Geographical location of the European territory of the USSR. Political geography of the USSR and the Russian Federation. Collapse of the USSR. geography of the Russian Federation

Greater Russia - the Soviet Union - was a unique state - the largest state on Earth. The territory of its possessions in Europe was 5.57 million square meters. km. In Asia, its territory corresponded to 16.83 million square meters. km. The total length of the borders of Greater Russia was 67 thousand km, of which 20 thousand were land, and 47 thousand were water borders. It should be noted that in comparison with the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union was only slightly inferior to it in terms of territory size.

A feature of the Soviet period, first of all, was that the Soviet government took care of the legal definition of the concept of state border. In old Russian law there was no such definition, although the term itself was certainly used.

In the legislation of the USSR on the state border, we can successively distinguish three stages. The first - pre-war - is characterized by the absence of a single act regulating the state border regime. In general, issues related to the border were resolved by the Regulations on the Protection of the State Border of the USSR in 1927, editorial changes in 1935 ( NW USSR. 1927. N 62. Art. 624, 625 And NW USSR. 1935. N 45. Art. 377). This should also include the Regulations on entry into the USSR and on exit from the USSR of 1925. (NW USSR. 1925. N 37. Art. 277). The second - post-war - is significant for its unique codification of the rules of law on this issue. As a result, in 1960, the Regulations on the Protection of the State Border of the USSR were issued. (Ved. VS USSR. 1960. N 34. Art. 321). Significant editorial changes to the Regulations were made in 1971 by Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces (Ved. VS USSR. 1971. N 24. Art. 254). Finally, the third was marked by the adoption not of a Regulation, which in the nomenclature of Soviet sources of law indicated the adoption of such a norm by the executive and administrative body of the highest body of state power - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Union or the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, but of a law - an act adopted by the highest body of state power itself. The Law on the State Border of the USSR was adopted in 1982. (Ved. VS USSR. 1982. N 48. Art. 891). Separate norms regarding the border regime could also be found in the Criminal Codes of the Union Republics, the Customs and Air Codes of the USSR.

The legal definition of the border appears only in the 1960 Regulations; the 1927 act only used the term itself, without giving it a definition. So, according to Art. 1 Pol. 1960. the state border was “a line defining the boundaries of the land and water territory of the USSR. The vertical surface passing along this line is the boundary of the airspace of the USSR.” This definition, undoubtedly adopted from the international law in force at that time, spoke of the gradual adaptation of power to the realities of the world community. Also in this Regulation, for the first time we encounter definitions of internal waters, historical waters, territorial sea - in a word, what had already been codified by 1958 in the form of the relevant UN conventions on the law of the sea. Also, the influence of international law on Soviet law in this matter is evidenced by the new edition of the definition of the order of counting the width of the territorial sea (Article 3 of the 1960 Regulations). (Ved. VS USSR. 1971. N 24. Art. 254)). The 1982 Law can be considered as an act that in many ways introduced only editorial changes, albeit significant ones, to the previous regulatory material. For example, in Art. 1 this Law mentioned subsoil, which was also subject to the state border regime.

In general, regarding the width of the territorial sea, internal law was based on the norm established back in 1909 by the State Duma of the Russian Empire - 12 nautical miles. The Bolsheviks were consistent and already in 1918 they confirmed this position (SU RSFSR. 1918. N 44. Art. 539). In 1921, by a joint resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, this norm was repeated. The well-known incident with the so-called Curzon ultimatum is connected with the implementation of this provision. Great Britain, both in 1910 and in 1923, when the Soviet government resumed the old practice, declared non-recognition of this width of the territorial sea, insisting on the usual norm of three nautical miles. The conflict concerned the White Sea region. Only the growth of the military power of the USSR forced its neighboring countries to respect the Soviet point of view.

The only issue that remained unresolved for a long time concerned the so-called right of peaceful passage of foreign military vessels through the territorial waters of the USSR. The USSR has always recognized the possibility of exercising such a right, for example Art. 24 Pol. 1927. However, from the very beginning, the USSR insisted on a permitting procedure for such passage. However, many countries followed the same practice. However, since 1958, international maritime law has taken the path of establishing a notification procedure for the right to peaceful passage through the territorial sea.

This conflict of legal orders became especially acute after 1983, when US Navy warships frequently entered Soviet territorial waters with “peaceful” passage. These incidents became particularly acute in 1986 and 1988, when Soviet Navy ships were forced to literally ram American warships and push them out of Soviet territorial waters. The issue was settled in 1989 in the spirit of the so-called new thinking. This year, the USSR and the USA exchanged letters regarding the monotonous interpretation of the concept of the right of innocent passage, which in fact meant another diplomatic defeat for the USSR. The US promise to no longer have any intentions of entering the USSR territorial sea in the Black Sea sounded like little consolation.

According to the 1960 Regulations, the internal waters of the USSR included the waters of ports, bays, bays, etc., if the width of the passage in them did not exceed 24 nautical miles (v. 4). The same provision was repeated in the 1982 Law. (v. 6) with the addition to internal waters of the space lying outside the straight baselines from which the width of the territorial sea is measured, as well as the waters of rivers, lakes and other bodies of water, the banks of which belong to the USSR. With regard to internal waters, it is worth noting the Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of 1957, which included the territories of the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea as internal waters of the USSR. As modern ecologists testify, these are the cleanest seas on the globe. However, today we have to admit that Russia’s legal claims to these seas were secured then, as now, exclusively by the right to pilotage foreign ships along the Northern Sea Route. The USSR allowed the passage of foreign ships along the Northern Sea Route in 1990 with mandatory pilotage (Post. Council of Ministers of the USSR dated July 1, 1990). In fact, the Caspian Sea could be classified as the internal waters of the USSR, since Russia and only Russia, since the time of the Gulistan Peace Treaty with Persia in 1812, had the right to maintain warships on this sea! In 1991, this status disappeared like smoke.

