Russian Federation

SO Nita
Country Report 2
Model United Nations
Class: M3.1
Lecturer: NAY Maneth
June 9, 2020
 I. Basic Information
Russia's official name is the Russian Federation which is also known in Russian as
Rossiyskaya Feraderatisiya (Britannica, 2020). Its capital city named Moscow located on the
Moskva River in the western part of European Russia which also known as the most important
political, economic, financial, scientific, religious, educational, cultural, and transportation
center of Russia (Whereig, n.d.). Moscow had a population of more than 12,500,000 residents
with its total area of 2,511 square kilometers (World Population Review, 2020). In terms of
language, Russian is the official language of Russia.
II. Politics and Government
The head of state of the Russian Federation is Vladimir Putin who also known as a Russian
intelligence officer and politician, served as President of Russia from 2000-2008 and from
2012 until present (Britannica, 2020). However, Putin also was the country’s Prime Minister
from 1999-2000 and 2008-2012. Also, the head of government of Russia Federation is Mikhail
Mishustin who came to the office since 2020 when President Vladimir Putin appointed him as
Russia’s new prime minister following the resignation of the former prime minister, Dmitry
Medvedev (Standish & Mackinnon, 2020).
III. Geography, Culture, and Social
Russia is a country washed by the seas of three oceans namely the Atlantic, the Arctic, and
the Pacific. Russia has a large number of islands (Advantour, n.d.). Russia's literacy rate
according to UNESCO is higher than other neighboring states which an adult literacy rate is
99.73% (countryeconomy, n.d.). However, according to Russia’s State Statistics Service,
Russia’s poverty rates totaled 14.3%, or 20.9 million people in 2019 (Ryumin, 2019). Based
on Worldometer as of June 2, 2020, the current population of Russia is 145,930,260
(Worldometer, 2020). In terms of culture, Russian culture has a long and rich cultural history,
steeped in literature, ballet, painting, and classical music. Even other countries might see
Russia as drab, Russia has a very visual cultural past, from the colorful folk costumes they
made to its ornate religious symbols (Bradford, 2017). Moreover, the largest religious
denomination of Russia is known to be Russia Orthodoxy which the religion repressed by
Soviet authorities for most of the 20th century and representing more than half of all
worshippers (Britannica, 2020).
IV. Economy
Russia is a country that develops its economy by relying on its energy revenues to drive
economic growth which mainly exports oil and petroleum products, gas, coal (Advantour, n.d.).
However, the five main exporting partners of Russia are China, the Netherlands, Germany,
Turkey, and Belarus (Melkadze, 2020). Moreover, according to Index of Economic Freedom,
the GDP of this country is $4.2 trillion in 2020 which 2.3% growth and with $29,267 GDP Per
Capita of Russia people (Index of Economic Freedom, 2020). Russia’s HDI value for 2017 is
0.816 which makes the country with the very high human development category, ranking at 49
out of 189 countries and territories (Human Development Indices and Indicators, 2018).
V. Defense
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia became a massive nuclear weapons production
complex and large stocks of weapons-grade fissile material (NTI, 2020). In terms of defense,
Russia ranked third military strength around the world with a 0.0639 power index rating.
Russia’s total military personnel estimated to be around 3,586,128 among 142,122,776 total
populations. Moreover, Russian total aircraft strength is 4,078, ranked 2nd out of 137, and
ranked 3rd fighter aircraft with the amount of 869 including 21,932 combat tanks which ranked
1st in the world (Ioanes, 2020). Russian military expenditure in 2019 is US$ 65.1 billion,
making it the fifth-highest military expenditure country in 2019 (Wezeman, 2020). Even the
world now is at peace, Russians were most hostile towards the U.S and still believe that the
U.S is their main enemy in the world following by Ukraine and Turkey, plus 62 percent have
a poor opinion of the EU. Also, the five best friends of the Russian Federation are Belarus,
Kazakhstan, China, India, and Armenia (Sheftalovich, 2016).
VI. Environment
In terms of natural resources, natural capital plays an important role in economic growth.
Moreover, Russia is the most resource-rich country in the world since it holding approximately
30 percent of the world’s natural resources (Mitchell, 1998). Furthermore, Russia has the
largest mineral resources and natural gas reserves in the world and the second-largest coal
reserves, also the eighth-largest oil reserves in the world as well as the largest water reserve on
the planet (Yuan, 2011). Nonetheless, the Russian unemployment rate rose from 4.7 percent in
March of 2020 to 5.8 percent in April of 2020 (Trading Economics, n.d.).
VII. Influence
Apart from a member of the United Nations, Russia is also members of many supranational
organizations including the Group of Eight (G8), the Council of Europe, the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) which these organizations slightly require the giving up of some sovereignty in
becoming a member (Clay et al., 2013). Russia is a member of several international economic
organizations and unions including World Trade Organization (WTO) which Russia became a
member since 2012, a member of BRICS since 2009 in the foundation year, EU Customs Union
since 2010, Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation since 1998 as well as Eurasia Economic
Union, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization,
Hague Conference on Private International Law ... etc. In becoming a member of these
international organizations and unions, Russia has working to take part in setting the business
rules mandatory for member-states, accepting and understanding worldwide partnership as
well as favorable for the activities of foreign investors in the country as well as organizations
(Russia Investment Agency, n.d.).
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