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Official channel for the Russian Embassy in the Republic of South Africa - Latest foreign policy, cultural, economic news. We take digital diplomacy seriously, share information on all things Russia-related
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🌍 Take part in the Big Ethnographic Dictation 2023!

On 3-8 November, 2023, VIII International Educational Campaign “Big Ethnographic Dictation” will be held under the slogan “Many Peoples – One Country!”.

☝️The goal of the Campaign is to draw people’s attention to the history, culture, and traditions of the peoples inhabiting Russia.

✍️ Firstly launched in 2016, the Campaign by 2022 engaged more than 4 million people from all regions of Russia and 184 countries around the world.

The Dictation tasks are presented in the form of a test and include:

📌 20 questions – a federal section common to all participants;
📌 10 questions – a regional section unique to each subject of the Russian Federation.

The maximum score for completing all tasks is 100.

Working languages are Russian, English, and Spanish.

You can answer the questions in an online format on the official Dictation website

#russia #russian #russianhistory #russianculture #dictattion #russiaunityday
#OTD, on 17 November 1948, 🇷🇺 cruiser Aurora was assigned to its permanent anchorage at the Petrogradskaya embankment in Leningrad (today’s St.Petersburg)

🛳 Currently, it serves as a museum ship and one of the city’s landmarks.

🌟The Aurora was one of 3 Pallada-class cruisers launched in St.Petersburg in 1900. She participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 surviving the Battle of Tsushima.

After returning to the Baltic, it was used as a training ship.

📆 In October 1917, a shot fired from the main gin of the cruiser was the signal to storm the Winter Palace and marked the beginning of the Bolshevik revolution.

#Aurora #history #russianhistory
📆 30 years ago, #OTD in 1993, the double-headed eagle was adopted as Russia’s official coat-of-arms.

🦅 The eagle, whose two heads face East and West, first appeared as the symbol of the Russian State in XV century during the reign of Ivan III, who married Zoe Paleolog, the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine. The two-headed eagle (the emblem of Byzantium) was united with the Moscow coat of arms (St.George slaying the dragon).

🇷🇺 Two-headed eagle remained the symbol of Russian Monarchy and Russian State for more than four hundred years, till the October Revolution of 1917, and regained it's status in 1993 according to the order of President Boris Yeltsin of November 30, 1993.

☝️ There are different interpretations of this symbol. The most common version says that two heads of the eagle symbolize that Russia consists of two part - European and Asian, and they are of equal importance for the country.


#russia #russianhistory #russianstate #doubleheadedeagle
⭐️ #OTD in 1943, Operation #Ring commenced – the last part of the epic Battle of #Stalingrad.

The Red Army encircled the remaining Axis forces, making 24 #Nazi generals surrender.

⚔️ The deadliest battle in history resulted in a decisive Soviet victory.

#RussianHistory #WWII #Victory78
📆 #OTD, on 15 February Russia observes the Day of Memory of the Russians who performed their duty outside the Fatherland or Day of Memory of Warriors-Internationalists.

🌟 It was established to commemorate all Russian/Soviet servicemen who participated in armed conflicts outside the country including those in Southern Africa.

☝️ In order to support the liberation struggle of the peoples of Southern Africa, in 1970s – early 1990s, about 14.000 Soviet military specialists were deployed in Angola and Mozambique, who were involved in organizing army and training African militaries.

🇿🇦 South Africa remembers Soviet contribution to the liberation struggle.

🕯 The names of 67 Soviet officers who helped fight apartheid regime are engraved on the Wall in “Freedom Park”.

Annually in December, a floral tribute ceremony is held on the site to provide people in South Africa, especially youngsters, with information about the deeds of their ancestors.

#Russia #SouthAfrica #SharedHistory #HistoryofRussia #RussianHistory
📆 #OTD, 163 years ago, one of the most significant reforms in Russia’s modern history was carried out.

✍️ On 19 February 1861, serfdom was abolished in Russia by Alexander II’s Emancipation Edict.

The history of serfdom in Russia began in 1649, when Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich issued a decree that prohibited peasants from leaving their lands.

☝️ According, to historians, Russian serfdom as a type of feudal dependence was closer to French “servage” or British “villeinship” rather than to outright slavery.

Gradually, the serfdom turned into a major social evil and an impediment to the growth of labour productivity.

👉 Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War (1853-1856) exposed all the drawbacks of Russian industry, economy and agriculture, and served as a trigger for Alexander’s II reforms.

It should be noted that first steps towards the relief of serfdom pressure were made already under Paul I and Alexander I.

#RussianHistory
📆 541 years ago, on 30 April 1472, the Assumption (Dormition) Cathedral in Moscow was founded, which became a place of crucial importance for Russian identity. Its origins date back to the XIV century, and are closely connected with the rise of the Moscow Principality of Russia.

In 1326, the leading Russian church prelate, Metropolitan Peter of Vladimir, made the Moscow Kremlin his de facto residence. Concurrently, Great Prince Ivan Kalita launched the construction of the cathedral dedicated to the Feast of the Dormition, which symbolized the continuity with the great Dormition Cathedral in the town of Vladimir (the latter started to lose its political significance).

⛪️ By the mid-XV century the cathedral dilapidated and Great Prince of Russia Ivan III, who had consolidated all Russian principalities under the power of Moscow ordered the construction of a new one. A renowned architect Aristotele Fioravanti of Bologna was invited to Russia to design and to build it.

👑 For 6 centuries the Cathedral was national and religious centre of Russia. It is known as the place of coronation of Russian rulers (even after the capital was relocated to St.Petersburg) including the first and the last Russian Tsars from the Romanov dynasty.

Take a virtual tour of the Assumption Cathedral, Russia’s most elevated monument, at the link.

