title: Russia–United States relations

text: At the end of 2017, CNN concluded that a series of steps undertaken by the Trump administration within a mere week before Christmas such as naming Russia a "rival power" and ″revisionist power″ (along with China), imposing sanctions on Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, the decision to provide Ukraine with anti-tank weapons, coupled with tougher line from the State Department about Moscow's activities in eastern Ukraine, and accusations from the Pentagon that Russia was intentionally violating de-confliction agreements in Syria, highlighted "a decided turn away from the warmer, more cooperative relationship with Russia that President Donald Trump called for during his campaign and early in his presidency". In February 2018, echoing Donald Trump's own statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "[President Donald Trump] has been tougher on Russia in the first year than Obama was in eight years combined."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: A highly unusual unannounced visit to Washington D.C. at the end of January 2018 by the directors of Russia's three main intelligence and security agencies (FSB, SVR, and GRU), two of whom (Sergey Naryshkin and Igor Korobov) were on the U.S. sanctions list, and their reported meetings with top U.S. security officials caused political controversy in the U.S. and elicited no official comment in Russia, while it occurred days before the Trump administration chose not to impose immediately new sanctions on Russia at the deadline mandated by the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The U.S. air and artillery strike on a pro-government formation in eastern Syria on February 7, 2018, which caused massive death toll among Russian nationals and a political scandal in Russia, was billed by media as "the first deadly clash between citizens of Russia and the United States since the Cold War" and "an episode that threatens to deepen tensions with Moscow".


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Public statements read out by Vladimir Putin on March 1, 2018, days before the presidential election, about missile technology breakthroughs made by Russia, were referred to by the Trump administration officials as largely boastful untruths, as well as confirmation that "Russia ha[d] been developing destabilizing weapons systems for over a decade, in direct violation of its treaty obligations". U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis remarked that the systems Putin had talked about "[were] still years away" and he did not see them changing the military balance. Nevertheless, White House insiders were later quoted as saying that Putin's claims "really got under the president [Trump]'s skin" and caused Trump to take a sharper tone behind the scenes vis-à-vis Vladimir Putin.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On March 26, 2018, following the United States National Security Council's recommendation, to demonstrate the U.S.'s support for the UK's position on the Salisbury poisoning incident, president Donald Trump ordered the expulsion of sixty Russian diplomats and closure of Russian consulate in Seattle. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov responded to the simultaneous expulsion of the total of 140 Russian diplomats by 25 countries by accusing the U.S. government of "blackmailing" other nations.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In April 2018, US-Russian relations were further exacerbated by missile strikes against the Syrian government targets following the suspected chemical attack in Douma on April 7. The countries clashed diplomatically, with Russia's top military officials threatening to hit U.S. military targets in the event of a massive U.S.-led strike against Syria. In late May, during an interview with RT, Syria's president Bashar al-Assad said that direct military conflict between the Russian forces and the U.S. forces in Syria had been averted in April "by the wisdom of the Russian leadership" and that the US-led missile attack against Syria would have been far more extensive had it not been for Russia's intervention.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On June 8, 2018, Trump called for Russia to be readmitted to the G-7, from which it was expelled after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Trump's public statements during his first formal meeting with Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018, drew criticism from the Democratic members of the U.S. Congress and a number of former senior intelligence officials as well as some ranking members of the Republican party for appearing to have sided with Putin rather than accepting the findings of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election issued by the United States Intelligence Community. Republican senator John McCain called the press conference "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory." The press around the world ran publications that tended to assess the news conference following the presidents′ two-hour meeting as an event at which Trump had "projected weakness".


