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Viktor Chernomyrdin

Viktor Chernomyrdin

Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин) (born April 9, 1938) is a Russian politician. Chernomyrdin was the Prime Minister of Russia from 1992 to 1998. Since 2001, he has been Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. He is also a Russian business oligarch. Le Monde once estimated Chernomyrdin has assets of $5 billion; but Chernomyrdin stated in 1996 his assets totaled $46000. Viktor Chernomyrdin is a target of numerous jokes for his notoriously grammatically incorrect speech. One of his expressions "We meant to do better, but it came out as always" became a popular proverb (Хотели как лучше, а получилось как всегда in Russian). This was said by him after an highly unsuccessful monetary exchange performed by the Russian Central Bank in July 1993. In 2003, he dismissed talk of an apology for the Holodomor Famine by saying: "We're not going to apologise... there is nobody to apologise to." [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4471256.stm]

Youth and education

Chernomyrdin's father was a labourer. Viktor was one of his five children. Chernomyrdin completed school education in 1957 and found employment as a mechanic in an oil refinery in Orsk. He worked there until 1962, except for two years of compulsory military service from 1957 to 1960. His other occupations on the plant during this period included machinist, operator and chief of technical installations. He became a member of the CPSU in 1961. In 1966 he completed education at Kuybyshev Industrial Institute (which was later renamed Samara Polytechnic Institute). In 1972 he completed further studies at the Department of Economics of the Union-wide Polytechnic Institute by correspondence.

Career

During 1967-1973 he was involved in CPSU work in Orsk. During 1973-1978 he worked as the director of the natural gas plant in Orenburg. During 1978-1982 he worked in the heavy industry arm of CC CPSU. In 1982, he was appointed deputy Minister of the natural gas industries of the Soviet Union. Concurrently, beginning from 1983, he directed Glavtyumengazprom, an industry association for natural gas resource development in Tyumen Oblast. During 1985-1989 he was the Minister of gas industries. In 1989, when the Ministry of Oil and Gas was converted into the government company Gazprom, Chernomyrdin was elected its chairman. In May 1992, Boris Yeltsin appointed Chernomyrdin deputy prime minister in charge of fuel and energy. In December 1992, Chernomyrdin became prime minister of the Russian Federation. In April 1995 he formed a political bloc called Our Home — Russia, which was aimed at becoming the central force in the parliament, but failed in this, gaining only 10% of votes. During the summer of 1995, Chernomyrdin was involved in direct negotiations with the Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, whose armed group has taken hostages in a hospital in Budennovsk. Some of the hostages were released after the negotiations. Chernomyrdin remained prime minister until his dismissal in 1998. Following the default in August 1998, Yeltsin offered Chernomyrdin's re-appointment to the position of prime minister, but the Duma rejected the offer. In December 1999 he was elected a member of the Duma. In May 2001, Vladimir Putin appointed Chernomyrdin ambassador to Ukraine. This action was interpreted by some Russian media agencies as a move to distance Chernomyrdin from the centre of Russian politics. Chernomyrdin, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Viktor ja:ヴィクトル・チェルノムイルジン

April 9

April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). There are 266 days remaining.

Events

- 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
- 1241 - Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeats the Polish and German armies.
- 1667: First ever public art exhibition opens in Paris
- 1682 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield - Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign is thwarted by Confederate General Richard Taylor's forces at Mansfield, Louisiana.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
- 1867 - Alaska purchase: By a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
- 1909 - The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.
- 1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opens.
- 1916 - World War I: Battle of Verdun - German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
- 1917 - World War I: Battle of Arras - The battle begins with Canadian forces executing a massive assault on the Vimy Ridge.
- 1939 - Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after having been refused the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
- 1942 - Second World War: Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March - United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
- 1945 - The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk.
- 1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward Tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
- 1947 - The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride of 16 black and white men traveling through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws begins. The riders, sponsored by CORE and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, are seeking to force southern states to enforce the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
- 1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La violencia).
- 1948 - Massacre at Deir Yassin.
- 1949 - The Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force is formed.
- 1953 - Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film, entitled House of Wax
- 1959 - Mercury program: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts which the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
- 1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.
- 1969 - The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty on federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1986 - The government of France rules against the privatization of French automaker Renault.
- 1987 - Dikye Baggett becomes the first person to undergo corrective surgery for Parkinson's disease.
- 1991 - Georgia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1992 - Manuel Noriega is convicted of eight crimes.
- 1992 - John Major wins the UK general election.
- 1998 - The National Prisoner of War Museum is dedicated in Andersonville, Georgia, on the site of an American Civil War POW camp.
- 1999 - Ismail Omar Guelleh is elected president of Djibouti.
- 1999 - Nigerian President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara is assassinated.
- 2002 - The funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey.
- 2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: The Ba'ath regime headed by Saddam Hussein in Iraq is deposed.
- 2004 - 2004 KBR Convoy Attacked on BIAP highway: Nine KBR civilians were killed. KBR convoy commander Thomas Hamill captured. Two US Army soldiers killed. The fuel convoy from LSA Anaconda was delivering fuel to Baghdad Airport when insurgents attacked the convoy with small arms fire and RPG's. KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton.
- 2005 - HRH Charles, Prince of Wales weds Camilla Parker Bowles

