Rus 375 - Module Quiz
As you know, in the 1990s Boris Yeltsin attempted a transfer of formerly state-owned companies into private hands through a program of "privatization." How successful was privatization in the area of agriculture? What was the percentage of privately owned farms by 2001?
10
At the height of its power, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had approximately __________ of USSR's adult population as its members.
10
According to the documentary Babushkas of Chernobyl, how long did the fire that resulted from the Nuclear Plant's explosion last?
10 days
In an effort to transition the top-down, centrally planned economy to market forces, Boris Yeltsin ultimately decided to transfer everything that the state owned (factories, stores, etc.) to private owners. To make sure that EVERY Russian had a vested interest in the success of the new market system, the state also issued every citizen of Russia a voucher (shares in formerly state-owned enterprises). What was the value of these shares that each Russian citizen received?
10,000 rubles
Before its ultimate collapse, Soviet Union was considered to have one of the most diverse and heterogenous populations in the world. How many different ethnic identities populated the USSR?
140 different ethnic identities
When did the bolsheviks seize power from the Tsars?
1917
The Soviet system was in place during...
1917 - 1991
When were the Baltic republics annexed by the USSR?
1940
Construction of the four reactors that make up the Chernobyl complex was carried out during the...
1970s
When was the first time in history that Soviet authorities allowed international inspectors to visit Soviet nuclear power plants?
1985
When did it become legal to establish private commercial banks in Russia?
1987
During the Soviet era, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union claimed that there were _________ social classes in the USSR.
2
How many governing bodies did the Communist Party have at the peak of its power during the Soviet era?
2
Until 1996, almost 30% of Russian household had access only to ________ television channels.
2
Since 2012, the term of service of the President is...
2 consecutive terms of 6 years
After 10 months in office, Mikhail Gorbachev declared the goal of a nuclear-free world by the year...
2000
When was the group Pussy Riot formed?
2011
Kremlin use of the so-called "agitainment" on Russian television (combining propaganda of ideological messages with viewer-friendly formats like talk shows and celebrity variety shows) began in...
2011 - 2012, following protests against election fraud
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least _______investigative journalists have been murdered in Russia in 2000 - 2021.
38
While life expectancy had reached its all time lows in Russia of the 1990s, by the early 2000s life expectancy had recovered. What was this improved life expectancy in Russia at the beginning of Vladimir Putin regime?
61 years for men and 72 for women
After the collapse of the USSR, the newly emerged country of Russia inherited __________% of the territory of the Soviet Union.
76
In 1917 the Soviets took over a "country of peasants," in which - according to some statistics - over 60% of the population was completely illiterate (i.e. over 60% of Russians didn't know how to spell their name). According to one of this module's readings, what was the situation with literacy in Russia by the late 1950s? (i.e. after about 30 years of Soviet power)
98.5% of Russians between the ages of 10 and 49 could read
Which one of the following statements is incorrect?
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, central planning remained the country's main economic model
Which one of the following statements is INCORRECT?
All foreign radio stations were jammed in the Soviet Union and Soviet citizens did not have any access to foreign broadcasts
It has been argued that "between Putin's first election in 2000 and his reelection to a third presidential term in 2012, ... Russia became an increasingly authoritarian state." Which of the developments listed below can be seen as signs of Russia's move towards authoritarianism?
All of the items listed here are applicable
In their confusion and bewilderment of the economic chaos that started in 1991, many Russians turned to the Orthodox religion for answers. Why was it very difficult for the Orthodox Church to provide new direction and inspiration for many Russians (and many Russians ultimately got alienated by the Church all together)?
All of the statements listed here are correct
Even before starting the war with Ukraine, Russia passed a number of laws that limited internet freedoms. Which one of the laws listed below has NOT been passed in Russia?
All of these laws have been passed
During the Leningrad - Seattle Spacebridge, outside the studio, there were protesters on the American side (sides).
American
If you were to visit Chernobyl Nuclear Plant's Reactor №4, what is the level of radiation near this facility?