The 1960 Regulations and the 1982 Law included waters that historically belonged to the USSR as historical waters. In fact, this norm of Soviet law contained a reference to the imperial law of Russia, which established such a regime for the waters of some bays, for example, the waters of Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan, which status these waters received back in 1901 in the Rules of Marine Fishing in Territorial Waters , published by the Amur Governor-General. Consistently by acts of 1907, 1928 and 1944. this status was confirmed.

For the first time, the economic zone of the USSR on the high seas (200 nautical miles) was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of February 28, 1984. (Ved. VS USSR. 1984. N 9. Art. 177). The Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces dated February 6, 1968 established the width of the continental shelf claimed by the Soviet Union. The USSR did not have any particular disputes with its neighbors regarding the zone and shelf, with the exception of Sweden, Norway and the USA. Negotiations with Sweden lasted 20 years and ended with the signing in 1988 of an Agreement on the demarcation of the possessions of both countries in the Baltic Sea. It is worth noting here that, in the spirit of “new thinking,” the Swedish point of view on where this demarcation line should be held won. The same “success” was achieved by Soviet diplomacy of the Gorbachev era in 1990 when resolving the issue of demarcation of possessions in the Bering Sea between the USSR and the USA. The only small consolation is the fact that this treaty was never ratified by either the USSR or modern Russia. In the Barents Sea, Russia inherited a territorial dispute with Norway that lasted 30 years (since 1977). The situation is complicated by the fact that this dispute concerned the border of the Russian sector in the Arctic and the status of the Spitsbergen archipelago. The defense aspects of this dispute are also very serious. Its decision to infringe upon Russia's interests could directly affect the combat capabilities of the Russian Northern Fleet. In the spring of 2010, it was announced that the territorial dispute between Russia and Norway would be resolved along the median line. To what extent this compromise confirms the old Soviet "sectoral" point of view is anyone's guess.

In general, the state borders of the USSR at the time of January 1, 1991 looked as follows. The land border with Norway has actually been inherited since imperial times. Its clarification and demarcation were carried out in accordance with the 1949 agreement and the 1957 agreement, which established the delimitation in the waters of the Varangerfjord.

The border regime with Finland was first determined by the Yuryev Peace Treaty of 1920, according to which Soviet Russia ceded to Finland all of Western Karelia and the Pechenga region on the Kola Peninsula. Subsequently, by the treaty of 1940 and the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, Finland was returned to its current borders. The exception was that, according to the 1940 agreement, the Pechenga (Petsamo) region was returned to Finland with a guarantee of free transit to Norway, but according to the 1947 agreement, this region finally ceded to Russia. However, this does not prevent overzealous Finnish politicians from presenting territorial demands to Russia from time to time. The peak of the latter occurred during Yeltsin's timelessness.

The Baltic states were temporarily lost to Russia according to the Yuryev Treaties of 1920, successively concluded with each of the former Baltic provinces. At the same time, Russia made unjustified territorial concessions to Estonia and Latvia. In 1940, these territories were returned to the USSR. It should be noted that at the same time, the territory of Lithuania increased significantly due to the annexation of the Vilna district, which had previously been torn away from it by Poland.

In 1945, according to agreements at the Potsdam Conference, part of the territory of the former East Prussia became part of Russia. Accordingly, the 1945 treaty with Poland established the border between the USSR and Poland in this area of the southern Baltic.

The border between Russia and Poland is established in accordance with the terms of the Riga Peace Treaty of 1920. As a result of their aggression against a country exhausted in the world and civil wars, the Poles were able to annex the territories of the western part of Belarus and Ukraine. In fact, it was a Pyrrhic victory, since national minorities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after that began to make up about 45% of its total population! In 1939, as a result of the abolition of the Polish state in connection with its defeat in the war with Germany, the USSR regained the territories lost in 1920. In fact, modern Poland is the legal successor of the Polish People's Republic (PPR), therefore, has no legal connection with the pre-war state. The Soviet-Polish border was demarcated successively in 1945, 1948 and 1961. In 1957 and 1958 the border was drawn in the waters of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Gdansk, respectively.

The southern corner of the USSR's borders in the western direction with such states as Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania was established in accordance with the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947. Regarding Romania, however, it should be noted that it returned in 1940 the territory of Bessarabia illegally occupied after the revolution, as well as the annexation of Northern Bukovina to the USSR. The last acquisition was more than strange, since this territory was never part of the Russian Empire. One can only assume that the Soviet government in this matter was guided solely by ethnographic considerations - the region was inhabited by Ukrainians. As a note from the Soviet government dated June 26, 1940 stated, “The USSR Government considers the issue of the return of Bessarabia to be organically connected with the issue of transferring to the Secular Union that part of Bukovina, the vast majority of whose population is connected with Soviet Ukraine both by a common historical destiny and a common language and national composition." Despite the fact that the Entente never recognized Romania’s occupation of Bessarabia as legal, although it repeatedly made such a request, Romania stated in a response note that it “sees itself forced to evacuate.” But this compulsion became a constant after the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947.

In Transcaucasia, Soviet Russia was unable to take full advantage of the legacy of the Empire. First of all, this concerns the border with Turkey. It was significantly changed not in favor of Russia by the Treaty of Kars in 1921. In fact, Russia gave the territory to the so-called Turkish Armenia, the result was geographical nonsense: the national symbol of Armenia - Mount Ararat - is located on the territory of Turkey! This kind of compliance is also explained this time by ideological reasons. In the early 1920s. For some reason, the Bolsheviks were convinced that Turkey, which had just experienced the civilizational revolution of Kemal Ataturk, even if it did not follow the path of the world revolution, could become the vanguard of the anti-colonial struggle. According to this idea, advances of this kind were made to her. A detailed demarcation of the border was carried out in 1967. Territorial delimitation in the Black Sea was carried out in 1973. The Treaty of Kars of 1921 also determined the special status of the Batumi vilayet (Adjara ASSR) within the Georgian SSR. This special status cannot be canceled by unilateral actions of the Georgian authorities.

