Telephones 25.4 million (1993 est.)

Telephone system total pay phones for long distant calls 34,100; enlisting foreign help, by means of joint ventures, to speed up the modernization of its telecommunications system; in 1992, only 661,000 new telephones were installed compared with 855,000 in 1991, and in 1992 the number of unsatisfied applications for telephones reached 11,000,000; expanded access to international electronic mail service available via Sprint network; the inadequacy of Russian telecommunications is a severe handicap to the economy, especially with respect to international connections
domestic: NMT-450 analog cellular telephone networks are operational and growing in Moscow and St. Petersburg; intercity fiber-optic cable installation remains limited
international:

Current issues Following the outbreak of genocidal strife in Rwanda in April 1994 between Tutsi and Hutu factions, more than 2 million refugees fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire, now called Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the UN High Commission on Refugees, in 1996 and early 1997 nearly 1,300,000 Hutus returned to Rwanda; of these, 720,000 returned from Democratic Republic of the Congo, 480,000 from Tanzania, 88,000 from Burundi, and 10,000 from Uganda.

NOTE: The information regarding Russia on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Russia Communications 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Russia Communications 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.