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About Russia

     Russia (IPA: /ˈrʌʃə/) (Russian: Росси́я, Rossiya; pronounced [rʌˈsʲi.jə]), also the Russian Federation (Росси́йская Федера́ция, Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; [rʌˈsʲi.skə.jə fʲɪ.dʲɪˈra.ʦɨ.jə], (Russian language) listen (help·info)), is a transcontinental country extending over much of northern Eurasia (Europe and Asia). With an area of 17,075,400 km², Russia is by far the largest country in the world, covering almost twice the total area of the next-largest country, Canada, and has enormous mineral and energy resources. Russia has the world's ninth-largest population. Russia shares land borders with the following countries (counter-clockwise from northwest to southeast): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It is also close to the United States (the state of Alaska), Sweden, and Japan across relatively small stretches of water (the Bering Strait, the Baltic Sea, and La Pérouse Strait, respectively).

     Formerly the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), a republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Russia became the Russian Federation following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. After the Soviet era, the area, population, and industrial production of the Soviet Union (then one of the world's two Cold War superpowers, the other one being the United States) that were located in Russia passed on to the Russian Federation.

    After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the newly-independent Russian Federation emerged as a great power and is also considered to be an energy superpower. Russia is considered the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic matters and is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. It is also one of the five recognised nuclear weapons states and possesses the world's largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Russia is the leading nation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a member of the G8 as well as other international organisations.

About Stavropol

    Stavropol (Russian: Ста́врополь) is a city located in south-western Russia. Geographical location: 45°03′N, 41°58′E. The city is the administrative center of Stavropol Krai. Population: 355,900 (2005 est.); 354,867 (2002 Census).

    Stavropol was founded in 1777 following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 as a military encampment and designated as a city in 1785. Prince Grigori Potemkin, who founded Stavropol as one of ten fortresses built between Azov and Mozdok at the request of Catherine II of Russia, played a leading role in the creation of the city. Terek Cossacks settled the area in and around the cities of Stavropol and Georgievsk with a mission to defend borders of the Empire.

    The name Stavropol is a Russian rendition of a fictitious Greek name, Stauropolis (historically the name of an unrelated archbishopric in Caria, a Roman province in present Anatolia), meaning "The city of the Cross". According to a legend soldiers found a huge cross made out of stone when they were building the fortress in the future city location.

    Stavropol's strategic location aided in the Russian Empire's conquest of the Caucasus. By the early 19th century the city grew into a busy trade center of the Northern Caucasus. In 1843 an Episcopal see of the Russian Orthodox Church was established in Stavropol and in 1847 the city became the administrative center of the gubernia (governorate) with the same name.

    During the Russian Civil War the city changed hands several times and finally was captured by the Red Army from the Volunteer Army of general Anton Denikin on January 29, 1920. The city was renamed Voroshilovsk in 1935 after Kliment Voroshilov, but returned to its original name in 1943. The Great Patriotic War took a heavy toll on the city and between August 3, 1942 and January 21, 1943 Stavropol was occupied by the Germans. Since 1946 natural gas is extracted near the city and later a pipeline to Moscow was built to supply it. The first and only executive president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, was born in Stavropol Krai (region) and spent several years working in the city of Stavropol as the head of the Krai's administration.

    Stavropol has a theatre and a football team called Dynamo Stavropol. The main educational institutions of the town are: Stavropol State University, Northern Caucasus State Polytechnic University, Agrarian University and Stavropol State Medical Academy. The area of Russia in which Stavropol resides is very mountainous, placing the city in the midst of the Caucasus mountain range. The city has one the biggest and best city parks in Russia. Stavropol's economy focuses on production of automobiles, furniture, and construction equipment and materials. The city relies on air ( Shpakovskoye airport), rail, and highway connections to other Russian cities. Stavropol's population includes a significant number of recent arrivals escaping instability of the Russian border regions and neighbouring Caucasus.