Births

- 1336 - Tamerlane, Turkish conqueror (d. 1405)
- 1498 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (d. 1550)
- 1597 - John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (d. 1670)
- 1648 - Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
- 1649 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II of England (d. 1685)
- 1680 - Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist (d. 1754)
- 1686 - James Craggs the Younger, English politician (d. 1721)
- 1691 - Johann Matthias Gesner, German classical scholar (d. 1761)
- 1757 - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (d. 1833)
- 1770 - Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist (d. 1831)
- 1773 - Étienne Aignan, French writer (d. 1824)
- 1794 - Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute (d. 1881)
- 1806 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer (d. 1859)
- 1821 - Charles Baudelaire, French poet (d. 1867)
- 1830 - Eadweard Muybridge, English-born photographer and motion picture pioneer (d. 1904)
- 1835 - King Léopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
- 1865 - Erich Ludendorff, German general in World War I (d. 1937)
- 1867 - Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
- 1872 - Léon Blum, French prime minister (d. 1950)
- 1888 - Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (d. 1974)
- 1889 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (d. 1985)
- 1897 - John B. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (d. 1974)
- 1898 - Curly Lambeau, American football coach, executive (d. 1965)
- 1898 - Paul Robeson, American singer and activist (d. 1976)
- 1903 - Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1904 - Sharkey Bonano, American musician (d. 1972)
- 1905 - J. William Fulbright, U.S. Senator from Arkansas (d. 1995)
- 1906 - Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
- 1908 - Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-born painter (d. 1997)
- 1910 - Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (d. 1998)
- 1912 - Lew Kopelew, Russian author (d. 1997)
- 1917 - Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Jørn Utzon, Danish architect
- 1919 - J. Presper Eckert, American computer pioneer
- 1926 - Hugh Hefner, American editor and publisher
- 1928 - Tom Lehrer, American musician and mathematician
- 1932 - Jim Fowler, American zoologist
- 1932 - Carl Perkins, American musician (d. 1998)
- 1933 - Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
- 1935 - Avery Schreiber, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1937 - Marty Krofft, children's television producer
- 1938 - Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician
- 1939 - Michael Learned, American actress
- 1942 - Brandon De Wilde, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1945 - Peter Gammons, baseball journalist
- 1954 - Dennis Quaid, American actor
- 1954 - Iain Duncan Smith, British politician
- 1957 - Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer
- 1962 - Imran Sherwani, British field hockey player
- 1965 - Jeff Zucker, American television executive
- 1966 - Cynthia Nixon, American actress
- 1971 - Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
- 1974 - Jenna Jameson, American adult entertainer
- 1975 - Robbie Fowler, English footballer
- 1977 - Gerard Way, American singer (My Chemical Romance)
- 1978 - Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
- 1978 - Rachel Stevens, English singer
- 1979 - Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
- 1987 - Jesse McCartney, American singer/actor
- 1998 - Elle Fanning, American actress

Deaths

- 491 - Zeno, Byzantine Emperor
- 715 - Pope Constantine
- 1024 - Pope Benedict VIII
- 1137 - William X, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
- 1483 - King Edward IV of England (b. 1442)
- 1484 - Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (b. 1473)
- 1553 - François Rabelais, French writer
- 1557 - Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (b. 1510)
- 1626 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist (b. 1561)
- 1693 - Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (b. 1618)
- 1739 - Nicolas Saunderson, English scientist and mathematician (b. 1682)
- 1747 - Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief
- 1754 - Christian Wolff, German philosopher (b. 1679)
- 1761 - William Law, English minister (b. 1686)
- 1804 - Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
- 1806 - William V of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic
- 1889 - Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist (b. 1786)
- 1917 - James Hope Moulton, English scholar of Classical Greek (b. 1863)
- 1936 - Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (b. 1855)
- 1940 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
- 1944 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1920)
- 1945 - Wilhelm Canaris, German Nazi leader (b. 1887)
- 1945 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (executed) (b. 1906)
- 1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903).
- 1959 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
- 1961 - King Zog of Albania (b. 1895)
- 1963 - Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
- 1976 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1903)
- 1976 - Phil Ochs, American singer (b. 1940)
- 1988 - Brook Benton, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1991 - Martin Hannett, record producer (b. 1948)
- 1996 - Richard Condon, American novelist (b. 1915)
- 1996 - James W. Rouse, American real estate developer, activist, and philanthropist (b. 1914)
- 1997 - Laura Nyro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
- 1999 - Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Niger politician and general (b. 1949)
- 2001 - Willie Stargell, baseball player (b. 1940)
- 2002 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
- 2005 - Andrea Dworkin, American feminist and writer (b.

