RUS 375 Final Exam

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new country of Russia inherited ... of the Soviet Union's population.

51%

Which one of the following statements below is INCORRECT?

After 1991, the state continued to fully subsidize and support Russian health care system

Which one of the following statements below is correct?

After the Soviet Union collapsed, the Russian population was calm

Which one of the following statements is incorrect?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, central planning remained the country's main economic model

After the 1991 Soviet collapse, Russian film and publishing industries blossomed.

False

When did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan?

In 1979, during the rule of Leonid Brezhnev

Funeral of what Soviet leader opens up the documentary "Soviet Disunion"?

Iosif Stalin

Millions of peasants were uprooted and deported to Siberian towns due to the policy of collectivization that started under...

Iosif Stalin

Which leader famously introduced the term "new thinking"?

Mikhail Gorbachev

The first female astronaut in outer space was...

Russian

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

Between 2008 and 2012, Putin served as a prime minister of the Russian Federation.

True

Both of Gorbachev's grandfathers had been arrested during the Stalinist purges (a fact that Gorbachev openly confessed on Soviet television, personally relating to victims of repressions).

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

The first human to enter outer space was a Soviet citizen.

True

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

What was the name of the oil company that Mikhail Khodorkovsky acquired from the Russian government?

Yukos Oil

The first major televised advertising campaigns in Russia were commissioned by...

banks

In the 1920, Vladimir Lenin opined that _________ was "the most important of all arts."

cinema

Vladimir Lenin famously claimed that any "educated __________" was capable of becoming directly involved in the running of society's affairs.

cook

"Soviet" is a Russian word that means...

council

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

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

In My Perestroika documentary, Naiv is...

name of a music bank that one of the protagonists played in

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

In 2005, Freedom House changed Russia's democracy rating from "partly free" to...

not free

Which of the following revolutions gives power to the Bolsheviks?

the October Revolution

The youngest level of communist Party affiliation for children was named...

the Octobrists

Which Soviet youth organization for children required its members to wear red neck kerchiefs?

the Pioneers

The largest accident in nuclear history prior to Chernobyl took place in...

the Soviet Union

Which of the events listed below is the earliest in the chronology of Soviet / Russian history?

the USSR sends troops to Afghanistan

Which of the following classes in the USSR received higher official salariesthan the rest of the population?

the nomenklatura

The coup d-etat of August 1991 was staged by...

the old guard communists that thought Gorbachev went too far with his reforms

Soviet nomenklatura would be best described as...

the upper class of the Soviet society

In 1992 and 93, at the beginning of Yeltsin's economic reforms, inflation had reached peaks of 20 - 30% a month. Is it fair to say that Russia's economic situation improved after 1999?

yes

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

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

How many republics comprised the USSR?

15

When did the bolsheviks seize power from the Tsars?

1917

The Soviet system was in place during...

1917-1991

When did it become legal to establish private commercial banks in Russia?

1987

When did Mikhail Gorbachev resign as general secretary of the Communist Party?

1991

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, prices were "freed" in Russia in...

1992

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

As you saw in My Perestroika, Borya, Ruslan and Andrei were all drafted into the Soviet army. What was the mandatory term of this service?

2 years

How large is the radioactive "Exclusion Zone" around the reactor that was declared uninhabitable?

2,600 square kilometers (approximately 1,000 square miles)

After 10 months in office, Mikhail Gorbachev declared the goal of a nuclear-free world by the year...

2000

After ten months in office, Gorbachev declared the goal of a nuclear-free world by the year ...

2000

When was the group Pussy Riot formed?

2011

Apart from Chernobyl, how many more Nuclear Power Plants are there in Ukraine?

4

Once the Soviet Union fell apart, the former 15 Soviet republics became their own independent countries. What percentage of the population from the former Soviet Union did the country of Russia inherit?

51

The program of privatization that Boris Yeltsin launched in 1992 - 93, aimed to transfer ownership of most of the non-agricultural from state to private hands. How successful was the program of privatization? Specifically, by 2002 (end of Yeltsin's regime and early days of Vladimir Putin's presidency), how many small-scale business and factories were, indeed, privately owned?

