russia presentation

Russia, the largest country in the world, occupies one-tenth of all the land on Earth.

Russia, the largest country in the world, occupies one-tenth of all the land on Earth . It spans 11 time zones across two continents (Europe and Asia) and has coasts on three oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic).

The Russian landscape varies from desert to frozen coastline, tall mountains to giant marshes. Much of Russia is made up of rolling, treeless plains called steppes. Siberia, which occupies three-quarters of Russia, is dominated by sprawling pine forests called taigas.

Russia has about 100,000 rivers, including some of the longest and most powerful in the world. It also has many lakes, including Europe's two largest: Ladoga and Onega. Lake Baikal in Siberia contains more water than any other lake on Earth.

PEOPLE & CULTURE

There are about 120 ethnic groups in Russia who speak more than a hundred languages. Roughly 80 percent of Russians trace their ancestry to the Slavs who settled in the country 1,500 years ago. Other major groups include Tatars, who came with the Mongol invaders, and Ukrainians.

Russia is known all over the world for its thinkers and artists, including writers like Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and ballet dancers including Rudolf Nureyev.

As big as Russia is, it's no surprise that it is home to a large number of ecosystems and species. Its forests, steppes, and tundras provide habitat for many rare animals, including Asiatic black bears, snow leopards , polar bears , and small, rabbit-like mammals called pikas.

Russia's first national parks were set up in the 19th century, but decades of unregulated pollution have taken a toll on many of the country's wild places. Currently, about one percent of Russia's land area is protected in preserves, known as zapovedniks.

Russia's most famous animal species is the Siberian tiger , the largest cat in the world. Indigenous to the forests of eastern Russia, these endangered giants can be 10 feet (3 meters) long, not including their tail, and weigh up to 600 pounds (300 kilograms).

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

Russia's history as a democracy is short. The country's first election, in 1917, was quickly reversed by the Bolsheviks, and it wasn't until the 1991 election of Boris Yeltsin that democracy took hold.

Russia is a federation of 86 republics, provinces, territories, and districts, all controlled by the government in Moscow. The head of state is a president elected by the people. The economy is based on a vast supply of natural resources, including oil, coal, iron ore, gold, and aluminum.

The earliest human settlements in Russia arrived around A.D. 500, as Scandinavians (what is now Norway , Denmark , and Sweden ) moved south to areas around the upper Volga River. These settlers mixed with Slavs from the west and built a fortress that would eventually become the Ukrainian city of Kiev.

Kiev evolved into an empire that ruled most of European Russia for 200 years, then broke up into Ukraine , Belarus, and Muscovy. Muscovy's capital, Moscow, remained a small trading post until the 13th century, when Mongol invaders from central Asia drove people to settle in Moscow.

In the 1550s, Muscovite ruler Ivan IV became Russia's first tsar, or emperor, after driving the Mongols out of Kiev and unifying the region. In 1682, 10-year-old Peter the Great and his older brother, Ivan, both became tsar (though Peter’s aunt and Ivan’s mother, Sophia, was in charge). Soon after, Sophia was overthrown, and Peter was considered by most to be the real tsar, though he allowed his brother to keep his official position. For 42 years, Peter worked to make Russia more modern and more European.

In 1762, Peter took a trip to Germany , and his wife, Catherine, named herself the sole ruler of Russia. Just six months later the tsar died—perhaps on his wife’s orders. Now known as Catherine the Great, the empress continued to modernize Russia; supported arts and culture; and expanded its territory, claiming Ukraine, Crimea, Poland, and other places. She ruled for 34 years.

In 1917, Russians unhappy with their leadership overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and formed an elected government. Just a few months later, though, a communist group called the Bolsheviks seized power. Their leader, Vladimir Lenin, created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R., or the Soviet Union) uniting Russia and 11 other countries.

The Soviet Union fought on the side of the United States in World War II, but relations between the two powers and their allies became strained soon after the war ended in 1945. The United States and many of its allies were worried about the spread of communism, the type of government the Soviet Union was. (In a communist society, all property is public and people share the wealth that they create.)

These concerns led to the Cold War, a long period of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. That ended in 1991 when the Soviet Union broke up after many of its republics—such as Ukraine, Lithuania, and Estonia—decided they didn’t want to be part of the communist country anymore.

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Russia facts

Learn about the world’s largest country.

Prepare for one seriously big trip round one seriously cool country with our fab facts about Russia …

Facts about Russia

Official Name : Russian Federation Form of Government : Federation Capital : Moscow Population : 144, 125, 000 Official Language : Russian Money : Ruble Area : 17, 075, 200 square kilometres Major Mountain ranges : Ural, Altay Major Rivers : Amur, Irtysh, Lena, Ob, Volga, Yenisey

Russian flag

Map of russia , russia: geography and landscape.

As the world’s largest country, Russia occupies one-tenth of all the land on Earth . It spans 11 time zones across two continents (Europe and Asia) and has shores on three oceans (the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Ocean).

The Russian landscape varies from sandy and frozen deserts, tall mountains to giant marshes. Much of Russia is made up of rolling, treeless plains called “steppes”. The region of Siberia , which occupies three-quarters of Russia, is dominated by sprawling pine forests called “taigas”.

Russia has around 100,000 rivers, including some of the longest and most powerful in the world. It also has many lakes, including Ladoga and Onega  (Europe’s two largest lakes), and Lake Baikal, which contains more water than any other lake on Earth.

