Tatarstan, Russia. Country, People. Distance

The state and governance

The Republic of Tatarstan is a democratic constitutional state, the constituent territory of the Russian Federation, joined with the Russian Federation by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan «About the differentiation of the areas of responsibility and mutual delegation of powers between the public authorities of the Russian Federation and the public authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan».
The head of the Republic of Tatarstan is the President. The acting president of Tatarstan is Mintimer Shaimiev.
The main legislative body is the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan. The Cabinet of the Republic of Tatarstan is the executive and regulatory authority. The judicial power is carried out by the Constitutional court, federal courts of the general jurisdiction, Arbitrage and city executives.
The system of the local government operates in all the territory of the republic of Tatarstan. The state languages in Tatarstan are Tatar and Russian.

Geographical location

The Republic of Tatarstan is located at the centre of the Russian Federation on the East European plain, at the junction of the Volga and Kama rivers. It is the centre of the Middle Volga region - large industrial area of the Russian Federation on the confluence of the major highways connecting the East and the West, the north and the south of the country. There are two water storage basins in the territory of Tatarstan - Kuibyshev and Nizhnekamsk water basins.

Tatarstan borders on Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Mari-El and Udmurtia Republics and also with Samara, Ulyanovsk, Kirov and Orenburg regions.
The relief of the Republic of Tatarstan is flat, 9/10 of its territory is at height no more than 200 m above the sea level. Territory extends 290 kilometers from the north to the south and 460 kilometers from the west to the east. The climate is moderate-continental. Average temperature in January is -14C, in July +19С. Moscow time (GMT+03:00). There are 43 districts and 14 cities in Tatarstan. The capital is Kazan.

The population

Tatarstan is one of the most multinational territories of Russia: the representatives of over 115 nationalities live here. Along with the Tatars who comprise 52,9 % from the population total number, and the Russians comprising 39,5 % of the population, the number of the most numerous nations includes also the Chuvashs, the Udmurts, the Ukrainians, the Mordvins, the Maris and the Bashkirs.
Total population of the Republic of Tatarstan comprises 3,8 million people. 1,2 million of them live in Kazan.

Religion

There are about thousand religious organizations in the Republic of Tatarstan. The traditional faiths of the republic are Sunnism Islam and Christianity.

Natural resources

The Republic of Tatarstan possesses the developed mineral raw material sources and considerable mineral stock potential, which is formed by the total amount of stock and expected reserves of petroleum, natural bitumen, coal, firm nonmetallic minerals, fresh and mineral underground waters.

The basis of the mineral raw material sources is formed by oil-extracting branch which is one of the leaders in the republic’s economy, it comprises more than a quarter of all industry production.

Economy

Tatarstan is one of the most economically developed republics of the Russian Federation. Tatarstan occupies the 1 place according to the cumulative rating of the regions located on the territory of the Volga Region Federal District, including the indices of the industrial and financial-investment activity, and also the social field.
Industry occupies the prevailing place in the total output of the republic. Today 36 % of the Russian manufacture of polyethylene, 44 % of isoprene rubber, 33 % of tires and almost half (48 %) of Russian truck tires are produced by the republican petrochemical enterprises.
The leading branches of the mechanical engineering of Tatarstan are the motor industry, aircraft engineering and instrument making. Planes and helicopters which are produced in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, chemical and petrochemical products, produced in the leading factories of Kazan got the world recognition. KAMAZ factory is one of the leaders of trucks and economy cars production in CIS.
Agrarian sector plays an important role in the economy of the Republic of Tatarstan. The republic is one of the top three leaders among the regions of Russia on volume of agricultural production.
«The Program of social and economic development of the Republic of Tatarstan for 2005-2010» is the basic document in the companies’ and enterprises’ activity.
The favorable investment climate of the Republic of Tatarstan is confirmed by the assessment of the international rating agencies Standart&Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch.

Transport

The republic has developed transport network. Airlines, highways, railways, four navigable rivers: Volga, Kama, Vyatka and Belaya form the basis of the transport network.
Tatarstan is on the central position being the link between the Urals Mountains, Siberia, the Far East with the European part of the Russian Federation and a number of the CIS countries.
The capital of Tatarstan Kazan is situated 797 km to the east of Moscow. The road from Moscow to Kazan takes 12 hours if you travel by train, or 1 hour if you travel by plane.