97% of small-scale businesses and 75% of factories

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?

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

During the Leningrad - Seattle Spacebridge, outside the studio, there were protesters on the both side (sides).

American

While I know that most of you don't read Cyrillic, based on the readings and videos from this module, the following poster was most likely produced as part of...

Anti-alcohol campaign

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

Why do some compare Russia of the 1990s to a Third World country (and some apply the same analogy to today's Russia)?

Because too large a share of Russia's economy depends the sale of oil and other natural resources

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 adopted a radical economic reform based on "shock therapy"?

Boris Yeltsin

Which of the following leaders was considered to be the "hero" in putting down the August 1991 coup attempt?

Boris Yeltsin

The various republics and regions that comprised the USSR differed greatly in the standard and quality of life and the level of development (an important issue that became a sore spot during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991). Which of the republics listed below were - during the Soviet times - predominantly rural, agricultural and industrially under-developed?

Central Asian Republics (Tadjikistan, Kirgiziya [now Kyrgyzstan], Uzbekistan)

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

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

After Gorbachev's resignation, the next General Secretary of the Soviet Union was Boris Yeltsin.

False

As Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation on December 31, 2000, he apologized to the Russian citizens for his failure to bring the "good life" he promised at the time of the collapse of communism.

False

By the time the Chornobyl nuclear power station went on line in 1977, Ukrainian Communist Party, as well as Ukrainian intellectuals, were strongly against the project of Soviet nuclearization of their republic.

False

During the era of Stagnation, most Soviet citizens were dissidents, eager to express their unhappiness with the Soviet government.

False

Even though Soviet system actively encouraged personal responsibility, Soviet population generally displayed low levels of labor discipline.

False

Immediately after the revolution of 1917, all foreign film imports were stopped by Vladimir Lenin's decree.

False

Khodorkovsky was arrested by the Boris Yeltsin administration on the accusation of tax evasion.

False

Komsomol was a communist Youth organization for young children in elementary and middle school grades.

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

One of Putin's chief self-proclaimed goals since his first presidential term was to address Russia's crumbling infrastructure and to repair old roads, buildings, bridges, etc.

False

Removal of Nikita Khrushchev from the office in 1964 and the Coup of 1993 are the two successful coups in Soviet history.

False

Soviet Union was, by and large, a classless society and a country of social equality. All Soviet citizens earned similar salaries, could send their children to identical schools, had access to the same number of jobs, etc.

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 chief goal of Mikhail Gorbachov's reforms was to abolish socialism, Communist Party rule and, ultimately, to dissolve the Soviet Union.

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 terms "perestroika" and "glasnost" entered the mainstream of Soviet rhetoric with Mikhail Gorbachev. None of Gorbachev's predecessors or the Soviet Constitution had used these terms prior to 1985.

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

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 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.

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

The Soviet Union was known for sending military forces into Eastern Europe when there was a fear that the Soviet control of the region could be destabilized. To which Eastern European country were the Soviet troops sent first?

Hungary

Which Soviet leader simplified cultural discourse (in literature, cinema, art, etc.) to make it accessible to the masses?

Iosif Stalin

A series of purges that became known as the Great Terror are associated with...

Joseph 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

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

Which of the following does NOT explain why Gorbachev had to abandon his anti-alcohol campaign in 1987?

Major protests from the Soviet citizens who barricaded the Kremlin demanding the cancellation of anti-alcohol law

Advertising entered Soviet culture during the era of...

Mikhail Gorbachev

Which Russian leader ended forty years of nuclear confrontation with the West?

Mikhail Gorbachev

Which Soviet leader announced a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing?

Mikhail Gorbachev

Which Soviet leader introduced a new approach to international affairs, the "new thinking"?

Mikhail Gorbachev

Which Soviet leader introduced the term "new thinking" advocating for "peace and international security as the requirement for Soviet economic advance"? (Evtuhov, Catherine, et al. "The Gorbachev Revolution," pp. 784).

