This book presents an analysis of the changing economic, political and social geography of the new Russia which has emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union. Although Russia can no longer claim to be a superpower on a scale with the United States, it is still the world's biggest state and continues to play a major influential role in the world. This book provides the first comprehensive geographical analysis of the new post-communist Russian state.

The coverage includes: the origins and rise of the Russian state and the heritage of the Soviet period; environmental background and present-day ecological problems; Russia as a federal state and problems of ethnicity and national identity; the changing industrial face of Russia; problems of rural life; the post-Soviet city; Russia and its regions; relations with the "Near Abroad," Russia and the wider world.