Russian presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev has won the country's fifth presidential election and is to become the nation's youngest ever president, according to official figures released on Monday.
The following are some basic facts about Russia.
Geography: Sharing borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Russia covers an area of more than 17 million square km stretching from Europe to Asia.
Population: About 141 million as of July, 2007. Most of them are Russians.
Capital: Moscow.
Official language: Russian.
Natural resources: Forest covers about 51 percent of Russia's land area. Russia's discovered reserves of natural gas is over 48,000 billion cubic meters and its reserves of coal of 200 billion tons rank second in the world. Russia's other mineral resources include iron, zinc, lead, nickel, aluminum, molybdenum, gold, platinum and other nonferrous metals.
History: The Principality of Muscovy, established in the 12th century, gradually got rid of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and conquered surrounding principalities.
The Communists under Vladimir Lenin seized power in Russia in 1917 and later formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which disintegrated in 1991 and split into Russia and 14 other independent republics.
Head of State: incumbent President Vladimir Putin.
Head of Government: Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.
Legislative branch: Federal Assembly, consisting of the Federation Council (the upper house) and the State Duma (the lower house).
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term and is eligible for a second term.
Source:Xinhua
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