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In December 2019, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on businesses involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, as the U.S. sought to sell more of its own liquefied natural gas (LNG) to European states. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz called the sanctions "a severe intervention in German and European internal affairs", while the EU spokesman criticized "the imposition of sanctions against EU companies conducting legitimate business." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also criticized sanctions, saying that U.S. Congress "is literally overwhelmed with the desire to do everything to destroy" the U.S.–Russia relations.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: A June 2020 "New York Times" report, citing unnamed sources, stated that American intelligence officials assessed with medium confidence that Russian military intelligence unit 29155 had supervised a bounty program paying Taliban-linked militants to kill foreign servicemembers, including Americans, in Afghanistan in 2019. The bounty program reportedly resulted in the deaths of "several" U.S. soldiers, but The Pentagon's top leaders said that Russian bounty program has not been corroborated. The Taliban and Russia have both denied that the bounty program exists. President Donald Trump and his aides denied that he was briefed on the intelligence. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said that Trump had not received a briefing on the bounty program. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the same. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that General Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, and General Scott Miller, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, did not think "the reports were credible as they dug into them." McKenzie said that he found no "causative link" between reported bounties to actual U.S. military deaths, but said a lack of proof is "often true in battlefield intelligence."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On July 1, 2020, following media reports of Taliban participation in an alleged Russian bounty program, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee overwhelmingly voted in favor of an amendment to restrict President Trump's ability to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On September 25, 2020, U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers staged a mock attack run on Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave locked between NATO countries. The simulated raid on the Kaliningrad region was a test case of destroying Russian air defense systems located in the region.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Shortly before the inauguration of President Trump, the Steele dossier was leaked to the public. Written by a private intelligence firm claiming to unearth a relationship between his presidential campaign and the Russian government, the report alleged that the Russians possessed kompromat on Trump which could be used to blackmail him. It suggested the Kremlin had promised the campaign that compromising information would not be released if the Administration cooperated.<ref name="Withnall_Sengupta_1/12/2017"></ref><ref name="Bertrand_1/10/2017"></ref> Though the report was met with skepticism, the relationship between Russian leadership and the incoming Trump Administration became highly salient. Days later, Ynet, an Israeli online news site, reported that U.S. intelligence had advised Israeli intelligence officers to be cautious about sharing information with the incoming Trump administration until the possibility of Russian influence over Trump had been fully investigated.<ref name="Bergman_1/12/2017"></ref> Allegations of collusion between Trump associations and the Russian government continued to emerge well into his presidency.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Various administration officials' close ties with Russia have been documented and heavily scrutinized, most notably former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador. Throughout his presidential tenure, Trump expressed both support and criticism of Russia's actions in Crimea, Syria, Ukraine, North Korea, Venezuela, election meddling, Skripal poisoning, and oil drilling in Russia.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Despite extensive investigation into the dossier's claims, they remain unverified, and many considere the allegations to be a conspiracy theory. Trump's actions at the Helsinki summit in 2018 led some to conclude that Steele's report was more accurate than not. Politico reported, "Trump sided with the Russians over the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Moscow had waged an all-out attack on the 2016 election...The joint news conference cemented fears among some that Trump was in Putin's pocket and prompted bipartisan backlash."<ref name="Bertrand_9/30/2019"></ref> At the joint news conference, when asked directly about the subject, Putin denied that he had any kompromat on Trump. Trump was reportedly given a gift from Putin the weekend of the pageant, though Putin argued "that he did not even know Trump was in Russia for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013 when, according to the Steele dossier, video of Trump was secretly recorded to blackmail him."<ref name="Mackey_7/16/2018"></ref>


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Several operatives and lawyers in the U.S. intelligence community reacted strongly to Trump's performance at the summit, describing it as "subservien[ce] to Putin" and "a fervent defense of Russia's military and cyber aggression around the world, and its violation of international law in Ukraine". Some framed Trump's conduct as harmful to U.S. interests and an asset to Russian interests, suggesting that he was a "useful idiot" to Putin,<ref name="Sheth_8/30/2019"></ref> and that he looked like "Putin's puppet".<ref name="Sheth_8/27/2019"></ref> Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wondered "if Russians have something on Trump",<ref name="CNN_7/19/2018"></ref> and former CIA director John O. Brennan accused Trump of treason, tweeting: "He is wholly in the pocket of Putin."<ref name="Sevastopulo_Hille_7/20/2018"></ref> In January 2019, former acting CIA director Michael Morell called Trump "an unwitting agent of the Russian federation", echoing the sentiments of former CIA director Michael V. Hayden.<ref name="Boot_1/13/2019"></ref> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested then-President Trump's behavior was part of a pattern: "All roads lead to Putin."<ref name="DeBonis_Kim_10/17/2019"></ref>


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Following the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on January 17, 2021, Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, stated: "Mr. Navalny should be immediately released, and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable. The Kremlin's attacks on Mr. Navalny are not just a violation of human rights, but an affront to the Russian people who want their voices heard."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On the day of Biden's inauguration, Russia urged the new administration to take a "more constructive" approach in talks over the extension of the 2010 New START treaty, accusing the Trump administration of "deliberately and intentionally" dismantling international arms control agreements and attacking its "counterproductive and openly aggressive" approach in talks. On January 26, Biden and Putin agreed that they would extend by five years the New START treaty, which would otherwise have expired in February 2021.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On 17 March 2021, the Russian foreign ministry announced that Russia had recalled its ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, for "consultations" in a move that was characterized by the ministry's spokesperson as being without precedent for a Russia ambassador to the U.S. The recall came after Biden said he thought that Putin was "a killer" and said he would "pay the price" for the interference in the 2020 U.S. election, which had been confirmed by a declassified DNI report released the previous day. The State Department commented on the recall by saying that while the U.S. would work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, they would "be able to hold Russia accountable for any of their malign actions".