Holidays and observances

- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Jalál (Glory) - First day of the second month of the Bahá'í Calendar
- Good Friday (2004)
- Bataan Day (Day of Valor - Araw ng Kagitingan) in the Philippines

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/4/9 Today in History: April 9] ---- April 8 - April 10 - March 9 - May 9 -- listing of all days ko:4월 9일 ms:9 April ja:4月9日 simple:April 9 th:9 เมษายน

1938

1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-March

common year starting on Saturday
- January 5 - H.R.H. Prince Juan Carlos of Spain is born.
- January 3 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
- January 11 - Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
- January 20 - Wedding of King Farouk I of Egypt and Queen Farida Zulficar in Cairo
- January 28 - The first ski tow in America begins operation in Vermont.
- January 31 - Crown princess Beatrix is born in Netherlands
- February 4 - Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens (New York City).
- February 10 - Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers
- February 12 - World War II: German troops enter Austria
- February 24 - A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.
- March 3 - Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
- March 12 - Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
- March 15 - Soviet Union announces officially that Nikholai Bukharin has been executed
- March 18 - Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.

April-June

- April 12 - Edouard Daladier becomes president of France
- April 25 - U.S. Supreme Court delivers opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
- April 28 - The towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott in Massachusetts are disincorporated to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.
- May 5 - Vatican recognizes Franco's government in Spain
- May 25 - Bombing of Alicante, Spain, in the Spanish Civil War, with 313 deads. Spanish Civil War
- June 1 - Action Comics issues the first Superman comic.
- June 11 - Fire destroys 212 buildings in Ludes, Latvia
- June 12-18 - Roma and Sinti in Germany and Austria are rounded up, beaten up and jailed
- June 19 - Italy beat Hungary 4-2 to win the 1938 World Cup
- June 23 - The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
- June 23 - Marineland opens near St. Augustine, Florida.
- June 25 - Dr. Douglas Hyde is elected the first President of Ireland.
- June 28 - A 450 metric ton meteorite struck the earth in an empty field near Chicora, Pennsylvania

July-September

- July 3 - Steam locomotive "Mallard" sets the world speed record for steam by reaching 126 mph.
- July 3 - The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemerates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
- July 10 - Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.
- July - Building of the concentration camp Mauthausen
- August 18 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- September - European crisis over German demand for annexation of Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia.
- September 21 - A large hurricane (the New England Hurricane of 1938) strikes Long Island, killing 600 people.
- September 29 - Munich agreement of German, Italian, British and French leaders agrees to German demands regarding annexation of Sudetenland.
- September 29 - Republic of Hatay declared in Syria

October-December

Syria returns to the UK waving the Munich Agreement.]]
- October 1 - German troops march into Sudetenland
- October 5 - Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia, resigns
- October 10 - The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario
- October 17 - Jan Syrovy's government begins in Czechoslovakia
- October 27 - Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: "nylon".
- October 30 - Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing mass panic in the eastern United States.
- October 31 - Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
- November 9 - Holocaust: Kristallnacht begins - In Germany, the "night of broken glass" begins as Nazi troops and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses (the all night affair saw 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested).
- November 10 - On the eve of Armistice Day, Kate Smith sings Irving Berlin's God Bless America for the first time on her weekly radio show.
- November 18 - Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
- November 30 - Czech parliament elects Emil Hácha as the new president of Czechoslovakia.
- December 23 - Coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct, caught off the coast of South Africa near Chalumna River

Unknown dates

- Italian mathematician Ettore Majorano disappears
- In Québec, the St. Jean Baptiste Society raises a petition of 128,000 names, demanding restrictions on Jews living in Quebec. Abbe Groulx denounces Jews as a race that refuses to be assimilated.
- In West Java, Daeng Soetigna tuned traditional angklung to play also diatonic scale.
- The Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.
- Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year" (as most influential during the course of the year, not as 'best' man of the year)
- Enoch A. Holtwick began long political career.

Ongoing events

- Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Births

January-February

- January 2 - Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
- January 2 - Ian Brady, British serial killer
- January 5 - King Juan Carlos I of Spain
- January 8 - Bob Eubanks, American game show host
- January 10 - Donald Knuth, American mathematician and computer scientist
- January 10 - Willie McCovey, baseball player
- January 14 - Jack Jones, American singer and actor
- January 18 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
- January 23 - Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
- January 25 - Etta James, American singer
- January 31 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
- February 1 - Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor
- February 8 - Prentice Gautt, American football player
- February 11 - Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer
- February 11 - Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator
- February 12 - Judy Blume, American author
- February 13 - Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
- February 18 - Istvan Szabo, Hungarian director
- February 24 - Phil Knight, American sportswear entrepreneur
- February 25 - Herb Elliott, Australian runner