Approximately 60 times higher than the norm
Which one of the following cultural events did NOT happen during the era of the Thaw?
Arrests of writers (e.g. Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel) for publishing their books abroad
Which former Soviet republic has the greatest percentage of affected land and people due the Chernobyl accident (in relation to this republic's total national territory and population)?
Belarus
The Chernobyl accident contaminated an area of about 100,000 square miles. Match the names of the former Soviet republics and the percentage of contaminated areas within their respective territories.
Belarus: about 20% Ukraine: about 8% Russian Federation: 0.5-1%
Which of the following leaders was considered to be the "hero" in putting down the August 1991 coup attempt?
Boris Yeltsin
Yeltsin's regime is known for a bitter warfare with...
Chechen region in the Northern Caucasus
The documentary Soviet Disunion cites Iosif Stalin describing what as "sheltered from the people"?
Dachas (cottages outside of Moscow) of the Soviet leaders
In his first inaugural address to the nation in March 2000, President Putin identified what crisis as the greatest threat facing the nation?
Demographic crisis
As part of glasnost and a gesture of goodwill, which of the dissidents listed below did Gorbachev release from internal exile and invite to Moscow?
Dissident scientist, Andrei Sakharov
Which Russian president has a reputation of being the country's "Blogger in Chief" (for maintaining an active online presence)?
Dmitrii Medvedev
Who served as Russian president during 2008 - 12?
Dmitry Medvedev
When did Soviet dissident writers (who could not publish their works through official Soviet publication venues) begin resorting to the so-called samizdat (self-pulblishing typescripts with carbon paper, in the absence of photocopiers)?
During Leonid Brezhnev's Stagnation
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Putin was on an assignment as a KGB officer in...
East Germany
Babushkas of Chernobyl is set during what holiday?
Easter
According to research highlighted in "The Putin Generation" podcast, the majority of younger Russians who live in urban areas speak foreign languages and have traveled abroad.
False
After Gorbachev's resignation, the next General Secretary of the Soviet Union was Boris Yeltsin.
False
After the 1991 Soviet collapse, Russian film and publishing industries blossomed.
False
At the time "The Putin Generation" podcast was recorded (around 2020), young Russians were politically active and take part in Russia's elections more regularly than the older generation.
False
Even though Soviet system actively encouraged personal responsibility, Soviet population generally displayed low levels of labor discipline.
False
For a brief time in 1991 Moscow was a seat of two powers: (1) Mikhial Gorbachev, representing Russia and (2) Boris Yeltsin, representing the Soviet Union
False
Horoscopes were common in Soviet print media.
False
In 2012, Pussy Riot was Russia's only all-female group publicly identifying themselves as feminist.
False
Judging by the documentary Babushkas from Chernobyl, if you were to go to the radioactive "Exclusion Zone," you will not see anyone using a cell phone
False
Khodorkovsky was arrested by the Boris Yeltsin administration on the accusation of tax evasion.
False
Like most of his predecessors, Gorbachev allowed for public debate and even criticism of Communist Party policies.
False
Mikhail Gorbachev was Leonid Brezhnev's immediate successor.
False
Most communists in the Soviet government were enthusiastic about and supportive of Gorbachev's reforms.
False
Most of Russia's first oligarchs were "self-made men," comparable to Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.
False
One of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms included the elimination of the so-called Brezhnev doctrine. Named after the Soviet leader whose "rule" is usually described as the period of the Thaw, the Brezhnev doctrine gave the Soviet Union "the right to intervene in any state where socialism was in jeopardy."
False
Soviet authorities immediately released accurate and up-to-date information about the Chernobyl accident and immediately began evacuating people from the contaminated areas.
False
The Soviet system began to crumble gradually, once Stalin's terror (that kept people in line and enabled the system to work) was removed during the era of Mikhail Gorbachev.
False
The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power station happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
False
The majority of Russian artists did NOT support the Revolution of 1917 and actively opposed the Bolshevik regime.