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On April 15, the U.S. announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions on six Russian technology companies as well as 32 other individuals and entities. The new sanctions also targeted ruble-denominated sovereign debt. Nevertheless, the economic punishments were assessed by observers as "more bark than bite" and likely to be "largely symbolic", with the ruble even rebounding against the dollar on the news. Biden commented the United States "could have gone further" with the sanctions, but that he had opted for a milder form of sovereign-debt sanctions for now because he wanted to avoid a “cycle of escalation and conflict." Russia retaliated the following day, expelling 10 U.S. diplomats and suggesting the U.S. ambassador return home for consultations.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On May 19, the Biden administration lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that was being built between Russia and Germany. While Joe Biden believed the project was bad, the U.S. State Department explained it had concluded that it was in the "U.S. national interest" to waive the sanctions.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In May 2021, Biden and Putin agreed to meet as the relationship between the countries was being assessed to be at the lowest point since the 1980s. At the meeting in Geneva in mid-June, the countries′ leaders reached an agreement to return their ambassadors to their posts in each other's capitals, no progress was made in overcoming the major points of contention.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On August 21, The Department of State imposed increased sanctions on Russia for alleged poisoning of Alexei Navalny. These sanctions include a ban on ammo imports into the United States, as well as restrictions of Small Arm sales.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On 1 December 2021, Russia's Foreign Ministry told US diplomats who have been working in Moscow for more than three years, to leave the country by 31 January 2022. The move came in response to news on 28 November 2021 that the US would be expelling 27 Russian diplomatic staff by the end of January 2022.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In late 2021 and early 2022, Russian troops build up along the Russo-Ukrainian border, resulted in renewed tensions between Russia and NATO. Senior officials of the Biden administration reported that Russia had only withdrawn a few thousand troops since the previous military buildup in early 2021. "The New York Times" estimated over 80,000 Russian troops still remain at the Russo-Ukrainian border by September 2021. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to invade Ukraine.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On 30 November 2021, Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Russian cities or missile defence systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for the Kremlin. Putin asked President Joe Biden for legal guarantees that NATO wouldn't expand eastward or put "weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory." The U.S. rejected Putin's demands.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Biden and Putin discussed the crisis over the course of a 50-minute phone call on December 30, 2021. Bilateral talks began in Geneva on 10 January 2022, to discuss the crisis in Ukraine as well as longstanding Russians concerns regarding NATO postering in Eastern Europe. The talks were led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. On January 31, 2022 both the United States and Russia discussed the crisis at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The discussion was tense, with both sides accusing the other of stoking tensions.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The United States government increased military support to Ukraine through a $650 million arms deal. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley threatened U.S. support for an anti-Russian insurgency within Ukraine. The Biden administration approved deliveries of American-made FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine. The government threatened severe sanctions against Russia as well as personal sanctions against Putin and his allies. The United States also threatened to halt the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would send Russian natural gas to Germany, "if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In January 2022, the United States accused Russia of sending saboteurs into Ukraine to stage "a false-flag operation" that would create a pretext for Russia to invade Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the U.S. claim as "total disinformation." On 4 February 2022, Lavrov dismissed as "nonsense" and "craziness" allegations by the United States that Russia was preparing a fake video of the Ukrainian forces attacking the separatist-held Donbas as a pretext for starting a war in Ukraine.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On 19 January 2022, President Biden said that he believed Russia would invade Ukraine. Biden said a full-scale invasion of Ukraine would be "the most consequential thing that's happened in the world in terms of war and peace" since World War II. Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disagreed on how imminent the threat was. On 10 February 2022, Biden urged all American citizens in Ukraine to leave immediately. On 11 February 2022, Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan publicly warned about the likelihood of a Russian invasion of Ukraine prior to the end the 2022 Winter Olympics.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll, conducted on 7–26 July 2021, found that 50% of Americans supported the use U.S. troops to defend Ukraine if Russia invaded the rest of the country.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In December 2021, a Levada Center poll found that about 50% of Russians believed that the U.S. and NATO were responsible for the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, while 16% blamed Ukraine and just 4% blamed Russia.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In February 2022, according to the White House, US President Joe Biden stated in a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine, Washington and its allies will respond "decisively and impose fast and severe penalties."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On February 16, 2022, the US State Department stated that Russia is seeking to establish a "pretext" for invading Ukraine by making unsubstantiated claims of "genocide" and mass graves in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On February 20, 2022, the US secretary of state showed his concern about the continuation of Russian military drills in Belarus. According to Antony Blinken, Moscow's decision to keep roughly 30,000 troops in Belarus, near to Ukraine, amid increased tensions in the east justifies US's concerns.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On February 22, 2022, US President Joe Biden criticized Russia's recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as "the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine" and announced sanctions against on banks VEB and Promsvyazbank and comprehensive sanctions on Russia's sovereign debt in response.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On February 24, 2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine opening fire with explosive ordinance and hitting several residential buildings, by the 25th the invading army had taken all of the Chernobyl exclusion zone and began to attack the Ukrainian capital with high resistance from both the Ukrainian military and a makeshift militia. On February 26, President Joe Biden authorized the US State Department to deliver up to $350 million in weapons from US stockpiles to Ukraine.