March-April

- March 4 - Don Perkins, American football player
- March 7 - David Baltimore, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- March 7 - Janet Guthrie, American race car driver
- March 13 - Erma Franklin, American singer (d. 2002)
- March 17 - Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
- March 18 - Charley Pride, American baseball player and musician
- March 23 - Maynard Jackson, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (d. 2003)
- March 25 - Hoyt Axton, American musician and actor (d. 1999)
- March 26 - Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 1 - John Quade, American actor
- April 4 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, American president of Yale University and baseball commissioner (d. 1989)
- April 8 - Kofi Annan, Ghanaian Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- April 10 - Don Meredith, American football player and broadcaster
- April 11 - Kurt Moll, German bass
- April 12 - Roger Caron, Canadian author
- April 26 - Duane Eddy, American musician
- April 29 - Larry Niven, American author

May-July

- May 17 - Jason Bernard, American actor (d. 1996)
- May 22 - Richard Benjamin, American actor
- May 26 - William Bolcom, American composer
- May 26 - Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano
- May 31 - Johnny PayCheck, American singer (d. 2003)
- May 31 - Peter Yarrow, American singer
- June 5 - Karin Balzer, German athlete
- June 7 - Goose Gonsoulin, American football player
- June 15 - Billy Williams, baseball player
- June 19 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and professional wrestler (d. 2002)
- June 28 - Moy Yat, Chinese martial artist
- July 4 - Bill Withers, American singer and songwriter
- July 6 - Tony Lewis, English cricketer
- July 12 - Wieger Mensonides, Dutch swimmer
- July 19 - Jayant Narlikar, Indian Astrophysicist
- July 20 - Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
- July 23 - Juliet Anderson, American actress
- July 23 - Bert Newton, Australian actor and televison show host
- July 27 - Gary Gygax, American author
- July 28 - Alberto Fujimori, Peruvian president
- July 29 - Peter Jennings, Canadian-born television news reporter (d. 2005)

August-October

- August 9 - Ezola Broussard Foster, Vice President of the United States
- August 9 - Rod Laver, Australian tennis player
- August 15 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer
- August 19 - Diana Muldaur, American actress
- August 22 - Paul Maguire, American football player
- August 24 - Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician
- August 24 - David Freiberg, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship)
- August 28 - Maurizio Costanzo, Italian television news reporter
- August 28 - Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada
- August 31 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician
- September 2 - Clarence Felder, American actor
- September 3 - Ryoji Noyori, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 10 - Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer and photographer
- September 13 - John Smith, Scottish politician (d. 1994)
- September 22 - Gene Mingo, American football player
- September 25 - Jonathan Motzfeldt, Prime Minister of Greenland
- September 29 - Wim Kok, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- October 3 - Eddie Cochran, American singer (d. 1960)
- October 4 - Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 9 - Heinz Fischer, Austrian politician
- October 14 - Farah Diba, Empress of Iran
- October 15 - Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and activist (d. 1997)
- October 23 - H. John Heinz III, U.S. Senator (d. 1991)
- October 29 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberian president-elect

November-December

- November 2 - Patrick Joseph Buchanan, American journalist and Presidential candidate
- November 6 - Mack Jones, baseball player (d. 2004)
- November 13 - Jean Seberg, American actress
- November 16 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (d. 2002)
- November 26 - Porter J. Goss, American politician and Central Intelligence Agency director
- December 4 - Andre V. Marrou, U.S. Presidential candidate
- December 4 - Yvonne Minton, Australian soprano
- December 15 - Billy Shaw, American football player
- December 16 - Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
- December 17 - Peter Snell, New Zealand athlete

Fictional

- September - Freddy Krueger, child murderer (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

Deaths

- January 20 - Émile Cohl, French caricaturist and animator (b. 1857)
- January 21 - Georges Méliès, French film director (b. 1861)
- January 28 - Bernd Rosemeyer, German racing driver (b. 1909)
- February 2 - Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (b. 1856)
- February 7 - Harvey Firestone, American manufacturer (b. 1868)
- February 18 - David King Udall, American politician (b. 1851)
- February 19 - Edmund Landau, German mathematician (b. 1877)
- March 1 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer, war hero, and politician (b. 1863)
- March 2 - Ben Harney, American composer and pianist (b. 1871)
- March 13 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Soviet politician (b. 1888)
- March 13 - Clarence Darrow, American attorney (b. 1857)
- April 8 - Joe "King" Oliver, American musician (b. 1885)
- April 12 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b. 1873)
- April 16 - Steve Bloomer, English footballer (b. 1874)
- April 21 - Allama Iqbal, Indian philosopher and poet (b. 1877)
- April 26 - Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (b. 1859)
- May 4 - Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1889)
- May 13 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- May 26 - John Jacob Abel, American pharmacologist (b. 1857)
- August 1 - Edmund Charles Tarbell, American artist (b. 1862)
- August 7 - Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor (b. 1863)
- August 16 - Robert Johnson, American musician (b. 1911)
- September 17 - Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (b. 1901)
- October 22 - May Irwin, Canadian actress and singer (b. 1862)
- October 24 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and poet (b. 1870)
- October 27 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (b. 1881)
- November 10 - Kemal Atatürk, President of Turkey (b. 1881)
- December 11 - Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1869)
- December 25 - Karel Čapek, Czech author (b. 1890)
- December 28 - Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (b. 1886)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Enrico Fermi
- Chemistry - Richard Kuhn
- Medicine - Corneille Jean François Heymans
- Literature - Pearl S. Buck
- Peace - Nansen International Office For Refugees, Geneva. Category:1938 ko:1938년 ms:1938 ja:1938年 simple:1938 th:พ.ศ. 2481