The Transcaucasian border with Persia (Iran) nevertheless remained unchanged. The border with Iran in the Trans-Caspian region was not changed either. Here the Soviet Union inherited the regime of the 1881 treaty. The renewal of this regime took place according to the 1954 treaty.

The inclusion of the territory of the Bukhara and Khiva khanates into Russia in 1920 put the issue of the Soviet-Afghan border on the agenda. This issue was settled only in 1922. In 1946, a new treaty was concluded, giving Afghanistan access to the Pyanj and Amu Darya rivers. Until this year, Afghanistan was deprived of such an option. The state border regime is finally established between the USSR and Afghanistan under the 1958 agreement.

The regime of the Soviet-Chinese border remained unchanged from pre-revolutionary times until the collapse of the USSR. At the same time, it should be noted that as a result of the problems that arose in the late 1950s. disagreements between the leadership of both countries, China began to put forward territorial claims against the Soviet Union, challenging the fairness of the border drawn under the Qin government. In general, China in different years laid claim to a territory of 1.5 to 2.1 million square meters. km. The situation was aggravated by open armed clashes on the border. Russia had to make a number of territorial concessions in 1990 and 2005 in order to consider the Chinese territorial claims exhausted.

The border between the USSR and Mongolia deserves special mention. Before 1912, Mongolia as such did not exist on the political map of the world. However, in this year, Mongolia, with the support of Russia, managed to achieve the status of a vassal state in relation to China. Mongolia became a virtually independent state in 1920 as a result of the invasion of its territory by the troops of the notorious Baron Ungern von Sternberg. However, following the baron’s army, units of the Red Army invaded the territory of Mongolia, resulting in the Sovietization of Mongolia. In 1921, China officially recognized the independence of this country, and at the same time the Soviet-Mongolian border was demarcated. In fact, its line corresponded to the border treaties concluded by the Russian Empire with Qin China.

Russia’s border with Korea also followed the line of previous treaties, which was confirmed in the Treaty of 1957.

The state border of Russia with Japan in the 20th century. went through a series of dramatic changes. In 1905, Japan managed to establish a border on the island of Sakhalin along the 50th parallel as a result of an unfortunate war for Russia. As a result of the now military defeat of Japan in 1945, Russia regained the southern part of Sakhalin Island and all the Kuril Islands. In fact, the border between Russia and Japan to this day lies in the La Perouse Strait, but the legal status of this border still does not exist. In 1956, the USSR agreed to transfer two islands from the southern Kuril ridge to the Japanese in exchange for concluding a peace treaty. However, this question still remains open.

The question remains open about the demarcation line of the economic zone and the continental shelf between Russia and the United States in the Bering and Chukchi Seas (see above). Nevertheless, the maritime border between the USSR and the USA in the Bering Strait complies with the treaty of 1867. This regime remains effective to this day.

In 1926, Soviet Russia notified its rights to the northern sector of the Arctic Ocean, actually repeating word for word Stürmer’s famous note of 1916. The Decree of the USSR Central Executive Committee dated April 15, 1926 stated:

“All lands and islands, both open and capable of being discovered in the future, which at the time of publication of this Resolution do not constitute the territory of any foreign states recognized by the Government of the USSR, located in the Arctic Ocean, north of the coast of the USSR, are declared to be the territory of the USSR to the North Pole within the limits between the meridian thirty-two degrees four minutes thirty-five seconds east longitude from Greenwich, passing along the eastern side of the Vaida Bay through the triangulation mark on Cape Kekursky, and the meridian one hundred sixty-eight degrees forty-nine minutes thirty-five seconds west longitude from Greenwich, passing in the middle of the strait separating the islands of Ratmanov and Kruzenshtern from the group of Diomede islands in the Bering Strait."

The Soviet Union, it must be admitted, spent titanic efforts to confirm its rights in the Arctic.

On December 25, 1991, Russia’s state borders collapsed at once. Where the RSFSR did not border with foreign states, the state border began to run along the line of the administrative border. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the internal administrative boundaries of the republics could not be considered state boundaries in the true meaning of the word. The lines of these borders were sometimes drawn without sound government calculations in the field of national policy. An example would be the story of the transfer of Crimea from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954 in commemoration of 300 years of friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples! This illegal resolution was canceled by a decision of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation in 1992, but it did not correct the situation. All this gives particular urgency to the issue of the legal basis for the status of the entities formed as a result of the collapse of the USSR.

Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of territory, which accounts for 1/7 of the entire landmass. Canada, which is in second place, is almost twice as big as us. What about the length of Russia's borders? What is she like?

Longer than the equator

The borders of Russia stretch from the Pacific Ocean through all the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean in the north, through the Amur, many kilometers of steppes and the Caucasus mountains in the south. In the west they extend across the East European Plain and Finnish marshes.

According to data for 2014 (excluding the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula), the total length of Russia’s borders is 60,932 km: land borders extend for 22,125 km (including 7,616 km along rivers and lakes) and sea borders for 38,807 km.

Neighbours

Russia also holds the record among countries with the largest number of border states. The Russian Federation neighbors 18 countries: in the west - with Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine; in the south - with Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and the DPRK; in the east - with Japan and the USA.

Border State	Length of land border, including river and lake borders (km)	Length of land border only (km)
Norway
Finland



Belarus



Azerbaijan
South Ossetia
Kazakhstan
Mongolia

North Korea

The length of Russia's maritime borders is about 38,807 km, including sections along the oceans and seas:

Arctic Ocean - 19724.1 km;
Pacific Ocean - 16997.9 km;
Caspian Sea - 580 km;
Black Sea - 389.5 km;
Baltic Sea - 126.1 km.