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On February 26, 2022, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, warned that Moscow may retaliate to Western sanctions by withdrawing from the most recent nuclear arms treaty with the US, severing diplomatic ties with Western nations, and freezing their assets.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On February 28, 2022, the U.S., during a meeting with the U.N., asked the Russian ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, to remove 12 Russian diplomats from the U.S. under claims of abuse of power.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On March 4, 2022, the United States and its allies strongly denounced Russia at the United Nations on Friday for shelling and seizing Europe's largest nuclear power facility overnight in Ukraine, and some insisted that Moscow not allow such an action to happen again.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On March 13, 2022, President Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned of a full-fledged NATO response if Russia were to hit any part of NATO territory.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The poll, conducted by NPR/Ipsos between 18–21 March 2022, found that only 36% of Americans approved the Biden administration's response to the invasion.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On April 28, 2022, President Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion dollars to assist Ukraine, including $20 billion to provide weapons to Ukraine.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On July 6, 2022, the speaker of the Russian Parliament threatened the US about the possible "return" of Alaska to Russia.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: On September 21, 2022, President Putin warned the US and NATO during his partial mobilization speech regarding Russia's ability to use nuclear weapons, stating that if Russia's "territorial integrity" was threatened, Russia would "certainly make use of all weapon systems available" to them.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In April 2015, CNN reported that "Russian hackers" had "penetrated sensitive parts of the White House" computers in "recent months." It was said that the FBI, the Secret Service, and other U.S. intelligence agencies categorized the attacks "among the most sophisticated attacks ever launched against U.S. government systems."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In 2017, a cybersecurity specialist working in the Federal Security Service was arrested by Russian authorities on suspicion of passing information to U.S. intelligence.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In June 2019, Russia said that its electrical grid has been under cyber-attack by the United States. The "New York Times" reported that American hackers from the United States Cyber Command planted malware potentially capable of disrupting the Russian electrical grid.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: A poll by the University of Maryland, College Park, released early July 2009 found that only 2 percent of Russians had "a lot of confidence" that U.S. president Barack Obama would do the right thing in world affairs. Russian media has criticized the United States over the past years for pursuing an anti-missile system in Europe, for favoring NATO expansion and for supporting Georgia in its armed conflict with Russia in 2008.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Russian media treatment of America ranged from doctrinaire and nationalistic to very positive toward the United States and the West. In 2013, 51 percent of Russians had a favorable view of the U.S., down from 57 percent in 2010.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The opinion polls taken by the independent Levada Center in January 2015, showed 81 percent of Russians tended to hold negative views of the U.S., a number that had nearly doubled over the previous 12 months and that was by far the highest negative rating since the center started tracking those views in 1988, as well as surpassing any time since the Stalin era, according to observers. This contrasts with only 7 percent of Russians in April 1990 who said they had bad or somewhat bad attitudes towards the U.S. Likewise, the figures published by Gallup in February 2015 showed a significant rise in anti-Russian sentiment in the U.S.: the proportion of Americans who considered Russia as a "critical military threat" had over the 12 months increased from 32 to 49 percent, and, for the first time in many years, Russia topped the list of America's perceived external enemies, ahead of North Korea, China and Iran, with 18 percent of U.S. residents putting Russia at the top of the list of the "United States' greatest enemy today". Public opinion polls taken by the Pew Research Center showed that favorable U.S. public opinion of Russia was at 22 percent in 2015. The most negative view of Russia was at 19 percent in 2014, and the most positive view at 49 percent in 2010 and 2011. The most negative view of the United States was at 15 percent in 2015, while the most positive view was at 61 percent in 2002.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: US public opinion regarding Russia has changed substantially over the past 25 years. A Gallup poll from 1992 to 2017 shows 62% of American respondents having a favorable view of Russia in 1992, and 29% having an unfavorable view. In 2017, 70% of American respondents had an unfavorable view of Russia, and 28% had a favorable view. A poll conducted by YouGov in 2015 found that only 11% of Americans believed that the Soviet Union contributed most to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: A 2017 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showed 41% of Russians had a positive view of the US, only one of two countries surveyed where positive perception for the US increased; 52% expressed a negative view. The same study also showed 53% of Russians had confidence in the U.S. president Donald Trump, compared to just 11% for former president Barack Obama.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: There has also been a change in whether the Americans views Russia as an ally or a threat. In 1992, 44% of American respondents saw Russia to be friendly but not an ally, and 5% see them as a threat. In 2014, the Gallup poll reports that 21% of Americans see Russia as friendly but not an ally, and 24% of American respondents seeing them as a threat. This difference in how Americans view Russia has been attributed to the increasing lack of cooperation in the scientific field between the US and Russia, by some. Another perspective is the shift from ally to threat is due to the US being critical of Russia's aggression, especially with their aggression towards geographic neighbors, the United States being one of those neighbors, as it shares a common sea border with the Russian Federation and the US State of Alaska.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The 2016 surveys independently conducted by the Chicago Council and Russia's Levada Center showed that mutual perceptions between Russians and Americans were at levels not seen since the Cold War, indicating considerable mutual distrust.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: U.S.–Russian relations have further deteriorated since 2016. A December 2017 survey conducted by the Chicago Council and its Russian partner, the Levada Center, showed that:


