Names: conventional long form: Russian Federation conventional short form: Russia local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya local short form: Rossiya former: Russian Empire, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Capital City: Moscow

Population: 142,893,540 (July 2006 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $12,100 (2006 est.)

Currency: Russian ruble (RUR)

Languages: Russian, many minority languages

Total Area: total: 17,075,200 sq km land: 16,995,800 sq km water: 79,400 sq km approximately 1.8 times the size of the US

Region: Europe

Industries: complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; defense industries including radar, missile production, and advanced electronic components, shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts

Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk

Resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources

Labor Force: 73.88 million (2006 est.)
agriculture: 10.8% industry: 29.1% services: 60.1% (2005 est.)

Exports: $317.6 billion (2006 est.)
petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures

Imports: $171.5 billion (2006 est.)
machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products

Overview: Russia ended 2006 with its eighth straight year of growth, averaging 6.7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble are important drivers of this economic rebound, since 2000 investment and consumer-driven demand have played a noticeably increasing role. Real fixed capital investments have averaged gains greater than 10% over the last five years, and real personal incomes have realized average increases over 12%. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand. Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis. Over the past several years, Russia has used its stabilization fund based on oil taxes to prepay all Soviet-era sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and the IMF. Foreign debt has decreased to 39% of GDP, mainly due to decreasing state debt, while commercial debt to foreigners has risen strongly. Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $315 billion at yearend 2006, the third largest reserves in the world. These achievements, along with a renewed government effort to advance structural reforms and fiscal restraint, have raised business and investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects. Russia's economy grew 6.6% in 2006 and inflation growth was below 10% for the first time in the past 10 years. Russia shows signs of increasing its ties to the global economy, having signed a bilateral market access agreement with the US as a prelude to possible WTO entry. Nevertheless, serious problems persist. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world commodity prices. Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth. The banking system, while growing at a high rate and increasing consumer lending, is still small relative to the banking sectors of Russia's emerging market peers. Domestic and foreign investor sentiment is tempered by political uncertainties ahead of elections, corruption, and widespread lack of trust in institutions. President PUTIN continues to grant more influence to forces within his government that desire to reassert state control over the economy. Government spending has increased and risks becoming populist, most notably in the form of the four "national projects" of agriculture, education, housing, and medicine. Russia has made little progress in building the rule of law, the bedrock of a modern market economy.

_{CIA World Book}

In 2007 Missouri exported $59,764,964 in goods to Russia. This ranks Russia 30^th among the 223 international buyers of Missouri goods. Missouri exports to Russia increased from the previous year by $31,889,111 a change of 114.4%. State exports to Russia have increased over the last 5 years by $53,952,897 a change of 928.29%. Missouri exports account for .45%. of all 2007 US exports to Russia.