History of territory changes

How has the length of the Russian border changed? By 1914, the length of the territory of the Russian Empire was 4675.9 km in the direction from north to south and 10732.4 km from west to east. At that time, the total length of the borders was 69,245 km: of which 49,360.4 km were sea borders, and 19,941.5 km were land borders. At that time, the territory of Russia was 2 million km 2 larger than the modern area of the country.

During the times of the USSR, the area of the union state reached 22,402 million km 2. The country stretched for 10,000 km from west to east and 5,000 km from north to south. The length of the borders at that time was the largest in the world and amounted to 62,710 km. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia lost about 40% of its territories.

The length of the Russian border in the north

Its northern part runs along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The Russian sector of the Arctic is limited by conditional lines running in the west from the Rybachy Peninsula and in the east from Ratmanov Island to the North Pole. On April 15, 1926, a resolution was adopted by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on the division of the Arctic into sectors based on the International Concept. It proclaimed the complete right of the USSR to all lands, including islands in the Arctic sector of the USSR.

Southern Frontier

The land border starts from which connects the Black and Azov Seas, passes through the territorial waters of the Black Sea to the Caucasian Psou River. Then it goes mainly along the Great Dividing Range of the Caucasus, then along the Samur River and further to the Caspian Sea. The land demarcation line between Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia runs in this area. The length of the Caucasian border is more than 1000 km.

There are a huge number of problems in this area. Firstly, there is a conflict between Georgia and Russia over two self-proclaimed republics - South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Further, the border runs along the periphery of the Caspian Sea. In this area, there is a Russian-Iranian agreement on the division of the Caspian Sea, since during the Soviet era, only these two states divided the Caspian Sea. The Caspian states (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan) demand an equal division of the waters of the Caspian Sea and its shelf, which is rich in oil. Azerbaijan has already started developing fields.

The border with Kazakhstan is the longest - more than 7,500 km. There is still an old inter-republican border between the two states, which was proclaimed in 1922. The question was raised about the transfer to Kazakhstan of parts of the country’s neighboring regions: Astrakhan, Volgograd, Omsk, Orenburg, Kurgan and Altai. Kazakhstan had to cede part of the following territories: North Kazakhstan, Tselinograd, East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, Semipalatinsk, Ural and Aktobe. From the population census data for 1989 it follows that more than 4.2 million Russians live in the above-mentioned territories of Kazakhstan, and more than 470 thousand Kazakhs live in the mentioned territories of Russia.

The border with China runs along rivers almost everywhere (about 80% of the entire length) and extends for 4,300 km. The western part of the Russian-Chinese border is delimited, but not demarcated. It was only in 1997 that this area was demarcated. As a result, several islands, whose total area is 400 km 2, were left under joint economic management. And in 2005, all the islands within the river waters were demarcated. Claims to certain areas of Russian territory reached their maximum extent in the early 1960s. They included the entire Far East and Siberia.

In the southeast, Russia neighbors the DPRK. The entire border runs along the Tumannaya River, stretching only 17 km. Further along the river valley it reaches the shores of the Sea of Japan.

Western Frontier

Almost along its entire length, the border has a clear expression of natural boundaries. It originates from the Barents Sea and extends to the Pasvik River valley. The length of Russia's land borders in this territory is 200 km. A little further south, the border line with Finland stretches 1,300 km through heavily swampy terrain, which stretches to the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea.

The extreme point of the Russian Federation is the Kalingrad region. It neighbors Lithuania and Poland. The total length of this line is 550 km. Most of the border with Lithuania runs along the Nemunas (Neman) River.

From the Gulf of Finland to Taganrog in the Sea of Azov, the border line stretches for 3150 km with four states: Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine. The length of the Russian border is:

with Estonia - 466.8 km;
with Latvia - 270.6 km;
with Belarus - 1239 km;
with Ukraine - 2245.8 km.

Eastern border

Like the northern part of the borders, the eastern part is completely maritime. It extends across the waters of the Pacific Ocean and its seas: Japan, Bering and Okhotsk. The border between Japan and Russia passes through four straits: Sovetsky, Izmena, Kushanirsky and La Perouse. They separate the Russian islands of Sakhalin, Kushanir and Tanfilyev from the Japanese Hokkaido. Japan claims ownership of these islands, but Russia considers them an integral part of itself.

The state border with the United States passes through the Bering Strait through the Diomede Islands. Only 5 km separates the Russian Ratmanov Island from the American Krusenstern. It is the longest maritime border in the world.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union, USSR)- one of the first socialist states in human history, which existed from December 30, 1922 to December 26, 1991.

The Soviet Union occupied 1/6 of the inhabited landmass and was the largest state in the world by area (22.4 million km²). After World War II, the Soviet Union had land borders with Norway, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania in the west, with Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan in the south, with, and in the southeast.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed by the decision of the First All-Union Congress of Soviets on December 30, 1922, when the fraternal Soviet republics, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Byelorussian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR united into a single state - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Consisted of union republics (from 4 to 16 in different years), which according to the Constitution were sovereign states; Each union republic retained the right to freely secede from the Union. The Union Republic had the right to enter into relations with foreign states, conclude treaties with them and exchange diplomatic and consular representatives, and participate in the activities of international organizations. Each Union Republic had its own state emblem and flag.

Geographical location and natural conditions

The geographical position of the USSR determined the extreme diversity of natural conditions. Most of the European Union territory was occupied by the East European (Russian) Plain. The northern part of Asia rises in steps - the West Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau, the Verkhoyansk Range, the Chersky Range and the mountains of the Far East - towards the Pacific Ocean; The western part of Central Asia is occupied by the Turanian Plain. In the southwest and south of the country there were large mountain systems, the most significant of which were the Carpathians, the Caucasus, the Pamirs, the Tien Shan and the mountains of Southern Siberia. The bottom topography of the oceans and seas is no less complex, especially in the east, where deep-sea basins, trenches and ridges, often forming island arcs, adjoined the shores of the USSR.