title: Russia–United States relations

text: A Levada poll released in August 2018 found that 68% of Russian respondents believe that Russia needs to dramatically improve relations with the United States and other Western countries. According to "The Moscow Times", "Russians increasingly view the United States in a positive light following a presidential" summit in Helsinki in July 2018. "For the first time since 2014, the number of Russians who said they had “positive” feelings towards the United States (42 percent) outweighed those who reported “negative” feelings (40 percent)."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The 2019 poll independently conducted by the Chicago Council and Levada Center found that 85% of Russians and 78% of Americans say the United States and Russia are "more rivals than partners." The president of the Center for Citizen Initiatives, Sharon Tennison, stated in 2019, "In my 35 years of traveling throughout Russia, I’ve never before witnessed such a vast gap between what average Americans ‘believe’ about Russia and Russia's reality on ground today."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: A Levada poll released in February 2020 found that 80% of Russian respondents believe that Russia and the West should become friends and partners. However, only 42% of Russians polled said they had a positive view of the United States. Only 18% of Americans polled by Pew Research Center said they had a positive view of Russia. According to the Pew Research Center, "57% of Russians ages 18 to 29 see the U.S. favorably, compared with only 15% of Russians ages 50 and older." In 2019, only 20% of Russians viewed U.S. President Donald Trump positively. Only 14% of Russians expressed net approval of Donald Trump's policies.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In 2014, NASA renewed a contract to ferry U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station on Soyuz rockets and spacecraft. Including additional support at the Russian launch site, this contract is costing the United States $457.9 million. Along with the renewal, NASA also announced that they would be cutting some contacts with Russia after the annexation of Crimea.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In June 2021, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told CNN Business' Rachel Crane about the future of U.S.-Russian cooperation in the International Space Station (ISS): "For decades, upwards now of 45 plus years [we've cooperated with] Russians in space, and I want that cooperation to continue. Your politics can be hitting heads on Earth, while you are cooperating" in space.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In December 2022, Russia and America agreed to do a prisoner exchange. Dr Viktor and Brittney Griner were swapped.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In 1995, a Black Brant sounding rocket launched from the Andøya Space Center caused a high alert in Russia, known as the Norwegian rocket incident. The Russians thought it might be a nuclear missile launched from an American submarine. The incident occurred in the post-Cold War era, where many Russians were still very suspicious of the United States and NATO. The Norwegian rocket incident was the first and thus far only known incident where any nuclear-weapons state had its nuclear briefcase activated and prepared for launching an attack.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: President Donald Trump announced on October 20, 2018 that the U.S. would no longer consider itself bound by the 1987 INF Treaty’s provisions, raising nuclear tensions between the two powers. Two days later, Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told Deutsche Welle that the new Cold War would make this treaty and other Cold War-era treaties "irrelevant because they correspond to a totally different world situation." In early 2019, more than 90% of world's 13,865 nuclear weapons were owned by Russia and the United States.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: President Putin oversaw Russia's large-scale nuclear war exercises on October 17, 2019, where the Russian army integrated land, sea and air components of the nation's nuclear triad, nearly one year after Trump announced that the US was pulling-out of the nuclear treaty it had signed with Russia.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: According to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal "Nature Food" in August 2022, a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, which together hold more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons, would kill 360 million people directly and more than 5 billion indirectly from starvation during a nuclear winter.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: "Last year [2015] was not particularly favorable for trade between Russia and the U.S. Our overall 2015 turnover was $21 billion, a decline of 27.9 percent," said a senior Russian official in April 2016.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Reuters reported that U.S. companies "generated more than $90 billion in revenue from Russia in 2017." According to the AALEP, "there are almost 3,000 American companies in Russia, and the U.S. is also the leader in terms of foreign companies in Special Economic Zones, with 11 projects."