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

Who was the LAST Soviet leader to make an attempt to reform the Soviet system from within and to eliminate vestiges of Stalinist heritage?

Mikhail Gorbachev

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 began his "rule" with a famous "Secret Speech," in which he disclosed the crimes of his predecessor's era?

Nikita Khrushchev

Which Soviet leader was overthrown by his opponents in the first and only successful coup in Soviet history?

Nikita Khrushchev

The first ad to appear on Russian television advertised...

Pepsi Cola

Match the following terms with their appropriate translation / explanation.

Perestroika - Restructuring Glasnost - Openness Uskorenie - Acceleration GULAG - Soviet era labor camp system

Which of these countries never was a Soviet republic? (for a comprehensive list of Soviet republics, see My Perestroika study guide, p.8)

Poland

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

Which U.S. president adopted a policy of detente (or relaxation) toward the Soviet Union?

Richard Nixon

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

Which one of the changes outlined below did Boris Yeltsin NOT attempt to implement?

Seeking to overthrow the existing world system and brandishing hostility toward Western and former-Soviet nations

A national holiday in Russia known as the day of knowledge is celebrated on...

September 1

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

Which one of the following statements is INCORRECT? By the time Mikhail Gorbachev left office, ...

Soviet Union was revived both politially and economically

According to the documentary Soviet Disunion, the biggest news item of 1986 was...

The complete and final dissolution of the Gulag labor camps

Even though military service in the Armed Forces of the USSR was mandatory, Vladimir Putin never served in the Soviet military.

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

For most of the Soviet regime, members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were above the law. In other words, Party members caught in illegal acts were NOT subject to the civil law, but only to Party discipline.

True

Generally speaking, the majority of Soviet population benefited from the Soviet system (at least as far as health care, free education, and heavily subsidized prices of necessities).

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 2008, Vladimir Putin was constitutionally barred from running for a third term. Dmitry Medvedev became Russia's president, while Vladimir Putin took on the role of a prime minister.

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

Just like Prohibition in the United States, Gorbachev's ban on alcohol led to an increase in organized crime.

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 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 policies of glasnost and perestroika were introduced before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

True

The term "gerontocracy" was coined in 19th-century France as a critique of a parliament made up of members who were almost all older than the majority of the adult population.

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

Which was was labeled "the Soviet Vietnam"?

USSR vs. Afghanistan

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

In which of the Soviet Republics listed below was the Chernobyl nuclear plant located?

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

The "Dima Yakovlev" law that banned foreign (mainly US) adoptions of Russian children was passed during the "rule" of...

Vladimir Putin

The Beslan tragedy markedly scarred the early years of __________'s presidency.

Vladimir Putin

Which one of the following countries, after 1948, was NOT a part of the Eastern Bloc, united under the Warsaw Pact?

Yugoslavia

The Chernobyl disaster happened due to...

a failed safety experiment on one of the reactors

Prison camps (Gulags) and political executions were scaled back...

after Joseph's Stalin's death

The city of St.Petersburg was called Petrograd...

from 1914 to 1924

Media revelations of state crimes of the past (i.e. Stalinism, GULAGs, etc.) during the era of Mikhail Gorbachev have become known as "retrospective..."

glasnost

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

Chechnya was one of the 15 Soviet republics.

no

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

Which era in Soviet history is characterized by - cultural bans, clampdowns and censorship - relative material growth and economic stability for average Russians

the era of Leonid Brezhnev

Which one of the following groups was most resistant to Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms?

the executive elite and older generations in the Communist Party

Mass protests in Russian cities in early December 2011 were provoked by

the falsified results of the Duma elections

Which ONE of the following groups was most resistant to the changes that Gorbachev attempted to implement in the USSR?

the military-industria complex

The largest class in the Soviet society was...

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

Sergei Eisenstein's acclaimed film Battleship Potemkin...

was created at the command of the Soviet state

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Putin's approval ratings...

went up

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

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