The general features of the climate are determined by the predominant position of the country in the temperate zone, with climate change from cold arctic in the north to subtropical and desert in the south, and from west to east - from maritime (in the northwest) to sharply continental (Siberia) and monsoon (in Pacific coast).

The significant size of the territory, the complexity of its relief, the diversity of climate and soil and vegetation cover are expressed in natural zoning. Most of the country was occupied by zones: forest, forest-steppe, steppe, semi-deserts and deserts; The northern regions were part of the Arctic and subarctic zones (tundra and forest-tundra zones), and part of the southern regions were part of the subtropical zone.

Geological structure

The largest elements of the structure of the earth's crust on the territory of the USSR: the East European and Siberian platforms and the folded geosynclinal belts separating them - the Ural-Mongolian, separating the East European platform from the Siberian and encircling the latter from the south; Mediterranean, bordering the East European Platform from the south and southwest; Pacific, forming the edge of the Asian continent; part of the Arctic, located within the northern coast of the Chukotka Peninsula. Within the folded geosynclinal belts there are: young areas that have not yet completed geosynclinal development, which are active modern geosynclines (the peripheral part of the Pacific belt); areas that completed geosynclinal development in the Cenozoic (the south of the USSR, belonging to the Alpine geosynclinal folded region), and more ancient areas that form the foundation of young platforms. The latter, depending on the time of completion of the processes of geosynclinal development, folding and metamorphism of sedimentary strata, are divided into folded regions of different ages: Late Proterozoic (Baikal), Middle Paleozoic (Caledonian), Late Paleozoic (Hercynian, or Variscan) and Mesozoic (Cimmerian). The geosynclinal type of structure of the earth's crust appears at earlier stages of development. Subsequently, geosynclinal areas turn into platform foundations, which are then covered in subsided areas by a cover of platform sediments (platform slabs). Thus, in the process of development of the earth's crust, the geosynclinal stage is replaced by a platform stage with a two-story structure typical of platforms. During the formation of the platform foundations, the oceanic crust of geosynclinal belts is transformed into continental crust with a thick granite-metamorphic layer. In accordance with the age of the foundation, the age of the platforms is determined. The foundation of ancient (Precambrian) platforms was formed mainly by the beginning of the Riphean (Late Proterozoic). Among the young platforms, they are distinguished: epi-Baikal (the Upper Proterozoic is involved in the structure of the basement, and Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks are developed in the cover), epi-Paleozoic (the basement was formed in the Paleozoic, and the cover - in the Mesozoic - Cenozoic) and epi-Mesozoic (Mesozoic rocks are involved in the structure of the basement ).

Some areas of ancient platforms and geosynclinal belts, which turned into young platforms, in the course of further evolution turned out to be covered by repeated processes of orogenesis (epiplatform orogenesis), which manifested itself many times in Siberia (Stanovoy Range, Western Transbaikalia, Sayan Mountains, Altai, Gissar-Alay, Tien Shan and etc.).

The structural areas of land directly continue at the bottom of the shelf seas bordering the territory of the USSR from the north, east and partly northwest.

Mineral resources

The USSR ranked first in the world in explored reserves and production of iron and manganese ores, asbestos, in the production of oil, coal, potassium salts, first in reserves and second in natural production; gas, a leading place in reserves and production of a number of non-ferrous metals, phosphate fertilizers, chromite and other minerals.

Land relief

According to the predominant nature of the relief, the land surface of the USSR was divided into a large area (66%), a relatively low area, open to the north, with a predominance of plains, plateaus, plateaus and a belt of mountains framing this area from the south and east. The European part of the USSR is occupied mainly by the East European Plain (average height 142 m). The low mountains of the Urals separate it from the generally somewhat lower (average height of about 120 m) West Siberian Plain. To the south of the latter are the flat spaces of Kazakhstan and the Turan Lowland with individual low mountain ridges and massifs (Kazakh small hills), plateaus and ridges. Between the Yenisei and Lena there is the Central Siberian plateau (plateau), the average height is 480 m. Along the northern outskirts of the country there was a strip of low-lying plains - Pechora, North Siberian, Yana-Indigirsk, Kolyma, the direct continuation of which to the north was the underwater plains of the shelf of the Arctic seas. The low mountains of the Kola Peninsula, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, the Taimyr Peninsula, etc. somewhat disturbed the general flatness of the North.

The mountain frame in the south and east of the Soviet Union was formed by mountain systems of different heights and extents. To the southwest and south of the East European Plain are the Ukrainian Carpathians, the Crimean Mountains and the Caucasus Mountains. The Kopetdag, Pamir, Gissaro-Alai and Tien Shan stretch along the state border in Central Asia. The Dzungarian Alatau and Tarbagatai, separated by the Sasykkol-Alakol depression, as well as the Zaisan depression separate the belt of mountains of Southern Siberia from the mountains of Central Asia - Altai, Kuznetsk Alatau, Western and Eastern Sayan Mountains, the mountains of Tuva, the Baikal region and Transbaikalia.

In the northeast of the USSR, the vast Verkhoyansk-Chukchi mountain region stood out - the Verkhoyansk ridge, the Chersky ridge, the Kolyma and Chukotka highlands, the Yukagir plateau. In the south of the Far East there are systems of the Tukuringra - Dzhagdy, Bureinsky and Sikhote-Alin ridges. The extreme eastern parts of the USSR mountain belt consisted of the mountains of the Koryak Highlands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island. In this area, the relief of the USSR was as contrasting as possible: fluctuations in heights reached almost 15 km (the depth of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench is up to 9717 m, the height of Klyuchevskaya Sopka on the Kamchatka Peninsula is 4750 m). The height amplitudes within the ancient mountain systems of the marginal belt reached 5-7 km; in the lower, predominantly flat, part of the territory of the USSR they were measured in tens, less often hundreds of meters. The highest point of the Soviet Union is in the Pamirs (7495 m), the lowest is in the Karagiye depression on the Mangyshlak Peninsula (-132 m). The average hypsometric level of the country is 430 m; the part of the territory located east of the Yenisei generally exceeded this level, the western part lay below it.