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the United States and Russia signed a bilateral treaty called the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), signed by George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: The United States and Russia have conducted joint military maneuvers, training and counter-terrorist exercises in Germany. This was done in hopes to strengthen relations with the United States and Russia. The Russian president has also proposed that the United States and Russia put a joint missile defense system in Azerbaijan, a proposal being considered by the United States. In 2008, in response to tensions over Georgia, the United States had cancelled its most recent joint NATO-Russia military exercises.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: As of August 2012, the U.S. and Russia continue to hold joint military exercises like Northern Eagle (held since 2004, together with Norway) and Vigilant/Watchful Eagle (with Canada)


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Russia-U.S. relations are significantly influenced by the United States' leading role in NATO and policies thereof. NATO and Russia agreed to cooperate on security issues at the 2002 Rome summit and had been gradually improving relations. However, due to the expansion of the alliance, the Russian intervention in Georgia, Russia's war campaign against Ukraine and other controversies, relations have since deteriorated significantly.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: In May 2015, following increased tensions with NATO, Russia closed a key military transport corridor (the Northern Distribution Network), which had allowed NATO to deliver military supplies to Afghanistan through the Russian territory. The Northern Distribution Network was established in 2009 in response to the increased risk of sending supplies through Pakistan.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: A June 2016 Levada poll found that 68% of Russians think that deploying NATO troops in the Baltic states and Poland – former Eastern bloc countries bordering Russia – is a threat to Russia.


title: Russia–United States relations

text: Russia has expressed support for the United States' War on Terror. Russia has also agreed to provide logistic support for the United States forces in Afghanistan to aid in anti-terrorist operations. Russia has allowed U.S. and NATO forces to pass through its territory to go to Afghanistan. In 2017, the former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "We cooperated with regard to Afghanistan, where Russia played a positive role, particularly in letting our forces and our equipment transit into and out of Afghanistan."


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2014 and took place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and directed by Hamish Hamilton. Actor Neil Patrick Harris hosted the ceremony for the first time.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: In related events, the Academy held its 6th Annual Governors Awards ceremony at the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood and Highland Center on November 8, 2014. On February 7, 2015, in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by hosts Margot Robbie and Miles Teller.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" won four awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included "The Grand Budapest Hotel" with four awards, "Whiplash" with three, and "American Sniper", "Big Hero 6", "Boyhood", "Citizenfour", "", "Feast", "Ida", "The Imitation Game", "Interstellar", "The Phone Call", "Selma", "Still Alice", and "The Theory of Everything" with one. The telecast garnered more than 37 million viewers in the United States.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The nominees for the 87th Academy Awards were announced on January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PST (13:30 UTC), at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by directors J. J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuarón, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and actor Chris Pine. For the first time, nominations for all 24 competitive categories were announced. "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" tied for the most nominations with nine each.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 22, 2015. For the first time since the expansion of the Best Picture nominee roster at the 82nd ceremony in 2010, every Best Picture nominee won at least one award. "Birdman" was the first film to win Best Picture without an editing nomination since "Ordinary People" (1980). Alejandro G. Iñárritu became the second consecutive Mexican to win for Best Director after Cuarón who won for helming "Gravity". At age 84, Robert Duvall was the oldest male acting nominee in Oscar history.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Having won for his work on "Gravity" the year before, Emmanuel Lubezki became the fourth person to win two consecutive Best Cinematography awards. John Toll was the last one who accomplished this feat for his work on 1994's "Legends of the Fall" and 1995's "Braveheart".