Russia’s wildlife and nature

As Russia is so huge, it’s no surprise that this incredible country is home to a large number of ecosystems and different species. Its forests, steppes and tundras provide habitat for many rare animals, including Asiatic black bears , snow leopards , polar bears , and small, rabbit-like mammals called pikas .

Russia’s first national parks were set up in the 19th century, but decades of unregulated pollution have taken a toll on many of the country’s wild places. To help protect and restore the country’s natural beauty, strict nature reserves have been established, known as zapovedniks .

Russia’s most famous animal species is the Siberian tiger , the largest cat in the world. Indigenous to the forests of eastern Russia, these endangered giants can grow to over 3m long, and weigh up to 300kg. How’s that for a big cat?!

Don’t forget to check out more amazing tiger facts !

History of Russia

The earliest human settlements in Russia arose around A.D. 500, as Scandinavians moved south to areas around the upper Volga River . These settlers mixed with Slavs from the west and built a fortress that would eventually become the Ukrainian city of Kiev .

Kiev evolved into an empire that ruled most of European Russia for 200 years, then broke up into Ukraine , Belarus and Muscovy . Muscovy’s capital, Moscow , remained a small trading post until the 13th century, when Mongol invasions in the south drove people to settle in Moscow.

In the 1550s, Muscovite ruler Ivan IV became Russia’s first tsar (Russian emperor) after driving the Mongols out of Kiev and unifying the region. In 1682, Peter the Great became tsar at the age of just ten, and for 42 years he worked to make Russia more modern and more European.

In 1917, Russians, unhappy with their government, overthrew the tsar and formed a new elected government. Just a few months later, however, a communist group called the Bolsheviks seized power. Their leader, Vladimir Lenin , created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) from Russia and 11 other countries.

The U.S.S.R. fought on the side of the United States in World War II . But soon after the war ended in 1945, relations between the two powers and their allies became strained, leading to what’s known as the Cold War . After decades of conflict, the Cold War ended in 1991 with the break up of the Soviet Union.

Russian people and culture

There are about 120 ethnic groups in Russia who speak more than a hundred languages. Roughly 80 percent of Russians trace their ancestry to the Slavs who settled in the country 1,500 years ago. Other major groups include Tatars, who came with the Mongol invaders, and Ukrainians.

Russia is known all over the world for its thinkers and artists, including writers like Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky , composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , and ballet dancers like Rudolf Nureyev .

Russian economy and government

Russia’s history as a democracy is short. The country’s first election, which took place in 1917, was quickly reversed by the Bolsheviks, and it wasn’t until the 1991 election of Boris Yeltsin that democracy took hold.

Russia is a federation of 86 republics, provinces, territories and districts, all controlled by the government in Moscow. The head of state is a president elected by the people. The economy is based on a vast supply of natural resources, including oil, coal, iron ore, gold and aluminium.What did you make to these cool facts about Russia? Let us know in a comment, below!

What did you make to these cool facts about Russia? Let us know in a comment, below!

Credits map of russia: national geographic maps. smolny cathedral in st. petersburg, russia: tatiana savvateeva, dreamstime. st. basil’s cathedral in moscow: alex83ch, dreamstime. the cathedral of the annunciation in moscow: wrangel, dreamstime. sunrise over a russian landscape: alexey shulika, dreamstime. fog along russian mountains: dmitryminin, dreamstime. all other images: getty images uk., leave a comment.

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Bril homework help. Would recommend

I loved it! It is my best resource I have found in my project! In one word: FANTASTIC

love the info

I think they were so amazing but I would make dot pointy facts so its easter for kids to understand

More facts please! There is not enough facts

I LOVE THE COOL FACTS SOOOOOOOO MUCH.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO RUSSIA BUT I REALLY WANT TO

National Geographic is very helpful for kids and it tells you all about different animals and countries. I definitely recommend this!

I am from Russia

Fantastic!!!* NOT FANATICS!!! Sorry for the spelling error. It is a great work

This is very,very,VERY educational and interesting.No wonder I learnt it that quick!

WOW, WOW, WOW

Most of these comments look fake...

in gonna learn more bout this 'ussr' thing

Over the last 5 or more years I've become more interested in Russian music, the people, the history and the wealth of its culture - - -- and I dont know why. The depth of the Russian history and culture simply fascinates me.

The Siberian tigers are so beautiful creatures ! I would love to go there one day! # Amy

Totally benefited from this site. Would like to have seen something on the cultures, customs, vegetable produce, favorite foods, music etc. But I have learned a lot from this site.

I love the information

I love animals

really cool

Really nice landscape.

love this website

Yes russia is the best!

So many facts!!!!!

it was amazing well done

It was very good & there was lots of good fact

This info is very useful

Yay! Go Russia!

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Lesson of the Day: ‘How the Ukraine Crisis Developed, and Where It Might Be Headed’

In this lesson, students will learn about the unfolding conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and consider what is at stake for the rest of the world.

By Nicole Daniels

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “ How the Ukraine Crisis Developed, and Where It Might Be Headed ” by Dan Bilefsky. Please note: When this article was originally published, it was headlined, “ Can the West Stop Russia From Invading Ukraine?” It has since been updated.

