Transnational Issues Romania
Disputes - international:
has not resolved claims to Ukrainian-administered Zmyinyy (Snake)
Island and Black Sea maritime boundary despite ongoing talks based
on 1997 friendship treaty to find a solution in two years; joint
boundary commission is rectifying boundary with Bulgaria based on
shifts in Danube since last delimitation in 1920; Hungary has yet to
amend status law extending special social and cultural benefits to
ethnic Hungarians in Romania, who protest the law
Illicit drugs:
major transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin transiting the
Balkan route and small amounts of Latin American cocaine bound for
Western Europe
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003
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@Russia
Introduction Russia
Background:
Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led
to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and
to the overthrow in 1917 of the 300-year old Romanov Dynasty. The
Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed
the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53) 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. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues
Russia in Chechnya.
Geography Russia
Location:
Northern Asia (that part west of the Urals is included with
Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North
Pacific Ocean