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The Academy held its 6th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 8, 2014, during which the following awards were presented:


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Riding on the success of the previous year's ceremony which garnered its highest viewership figures in over a decade, the Academy rehired producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan for the third consecutive year. “Their showmanship has elevated the show to new heights and we are excited to keep the momentum going with this creative partnership,” said AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs in a press release announcing the selection. In October 2014, actor Neil Patrick Harris, who previously hosted four Tony Awards ceremonies between 2009 and 2013 and two Primetime Emmy Awards telecasts in 2009 and 2013, was chosen as host of the 2015 gala. Meron and Zadan explained their decision to hire the television and theatre star saying, "We are thrilled to have Neil host the Oscars. We have known him his entire adult life, and we have watched him explode as a great performer in feature films, television and stage. To work with him on the Oscars is the perfect storm, all of his resources and talent coming together on a global stage." Harris expressed that it was truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host Academy Awards commenting, "I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show. To be asked to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting is a bucket list dream come true."


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Shortly after his selection, several reports were released indicating that DeGeneres and other comedians such as 2005 ceremony host Chris Rock and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus declined the offer to host the program, and Harris was a last-minute choice as emcee. Nevertheless, both Meron and Zadan denied such allegations and insisted that Harris was their only choice saying, "After every Oscar show there is always a discussion as to who will host the next one. Many names are discussed and sometimes even floated without there being any formal offers. At times, these casual discussions take on a life of their own, and some are eager to break a story without knowing the facts. Neil Patrick Harris received the Academy’s formal offer."


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Several other people were also involved with the production of the ceremony. Stephen Oremus served as musical director and conductor for the event. Derek McLane returned to design a new set and stage design for the show. During the ceremony, actor Channing Tatum introduced a group called "Team Oscar", which consisted of six young film students from colleges across the country selected by AMPAS whose role was to deliver Oscar statuettes to the presenters during the gala. Oscar-winning husband-and-wife songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez composed Harris's opening number entitled "Moving Pictures". Musicians Questlove and Mark Mothersbaugh and actor Will Arnett made cameos during the performance of Best Original Song nominee "Everything Is Awesome".


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: For the first time since 2007, none of the Best Picture nominees had grossed $100 million before the nominations were announced (compared with three from the previous year). The combined gross of the eight Best Picture nominees at the American and Canadian box offices was $205 million, with an average of $25.6 million per film.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: None of the eight Best Picture nominees was among the top 50 release in box office during nominations. When the nominations were announced on January 15, 2015, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was the highest-grossing film among the Best Picture nominees with $59.1 million in domestic box office receipts. "The Imitation Game" was the second-highest-grossing film with $42.7 million; this was followed by "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" ($26.6 million), "The Theory of Everything" ($26.2 million), "Boyhood" ($24.3 million), "Selma" ($16.5 million), "Whiplash" ($6.2 million), and finally "American Sniper" ($3.3 million).


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Of the top 50 grossing movies of the year, 23 nominations went to 13 films on the list. Only "Big Hero 6" (9th), "How to Train Your Dragon 2" (16th), and "Into the Woods" (25th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature or any of the directing, acting or screenwriting awards. The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were "Guardians of the Galaxy" (1st), "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (3rd), "The Lego Movie" (4th), "Maleficent" (6th), "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" (7th), "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (8th), "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" (10th), "Interstellar" (15th), and "Unbroken" (27th).


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Shortly after the nominations were announced, many news media outlets highlighted the lack of racial diversity amongst the nominees in major award categories. According to Tatiana Siegel of "The Hollywood Reporter", it was the second time since 1998 that all 20 acting nominees were of Caucasian descent. "The New York Times" columnist David Carr pointed out the omission of Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo in directing and lead acting categories. He also noted that these nominations heavily contrasted last year's nominations that included Best Picture winner "12 Years a Slave" and Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong'o.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: As a result, the Academy was ridiculed by the Black Twitter community and became the target of hashtag movements such as #OscarsSoWhite and #WhiteOscars. In addition, U.S. Democratic Party Congressman Tony Cárdenas wrote a letter voicing his concerns regarding AMPAS and diversity, stating: “While the issue of diversity in the entertainment industry is a much deeper problem, without an easy solution, it is unfortunate to see such a revered American institution fail to fully reflect our nation.” Cárdenas went on to say that he was willing to work with Academy officials in making the entertainment industry more representative of different ethnicities.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: In response to criticism about lack of diversity, AMPAS President Isaacs told reporter Sandy Cohen from the Associated Press that the Academy was "committed to seeking out diversity of voice and opinion." She refrained from addressing the lack of diversity of that year's nominees, although stated that she was proud of all the nominees and praised "Selma" as a "fantastic motion picture".