In recent weeks, tensions between Russia and the West have heightened as President Vladimir V. Putin has mobilized about 100,000 troops near Russia’s border with Ukraine. The move signals an attempt to redraw the post-Cold War boundaries of Europe and, potentially, to draw Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit by force, if necessary.

In this lesson, you will learn the background of the crisis: what Mr. Putin wants, how the United States is responding and what is at stake for Europe and the world. Then you will do your best to explain the situation to a specific audience with a mini-project of your choice: writing a tweet, putting together a presentation, designing a one-pager or making a concept map.

Part 1: Understand Key Terms

Before reading the featured article, get familiar with some key terms related to the history of international relations among Russia, Ukraine, the United States and Europe:

Soviet Union

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Write down what, if anything, you know about each of these terms. Then click on the link and read at least the first paragraph of each term’s entry in the Britannica Encyclopedia. Add any other relevant information to your definition, including how Russia, Ukraine, the United States and Europe are, or are not, involved.

Part 2: Learn About Ukraine and Russia

What do you know about the two nations at the center of this conflict, Ukraine and Russia? Test your knowledge, or learn something new, with our related geography quizzes below. Then write down or discuss with your classmates the ways in which these two countries are similar to and different from one another.

How Much Do You Know About Ukraine?

Can you find Ukraine on a map? What else do you know about this eastern European country with 43 million people?

How Much Do You Know About Russia?

Can you find Russia on a map? What else do you know about this country with about 145 million people?

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Read the article , then answer the following questions:

1. What does the current conflict look like between the United States, Russia and Ukraine? Summarize it in your own words.

2. What are some of the potential consequences of a military invasion by Russia into Ukraine?

3. What events in 2014 and 2015 contributed to current tensions between Ukraine and Russia?

4. According to the article, what does it seem Mr. Putin wants? How could his plan and current demands backfire?

5. What actions has the United States taken? How might the Biden administration continue to act going forward?

6. How does the current conflict affect Europe? Why is Europe at greater risk than the United States of losing more if sanctions are imposed against Russia?

7. What is your reaction to the situation between Ukraine and Russia? How worried are you about what happens next? Why?

Going Further

Using the information you learned in the warm-up activity and the featured article, create something to help educate others on the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Here are some options:

Write a 280-character tweet about what is happening . Use catchy and clear language to communicate the essential issues and players.

Teach a fifth grader about the conflict . In five minutes or less, help someone younger than you understand the conflict. You might want to use maps, photographs or colorful paper and pens to help communicate the information.

Design a one-pager to share what you learned with another student or an adult in your life . Using illustrations, quotes from the articles, key words and names of important political figures, design a visually compelling summary of the crisis.

Create a concept map to illustrate the situation. Generate a list of key words, places, organizations and people related to this conflict. Then create a map to show how they are related to one another.

If you would like to go further, read one or more of the following articles, or find recent updates on the Russia-Ukraine tensions here . Consider adding the new information you learn to your explainer.

For Ukrainian Soldiers, a Nervous Guessing Game on the Front (Jan. 25)

War May Loom, but Are There Offramps? (Jan. 24)

Pentagon Puts 8,500 Troops on ‘High Alert’ Amid Ukraine Tensions (Jan. 24)

NATO Steps Up Readiness in Eastern Europe to Reassure Allies (Jan. 24)

Biden Weighs Deploying Thousands of Troops to Eastern Europe and Baltics (Jan. 23)

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here .

Nicole Daniels joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2019 after working in museum education, curriculum writing and bilingual education. More about Nicole Daniels

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Editor’s note, Wednesday, February 23 : In a Wednesday night speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a “special military operation” would begin in Ukraine. Multiple news organizations reported explosions in multiple cities and evidence of large-scale military operations happening across Ukraine. Find the latest here .

Russia has built up tens of thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border, an act of aggression that could spiral into the largest military conflict on European soil in decades.

The Kremlin appears to be making all the preparations for war: moving military equipment , medical units , even blood , to the front lines. President Joe Biden said this week that Russia had amassed some 150,000 troops near Ukraine . Against this backdrop, diplomatic talks between Russia and the United States and its allies have not yet yielded any solutions.

On February 15, Russia had said it planned “ to partially pull back troops ,” a possible signal that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be willing to deescalate. But the situation hasn’t improved in the subsequent days. The US alleged Putin has in fact added more troops since that pronouncement, and on Friday US President Joe Biden told reporters that he’s “convinced” that Russia had decided to invade Ukraine in the coming days or weeks. “We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital Kyiv,” Biden said.

Get in-depth coverage about Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Why Ukraine? 

Learn the history behind the conflict and what Russian President Vladimir Putin has said about his war aims .

The stakes of Putin’s war

Russia’s invasion has the potential to set up a clash of nuclear world powers . It’s destabilizing the region and terrorizing Ukrainian citizens . It could also impact inflation , gas prices , and the global economy. 

How other countries are responding

The US and its European allies have responded to Putin’s aggression with unprecedented sanctions , but have no plans to send troops to Ukraine , for good reason . 

How to help

Where to donate if you want to assist refugees and people in Ukraine.

And the larger issues driving this standoff remain unresolved.

The conflict is about the future of Ukraine. But Ukraine is also a larger stage for Russia to try to reassert its influence in Europe and the world, and for Putin to cement his legacy . These are no small things for Putin, and he may decide that the only way to achieve them is to launch another incursion into Ukraine — an act that, at its most aggressive, could lead to tens of thousands of civilian deaths, a European refugee crisis, and a response from Western allies that includes tough sanctions affecting the global economy.