Russia

The Russian Federation (, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,200 km² (6,595,600 mi²), it is the largest country in the world (by land mass), covering almost twice the territory of the next-largest country, Canada. It ranks eighth in the world in population. It shares land borders with the following countries (counter-clockwise from NW to SE): Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (only through Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It is also close to the United States and Japan across stretches of water: the Diomede Islands (one controlled by Russia, the other by the United States) are just 3 km apart, and Kunashir Island (controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan) is about 20 kilometers from Hokkaido. Formerly the dominant republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Russia is now an independent country, and an influential member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, since the Union's dissolution in December 1991. During the Soviet era, Russia was officially called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Russia is usually considered the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic matters. Most of the area, population, and industrial production of the Soviet Union, then one of the world's two superpowers, lay in Russia. After the breakup of the USSR, Russia's global role was greatly diminished, and cannot be compared to that of the former Soviet Union. In October 2005, the federal statistics agency reported that Russia's population has shrunk by more than half a million people dipping to 143 million.

History

Ancient Rus

:This section covers the pre-Russ ancient history of present Russia and its early medieval period, which is historically referred to as Ancient Rus. The vast lands of present Russia were home to disunited tribes who were variously overwhelmed by invading Goths, Huns, and Turkish Avars between the third and sixth centuries C.E. The Iranian Scythians populated the southern steppes, and a Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the western portion of these lands through the 8th century. They in turn were displaced by a group of Scandinavians, the Varangians, who established a capital at the Slavic city of Novgorod and gradually merged with Slavic ruling classes. The Slavs constituted the bulk of the population from the 8th century onwards and slowly assimilated both the Scandinavians as well as native Finno-Ugric tribes, such as the Merya, the Muromians and the Meshchera. Meshchera The Varangian dynasty lasted several centuries, during which they affiliated with the Byzantine, or Orthodox church and moved the capital to Kiev in 1169 A.D. In this era the term "Rhos", or "Russ", first came to be applied to the Varangians and later also to the Slavs who peopled the region. In the 10th to 11th centuries this state of Kievan Rus became the largest in Europe and was quite prosperous, due to diversified trade with both Europe and Asia. Nomadic Turkic people Kipchaks (Polovtsi) conquered southern Russia at the end of 11th century and founded a nomadic state in the steppes along the Black Sea (Desht-e-Kipchak). In the 13th century the area suffered from internal disputes and was overrun by eastern invaders, the Golden Horde of the pagan Mongols and Muslim Turkic-speaking nomads who pillaged the Russian principalities for over three centuries. Also known as the Tatars, they ruled the southern and central expanses of present-day Russia, while its western zone was largely incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. The political dissolution of Kievan Rus divided the Russian people in the north from the Belarusians and Ukrainians in the west. The northern part of Russia together with Novgorod retained some degree of autonomy during the time of the Mongol yoke and was largely spared the atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Nevertheless it had to fight the Germanic crusaders who attempted to colonize the region. Like in the Balkans and Asia Minor long-lasting nomadic rule retarded the country's economic and social development. Asian autocratic influences degraded many of the country's democratic institutions and affected its culture and economy in a very negative way. In spite of this, unlike its spiritual leader, the Byzantine Empire, Russia was able to revive, and organized its own war of reconquest, finally subjugating its enemies and annexing their territories. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Russia remained the only more or less functional Christian state on the Eastern European frontier, allowing it to claim succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Imperial Russia