Climate

The far north of the territory of the USSR and the islands of the Arctic Ocean belonged to the Arctic and subarctic climatic zones, most of the country was located within the temperate zone, the southern regions of Crimea, the Caucasus and Central Asia were in the subtropical zone. Within the belts, climatic regions are distinguished based on genetic characteristics (mainly the characteristics of atmospheric circulation).

Depending on the geographic latitude, the amount of solar radiation received per year by the earth's surface on the territory of the USSR varied from 251 MJ/m², or 60 kcal/cm², in some places - less (on the islands of the Arctic Ocean), to 670 MJ/m², or 160 kcal/cm², and more (in the south of Central Asia). In the cold season, in most of the country, scattered radiation was slightly higher than direct radiation or approximately equal to it. In the warm season, direct radiation significantly predominated. The exception was the Arctic, where scattered radiation predominated in the summer. The annual radiation balance is positive throughout the entire territory of the USSR, varying from 210 MJ/m² or 50 kcal/cm² (in some places more in the extreme south of the country) to values close to zero in the center of the Arctic. In January, the radiation balance is negative everywhere. In the European part of the USSR, due to significant cloudiness and shorter duration of snow cover, it was greater than in the Asian part at the same latitudes. In temperate latitudes, radiation heat was spent mainly on the evaporation of water from the earth's surface and on direct heating of the soil, and from it the air. However, the ratio of energy costs for these processes in different regions of the country is very different. For example, in Belarus and the Baltic states, a significant part of the radiation heat was spent on evaporation from the surface, and in the deserts of Central Asia - on heating the air.

The most important circulation factors of climate are the predominance of air transfer from west to east throughout the troposphere and cyclonic activity, which promotes the meridional exchange of warm and cold air masses and precipitation. The climates of the USSR were mainly formed under the influence of continental air of temperate latitudes, especially in the Asian part of the country. But the climatic features of the western regions were formed under the predominant influence of marine air masses coming from the Atlantic Ocean. In the south, intrusions of dry tropical air were of great importance, and in the north, arctic air. Cyclonic activity is most intense in the north and west of the European part of the USSR and in the north of Western Siberia, as well as in the Far East. Over most of the Asian territory of the country in winter, areas of high pressure (Asian, or Siberian, anticyclone) prevailed.

The following climatic zones and regions were allocated to the territory of the Soviet Union:

Arctic and subarctic zones - in which the seas of the Arctic Ocean, Arctic islands and the northern continental edge of the country were located.
Temperate zone - most of the USSR was located in it.
Subtropical zone - it included the southwest of Central Asia, Transcaucasia, and the southern coast of Crimea.
Mountain regions of the South of the USSR.

Inland waters

The distribution of water from rivers, lakes, swamps, reservoirs, glaciers, as well as groundwater throughout the territory and the features of their regime are determined primarily by climatic factors, the balance of heat and moisture. On the territory of the USSR, an average of 530 mm of precipitation fell per year, which amounted to 11,690 km³ of water (63% was spent on evaporation and spent on transpiration, 37% formed river runoff).

More than 80% of the river flow was formed in the northern and eastern parts of the Soviet Union, in the basins of the Arctic and Pacific oceans. 7.5% of the runoff was discharged in the west and southwest - into the Atlantic Ocean basin (Baltic, Black and Azov seas). 9% of the runoff did not reach the World Ocean. Getting into internal drainage reservoirs - the Caspian and Aral seas, lakes Balkhash, Issyk-Kul, Tengiz, etc., this part of the runoff was spent on evaporation.

Plant Resources

The flora of the USSR was very diverse and rich in plant species, especially in its southern mountainous parts. The entire territory of the USSR belonged to the Holarctic floristic region (kingdom), which occupies the most northern position among other floristic regions of the Earth. The main patterns in the distribution of vegetation cover were associated with many factors, but mainly with the distribution of heat and moisture. In accordance with this, botanical-geographical regions (or zones in the broad sense of the word) developed.

Continental (cover) and extensive mountain glaciations, which were repeated several times during the Anthropocene, played a huge role in the formation of the vegetation cover of the USSR. At the same time, there was a complete destruction of vegetation under the cover of ice, and in the periglacial zone, vast territories with permafrost were formed, where tundras, peculiar cryoxerophytic periglacial steppes, and in some places - open forests with the participation of birch, larch, and pine developed. More ancient vegetation of various types, including forests, could have been preserved during glaciations mainly in the south of the USSR; the most thermophilic - under the protection of mountains in Central Asia and Transcaucasia.

Plant resources constituted an important part of the natural resources of the USSR. This is flora and a variety of lowland and mountain (zonal and intrazonal) vegetation. The role of food and fodder plants was great; they serve as raw materials for industry and medicines. In the USSR, 20 thousand species of higher plants grew - flowering plants, horsetails, mosses, ferns, and, in addition, 15-20 thousand species of mosses, widespread throughout the territory (in forests, swamps and tundras). The richest plant species were Central Asia (7 thousand), the Caucasus (6 thousand), Crimea (2 thousand) and the Far East (1.9-2 thousand). The flora of the Arctic islands of Siberia is the poorest (no more than 100-150 species). On the territory of the USSR, there were at least 50 thousand species of lower plants - 10 thousand algae, 5 thousand lichens and about 35 thousand fungi. Thus, the total potential of the USSR flora was 90-100 thousand plant species (excluding bacteria and actinomycetes).

Animal world

Territorial division of the USSR

Initially, according to the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, the Union State consisted of four republics:

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Soon the number of union republics grew to 15. By the end of its existence, the USSR consisted of the following union republics:

Political structure

According to the Constitution of the USSR (Article 3) “All power in the USSR belongs to the working people of the city and village in the person of the Soviets of Working People's Deputies.” Soviets in the USSR were elected representative bodies of state power.