The US and Russia have drawn firm red lines that help explain what’s at stake. Russia presented the US with a list of demands , some of which were nonstarters for the United States and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Putin demanded that NATO stop its eastward expansion and deny membership to Ukraine, and that NATO roll back troop deployment in countries that had joined after 1997, which would turn back the clock decades on Europe’s security and geopolitical alignment .

These ultimatums are “a Russian attempt not only to secure interest in Ukraine but essentially relitigate the security architecture in Europe,” said Michael Kofman, research director in the Russia studies program at CNA, a research and analysis organization in Arlington, Virginia.

As expected, the US and NATO rejected those demands . Both the US and Russia know Ukraine is not going to become a NATO member anytime soon.

Some preeminent American foreign policy thinkers argued at the end of the Cold War that NATO never should have moved close to Russia’s borders in the first place. But NATO’s open-door policy says sovereign countries can choose their own security alliances. Giving in to Putin’s demands would hand the Kremlin veto power over NATO’s decision-making, and through it, the continent’s security.

Now the world is watching and waiting to see what Putin will do next. An invasion isn’t a foregone conclusion. Moscow continues to deny that it has any plans to invade , even as it warns of a “ military-technical response ” to stagnating negotiations. But war, if it happened, could be devastating to Ukraine, with unpredictable fallout for the rest of Europe and the West. Which is why, imminent or not, the world is on edge.

The roots of the current crisis grew from the breakup of the Soviet Union

When the Soviet Union broke up in the early ’90s, Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, had the third largest atomic arsenal in the world. The United States and Russia worked with Ukraine to denuclearize the country, and in a series of diplomatic agreements , Kyiv gave its hundreds of nuclear warheads back to Russia in exchange for security assurances that protected it from a potential Russian attack.

Those assurances were put to the test in 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and backed a rebellion led by pro-Russia separatists in the eastern Donbas region. ( The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 14,000 people to date .)

Russia’s assault grew out of mass protests in Ukraine that toppled the country’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych (partially over his abandonment of a trade agreement with the European Union). US diplomats visited the demonstrations, in symbolic gestures that further agitated Putin.

President Barack Obama, hesitant to escalate tensions with Russia any further, was slow to mobilize a diplomatic response in Europe and did not immediately provide Ukrainians with offensive weapons.

“A lot of us were really appalled that not more was done for the violation of that [post-Soviet] agreement,” said Ian Kelly, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Georgia from 2015 to 2018. “It just basically showed that if you have nuclear weapons” — as Russia does — “you’re inoculated against strong measures by the international community.”

But the very premise of a post-Soviet Europe is also helping to fuel today’s conflict. Putin has been fixated on reclaiming some semblance of empire, lost with the fall of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is central to this vision. Putin has said Ukrainians and Russians “ were one people — a single whole ,” or at least would be if not for the meddling from outside forces (as in, the West) that has created a “wall” between the two.

Ukraine isn’t joining NATO in the near future, and President Joe Biden has said as much. The core of the NATO treaty is Article 5, a commitment that an attack on any NATO country is treated as an attack on the entire alliance — meaning any Russian military engagement of a hypothetical NATO-member Ukraine would theoretically bring Moscow into conflict with the US, the UK, France, and the 27 other NATO members.

But the country is the fourth largest recipient of military funding from the US, and the intelligence cooperation between the two countries has deepened in response to threats from Russia.

“Putin and the Kremlin understand that Ukraine will not be a part of NATO,” Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, said. “But Ukraine became an informal member of NATO without a formal decision.”

Which is why Putin finds Ukraine’s orientation toward the EU and NATO (despite Russian aggression having quite a lot to do with that) untenable to Russia’s national security.

The prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO has antagonized Putin at least since President George W. Bush expressed support for the idea in 2008. “That was a real mistake,” said Steven Pifer, who from 1998 to 2000 was ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton. “It drove the Russians nuts. It created expectations in Ukraine and Georgia, which then were never met. And so that just made that whole issue of enlargement a complicated one.”

No country can join the alliance without the unanimous buy-in of all 30 member countries, and many have opposed Ukraine’s membership, in part because it doesn’t meet the conditions on democracy and rule of law.

All of this has put Ukraine in an impossible position: an applicant for an alliance that wasn’t going to accept it, while irritating a potential opponent next door, without having any degree of NATO protection.

Why Russia is threatening Ukraine now

The Russia-Ukraine crisis is a continuation of the one that began in 2014. But recent political developments within Ukraine, the US, Europe, and Russia help explain why Putin may feel now is the time to act.

Among those developments are the 2019 election of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian who played a president on TV and then became the actual president. In addition to the other thing you might remember Zelensky for , he promised during his campaign that he would “reboot” peace talks to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine , including dealing with Putin directly to resolve the conflict. Russia, too, likely thought it could get something out of this: It saw Zelensky, a political novice, as someone who might be more open to Russia’s point of view.

What Russia wants is for Zelensky to implement the 2014 and ’15 Minsk agreements, deals that would bring the pro-Russian regions back into Ukraine but would amount to, as one expert said, a “Trojan horse” for Moscow to wield influence and control. No Ukrainian president could accept those terms, and so Zelensky, under continued Russian pressure, has turned to the West for help, talking openly about wanting to join NATO .