False
The policies of glasnost and perestroika were introduced after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
False
The word "radiation" comes from a Greek term that means "ray of light."
False
Towards the end of Soviet regime, "second economy" or "black markets" far exceeded the official Soviet economy in size.
False
US attended summer Olympics of 1980 that were held in Moscow.
False
Virtually all Soviet citizens were employed by the state, even thought citizens of the USSR were allowed to have sources of wealth independent of Party-state control.
False
When Gorbachev came to power in 1985, he was convinced that the Communist Party had to be banned on the territory of the USSR.
False
When he first came to power in 2005, Putin was a virtual unknown. However, in less than a year, media was talking about Putin's "cult of personality."
False
Yeltsin and Gorbachev co-signed a decree banning the activity of the Communist Party on the territory of Russia
False
Young people in the Soviet Union had many opportunities for night life (bars, clubs, etc.)
False
Which feminist group staged a protest outside of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, holding up signs that read "Lord, chase away the tsar" (following Russia's parliamentary elections of 2011)?
Femen
Most political economists agree that the majority of the Soviet population generally benefited from the Soviet system. Given all the negatives one can point out about the Soviet system, why would an average Soviet citizen actually have a lot to lose with the collapse of the Soviet Union?
For all of the reasons listed here
As Yeltsin began to transfer ownership of Soviet assets into the private hands, most of these former Soviet enterprises ended up in the hands of a small group of the so-called oligarchs. Who were these newly created billionaires? (note that more that one answer might be correct).
Former government officials, who managed certain state properties on behalf of the Soviet government and, due to corruption and flaws in Russian laws, simply took over the enterprises they had been managing all along.
In 2008 Russia had a brief war with...
Georgia
The uprising dubbed "The Rose Revolution" happened in...
Georgia
In May 1985, less than two months after becoming General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev launched a highly unpopular campaign against alcohol abuse in the Soviet Union. Which of the following measures did he implement?
Gorbachev implemented all of the measures listed here
Millions of peasants were uprooted and deported to Siberian towns due to the policy of collectivization that started under...
Iosif Stalin
Which Soviet leader simplified cultural discourse (in literature, cinema, art, etc.) to make it accessible to the masses?
Iosif Stalin
Which one of the following leaders is known for their brutality that overshadowed the communist ideas (and who, especially in the West, led to associating communism with cruelty and oppression)?
Joseph Stalin
Funeral of what Soviet leader opens up the documentary "Soviet Disunion"?
Konstantin Chernenko
What were the first three Soviet republics to assert their national sovereignty?
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
What was the first Soviet republic to declare independence from the Soviet Union in 1990?
Lithuania
In 1995, facing severe fiscal difficulties, Yeltsin's government adopted a program under which the state would borrow money from the oligarchs in exchange for select state assets (including state-owned shares in oil companies). The catch was: if the state couldn't pay the load on time, the oligarchs would be entitled to buy the properties outright. This deal that many economists call "rigged" became known as...
Loan for Shares
Which one of the following changes in the Soviet society listed below is NOT associated with the name of Mikhail Gorbachev?
Major alleviation of nuclear, chemical and industrial pollution in the Soviet Union
From what you've learned from this module's materials, beggars appeared in the streets of large Russian cities during the rule of...
Mikhail Gorbachev
Which Soviet leader announced a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing?
Mikhail Gorbachev
Which Soviet leader introduced the term "new thinking" advocating for "peace and international security as the requirement for Soviet economic advance"?
Mikhail Gorbachev
Which leader famously introduced the term "new thinking"?
Mikhail Gorbachev
Which of the following leaders is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize?
Mikhail Gorbachev
Which of the following leaders was first to propose reforms that challenged the centralized planning of the Soviet system?
Mikhail Gorbachev
Which Russian leader ended forty years of nuclear confrontation with the West?
