1992, 2003, 2007



Professor Vladimir Shipulin, Tomsk, Siberia

Professor Leo Bockeria, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bakoulev Scientific Center for CV Surgery,
 Moscow, Russia

The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the communist period.
60 00 N, 100 00 E
Population: 145,470,197 (July 2001 est.)
Area: total:  17,075,200 sq km
land:  16,995,800 sq km
water:  79,400 sq km
slightly less than 1.8 times the size of the US
Elevation: lowest point:  Caspian Sea -28 m
highest point:  Gora El'brus 5,633 m


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