ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Russia. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin's support of the US antiterrorism campaign led to concern that Moscow would use its newfound cooperation with Washington to justify hardline policies in Chechnya. In 1994, Russia began overtly to assist Chechen figures opposed to Dudayev, whose rule was marked by corruption and the rise of powerful clans and criminal gangs. Russia's increasingly deliberate and indiscriminate bombing attacks on civilian targets caused sone 200,000 people to flee Chechnya, most to the tiny neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia. Russia's prosecutor-general personally handled the case, underscoring the importance with which federal authorities regarded the trial.