Mikhail Gorbahev
With Gorbachev's ascent to power in the USSR, many countries of the communist bloc echoed the new reform impulses from Moscow. Ultimately, all of these East and Central European counties began a wave of revolutions to replace their old, pro-Soviet governments. Which of the countries listed below executed their Communist dictator?
Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania
In Soviet cinema a move from the glorification of collective Soviet heroism towards a focus on individual heroism took place during the era of...
Nikita Khrushchev
Which Soviet leader was overthrown by his opponents in the first and only successful coup in Soviet history?
Nikita Khrushchev
The Chernobyl accident happen on April 26, 1986. Did the Soviet authorities allow Ukraine to cancel the traditional May 1 parade, that was traditionally held across most major Soviet cities to commemorate the International Workers' Day?
No
According to "The Putin Generation" podcast (recorded in 2020), what percentage of Russians, aged 18 - 24, want to leave Russia and permanently live abroad?
Over 50%
The first ad to appear on Russian television advertised...
Pepsi Cola
Match the following terms with their appropriate translation / explanation.
Perestroika: restructuring Glasnost: openess Uskorenie: Acceleration GULAG: soveit era labor camp
Scholars have argued that "Fostering a macho image has been one of the central features of Russian president Vladimir Putin's political legitimation strategy." Which of the following "masculinity-displaying feats" did Putin NOT deliver?
Putin was involved in all of the "feats" listed here
The rollback of civil liberties in Russia has accelerated since...
Putin's return to presidencdy in 2012
Gorbachev's policy of "democratization" meant...
Reform within the Comunist Party-ruled state
At the history-changing summit in Reykjavik, Iceleand, Gorbachev agreed to a bilateral reduction in nuclear weapons with which important world leader?
Ronald Reagan
Which of the newly formed post-Soviet countries possessed most of the old Soviet Union's petrolium, timber, and mineral resources?
Russia
When Second Chechen war was launched, Vladimir Putin was...
Russia's prime minister
The first female astronaut in outer space was...
Russian
The term "McDacha" refers to...
Russian country mansions of the Putin era
Which of the following statements correctly characterize Russia's state of affairs during Vladimir Putin's first two terms (1999 - 2008)? (note that more than one answer might be correct).
Russian economy grew at a rate of 7% annually Russia's stock market skyrocketed, increasing 20-fold Cell phone penetration went from zero to 100%
Match the following individuals who were targeted (and killed) in Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Sergei Magnitsky - Russian accountant who died in police custody after uncovering a large tax fraud by the Russian security services Anna Politkovskaya - an investigative reporter who was looking into human rights violations in Chechnya Boris Nemtsov - a former vice minister under Boris Yeltsin who had become a vocal opponent of the annexation of Crimea Alexander Litvinenko - former spy who was poisoned in London via tea laced with polonium
Gosplan was...
Soviet State Planning Committee
Which of the countries listed below was the first to notice elevated radiation levels and to initiate inquiries about its origin?
Sweden
According to the documentary Soviet Disunion, the biggest news item of 1986 was...
The complete and final dissolution of the Gulag labor camps
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
The second economy, or the black market, was the only source of any type of equality in the Soviet Union
As this module's readings discuss, glasnost encouraged a sense of civil identity and many new activist groups formed in this climate of new cultural freedoms. One of such groups discussed in your readings was called "Memorial." What was the task of this group?
To hep rehabilitate Stalin's victims and agitate for democratic reform
Although Gorbachev generally believed in an economy based on top-down planning (rather than the market and consumer choice), starting in 1988 he took a few cautious moves towards legalizing small urban private businesses. These businesses were called Cooperatives.
True
Although Reactor №4 is enclosed with a sarcophagus, there is still radioactive dust escaping and - perhaps more importantly - there is a fear that the wall of the sarcophagus might simply collapse one day.
True
As a student majoring in chemistry and specializing in explosives, Khodorkovsky was very active in Komsomol (Communist Youth League in the Soviet Union).