While still nominally under the domain of the Mongols, the duchy of Moscow began to assert its influence, and eventually tossed off the control of the invaders late in the 14th century. In the beginning of the 16th century the Russian state set the national goal to return all Russian territories lost as a result of the Mongolian invasion and to protect the borderland against attacks of hordes. The noblemen, receiving a manor from the sovereign, were obliged to serve in the army. The manor system became a basis for the nobiliary horse army. The Russian state persistently battled against Nogai-Horde and Crimean khanat which were successors of the Golden Horde. Russians, captivated by nomads, were on sale on Crimean slave markets. In 1571 Crimean khan Devlet-Girei, with a horde of 120 thousand horsemen, devastated Moscow. Annually thousands of Russians became victims of attacks by nomads. Tens of thousand of soldiers protected the southern borderland--a heavy burden for the state--which slowed its social and economic development. Ivan the Great first took the title Tsar (from the Roman Caesar, also written Czar) of Moscow following his marriage to Sofia, a Byzantine Princess (niece of the last Byzantine Emperor) consolidated surrounding areas under Moscow's dominion. At the end of 16 centuries Russian cossacks established the first settlements in Western Siberia. To the middle of 17th century Russian settlements were in Eastern Siberia, on Chukotka, the river Amur, coast of Pacific ocean. In 1648 Cossack Semyon Dezhnev opened the passage between America and Asia. The Russian Empire was born. Russian Empire] Muscovite control of the nascent nation continued after the Polish intervention 1605-1612 under the subsequent Romanov dynasty, beginning with Tsar Michael Romanov in 1613. Peter the Great, who ruled from 1689 to 1725, succeeded in bringing ideas and culture from Western Europe to a Russia which had been affected by primitive nomadic cultures. Catherine the Great, ruling from 1762 to 1796, enhanced this effort, establishing Russia not just as an Asian power, but on an equal footing with Britain, France, and Germany in Europe. She enlarged the Russian territory by the Partitions of Poland. Russia has taken territories with the ethnic Belarus and Ukrainian population, earlier parts of the medieval Kievan Rus'. As a result of victorious Russian-Turkish wars Russia reached to Black sea and has set as the purpose protection of Balkan Christians against a Turkish yoke. In 1783 Russia and Georgian Kingdom (which was almost totally devastated by Persian and Turkish invasions) have signed the treatise of Georgiev according to which Georgia has received protection of Russia. In 1812, having gathered nearly half a million soldiers from France, as well as from all of its vassal states in Europe, Napoleon entered Russia and was defeated by Russian troops. In 1813 Russian army defeated the French armies in Germany. Russia has won in the War of 1877-1878 and Ottoman Empire recognized the independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and autonomy of Bulgaria. Unrest of the peasants and suppression of the growing Intelligentsia were continuing problems however, and on the eve of World War I, the position of Tsar Nicholas II and his dynasty appeared precarious. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the Romanovs. At the close of this Russian Revolution of 1917, a Marxist political faction called the Bolsheviks seized power in St. Petersburg and Moscow under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin. The Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Party. A bloody civil war ensued, pitting the Bolsheviks' Red Army against a loose confederation of anti-socialist monarchist and bourgeois forces known as the White Army. The Red Army triumphed, and the Soviet Union was formed in 1922.