Public opinion in Ukraine has also strongly swayed to support for ascension into Western bodies like the EU and NATO . That may have left Russia feeling as though it has exhausted all of its political and diplomatic tools to bring Ukraine back into the fold. “Moscow security elites feel that they have to act now because if they don’t, military cooperation between NATO and Ukraine will become even more intense and even more sophisticated,” Sarah Pagung, of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said.

Putin tested the West on Ukraine again in the spring of 2021, gathering forces and equipment near parts of the border . The troop buildup got the attention of the new Biden administration, which led to an announced summit between the two leaders . Days later, Russia began drawing down some of the troops on the border.

Putin’s perspective on the US has also shifted, experts said. To Putin, the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal (which Moscow would know something about) and the US’s domestic turmoil are signs of weakness.

Putin may also see the West divided on the US’s role in the world. Biden is still trying to put the transatlantic alliance back together after the distrust that built up during the Trump administration. Some of Biden’s diplomatic blunders have alienated European partners, specifically that aforementioned messy Afghanistan withdrawal and the nuclear submarine deal that Biden rolled out with the UK and Australia that caught France off guard.

Europe has its own internal fractures, too. The EU and the UK are still dealing with the fallout from Brexit . Everyone is grappling with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Germany has a new chancellor , Olaf Scholz, after 16 years of Angela Merkel, and the new coalition government is still trying to establish its foreign policy. Germany, along with other European countries, imports Russian natural gas, and energy prices are spiking right now . France has elections in April , and French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to carve out a spot for himself in these negotiations.

Those divisions — which Washington is trying very hard to keep contained — may embolden Putin. Some experts noted Putin has his own domestic pressures to deal with, including the coronavirus and a struggling economy, and he may think such an adventure will boost his standing at home, just like it did in 2014 .

Diplomacy hasn’t produced any breakthroughs so far

A few months into office, the Biden administration spoke about a “stable, predictable” relationship with Russia . That now seems out of the realm of possibility.

The White House is holding out the hope of a diplomatic resolution, even as it’s preparing for sanctions against Russia, sending money and weapons to Ukraine, and boosting America’s military presence in Eastern Europe. (Meanwhile, European heads of state have been meeting one-on-one with Putin in the last several weeks.)

Late last year, the White House started intensifying its diplomatic efforts with Russia . In December, Russia handed Washington its list of “legally binding security guarantees ,” including those nonstarters like a ban on Ukrainian NATO membership, and demanded answers in writing. In January, US and Russian officials tried to negotiate a breakthrough in Geneva , with no success. The US directly responded to Russia’s ultimatums at the end of January .

In that response, the US and NATO rejected any deal on NATO membership, but leaked documents suggest the potential for new arms control agreements and increased transparency in terms of where NATO weapons and troops are stationed in Eastern Europe.

Russia wasn’t pleased. On February 17, Moscow issued its own response , saying the US ignored its key demands and escalating with new ones .

One thing Biden’s team has internalized — perhaps in response to the failures of the US response in 2014 — is that it needed European allies to check Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. The Biden administration has put a huge emphasis on working with NATO, the European Union, and individual European partners to counter Putin. “Europeans are utterly dependent on us for their security. They know it, they engage with us about it all the time, we have an alliance in which we’re at the epicenter,” said Max Bergmann of the Center for American Progress.

What happens if Russia invades?

In 2014, Putin deployed unconventional tactics against Ukraine that have come to be known as “hybrid” warfare, such as irregular militias, cyber hacks, and disinformation.

These tactics surprised the West, including those within the Obama administration. It also allowed Russia to deny its direct involvement. In 2014, in the Donbas region, military units of “ little green men ” — soldiers in uniform but without official insignia — moved in with equipment. Moscow has fueled unrest since , and has continued to destabilize and undermine Ukraine through cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and disinformation campaigns .

It is possible that Moscow will take aggressive steps in all sorts of ways that don’t involve moving Russian troops across the border. It could escalate its proxy war, and launch sweeping disinformation campaigns and hacking operations. (It will also probably do these things if it does move troops into Ukraine.)

But this route looks a lot like the one Russia has already taken, and it hasn’t gotten Moscow closer to its objectives. “How much more can you destabilize? It doesn’t seem to have had a massive damaging impact on Ukraine’s pursuit of democracy, or even its tilt toward the West,” said Margarita Konaev, associate director of analysis and research fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

And that might prompt Moscow to see more force as the solution.

There are plenty of possible scenarios for a Russian invasion, including sending more troops into the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, seizing strategic regions and blockading Ukraine’s access to waterways , and even a full-on war, with Moscow marching on Kyiv in an attempt to retake the entire country. Any of it could be devastating, though the more expansive the operation, the more catastrophic.

A full-on invasion to seize all of Ukraine would be something Europe hasn’t seen in decades. It could involve urban warfare, including on the streets of Kyiv, and airstrikes on urban centers. It would cause astounding humanitarian consequences, including a refugee crisis. The US has estimated the civilian death toll could exceed 50,000 , with somewhere between 1 million and 5 million refugees. Konaev noted that all urban warfare is harsh, but Russia’s fighting — witnessed in places like Syria — has been “particularly devastating, with very little regard for civilian protection.”