True
Before Chernobyl, there had been other (albeit less serious) nuclear accidents, including the 1979 incident in the U.S. (near Harrisburg, PA)
True
Before they were arrested in 2012, at least two members of the Pussy Riot band were university students.
True
Between 2005 and 2010, the Russian government did not build a single major modern highway.
True
By 2001, Russia had 9.1 million more women than men.
True
Due to opening travel opportunities in the late 1980s (since 1985 Soviet citizens could travel abroad after years of living behind the "Iron Curtain") and major economic woes and shortages, the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev faced a sharp increase in emigration.
True
During most of the Soviet rule (and certainly after 1934), any form of experimental art was considered dissident and, therefore, could only exist as a part of underground culture.
True
Endless queuing for consumer goods was an endemic feature of late Soviet life.
True
For most of the Soviet era, alcohol was a tremendous source of revenue for the Soviet state, which exercised a monopoly on alcohol's production and distribution. For example, in 1979 the Soviet state derived a whopping 25.4 billion rubles in indirect taxes from the sale of alcoholic beverages, an amount greater than what was paid in income tax.
True
In 1917, Russia was an overwhelmingly peasant society.
True
In 1958, Soviet authorities forced Boris Pasternak to reject the Nobel Prize that he won for his novel Dr. Zhivago (the novel was banned in the USSR and had to be published in Italy).
True
In general, unlike Americans who are accustomed to seeing the First Lady in a very public light, Soviet citizens (and even post-Soviet Russians) have no tradition of highly visible "political wives."
True
In the 1990s Russia saw a rapid spread of tuberculosis.
True
In the late 1920s Stalin introduced an extreme system where the economy became a central function of the Soviet government. Under this system, numerous governmental committees decided what salaries should be paid in all jobs across the USSR, what prices all products and commodities should have, how to distribute good across the USSR, etc. To put it simply: the Soviet government determined and controlled prices for all items you could purchase in the store (bread, shoes, television sets, you name it!); the Soviet government also determined what sort of salary one would get as an engineer, teacher, doctor, etc.
True
It is fair to describe Mikhail Gorbachev as an "idealistic socialist" who set out to revitalize the communist order in the USSR.
True
Khodorkovsky founded one of the first private banks in Russia.
True
Members of the various state security agencies in Russia are knows as siloviki. Siloviki are powerful and, to varying degrees, unaccountable to the broader public, the Parliament, and the government. At the same time, Putin has made sure that there is a fierce competition between these agencies to help prevent the emergence of a single rival to Putin.
True
Mikhail Gorbachev was a socialist whose reforms were aimed at revitalizing the communist order in the Soviet Union.
True
Mikhail Gorbachev was born after the October Revolution that overthrew the tsars; therefore he did not belong to the group of early Soviet bolsheviks who formed the gerontocracy (rule by the old) in the Communist Party of the 1970s and 80s.
True
Mikhail Gorbachev was the first and only elected president of the Soviet Union.
True
Most Soviet groceries were sold unwrapped; for liquid goods (for example milk) customers had to bring their own containers.
True
Putin is known to appoint individuals affiliated with Russian security services to various parts of the government.
True
Soviet Union had a policy of full employment, even if this meant some people were doing jobs that did not need doing, while others were over-qualified for the jobs they did do.
True
The 10 km "Exclusion Zone" remains an active burial place for Ukraine's nuclear waste
True
The Soviet Union was created as the world's first socialist state.
True
The Soviet government system was, what one could call, "hyper-centralized." The Politburo (one of the Soviet governing bodies) was once even asked to rule on the size of servings fed to police horses and dogs.
True
The era of Vladimir Putin's presidency is marked by a general improvement of living standards of most urban Russians, with a much wider range of goods and services available to them.
True
The only type of cancer that has been positively connected to Chernobyl is thyroid cancer.
True
There were no nuclear power stations in the Soviet republic of Belarus.
True
Under Joseph Stalin, owning a typewriter required a special police permission.
