Five Major Characteristics Of Russian Culture And The Culture Of Russia

Culture is defined as the beliefs, customs and the arts of a society, group, place, and time (Culture, n.d.). Russia, formerly known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R), is the world’s largest country with over 100 distinct nationalities (McCauley, Dewdney, Conquest, Pipes, 2017). Russia is a rich and vibrant country with a deep history which directly explains their culture. Geography, government (past and present), military force, religious beliefs, and primary languages spoken are five major key characteristics that define a culture. These characteristics will be discussed in detail and how it defines Russia as a culture.
The Russian border stretches over a vast amount of Europe and Asia, with a population of 143,370,426
The President and Prime Minister share governing responsibilities as the head of state and head of government (Pariona, 2016). Vladimir Putin served as the president of Russia from 2000 to 2008, and was re-elected to the presidency in 2012. Dmitry Medvedev, currently serves as the Prime Minister of Russia, who also served as President from 2008 to 2012. President Putin with advisement of his Prime Minster Medvedev ensures the culture of Russia maintains its traditions. Since both were born and raised within Russian culture, helped them to understand the everyday struggle of the working class. This is evident with the latest 2012 Presidential and Government elections, securing 64 percent of the votes. Prior to President Putin’s first term in 2000, was former President Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin believed in both democratic and free market reforms, and played an instrumental role in the collapse of the Soviet Union on December 25th, 1991 (Schmemann, 1991). These actions brought on by former President Yeltsin allowed the export and import of goods from other countries and cultures. President Putin (Vladimir Putin, 2017) stated “The Russian people have never been better off.” The statement couldn’t be further from the truth. Russia has experienced a financial recession since 2015, due to the drop-in oil prices from 53 dollars per barrel to 43 dollars per barrel
Joseph Stalin, the dictator of U.S.S.R until 1953, issued the Scorched Earth policy. This policy was intentional and used to deprive the Germans of useable goods. Western Russia suffered the biggest defeat with over 1,700 towns and 70,000 villages wiped from existence (Davis, 2015). Having little or no livestock led to the famine during the war, but also the years following. Effects of the Scorched Earth policy still play a major role in the western part of the countries agriculture abilities (Davis, 2015). Russia ranks number two of the 133 countries with its military force (2017 Russia Military, 2017). Having the world’s second largest military force, Russia also has the second highest amount of 7,300 nuclear warheads. Allied with the country of Syria, the United States latest barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian Air Force Base on April 4th, 2017 could lead to the next World War (2017 Russia Military, 2017). Both Russia and the United States would have major ramifications to its country and culture if this was to occur. Since that day, Russia made an air defense deal, which could increase the number of incidents between these two powerhouses (2017 Russia Military,