Russia

Russia - Is officially known as the Russian Federation. Russia is a European Country and Asian Country and shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Caspian Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Black Sea and is also close to the United States and Japan. In December 1991 the USSR splintered into Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state. Russian has one of the world's fastest growing major economies and has the world's eleventh largest Gross Domestic Product. Russia ended 2007 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $470 billion at year end 2007, the third largest reserves in the world.China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with the 2004 Agreement, ending their centuries-long border disputes. Russia has an extremely rich history that dates back to prehistoric times, with steppe civilizations and nomads.