True
Under the Russian Constitution, the president can serve two consecutive terms, sit out a term, serve two more consecutive terms, sit out a term, ... etc. In other words, a former Russian president can constitutionally seek re-election after sitting out a term.
True
Up until 1991, prices for consumer goods in Russia and the Soviet Union were "fixed" and determined by the state.
True
Vladimir Putin was the first Russian leader with NO direct memory of World War II or Stalinism.
True
Vladimir Putin's current second six-year presidential term ends in 2024. In 2020 Russian Duma proposed to "zero out" Putin's previous terms, which was approved at all levels of the government. Under this new amendment, Putin can run for office twice more, in 2024 and 2030. Since Russian presidential terms are 6 years, should Putin win these two elections, he can remain in power until 2036.
True
Within the Soviet Union, each republic had its own constitution.
True
Femen is a feminist group that was formed in 2008 and known for staging topless protests to denounce sexual exploitation and human trafficking. In what country was Femen formed?
Ukraine
What is the second-largest post-Soviet state in terms of population and economic potential?
Ukraine
While market forces in Russia are usually associated with the era of Boris Yeltsin, there was at least one more moments in Soviet history when a free market was temporarily introduced. This period began under which Soviet leader?
Vladimir Lenin
Match the following Soviet leaders with their respective cultural and historical eras.
Vladimir Lenin: Early revolutionary culture; era of "cultural pluralism" Josif Stalin: Streamlining of cultural movements; introduction of socialist realism as the only accepted form of artistic expression Nikita Khrushchev: The era of the so-called Thaw Leonid Brezhnev: Cultural and economic stagnation Mikhail Gorbachev: The era of perestroika and glasnost Boris Yeltsin: First president of Russia in the absence of the Soviet Union
Match the following leaders and their respective attitudes to people's "consumption" of culture.
Vladimir Lenin: believes that Soviet artists can educate the masses and raise their level of cultural sophistical. Joseph Stalin: emphasized the necessity for artists to reach the masses by resorting to more conventional texts and forms. Mikhail Gorbachev: culture (TV, literature, etc.) plays an ideological role of ensuring that people trust the reforms of glasnost and perestroika
The Beslan tragedy markedly scarred the early years of __________'s presidency.
Vladimir Putin
Which of the following leaders made it very clear to the world that, while Russia is happy to have foreign investors put their money in Russian energy companies, Russia does not want foreigners running them.
Vladimir Putin
Which of the following does NOT explain why Gorbachev had to abandon his anti-alcohol campaign in 1987?
Which of the following does NOT explain why Gorbachev had to abandon his anti-alcohol campaign in 1987?
Which of the following venues does the Kremlin not control?
Youtube
What was the name of the oil company that Mikhail Khodorkovsky acquired from the Russian government?
Yukos Oil
The Chernobyl disaster happened due to...
a failed safety experiment on one of the reactors
Lyubov Sirota, whose texts you read in this module's reading selection, is...
a poet, who - at the time of the Chernobyl accident - lived in the Pripyat neighborhood closest to the reactor
Ukraine's first legal political party since the 1920's, was formed as a response to the Chernobyl accident. This Party originated with...
a prominent Ukrainian writer
Which one of the reforms listed below did Mikhail Gorbachev NOT implement?
abandoning socialism and adopting capitalist economic practices
Prison camps (Gulags) and political executions were scaled back...
after Joseph Stalin's death
Putin-era Russia could be seen as an example of what some scholars call "informational __________"
autocracy
According to many scholars (in this module explicitly expressed by David Satter in the PBS documentary), Vladimir Putin became "the most popular politician in Russia"...
before he became Russia's president; after the infamous apartment bombings in Moscow
In the 1920, Vladimir Lenin opined that _________ was "the most important of all arts."
cinema
During the Second World War, the Nazis destroyed 619 villages along with their inhabitants in the former Soviet republic of Belarusia. How many villages and settlements did Belarusia lose as a result of the Chernobyl disaster?
close to 500
Some economists point out that Vladimir Putin's regime's economic record is marred by a "glaring failure to address Russia's infrastructure crisis." For example, between 2005 and 2010, the Russian government...