The Soviet system was first enshrined in the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, adopted by the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets. This system included the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, regional, provincial, district and volost congresses of Soviets and Councils of cities, towns, villages, villages, and in the period between congresses - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR - executive committees of the Soviets. The right to vote and be elected was enjoyed by all citizens of the RSFSR who had reached the age of 18 and engaged in socially useful work, soldiers, and sailors, regardless of religion, nationality, or residence. The deprivation of voting rights was caused by the persistent struggle of the enemies of Soviet power. Persons who used hired labor for the purpose of making a profit, who lived on unearned income, private traders, monks, clergy, employees and agents of the former police, gendarmerie and security departments, members of the reigning house in Russia, as well as the insane, mentally ill, who were under guardianship, and those convicted of selfish and other disgraceful crimes.

After the formation of the USSR, changes occurred in the Soviet system that reflected the structure of the multinational union state and were enshrined in the Constitution of the USSR of 1924 and the constitutions of the union republics. The All-Union Congress of Soviets became the supreme body of state power; in the period between congresses, the supreme body of power was the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. The supreme bodies of power in the union and autonomous republics were the congresses of Soviets (in the period between congresses - the Central Executive Committees elected by them), local authorities - the regional, regional, provincial, district, district, district and volost congresses of the Soviets (in the period between them - their executive committees) . The peoples of the USSR (the majority - for the first time in history) created their national statehood on the basis of the Soviets. In connection with the change in the administrative-territorial division, a restructuring of Soviet bodies was carried out.

Economy of the USSR

One of the greatest achievements of the Soviet Union was demonstrating to the world the power and efficiency of a planned economy compared to a market economy. In the Soviet Union, as a socialist state, private property was abolished for the first time, as well as the exploitation of man by man. All property in the USSR was public and controlled by the entire society. Thus, in the USSR, the contradiction known to capitalist countries between the social nature of production and the private nature of consumption was eliminated.

Thanks to powerful accelerated development in the form of industrialization and collectivization, the Soviet Union built socialism by 1939, which was noted at the Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).

Thanks to an effective system of state planning and economic construction in general, especially after the Great Patriotic War, the standard of living in the USSR steadily increased, and an annual decrease in prices for consumer products was observed. It was impossible not to notice a serious increase in industrial production. By the middle of the 20th century, the advantage of the socialist system over the capitalist system, the planned economy over the market economy, had already become obvious to everyone.

Geographical position of the USSR, orography, tectonics and geological history, climatic conditions, inland waters, soil cover, vegetation, wildlife, main landscapes, physical-geographical zoning

Lecture 1

Neighboring states - former republics of the USSR: geographical location, formation of independent states, features of the borders between neighboring states and Russia (sea and land)

The territory of the former USSR lies in two parts of the world - in the eastern half of Europe and in Asia. Occupying 1/6 of the land, this state was a real giant on the planet.

Natural conditions are very diverse: from the ice zone in the north to the subtropics in the south of the country.

As for the relief features, plains predominate in the west and north-west of the country, and mountains predominate in the south and east.

The flat part of the USSR stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Lena and from the Arctic Ocean to the foot of the Kopetdag. It is occupied by the Russian (East European), Western Siberian, Turan lowlands and the Central Siberian plateau.

On the Russian Plain there is an alternation of hills (up to 300-400 m absolute height) with lowlands (no more than 150-200 m). Its southeast is occupied by the Caspian lowland, which lies below sea level; in the north-west it is limited by the mountain uplifts of the Kola Peninsula, reaching a height of 1191 m in the Khibiny Mountains . The Western Siberian Plain amazes with its exceptional monotony of relief and low altitude above sea level; only in very few places do absolute elevations on it reach 200 m or higher (Siberian ridges up to 285 m). The Russian Plain is separated from the Western Siberian Plain by the meridionally elongated low Ural Range; its maximum height is only 1894 m (Mount Narodnaya).

Between the Western Siberian Plain and the Turan Lowland there is a vast low-mountain country - the Kazakh small hills. Mount Aksoran in the southeast reaches 1565 m. In the west, the Kazakh small hills are separated from the Southern Urals by the Turgai plateau. It is a calm plain, elevated to 200-300 m, with a wide through hollow in the center connecting the Western Siberian Plain with the Turan Lowland.

The relief of the Turan Lowland is heterogeneous - depressions lying below sea level are located next to elevated plateaus such as the Ustyurt, and the remains of destroyed mountains often rise among the low-lying plains.

The vast territory between the Yenisei and Lena is an elevated plain - the Central Siberian Plateau. Its average height is 500-700 m above sea level. The flatness of the watersheds is combined on this plateau with deep and dense erosional dissection of the riverine areas. Its most elevated northwestern part is the Putorana Mountains (1701 m a.s.l.).

In the north, the plateau, with a steep cliff, adjoins the North Siberian (Yenisei-Khatanga) lowland, and in the south it borders the Sayan Mountains and the Baikal and Abbaikalia ridges.

The mountains bordering the territory of the former Soviet Union from the south are represented by the Carpathians in the west. Their highest point is 2061 m high (Mount Goverla).

In the south of the Crimean peninsula, the Crimean Mountains drop steeply to the Black Sea with a highest elevation of 1545 m (Roman-Kosh). Relatively close to the east of them, between the Black and Caspian seas, stretch the high Caucasus Mountains. Some of their peaks, crowned with glaciers, rise above 5000 m above sea level (Elbrus - 5642 m).

East of the Caspian Sea, in the south of Turkmenistan, lies a ridge of medium height - the Kopet Dag. Its southern slopes belong to Iran. Even further to the east, in the upper reaches of the Amu Darya, is the highest and most inaccessible mountainous country of the former USSR - the Pamirs. Some of its ridges rise more than 7000 m above sea level. The eastern part of the Pamirs has the character of a high plateau, in which even the river valleys lie at an altitude of about 4000 m .

