The contemporary political history of the Russian Federation

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• The history in general of the Russian Federation

• The Chechen crisis (1991– )
• Russia's foreign relations
• The Yeltsin era (November 1991 to December 1999)
• The Putin era (January 1999–)

Country profile: Russia

BBC News Online, Monday 25 June 2001. A brief compendium of facts.

A culture of turmoil and hopelessness

By Carine Clément and Denis Paillard, Le Monde diplomatique, November 2005. the realities of Russia now undermine Putin's image-building efforts. Besides the harsh government and brutal social relations inherited from Soviet times, Russia is now experiencing the violence of market forces, the cynicism that goes with quantities of money, the creed of every man for himself, the materialism of the consumer society. Here, as elsewhere, humanity is in short supply.