Russia
Home Of The Russians
Russia
Russian dog
Polar Bears in Russia
The Russian Bear is a widespread symbol for Russia, used in cartoons, articles and dramatic plays since as early as the 17th century, and relating alike to Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the present-day Russian Federation.
It often was and is used by Westerners, to begin with especially in Britain and later also in the US, and not always in a flattering context – on occasion it was used to imply that Russia is "big, brutal and clumsy" (see 19th century cartoon below).
The bear image was, however, on various occasions (especially in the 20th century) also taken up by Russians themselves. Having the teddy bear "Misha" as the mascot of the 1980 MoscowOlympic Games was evidently intended to counter the "big and brutal Russian Bear" image with a small, cuddly and smiling bear.
In Russia associations with the image of the bear received relatively mixed reactions. On one hand, Russians themselves appreciate the bear for its raw power and cunning, and bears are very often used as mascots or as a part of a design on a logo. On the other hand, the overuse of the image of the bear by foreigners visiting Russia prior to 20th century lead to the image of bear being a sort of insider joke, postulating that "Russian streets are full of bears" as an example of factually inaccurate information about Russia.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was some support in the Russian Parliament for having a bear as the new Russian coat of arms – with the proposers pointing out that "Russia is anyway identified in the world with the Bear" – though eventually it was the Tsarist coat of arms of the Double-headed eagle that was restored.
Later, the bear was taken up as the symbol of the United Russia Party, which has dominated political life in Russia since the early 2000s. Coincidentally, the surname of Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president elected in 2008, is the possessive adjective of медведь: i.e. his surname means "a bear's".
Domesticated silver fox
The domesticated silver fox is a domesticated form of the silver morph of the red fox. As a result of selective breeding, the new foxes became tamer and more dog-like.
The result of over 50 years of experiments in the Soviet Union and Russia, the breeding project was set up in 1959[1] by Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaev. It continues today at The Institute of Cytology and Genetics at Novosibirsk, under the supervision of Lyudmila Trut.
Russia's location
Where Russia lies on the continents
Russian port
VILNIUS — On a visit to the Kaliningrad exclave Russia’s deputy prime minister said his country plans to upgrade its freight capabilities in its own Baltic seaports to reduce reliance on the Baltic states for cargo.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said that within two to three years the capacity of the Port of Ust-Luga, located near St. Petersburg, would be increased enabling Russian ships to stop using ports in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Russians have been developing the Ust-Luga port for several years to wean off the use of foreign ports in the Baltic Sea, spending 60 billion rubles on the port since 2005. One of Ust-Luga’s principal cargo will be oil pumped through the new BPS-2 pipeline, currently handled by Estonian ports.