#RussianHistory
📆 118 years ago, on 6 May 1906, Russian emperor Nikolay II approved the new edition of “Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire”, virtually the first Russian constitution, consisting of 2 sections, 17 chapters and 223 articles.

Social and political unrest in Russia was fueled by the defeat in Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) which resulted in the Russian Revolution of 1905. Emperor Nikolay II had to respond to increasing calls for reforms in order to calm down the situation in the country.

📖 The new constitution provided for a bicameral Russian parliament composed of an upper house, known as the State Council, and a lower house, known as the State Duma.

☝️ It also legislated the official language of the Russian Empire, the essence of the supreme power, the procedure of law-making, rights and duties of Russian citizens, etc.

#RussianHistory
📅Today Russia’s Baltic Fleet marks its 321st anniversary.

🛳 It is considered one of the oldest Russian Navy formations. #OTD in 1703, during the Great Northern War against Sweden (1700-1721) Russian flotilla under the command of Peter I (the Great) won its first victory over Swedish ships in the battle in the Neva delta. All the participants of the battle were awarded medals saying “the impossible is possible.”

⚔️The fleet valiantly defended the Baltic coast during the Crimean War (1853-1856) and successfully disrupted the Swedes’ attempts to seize Kronstadt, Gangut and Sveaborg.

❗️During WW2, the Baltic Fleet participated in the Defence of Leningrad (1941-1944), supported the Red Army’s offensive in the Baltic region (1944), East Prussia and East Pomerania (1944-1945) having destroyed over 1,200 enemy’s warships, transport and logistics vessels as well as over 2,500 aircrafts.

@mod_russia

#RussianNavy #RussianArmy #military #army #RussianHistory #HistoryofRussia #RussianMilitaryGlory #defense
📆#OTD 166 years ago the settlement of Khabarovka was founded by a detachment of Siberian troops under the command of Captain Yakov Dyachenko in Russia’s Far East which later became the city of Khabarovsk. It bears the name of the renowned XVII-century Cossack leader Yerofei Khabarov, who explored the Amur region.

🌊Khabarovsk is a city of two great strategic rivers: the Amur and the Ussuri. Their confluence near Khabarovsk and the state boundaries they define created one of the most important geopolitical zones in northern Asia. The city emerged as a result of the Russian-Chinese Treaty of Aigun according to which the territories on the north bank of the Amur river became part of the Russian empire, and those to the south – part of China.

🔹The devastation of WW1 occurred far from Khabarovsk, and the city actually grew with expanding military production. But the Russian Civil War and foreign military intervention in the Far East caused major damage and disruption.

❗️It lies closer to major Chinese cities than to Moscow. By rail, Khabarovsk is a 6 day 5,300-mile journey from the capital. The city is linked to the European part of Russia via the Trans-Siberian railway.

#Russia #Khabarovsk #RussianHistory #discoverrussia
📆Today Russia observes Northern Fleet Day. It commemorates the forming of Northern military flotilla based in Murmansk on 1 June 1933, though the history of Russian Northern Fleet starts as early as 1733.

🛳 In 1733, the Arkhangelsk dockyard was founded by the order of Russian empress Anna Ioannovna. It were Arkhangelsk-built ships that formed the backbone of Russia’s first warship unit in the North. The Arkhangelsk squadron’s areas of responsibility were the White Sea and the coast of the Kola peninsula.

☝️Today’s Northern Fleet consists of nuclear-powered missile and torpedo submarines, missile-carrying and antisubmarine aviation, missile, aircraft-carrying and anti-submarine ships. The flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet - heavy battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky.

#RussianNavy #RussianArmy #military #army #RussianHistory #HistoryofRussia #navy #NorthernFleet #RussianMilitaryGlory #defense
📆 88 years ago, on 7 July 1936, Soviet diplomat Georgy Chicherin passed away, who served as People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs in 1918 – 1930.

He was born to a noble family thought to be related to Alexander Pushkin.

🎓 G.Chicherin entered the imperial diplomatic service after graduating from the University of St.Petersburg (1897) but became involved in the Russian revolutionary movement and resigned in 1904.

👉 He resumed his diplomatic career in 1918 participating in the final stage of negotiations in Brest-Litovsk with Germany and subsequently assuming the post of People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

🤝 As a chief of Soviet diplomacy, G.Chicherin concluded treaties with Estonia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Germany contributing to breaking the international isolation imposed on Soviet Russia after the October Revolution of 1917.

✍️ G.Chicherin spoke all major European languages and a number of Asian ones.

#OutstandingRussians #RussianHistory #SovietHistory
📆 130 years ago, #OTD in 1894, Pyotr Kapitsa was born, an outstanding Soviet physicist and 1978 Nobel Prize Winner.

P.Kapitsa turned to physics thanks to Abram Ioffe, the “father of Soviet physics” who noticed the promising student of the Petrograd Technical Institute and invited him to join his laboratory team.

🎓 In 1921, P.Kapitsa left for England to carry on his studies at the University of Cambridge under Ernest Rutherford. He soon gained acclaim among his colleagues as a talented engineer and experimenter.

He stayed in England until 1934 and contributed significantly to international scientific exchange.

⚛️ Upon his return to Russia, in 1935 P.Kapitsa was appointed director of the specially established Institute of Physical Problems in Moscow, where he installed his former equipment from the Mond Laboratory in Cambridge after it was purchased by the Soviet government.

🌟 During World War II, P.Kapitsa became responsible for the entire Soviet industry’s production of liquid oxygen and supervised the construction of large plants based on machines he invented.

👉 In 1978, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics” and was also cited for his long term role as a leader in the development of this area. He shared the prize with Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson of USA.

#OutstandingRussians #RussianHistory #SovietHistory