Northeast of the Pamirs, up to 7000 m and higher, the Tien Shan ranges rise, extending beyond the USSR in the east. Despite the enormous height, many ridges of the Central Tien Shan are weakly dissected and flat-topped. The tectonic depression of the Ili River valley separates the Dzungarian Alatau ridge (4464 m) from the Tien Shan, and to the north-northeast of it in the latitudinal direction stretches the Tarbagatai ridge (2992 m).

In the southeast of western Siberia up to 4500 m The Altai Mountains rise (Belukha - 4506 m). Their northern protrusion is the Kuznetsky Alatau ridge, the eastern continuation is the Mongolian Alatau, which lies entirely within Mongolia. The Western and Eastern Sayan and Tannu-Ola ranges are in close contact with Altai. The Sayan ranges are characterized by flat peaks and medium heights.

The mountainous country of the Baikal region and the Baikal region consists of a large number of ridges of medium height (1500-2500 m): Baikalsky, KhamarDaban, Ulan-Burgasy, Barguzinsky, Verkhneangarsky, North and South Muysky, Malkhansky, Yablonovy, Borschovochny and many others. All of them are elongated in the northeast direction and are mostly flat-topped. The ridges in Transbaikalia alternate with numerous plateaus and highlands. In the Stanovoye Highlands, altitudes reach almost 3000m (2999 m).

To the east of the mountains of Transbaikalia, the Stanovoy Range (2412 m) stretches from west to east. To the southeast of it are the ridges of the Amur Region and Southern Primorye.

The relief of the USSR was formed as a result of the complex geological development of the territory. Modern plains, lowlands and mountains are the product of powerful tectonic movements occurring both in very distant and recent geological times.

Due to the peculiarities of tectonic development, mountain building in some areas ended long ago (such areas have existed as stable platforms since the Paleozoic era), in others mountain building occurred much later, and in others it has not ended even now. The most ancient structural elements on the territory of the former USSR are two platforms: Russian in the west and Siberian in the east. Both of them are composed of ancient crystalline rocks at their base, folded and cut by intrusions. On top of this hard crystalline basement lie loose sedimentary rocks of various ages - from the Lower Paleozoic to the Neogene and Quaternary.

Geological events of the Quaternary period determined many important natural features of the territory of the former USSR. In Quaternary times, modern landscapes were finally formed. It is during this period that a person appears.

The most important events of Quaternary time are continental glaciations, accumulation of loess, marine transgressions and recent tectonic movements.

The Ice Age was accompanied by the spread of ice on the northern plains and mountainous regions of the USSR. The most significant glaciation was on the Russian Plain. Four independent glacial epochs have been established here: Oka (the oldest), Dnieper, Moscow and Valdai, which were separated by long and warm interglacial epochs: Likhvin, Roslavl and Mikuln.

The entire territory of the USSR can be divided into 18 landscape countries:

Island Arctic country.

Fennoscandia (Kola-Karelian) The country is part of the Baltic crystalline shield. Taiga and swamp landscapes predominate, turning into forest-tundra and tundra in the north. In some places, the altitudinal zonation of the landscapes can be traced.

Russian Plain has a clearly defined landscape zonation from tundra in the north to deserts in the south. Of the latitudinal zones, dark coniferous taiga is most widely represented here, turning into mixed and broad-leaved forests in the south.

Ural Mountains (Ural Country)- a medium-altitude mountainous country that underwent folding in the Upper Paleozoic. From north to south, the Urals are crossed by five latitudinal landscape zones, according to which tundra, forest-tundra, taiga, forest-steppe and steppe types of altitudinal zonation are successively replaced on its territory.

Carpathians- medium-altitude, young in age (alpine orogeny) mountainous country. The Ukrainian Carpathians are characterized by the widespread development of forests of the Western European type.

Crimean-Caucasian country- a system of high mountain ranges of alpine folding, highlands and tectonic lowlands. Altitudinal zonation is highly complex and variable. On the plains of Transcaucasia there are subtropical landscapes - moist broad-leaved forests and semi-deserts, on the mountain tops there are subalpine and alpine meadows and glaciers.

Armenian Highlands and Kopetdag- parts of the country of the Western Asian Highlands.

Central Asian mountainous country- the highest in the USSR. Due to the dry climate, desert, semi-desert and steppe altitude zones rise high into the mountains. The forest belt is poorly developed and only on moist slopes of western and northern exposure.

South-Eastern Tien Shan and Pamir – parts of the country of the Central Asian highlands.

Central Asian lowland country includes deserts of the temperate and subtropical zones of Southern Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Clayey, sometimes rocky desert plateaus alternate with sandy deserts in the lowlands.

Central Kazakhstan (Central Kazakhstan country), characterized by steppe and semi-desert landscapes with the beginnings of altitudinal zones.

Western Siberia (West Siberian Plain) differs from the Russian Plain in its more continental climate and more uniform, weakly dissected topography. The latitudinal zonation here resembles that of the Russian Plain, however, due to poor drainage, the Western Siberian Plain is more swampy in the north and saline in the south.

Central Siberia characterized by a cold continental climate, the severity of which increases due to the elevated, sometimes mountainous terrain. The most typical landscape is light larch taiga with permafrost-taiga soils. In conditions of a sharply continental climate, elements of the steppe fauna and flora penetrate far to the north, deep into the taiga.

Altai-Sayan mountainous country (Mountains of Southern Siberia)- a mountainous country with complex orography (Altai, Sayan Mountains, mountains of the Baikal region and Abaikalia). The folding processes ended at the end of the Proterozoic - lower Paleozoic. The climate here is sharply continental. Taiga, forest-steppe and steppe types of altitudinal zonation predominate. The dark coniferous mountain taiga, characteristic of the western part of the South Siberian mountains, is replaced in the east by light larch taiga and pine forests.