| A | B |
|---|
| chernozem | rich black soil |
| permafrost | permanently frozen layer of soil, lies beneath the surface of the ground. |
| continentality | the effect within the interior portions of landmass. |
| tundra | a vast, treeless plain |
| taiga | a boreal forest belt that covers two-fifths of western Russia and extends into much of Siberia. |
| steppe | this temperate grassland area has dry summers and long, cold, dry winters with swirling winds and blowing snow. |
| ethnic Group | shares common ancestry, language, religion, customs, or a combination of these things. |
| soviet era | the period between 1922 and 1991 when Russia was part of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) |
| nationalities | ethnic groups |
| sovereignty | self-rule |
| atheism | the belief that there is no God or other supreme being. |
| pogrom | massacres |
| intelligentsia | intellectual elite. |
| socialist Realism | the Soviet government limited individual artistic expression and believed that it was the artists' duty to glorify the government's achievements in their works. |
| czar | supreme ruler |
| serf | a virtually enslaved workforce bound to the land and under the control of nobility |
| russification | encouraged people to speak Russian and follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity. |
| socialism | a belief that called for greater economic equality in society. |
| Bolsheviks | a revolutionary group led by Vladimir Llyich Lenin, to seize control. |
| communism | a philosophy based on Karl Marx's ideas that called for the violent overthrow of government and the creation of a society led by workers. |
| satellites | countries controlled by the Soviet Union, |
| Cold War | the struggle between two competing systems--communist and capitalist--for world influence and power. |
| perestroika | a policy of economic restructuring. |
| glasnost | a policy of greater political openness. |
| command economy | the government makes key decisions. |
| consumer goods | goods needed for everyday life. |
| black market | illegal trade in which scarce or illegal goods are sold at high prices. |
| market economy | businesses are privately known. |
| privatization | a change to private ownership. |
| kolkhoz | farms worked by farmers who shared, to a degree, in the farm's production and profits |
| sovkhoz | farms work more like factories, with the farmworkers receiving wages |
| nuclear waste | the by-products of producing nuclear power and weapons. |
| radioactive material | a material contaminated by residue from the generation of nuclear energy and weapons. |
| pesticides | chemicals used to kill crop-damaging insects, rodents, and other pests |
