ars of age

Military manpower--availability:
males age 15-49: 5,876,912 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 4,938,953 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--reaching military age annually:
males: 193,264 (1999 est.)

Military expenditures--dollar figure: $650 million (1996)

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 2.5% (1996)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: dispute with Ukraine over continental
shelf of the Black Sea under which significant gas and oil deposits
may exist; agreed in 1997 to two-year negotiating period, after
which either party can refer dispute to the International Court of
Justice

Illicit drugs: important transshipment point for Southwest Asian
heroin transiting the Balkan route and small amounts of Latin
American cocaine bound for Western Europe

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@Russia
------

Introduction

Background: Russia, a vast Eurasian expanse of field, forest,
desert, and tundra, has endured many "times of trouble"--the Mongol
rule of the 13th to 15th century; czarist reigns of terror; massive
invasions by Swedes, French, and Germans; and the deadly communist
period (1917-91) in which Russia dominated an immense Soviet Union.
General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV, in charge during 1985-91,
introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an
attempt to modernize communism, but also inadvertently released
forces that shattered the USSR into 15 independent republics in
December 1991. 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.
These reform efforts have resulted in contradictory and confusing
economic and political regulations and practices. Industry,
agriculture, the military, the central government, and the ruble
have suffered, but Russia has successfully held one presidential,
two legislative, and numerous regional elections since 1991. The
severe illnesses of President Boris YEL'TSIN have contributed to a
lack of policy focus at the center.

Geography

Location: Northern Asia (that part west of the Urals is sometimes
included with Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe
and the North Pacific Ocean

Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N