ABSTRACT
Sprawling over eleven time zones, Russia is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse countries on earth. In Soviet times, this diversity was dismissed as politically irrelevant, since all important decisions were made in Moscow. With the collapse of the USSR, however, local governments have been forced to assume many responsibilities previously held by national governments. As a result, in post-Soviet Russia regions have become the level of society at which the impact of political and economic reforms are most readily felt. Regional disparities in rates of economic growth range from negative 3 percent to plus 25 percent, while average per capita incomes can differ as much as tenfold among regions.