The colossal scale of such an offensive also makes it the least likely, experts say, and it would carry tremendous costs for Russia. “I think Putin himself knows that the stakes are really high,” Natia Seskuria, a fellow at the UK think tank Royal United Services Institute, said. “That’s why I think a full-scale invasion is a riskier option for Moscow in terms of potential political and economic causes — but also due to the number of casualties. Because if we compare Ukraine in 2014 to the Ukrainian army and its capabilities right now, they are much more capable.” (Western training and arms sales have something to do with those increased capabilities, to be sure.)

Such an invasion would force Russia to move into areas that are bitterly hostile toward it. That increases the likelihood of a prolonged resistance (possibly even one backed by the US ) — and an invasion could turn into an occupation. “The sad reality is that Russia could take as much of Ukraine as it wants, but it can’t hold it,” said Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

What happens now?

Ukraine has derailed the grand plans of the Biden administration — China, climate change, the pandemic — and become a top-level priority for the US, at least for the near term.

“One thing we’ve seen in common between the Obama administration and the Biden administration: They don’t view Russia as a geopolitical event-shaper, but we see Russia again and again shaping geopolitical events,” said Rachel Rizzo, a researcher at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.

The United States has deployed 3,000 troops to Europe in a show of solidarity for NATO and will reportedly send another 3,000 to Poland , though the Biden administration has been firm that US soldiers will not fight in Ukraine if war breaks out. The United States, along with other allies including the United Kingdom, have been warning citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. The US shuttered its embassy in Kyiv this week , temporarily moving operations to western Ukraine.

The Biden administration, along with its European allies, is trying to come up with an aggressive plan to punish Russia , should it invade again. The so-called nuclear options — such as an oil and gas embargo, or cutting Russia off from SWIFT, the electronic messaging service that makes global financial transactions possible — seem unlikely, in part because of the ways it could hurt the global economy. Russia isn’t an Iran or North Korea; it is a major economy that does a lot of trade, especially in raw materials and gas and oil.

“Types of sanctions that hurt your target also hurt the sender. Ultimately, it comes down to the price the populations in the United States and Europe are prepared to pay,” said Richard Connolly, a lecturer in political economy at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Right now, the toughest sanctions the Biden administration is reportedly considering are some level of financial sanctions on Russia’s biggest banks — a step the Obama administration didn’t take in 2014 — and an export ban on advanced technologies. Penalties on Russian oligarchs and others close to the regime are likely also on the table, as are some other forms of targeted sanctions. Nord Stream 2 , the completed but not yet open gas pipeline between Germany and Russia, may also be killed if Russia escalates tensions.

Putin himself has to decide what he wants. “He has two options,” said Olga Lautman, senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. One is “to say, ‘Never mind, just kidding,’ which will show his weakness and shows that he was intimidated by US and Europe standing together — and that creates weakness for him at home and with countries he’s attempting to influence.”

“Or he goes full forward with an attack,” she said. “At this point, we don’t know where it’s going, but the prospects are very grim.”

This is the corner Putin has put himself in, which makes a walk-back from Russia seem difficult to fathom. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, and it doesn’t eliminate the possibility of some sort of diplomatic solution that gives Putin enough cover to declare victory without the West meeting all of his demands. It also doesn’t eliminate the possibility that Russia and the US will be stuck in this standoff for months longer, with Ukraine caught in the middle and under sustained threat from Russia.

But it also means the prospect of war remains. In Ukraine, though, that is everyday life.

“For many Ukrainians, we’re accustomed to war,” said Oleksiy Sorokin , the political editor and chief operating officer of the English-language Kyiv Independent publication.

“Having Russia on our tail,” he added, “having this constant threat of Russia going further — I think many Ukrainians are used to it.”

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• Ukraine is finally getting more US aid. It won’t win the war — but it can save them from defeat.
• Why is Putin attacking Ukraine? He told us.

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Where is fighting happening and how did we get here?

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What is happening?

Hundreds of Ukrainian fighters, including wounded men carried out on stretchers, left the vast steel plant in Mariupol where they had mounted a dogged last stand and turned themselves over to Russian hands.

More than 260 fighters left the Azovstal plant — their last redoubt in the southern port city — on Monday and were transported to two towns controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, officials on both sides said. Other fighters — their precise numbers unknown — remain inside the ruins of the fortified mill that sprawls over 4 square mile in the otherwise now Russian-held city.

Azovstal’s fall marks the complete capture of Mariupol, a significant milestone in one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Footage published over the weekend showed the steelworks being bombarded.

Wrapping up Mariupol’s capture would give Russia an unbroken land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and also deprives Ukraine of a vital port. It could also free up Russian forces for fighting elsewhere in the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine.

Severodonetsk

Fighting is increasingly focusing on the Severodonetsk, the easternmost city still held by Ukrainian forces after more than 11 weeks of war, and an a effort to complete a wider encirclement of Ukraine’s defending forces in the Donbas appears to have failed.

A smaller-scale encirclement of Severodonetsk also failed last week after Russian forces were defeated with heavy losses in a series of unsuccessful attempts to cross the Siverskyi Donets River at Bilohorivka.

The river is increasingly becoming a dividing line between the two sides in the Donbas – the name given collectively to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – and around Kharkiv to the north.

What happened in first three weeks of the invasion?

How did we get here.

In the months before its invasion, Russia deployed hundreds of tanks, self-propelled artillery and short-range ballistic missiles from as far away as Siberia to within striking range of Ukraine.