Russia as part of Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was to be a transnational worker's state free from nationalism, which Leninism teaches is a ruse used by the bourgeoisie to keep the international working classes from realizing their common exploited position and overthrowing the bourgeois. The concept of Russia as a separate national entity was therefore downplayed in the early Soviet Union. Although Russian institutions and cities certainly remained dominant, many non-Russians participated in the new government at all levels. One of these was a Georgian named Joseph Stalin. A brief power struggle ensued after Lenin's death in 1924. Stalin gradually eroded the various checks and balances which had been designed into the Soviet political system and assumed dictatorial power by the end of the decade. Leon Trotsky and almost all other Old Bolsheviks from the time of the Revolution were killed or exiled. As the 1930s began, Stalin launched the Great Purges, a massive series of political repressions. Millions of people who Stalin suspected of being a threat to his power in some way were executed or exiled to Gulag labor camps in remote areas of Siberia. Stalin forced rapid industrialization of the largely rural country and collectivization of its agriculture. Stalin also strengthened Russian dominance within the Soviet Union as he buttressed his own hold on power. In 1928, Stalin introduced his "First Five-Year Plan" for modernizing the Soviet economy. Most economic output was immediately diverted to establishing heavy industry. Civilian industry was modernized and heavy weapon factories established with German and US assistance. The plan worked, in some sense, as the Soviet Union successfully transformed from an agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in an unbelievably short span of time, but widespread misery and famine ensued for many millions of people as a result of the severe economic upheaval. In 1939 the USSR was in strong opposition to nazi Germany, and supported the republicans in Spain who struggled against German and Italian troops. However, in 1938 Germany and the other major European powers signed the Munich treaty. Germany then divided Czechoslovakia with Poland. The Soviet government, being afraid of a German attack to the USSR, began diplomatic maneuvers. In 1939 Poland refused to participate in any measures of collective safety, so the USSR signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. On September, 17, 1939, when German armies were within 150 kilometers of the Soviet border, the Soviet army invaded eastern portions of Poland, populated by ethnic Ukrainians and Belorussians. The Soviet Union staged an artillery attack it claimed had come from neighboring Finland, and invaded it in an attempt to secure itself against future invasion by Germany (which Finland had good relations with) and to gain control of the country, separating it from Europe, and most importantly, from Germany. This conflict is now known as the Winter War. The invasion was a slight disappointment as only the eastern parts of Finland (Karelia) were occupied. This lead to Finland allying with Germany in order to gain revenge. Germany and its allies (Hungary, Italy, Finland, Romania) invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Although the Wehrmacht reached the outskirts of Moscow, the Red Army stopped the Nazi offensive at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, which became the decisive turning point for Germany's fortunes in the war. The Soviets drove through Eastern Europe and captured Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945 (see Great Patriotic War). About 10 million Soviet citizens became victims of the oppressive policies and war crimes of Germany and its allies in the occupied territory. Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as an acknowledged great power. The Red Army occupied Eastern Europe after the war, including the eastern half of Germany. Stalin installed loyal Communist governments in these satellite states. During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, with control always exerted exclusively from Moscow. The Soviets extracted heavy war reparations from the areas of Germany under their control, mostly in the form of machinery and industrial equipment. The Soviet Union consolidated its hold on eastern Europe (see Eastern bloc). The United States helped the western European countries establish democracies, and both countries sought to achieve economic, political, and ideological dominance over the Third World. The ensuing struggle became known as the Cold War, which turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, into its foes. Stalin died in early 1953 without leaving any instructions for the selection of a successor. His closest associates officially decided to rule the Soviet Union jointly, but secret police chief Lavrenty Beria appeared poised to seize dictatorial control. General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev organized an anti-Beria alliance and staged a coup d'etat. Beria was arrested in June of 1953 and executed later that year; Khrushchev became the undisputed leader of the USSR. Under Khrushchev, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the earth. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy toward China and the United States suffered reverses, notably the Cuban Missile Crisis, when he began installing nuclear missles in Cuba and nearly provoked a war with the United States. Over the course of several angry outbursts at the United Nations, Khrushchev was increasingly seen by his colleagues as belligerent, boorish, and dangerous. The remainder of the Soviet leadership removed him from power in 1964. Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued, lasting until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political life. Brezhnev is frequently derided by historians for stagnating the development of the Soviet Union. In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change. In the mid and late 1980s, the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. He introduced the landmark policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), in an attempt to modernize Soviet communism. Glasnost meant that the harsh restrictions on free speech that had characterized most of the Soviet Union's existence were removed, and open political discourse and criticism of the government became possible again. Perestroika meant sweeping economic reforms designed to decentralize the planning of the Soviet economy. However, his initiatives provoked strong resentment amongst conservative elements of the government, and an unsuccessful military coup that attempted to remove Gorbachev from power instead led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin seized power in Russia and declared the end of exclusive Communist rule. The USSR splintered into 15 independent republics, and was officially dissolved in December of 1991 (see History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)). Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and a market economy to replace the strict centralized social, political, and economic controls of the Soviet era.

Post-Soviet Russia

market economy Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin had been elected President of Russia in June 1991 in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. In October 1991, as Russia was on the verge of independence, Yeltsin announced that Russia would proceed with radical market-oriented reform along the lines of Poland's "big bang," also known as "shock therapy." After the disintegration of the USSR, the economy of Russia went through a crisis. Outside Russia, in the newly independent states, were most of the nonfreezing ports, consumer goods factories, former Soviet pipelines, and significant numbers of the hi-tech enterprises (including the atomic power station). In Russia there was mainly heavy and military industry. Russia has taken up the responsibility for payment of the USSR's external debts, though its population is 50% of the population of the USSR. The largest state enterprises (a petroleum industry, metallurgy) have been privatized for the small sum of $US 600 million, which is far less than they were worth. Russia's Congress of People's Deputies attempted to impeach Yeltsin on 1993-03-26. Yeltsin's opponents gathered more than 600 votes for impeachment, but fell 72 votes short. On 1993-09-21, Yeltsin disbanded the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of People's Deputies by decree, which was illegal under the constitution. On September 21 there was a military showdown, the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993. With military help, Yeltsin held control. The conflict resulted in a number of civilian casualties, and was resolved in Yeltsin's favor. Elections were held on 1993-12-12. Since the Chechnyan seperatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between disparate Chechen groups and the Russian military. Some of these groups have become increasingly Islamist over the course of the struggle. It is estimated that over 200,000 people have died in this conflict. Minor conflicts also exist in North Ossetia and Ingushetia. After Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990s, Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000. Under Putin, the intensified state control of the Russian media has raised Western concerns over Russian civil liberties. At the same time, the rising oil prices, tensions, and war in the Middle East have helped increase Russia's revenue from oil production and export, and have stimulated economic expansion. Putin's presidency has shown improvements in the Russian standard of living, as compared to the 1990s; despite acute crises, human rights abuses, and largely criticized government failures.

