest point between the Volga and Don rivers with numerous transportation links to surrounding regions). Russia was able to withstand and repel these invasions because of talented Russian military leaders, the use of scorched earth tactics, the willingness of Russian commanders to lose enormous numbers of troops, and the severity of the Russian winter. [pp. 165-166]
    

82. 
    The idea behind agricultural collectivization was to allow the government to more cheaply and efficiently administer, monitor and indoctrinate the rural population, as well as to provide them with services such as health care, education, and electricity. [p. 167]
    

83. 
    The largest Soviet program that changed the landscape of the region was the conversion of tens of millions of acres in the “virgin and idle lands” (a belt stretching eastward from Stalingrad across northern Kazakhstan to Novosibirsk) from grasslands into productive grain producing land. The Soviet government also authorized the construction of numerous roads, railways, dams, and other “Hero Projects” that called for sacrifice to make the country strong. [pp. 167-168]
    

84. 
    The industrialization of the Soviet Union was fairly successful. The emphasis on rapidly increasing industrial production with an emphasis on minerals, electric power, transportation, military hardware, and heavy machinery improved the standard of living, prompted rapid urbanization and elevated the U.S.S.R. to superpower status. The downside to Soviet industrialization largely rested with the command economy the country operated under. The planned economy was bureaucratic and inefficient. With no free market, the needs of consumers were overlooked, and substandard goods were mass-produced in enormous quantities while necessary items were often in short supply. And during the height of the Cold War a significant portion of the Soviet economy was dedicated to the military, which was an enormous diversion away from its overall economic development. [p. 167]
    

85. 
    Boris Yeltsin’s “economic shock therapy” generally had poor results for the majority of Russian citizens. The shock therapy was a program of rapid economic reform designed to replace the state-run Communist system with a free market economy and privatization. Prices on most goods rose, as did inflation. Barter sometimes replaced the use of cash to buy items. Unemployment and homelessness grew, and the “Russian Mafia” became so widespread throughout the government and private industry that the country essentially became a “kleptocracy.” In recent years Russia’s economic misfortunes have seemingly turned around. Wages are up and unemployment is down, and exports of oil and other natural resources have brought in tremendous new wealth for the country. [pp. 169-171]
    

86. 
    Russia is most concerned about the Chechens, the Tatars, the Bashkirs, and the Chuvash. Most of the people in these regions are Muslim, and their autonomous units often contain valuable oil or other mineral deposits critical to Russia’s economy. [pp. 171-172]
    

87. 
    Oil produced in the Caspian Sea area is brought to foreign markets by way of a number of pipelines. Pipelines take oil out of the Caspian region northward into Russia and then on into Europe; through Azerbaijan and the volatile Russian Caucasus area (including Chechnya) to a port on the Black Sea; a second through Azerbaijan to the Georgian port of Batumi; and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline, ending at a Turkish port on the Mediterranean Sea. Iran has argued that a pipeline through its territory would be the best way to bring Caspian oil to market, but the U.S. and other Western powers are against this plan. [pp. 176-177]
    

88. 
    Currently, Russia has troops stationed abroad in Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Tajikistan. Russian troops have acted as peacekeepers in these countries on various occasions, and maintain a presence in many to both help maintain order and also to protect Russian access to natural resources it needs from those nations. Some of these nations, especially Georgia, no longer wish to have a Russian military presence within their borders. Russia’s naval fleet is based on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The U.S. has a military presence in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and there are U.S. military advisors in Georgia. [pp. 174-176]