Moscow’s rhetoric grew more belligerent. Putin demanded legal guarantees that Ukraine would never join Nato or host its missile strike systems , concessions he was unlikely to receive. A flurry of diplomatic activity did little to ease tensions.

The second half of February was long considered the most likely period for a potential offensive. Russian soldiers stayed on in Belarus beyond the end of planned military exercises , and the Winter Olympics, hosted by Russia’s ally China, concluded .

The invasion was preceded on 22 February by Putin saying Russia would recognise the territorial claims of self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk. He had already ordered his forces into Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

What do we know about Russia’s deployments?

Scores of battalion tactical groups – the smallest operational unit in Russia’s army, consisting of about 800-1,000 troops – were put in place near the borders of Ukraine in Russia and Belarus before the invasion.

As of 18 February, the US estimated that Russia had 169,000-190,000 personnel in and around Ukraine.

An estimated 32,000 separatist forces were already operating in the breakaway areas in Donetsk and Luhansk – some of whom were likely to be unacknowledged Russian forces – before the invasion.

Many of the heavy weapons stationed near Ukraine arrived as far back as spring 2021. Over the new year Russia also began to move tanks, artillery, air-defence systems and fighter jets to Belarus for joint exercises in February. That deployment then grew.

These satellite image composites show the buildup of troops in Yelnya and Pogonovo over the new year.

Satellite photographs also showed increased deployments in Novoozernoye, in western Crimea.

The US estimates that 10,000 troops moved into Crimea in late January and early February .

Satellite images taken on 20 February showed troops and equipment being moved from holding areas to potential launch locations.

How do the militaries compare?

Russia’s invasion pits the Kremlin’s large, recently modernised military against an adversary largely using older versions of the same or similar equipment, dating back to the Soviet era.

Russia has significant numerical advantages on land, and in particular in the air and at sea, although Ukrainians are defending their homeland.

What is the historical context?

In 2014 Putin sent troops to annex Crimea , a mainly Russian-speaking region of Ukraine. Russia also incited a separatist uprising in Ukraine’s south-east, clandestinely sending soldiers and weapons to provoke a conflict that grew into a full-blown war.

A 2015 peace deal established a line of demarcation and called on both sides to make concessions. After that, low-level fighting continued along the front, and each side accused the other of violating the agreement.

Going back further, Russia has long opposed any attempts by Ukraine to move towards the EU and Nato .

One of Putin’s oft-repeated demands was a guarantee that Ukraine would never join Nato, the alliance of 30 countries that has expanded eastwards since the end of the cold war.

What was the role of Nord Stream 2?

On 22 February, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, stopped the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to Russia’s recognition of the two self-proclaimed republics.

First announced in 2015, the $11bn (£8.3bn) pipeline owned by Russia’s state-backed energy firm Gazprom was built to carry gas from western Siberia to Lubmin in Germany’s north-east, doubling the existing capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and keeping 26m German homes warm at an affordable price.

Nord Stream 2, Europe’s most divisive energy project, bypassed the traditional gas transit nation of Ukraine by running along the bed of the Baltic Sea.

It faced resistance within the EU, and from the US as well as Ukraine, on the grounds that it increased Europe’s energy dependence on Russia, denied Ukraine transit fees, and made it more vulnerable to Russian invasion.

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Intel officials warn about Russia and China plans for cyberattacks on US infrastructure

by AHTRA ELNASHAR | The National Desk

WASHINGTON (TND) – Top intelligence officials briefed a Thursday Senate panel on what they consider the biggest threats to the United States. At the top of their list were cyberattacks from foreign adversaries.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Armed Services Committee it is "one of our most pernicious transnational threats" with Russia and China at the forefront.

Haines said in the past year, global ransomware attacks have increased as much as 74%. American entities–particularly in the healthcare sector–have been top targets. The UnitedHealth Group hack in February disrupted payments and claims systems nationwide.

But it's the nation's critical infrastructure, like water systems, agriculture, energy, and transportation that the Intelligence Community fears will be prime targets for cyberattacks carried out by, or on behalf of a nation-state if the U.S. is drawn into a direct conflict.

Although the likelihood of any single attack having a widespread effect on interrupting critical services remains low, the increased number of attacks and the actors’ willingness to access and manipulate these control systems increases the collective odds that at least one could have a more significant impact," Haines said.

However, Haines said, adversaries understand their own vulnerabilities and are unlikely to launch a disruptive attack unless they're at war.

"These actors put a premium on preparing offensive capability basically during peacetime in part by preemptively planting footholds in our infrastructure," Haines said. “What we see is both China and Russia effectively trying to preposition themselves in ways that would allow them to conduct those kinds of attacks.”

Russia and China have each previously denied involvement in cyberattacks.

Intelligence officials said the first line of defense is private companies locking their "digital doors." The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency offers guidance for organizations that includes steps to prevent, detect and respond to a cyber intrusion.

“In virtually all of the attacks we’ve seen against U.S. critical infrastructure, cyber actors took advantage of default or weak passwords, unpatched known vulnerabilities, and poorly secured network connections to launch relatively simple attacks," Haines said.

A look into the 'Russian Swamp Family' that once lived in NCMC's natural area

PETOSKEY — Along one of the winding paths in the North Central Michigan College natural area is a plot of land that was once home to the pioneering Siebert family.  