Politics

The Russian Federation is a federal republic with a president, directly elected for a four-year term, who holds considerable executive power. The president, who resides in the Kremlin, nominates the highest state officials, including the prime minister (or premier), who must be approved by the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, and governors, who must be approved by regional legislatures. The president can pass decrees (executive orders) without consent from Parliament and is also head of the armed forces and of the Russian National Security Council. Russia's bicameral parliament, the Federal Assembly (Russian: Федеральное Собрание, English transliteration: Federalnoye Sobraniye) consists of an upper house known as the Federation Council (Совет Федерации, Sovet Federatsii), composed of 178 delegates, which are appointed by executive and legislative bodies of each of 89 federal subjects for the term of four or five years, and a lower house known as the State Duma (Государственная Дума, Gosudarstvennaya Duma), comprising 450 deputies also serving a four-year term, of which 225 are elected by direct popular vote from single member constituencies and 225 are elected by proportional representation from nation-wide party lists. From the next elections, which are to be held in December 2007, all 450 members of the Duma will be elected from party lists.

Subdivisions

:See also: Federal districts of Russia, Federal subjects of Russia, Republics of Russia, Oblasts of Russia, Krais of Russia, Autonomous Oblasts of Russia, Autonomous Districts of Russia, Federal cities of Russia. Federal cities of Russia The Russian Federation consists of a great number of different federal subjects, making a total of 88 constituent components. There are 21 republics within the federation that enjoy a high degree of autonomy on most issues and these correspond to some of Russia's ethnic minorities. The remaining territory consists of 48 oblasts (provinces) and 7 krais (territories), as well as 9 autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts), and 1 autonomous oblast. Beyond these there are two federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg). Recently, seven extensive federal districts (four in Europe, three in Asia) have been added as a new layer between the above subdivisions and the national level.

Geography
federal districts The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the supercontinent of Eurasia. Although it contains a large share of the world's Arctic and sub-Arctic areas, and therefore has less population, economic activity, and physical variety per unit area than most countries, the great area south of these still accommodates a great variety of landscapes and climates. Most of Russia is in zones of a continental and Arctic climate. Russia is the coldest country of the world. Mid-annual temperature is −5,5 °C (for comparison, in Iceland +1,2 °C, in Sweden +4 °C). Most of the land consists of vast plains, both in the European part and the Asian part that is largely known as Siberia. These plains are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. The permafrost (areas of Siberia and the Far East) occupies more than half of territory of Russia. Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, Russia's and Europe's highest point at 5,633 m) and the Altai, and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes on Kamchatka. The more central Ural Mountains, a north-south range that form the primary divide between Europe and Asia, are also notable. Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as more or less inland seas such as the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas. Some smaller bodies of water are part of the open oceans; the Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea are part of the Arctic, whereas the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan belong to the Pacific Ocean. Major islands found in them include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz-Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. (See List of islands of Russia). Many rivers flow across Russia. See Rivers of Russia. Major lakes include Lake Baikal, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. See List of lakes in Russia.
Borders
The most practical way to describe Russia is as a main part (a large contiguous portion with its off-shore islands) and an exclave (at the southeast corner of the Baltic Sea). The main part's borders and coasts (starting in the far northwest and proceeding counter-clockwise) are:
- borders with the following countries: Norway and Finland,
- a short coast on the Baltic Sea, facing eight other countries on its shores from Finland to Estonia and including the port of St. Petersburg,
- borders with Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine,
- a coast on the Black Sea, facing five other countries on its shores from Ukraine to Georgia,
- borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan,
- a coast on the Caspian Sea, facing four other countries on its shores from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan,
- borders with Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea,
- an extensive coastline that provides access with all the maritime nations of the world, and stretches
- from the North Pacific Ocean including
- the Sea of Japan (where the west shore of Russia's Sakhalin lies),
- the Sea of Okhotsk (where the east shore of Sakhalin and its Kurile Islands lie), and
- the Bering Sea,
- through the Bering Strait (where its minor island of Big Diomede is separated by only a few miles from Little Diomede, a part of the US state of Alaska),
- to the Arctic Ocean, including
- the Chukchi Sea (where the south and east shores of its Wrangel Island lie),
- the East Siberian Sea (where its west shore, and the east shores of its New Siberian Islands lie),
- the Laptev Sea (where their west shores lie),
- the Kara Sea (where the east shore of its Novaya Zemlya lies),
- the Barents Sea (where their west shore, the south shores of its Franz-Josef Land the port of Murmansk and important naval facilities lie, and where the White Sea reaches far inland). The exclave, constituted by the Kaliningrad Oblast,
- shares borders with
- Poland to its south and
- Lithuania to its north and east, and
- has a northwest coast on the Baltic Sea. The Baltic and Black Sea coasts of Russia have less direct and more constrained access to the high seas than its Pacific and Arctic ones, but both are nevertheless important for that purpose. The Baltic gives immediate access with the nine other countries sharing its shores, and between the main part of Russia and its Kaliningrad Oblast exclave. Via the straits that lie within Denmark, and between it and Sweden, the Baltic