A small part of Black Sea coast around Sochi is considered in Russia to have subtropical climate.

Russia has quite a few international airports which provide for travel in and out of the country.

Central Powers demanded that large portions of the Russian Empire be ceded to Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire after the Russian Civil War.

Russia's macroeconomic performance in recent years has been impressive (2007). High oil prices and large capital inflows have contributed importantly to this success, but a principal factor has been the combination of strong growth in productivity, real wages, and consumption.

Russia's constitution guarantees free, universal health care for all Russian citizens. While Russia has more physicians, hospitals, and health care workers than almost any other country in the world, it has struggled to provide high levels of health care services. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the health of the Russian population has declined considerably, a result of social, economic, and lifestyle changes.

In the 1930s Stalin made Socialist Realism the state policy, which stifled creativity but many Soviet films in this style were artistically successful, including Chapaev, The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier. The 1980s and '90s were a period of crisis in the Russian cinema. Although Russian filmmakers were free from the diktat of the communist authorities, the industry suffered from drastically reduced state subsidies.

Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since 2003 consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played a significant role.

On March 2 (15), Nicholas II abdicated.To fill the vacuum of authority, the Duma declared a Provisional Government, headed by Prince Lvov. Meanwhile, the socialists in Petrograd organized elections among workers and soldiers to form a soviet (council) of workers' and soldiers' deputies, as an organ of popular power that could pressure the "bougeois" Provisional Government.