VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Berlin is the capital of Germany and its largest city. Its total area is 892 square kilometres; its population comprises 3.39 million people, including 447,300 foreigners (13.2%) from over 180 nations. The city is subdivided into twelve boroughs.
Slavic tribes settled in the area of the modern metropolis in the sixth century AD and dominated it until the eleventh century, when the process of Germanisation started. The city sprang from two settlements, Berlin and Cologne, located on both banks of the Spree River. Cologne was first mentioned in chronicles in 1237, and Berlin in 1244. In 1709 the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, which became a great European military power under King Frederick II (1740-1786), was moved to Berlin. In 1871 the city became the capital of the newly founded German Empire.
After Germany was occupied by the Allies in 1945, Berlin was divided into four sectors. The Eastern part (the Soviet zone) was declared the capital of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, in 1949. In 1961, the borders of West Berlin were enclosed with the Berlin Wall, which was destroyed on November 9, 1989. In accordance with the Unification Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic of August 31, 1990, Berlin was proclaimed the capital of Germany.
Berlin is the seat of the German President and Chancellor, the Federal Government, the majority of ministries, including the Foreign Ministry, and both chambers of the Parliament - the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. Over a hundred foreign states have their diplomatic missions and consulates in Berlin.
Along with Hamburg and Bremen, Berlin possesses the status of city state (land), which gives it the right to have its own constitution, coat of arms (the image of a wild brown bear topped with a crown) and flag (a white cloth with longitudinal red stripes and the image of a bear). Berlin has four votes in the Bundesrat (out of 69).
Berlin's legislative assembly is the House of Representatives. It passes acts and makes decisions within its domain, outlined by the German Constitution (culture, police, education, housing and utilities, etc.). After the most recent early elections on September 17, 2006, the 149 seats in the Berlin House of Representatives were distributed as follows: the Social Democratic Party (SPD) - 53 (30,8%), the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - 37 (21,3%), the Left Party (DieLinke.PDS) - 23 (13,4%), Alliance'90/The Greens (Die Grünen) - 23 (13,1%), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) - 13 (7,6%). The President of the House of Representatives is Walter Momper from the Social Democratic Party.
On November 23, 2006, the Social Democratic Party and the Left party formed a coalition government; its head is Klaus Wowereit, mayor of Berlin ex officio from the Social Democratic Party.
Berlin's budget amounted to €20.7 billion in 2006; its GDP was €79.6 billion (ranking ninth among German states). The city can be hardly called prosperous: its debt is €61.6 billion (in these terms, Berlin is the "leader" among German states and cities).
Berlin is Germany's largest university center. There are 140,000 students in Berlin's three universities, four academies of arts, and ten colleges. There are some 800 research centres, institutions, and other scientific organisations in the German capital.
There are three opera houses, over 50 drama theatres and variety theatres, more than 250 public libraries, and 300 cinemas in Berlin. Among Berlin's 153 museums and 300 showrooms, there are such popular sites as the Pergamon Museum (Pergamonmuseum), the Bode Museum, the New National Gallery (Neue Nationalgalerie), the Old National Gallery (Alte Nationalgalerie), Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg), and the Museum of Technology (Technikmuseum). About 7,000 sites have the status of historical monuments. Over six million people visit Berlin's museums and exhibitions annually.
Berlin plays host to the prestigious annual Berlin International Film Festival, or the Berlinale, the Berliner Festwochen theatre festival, the Bach Days festival, and the Berlin Jazz Festival (JazzFest Berlin).
National culture centres and institutes of Russia, the USA, Great Britain, France, Poland, Hungary, Japan, and other countries contribute to the metropolis' cultural profile.
The German capital has old historical links with Russia. All Russian emperors paid visits to the city in the 19-20th centuries. In addition, Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Nabokov, and other outstanding Russians often visited Berlin. The city's largest square, Alexanderplatz, was named in honour of Russian Emperor Alexander I as a sign of gratitude for liberating the city from Napoleon's troops in 1813.
Berlin maintains close partner relations with Moscow: on August 28, 1991 the two capitals signed the Friendship and Cooperation Treaty. In Berlin there are missions of the Altai Territory, Bashkortostan, the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Moscow International Business Association, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, and a number of Russian companies.
There are nine memorials to the Soviet soldiers who perished while liberating the city in 1945. The best-known memorials are those in Treptower Park, Pankow, and Tiergarten. In Berlin's Karlshorst district, there is a Russian-German museum in the building where the final German Act of Unconditional Surrender was signed. According to city statistics, over 150,000 Berliners come from the CIS. Berlin has three schools where subjects are taught in German and Russian. Two weekly newspapers are published in Russian - Europe-Express and Russian Germany-Russian Berlin.
Berlin is the seat of Archbishop Feofan of Berlin and Germany (the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church), and there are three orthodox temples in the city. The cultural centre for Russian-speaking people is the Russian House of Science and Culture.
The names of the following Russians were included in the list of Berlin's honorary citizens: Nikolai Berzarin (restored in 2003 after being excluded in 1992), Valery Bykovsky, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Emperor NicholasI. In 1992, Pyotr Abrasimov, Fyodor Bokov, Mikhail Yegorov, Meliton Kantaria, Mikhail Katukov, Ivan Konev, Alexander Kotikov, Nikolai Mosalov, Vasily Sokolovsky, Mikhail Solomatin, and Vasily Chuikov were excluded from the list on political grounds.
