Russia - About the Country

During the Cold War Russia was not really well-known for its openness, especially in conection with "strategic" geologic information. A friend of mine was geology student in the GDR, studying in Moscow for a semester with a student exchange programme. She had difficulties to get a geologic map of the country, so she had to draw a copy of the mosaic on the wall of the geologic institute. After the end of the Cold War the situation changed completely, but still it was hard to get basic information outside the country. The situation worsened again in the last years with the conflicts with Russia and the Ukraine War.

The country Russia, also called Russian Federation, is a huge country which stretches from Europe to Asia, sharing borders with Finland and Poland in the west, and China and North Korea to the east. Formerly it was the dominant country of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Since 1991 and the break-up of the USSR, the country is now influential member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

This enormous country definitely has numerous caves, but unfortunately, because of the political situation and lately the security problems, a touristic visit was and is difficult. And it is difficult to get information about show caves and mines in Russia. At the moment obviously the main problems are lack of inland tourism, publications only in Russian, and of course lack of people working and publishing in the field, because of the financial difficulties.