Russian Culture Minister Alexander Sokolov at a meeting in Moscow on May 11, 2007.
Photo: Grigoriy Sobchenko
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Russia by the Numbers
On July 3, Russian Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov gave a speech in Athens before his colleagues from the countries of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy in which he talked about the "sizeable financial base" of government support for the church: "When I began fulfilling the duties of minister in 2004, the federal budget allocated 200 million rubles annually for the restoration of Orthodox churches; in 2005, that was already 400 million rubles, in 2006, 750 million rubles; and this year, 1.2 billion rubles. The progression is completely evident." The minister's words contained a few twists of the facts: although in absolute terms government spending on the restoration of Russian Orthodox Churches has increased sixfold over the last four years, in proportion to overall federal budget expenditures on "Culture," the money spent on restoration has grown only 2.3 times. This is even less than the increase over the same period of time in the amount allocated for culture in the federal budget, which grew by 2.6 times (from 13.73 billion rubles in 2004 to 35.67 billion rubles in 2007). In addition, according to Russian Patriarch Alexei II, between 1986 and the end of 2006 the number of Russian Orthodox Churches in the country grew fourfold, to 27,000 churches. If that number has not changed over the last six months, a quick calculation shows that each of Russia's churches is now receiving only 44,400 rubles for restoration from the federal budget.
According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, 15,247 people were killed in 172,857 traffic accidents in Russia over the first half of 2007.
Russia's stabilization fund was worth 3.141 trillion rubles as of July 1, 2007. Over the first half of the year, it increased by 794 billion rubles.
According to Russian State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov, more than 100 pieces of legislation were included on the agenda for the last three plenary sessions of the Duma in its spring session on July 4-6, 2007. Over those three days, the Duma intended to review more than 200 pieces of legislation.
According to a report from Russia's top medical professional Gennady Onishchenko, 270,000 Russians have been bitten by ticks in the spring and summer of this year.
According to Chechen human rights ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiev, the remains of more than 3,000 people killed between 2000 and 2004 and buried in Chechnya remain unidentified.
Twenty-two casinos and around 340 gambling halls will continue to operate in Moscow until July 1, 2009, when all gambling in Russia will be confined to four designated zones scattered around the country. Since January 1, 2007, more than 2,300 casinos and gambling halls have been closed in the Russian capital.
Twenty new nanotechnology laboratories will be added to the 15 that already exist in the Kurchatovsky Center for Synchrotron Radiation and Nanotechnology in 2007.
According to data compiled by Rosstat in January-May 2007 and corrected for inflation, the real average monthly pension in Russia increased 4.5% in comparison to the same period of 2006.
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has promised that four new metro stations will open in the capital before the end of 2007.
Is There a Political Opposition in Russia? (%)
48 – yes
19 – no
33 – difficulty responding
(sample size: 1,500 people; poll conducted by FOM in June 2007)
What Level of Education Do You Consider Sufficient For Your Children and Grandchildren? (%)
1 – basic secondary education (up to 9th grade)
4 – complete secondary education (up to 11th grade)
15 – vocational training (technical school)
9 – some post-secondary education (3-4 years of higher education at a university)
47 – university degree (5-6 years of higher education at a university)
15 – advanced post-secondary education (6 or more years of higher education at a university)
3 – graduate school
6 – difficulty responding
(sample size: 1,600 people; poll conducted by the Levada Center in June 2007)
Evgeny Stepun
All the Article in Russian as of July 09, 2007
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