did not build a single major modern highway
Famous work by Alexander Solzhenitsyn "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (a story of a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp) was first published...
during the era of the Thaw
Judging by the documentary Khodorkovsky, this former oligarch was not allowed to communicate with the world outside his jail cell.
false
Which one of the benefits listed below was NOT provided by the Soviet "safety net"?
free annual two-week vacation in a Soviet "sanatorium"
The city of St. Petersburg was called Petrograd...
from 1914 to 1924
The city of St.Petersburg was called Petrograd...
from 1914 to 1924
Russian National Guard, about 300,000 troops at the presidents personal disposal, was created for the specific purpose of putting down mass revolts in Russia. When was the Guard created?
in 2016
The policy of glasnost introduced in the mid-1980s was intended to...
increase political transparency of Soviet institutions and allow greater freedom of information
In the USSR, virtually all property was owned by the state. Which one of the following items did the state NOT own?
individual's personal private property
Vladimir Putin has a degree in...
law
In the 1990s the price of petroleum, as well as ferrous and nonferrous metals, was...
low
Pussy Riot's "Punk Prayer" did NOT...
make repeated requests to the Virgin Mary to exorcise Patriarch Kirill
Which one of the following shows was unlikely to be shown on Soviet television?
news about murders
As you have read in this module's materials, the immediate results of "shock therapy" were far from encouraging. Inflation reached 30% a month, prices skyrocketed, salary payments were delayed, and - by some estimates - the poverty rate in Russia reached 40%. Were Russians protesting this major economic instability, marching in protest around the Kremlin or showing other notable signs of social unrest?
no
Chechnya was one of the 15 Soviet republics.
no
Did a resident from Moscow (Russia) traveling to Kiev (Ukraine) or Minsk (Belarus) need a visa before the collapse of the USSR?
no
Which ONE of the areas listed below was NOT a chief focus of Mikhail Gorbachev and his supporters, as they tried to overcome the "difficulties" faced by the Soviet Union?
one-party system
During the Soviet era the Soviet government "owned" large oil companies. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1995 - 96 the government sold these key oil companies to...
politically-favored Russian businessmen
The explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power station released...
significantly more radioactivity than the Hiroshima bomb
The most tightly controlled source of information in today's Russia is...
television
Today, the Kremlin appoints governors of all 89 Russian regions, large provinces, as well as most mayors, regional police chiefs, and prosecutors. These positions used to be elected by a democratic vote, but Putin put an end to this after...
the Beslan massacre
Which of the following laws listed below was NOT adopted in Russia?
the Sergei Magnitsky law
The largest accident in nuclear history prior to Chernobyl took place in...
the Soviet Union
Mass protests in Russian cities in early December 2011 were provoked by
the falsified results of the Duma elections
The coup d-etat of August 1991 was staged by...
the old guard communists that thought Gorbachev went too far with his reforms
The largest class in the Soviet society was...
the working class
What was the largest social class in the Soviet society?
the working class
The main motivation behind Pussy Riot's scandalous "Punk Prayer" in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was...
to protest the political ties between the Orthodox Church and the Putin regime
The annexation of Crimea in 2014
was hugely popular with the Russian population
A shift from the ideological to the commercial culture took place in Russia...
when the Soviet system collapsed in 1991
The Soviet Union collapsed before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
wrong
After 70 years of being subjected to state propaganda that capitalism and market are "bad," most Russians did not understand the value or importance of vouchers.
yes
During the Soviet era, citizens of the USSR did not need to file an income tax form (or send in individual tax payments): the tax was automatically deducted from each salary before it was given to the workers.
yes
If you recall, in Module 2 we discussed Mikhail Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign. Did life expectancy in Russia improve during the brief time of this campaign?
yes
You now know that Boris Yeltsin replaced the top-down command economy with free market forces after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Were free market policies ever introduced in Russia or the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1991?
yes