On April 26, two North Central students gave a presentation about the family and their history.  

Phoenix Backus and Anna Ruhling worked with NCMC professor Kerri Finlayson to research the Siebert family.  

While fallen tree branches, uneven terrain and a few visible pits are all that remains from the family’s homestead, signage providing information about the Siebert family is at the site. However, Backus said some information is inaccurate and needs to be updated.   

The research project first kicked off after NCMC President David Roland Finley approached Finlayson to see if she had any students who would be interested in working to update signage in the area.  

After their time at NCMC, both Backus and Ruhling are planning to head to Grand Valley State University to study anthropology, so Finlayson tapped both students to work on the project.  

The Siebert family fled the Prussia n military  

A Mennonite family, the Sieberts had a strict belief in pacifism. They fled Prussia in the 1870s to escape conscription in the military. They first traveled to Kansas, where family patriarch Abraham Siebert was sworn in as a citizen in Barton County, Kansas in February of 1875, according to documents compiled by the research team.  

By 1878, the family moved north and east, landing in Petoskey to work in lumber.

About two years after their move, Petoskey had a diphtheria outbreak that lasted from 1880-1882, Backus said. Abraham and Eva Siebert’s son, Tobias, became infected with diphtheria when he was 12 and never made a full recovery. He was left mentally handicapped for the rest of his life and was never able to leave the home, but was still able to contribute to physical labor.  

The Sieberts were outcasts in Petoskey  

Known as the “Russian Swamp Family” in Petoskey, the Sieberts were outcasts in the area. Though they were actually German, the family spoke Russian and German, but were not expected to have spoken English very well, Backus said during the presentation.  

This contributed to their isolation. In 1884 an officer showed up to the family's home and said any children under the age of 17 were required to start attending school, so three Siebert children — John, Helena and Mary — were expected to enroll.

Helena, 10, and Mary, 8, started first grade together in 1884.

Jacob, aged 19, did not have to attend, and neither did Tobias, 16, due to his mental disability. Martha, 2 at the time, did not start school until a few years later, and Harold, who died at 6 months old, and Nicodemus, who was born the year the law passed, also did not attend school.

Backus said Mennonite families in this era sent their daughters to school for an education, while the sons stayed home to help with physical labor, making it difficult to find records of any of the boys attending school. Martha ended up being the only child in the family to continue her education, and eventually earned a bachelor's degree. 

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What happened to Jacob and Nicodemus Siebert?  

Jacob Siebert, the eldest child, was sent to the Traverse City State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, by his father in 1889. He was released between then and 1900.  

Abraham sent him to the hospital because he was “indignant and insane,” though it's unknown what actually happened to lead to the institutionalization.  

However, in 1908, reports said Nicodemus and Jacob both died after drowning in the Great Lakes while helping with shipping lumber on open water. Backus said this can’t be true, because Jacob was put back into the state psychiatric hospital in 1900 before his death in 1908.  

His body was never claimed, which led Backus and Ruhling to believe Jacob may have been disowned or shunned from the family. Due to HIPAA, though it was not a law at the time, access to Jacob’s medical records were denied.  

The researchers also spoke to Abraham and Eva's great-granddaughter, Gloria, and she was denied access to the medical information as well despite being a relative.

Jacob was not the only Siebert who was placed in a mental hospital. Helena was also sent to one in Kansas. However, she was sent there at age 66, so theories of why she may have been sent include the possibility that she developed Alzheimer's. Backus and Ruhling also theorized that because she was an unmarried spinster, Helena may have been a lesbian, which was considered a mental illness at the time, though they think an Alzheimer's diagnosis is more likely.

Knowing Jacob did not die by drowning calls into question the claim that Nicodemus did. His disappearance is the greatest mystery for the family, with descendants to this day saying they wish they knew what happened.  

Two other family members disappeared, too. John and his wife, Lena, vanished in 1906 after going to South Dakota for a late honeymoon. Two years prior, the couple had a stillborn child.

Leaving their mark on NCMC  

The two students are now working to update and correct signs. Much of their information came from a book called “Memories of the Sieberts,” which was written by Bertha Vogt Ratzlaff, Abraham and Eva's granddaughter. They said the book does include some inaccuracies.  

Finlayson said getting the chance to work with students outside of the classroom has given them a rare opportunity to gain some access to a more in-depth, nuanced level of research.  

“It's rare at a community college level to actually have opportunities to get students involved in research,” she said. "It's not that it's unheard of, but it's a fairly rare thing.” 

For Backus, it was an important chance to get some validation, allowing them to know this is something they’d like to study in the future.  

“It really solidified that this is what I want to do,” Backus said.  

Ruhling added that the project confirmed the same thing for her, and let her know she likes the idea of working with artifacts and digging on historical sites.

“I had a blast doing this. I mean, we haven't even gotten our associate's yet — and we're working on an archeological-related project,” Ruhling said.  

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at [email protected].  Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN .  

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War in Ukraine

War in ukraine presentation, premium google slides theme and powerpoint template.

Everyone in the globe is aware that a conflict has arisen between Ukraine and Russia. But not everyone is aware of the reasons behind it, its development, its current status or the most important leaders involved in it. With a template like this one, you can prepare a presentation about this historical event and show your audience the key points to know about this conflict. We have included lots of editable resources that will help you guide your speech through the slides.

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