TOEFL Test Centers in Russia

Russia Overview

• COUNTRYAAH: National flag of Russia. Includes the year when the flag was designed and formally used. Also covers its meaning and downloadable high definition image.

Economy

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia switched its system from a planned economy to a market economy. In the course of the privatization of the state-owned enterprises, a small, very rich upper class (“oligarchs”) emerged.

Russia has large amounts of mineral resources, including around 20% of all gold and 50% of all coal, gas and oil reserves on earth. The Russian economy mainly exports raw materials and is dependent on the fluctuations in oil and gas prices on the world market. That is why the country wants to expand the range of its export goods. The natural gas supplier Gazprom is Russia’s largest commercial enterprise. The raw materials are further processed in the industrial sector. The chemical industry uses petroleum as a raw material. Large steel mills were built near the coal fields in Western Siberia.

Other industries make machines, tractors, airplanes, spacecraft, weapons, wood products, and pulp. The most famous Russian car brand is the Lada.

In Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the service sector is the most important branch of the economy. The financial sector with many banks and the stock exchange plays a major role here. The largest provider of Internet services is the Russian-Dutch company Yandex.

Due to the climate, only 13% of the country’s area (Germany: around 50%) can be used for agriculture. Here, livestock breeding is more important than crop production. Grain cultivation dominates in arable farming. In addition, mainly forage crops, sugar beets and sunflowers are grown. Small family farms and private dacha gardens provide self-sufficiency with food and supply the local markets.

The density of the transport network decreases towards the east and is very wide-meshed to the east of the Urals. The Trans-Siberian Railway runs through Siberia and further south the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The population in Siberia and the Far East is dependent on air traffic. Because the rivers are frozen for a long time, navigation is not possible all year round. Important seaports are Nakhodka and Vladivostok on the Pacific, Saint Petersburg on the Baltic Sea and Novorossisk on the Black Sea.