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Several days before the awards gala, the National Action Network led by civil rights activist Al Sharpton and several other organizations planned to demonstrate near the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre before and during the telecast. However, the protest was canceled in light of DuVernay pleading with black activists to instead pursue a direct dialogue with Academy leadership.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Some media outlets were more critical of the show. HitFix television columnist Alan Sepinwall commented, "It ran on and on and on and on so much that when host Neil Patrick Harris finally got around to paying off a running gag about his Oscar predictions being locked in a box on stage left, he had to stop to explain the bit to us all over again." In addition, he observed, "Either the production consumed Harris, the writing failed him, or he picked a very strange night to go off-brand." Hal Boedeker of the "Orlando Sentinel" wrote, "Harris headlined a blah production number to start the show. His running shtick about Oscar predictions grew tiresome." He concluded his review saying, "The music saved this Oscar telecast, but it was still a long, tedious show. The highlight reel will make it look better than it was." Television critic Alessandra Stanley from "The New York Times" said, "Oscar nights almost always drag on too long, but this one was a slog almost from the very beginning." She also quipped, "The political speeches were somber, but they turned out to be more lively and bracing than any of Harris' skits."


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: Other media outlets received the broadcast more positively. Television critic Matthew Gilbert of "The Boston Globe" commented, "Neil Patrick Harris was very Neil Patrick Harrisy Sunday night in his first round as Oscars host. He was calm and cheerful and vanilla as usual, always ready with a lightly snarky joke and always eager to jump into a big production number involving old-timey choreography. He’s a pro at hosting, after his Tony and Emmy gigs, and it showed during the ABC telecast in his endlessly relaxed and open energy." He also wrote despite several production gaffes and an uneven pace, the show moved along "with a minimum of pain." "The Times-Picayune" columnist Dave Walker wrote, "Harris played it like he was basically born to do it—light on his feet working the crowd or at center stage without his pants, winkingly self-deprecating, moving-right-along when his prepared material didn't land (which was too often)—and he now may have a job for life if he wants it." Furthermore, praised the cast and several musical numbers from the show. David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" quipped, "Harris displayed winning charm and appealing insouciance, sprinkling the gags with moments of self-deprecation." In addition, he remarked that several of the acceptance speeches and musical numbers provided a mix of humor, fun, and sincerity.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The American telecast on ABC drew in an average 37.26 million people over it length, which was a 15% decrease from the previous year's ceremony. An estimated 63 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. The show also earned lower Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 20.6% of households watching over a 33 share. In addition, the program scored a lower 18–49 demo rating with an 11.0 ratings over a 26 share. It was the lowest viewership for an Academy Awards telecast since the 81st ceremony held in 2009.


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: In July 2015, the ceremony presentation received eight nominations for the 67th Primetime Emmys. The following month, the ceremony won one of those nominations for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camera Work, and Video Control for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Technical Directors: Eric Becker, Rick Edwards, John Pritchett, and Rod Wardell; Cameras: Rob Balton, Danny Bonilla, Robert Del Russo, David Eastwood, Suzanne Ebner, Pat Gleason, Ed Horton, Marc Hunter, Jay Kulick, Brian Lataille, Tore Livia, Steve Martyniuk, Lyn Noland, Rob Palmer, David Plakos, Camera, Jofre Romero, Danny Webb, Mark Whitman, and Easter Xua; Video Control: Terrance Ho, Guy Jones, and Keith Winikoff).


title: 87th Academy Awards

text: The annual "In Memoriam" segment was presented by actress Meryl Streep. The montage featured an excerpt of the "Love Theme" from "Sophie's Choice" by Marvin Hamlisch. At the conclusion of the tribute, singer Jennifer Hudson performed the song "I Can't Let Go" from the television series "Smash".


title: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

text: Hana Uzaki is thrilled to discover that she is attending the same college as her fellow high school upperclassman, Shinichi Sakurai. However, after a year of watching him just laze around, she comes to the conclusion that he has turned into a loner. She decides to spend as much time with Shinichi as possible, believing that he is an introvert or intimidating, which is uncool and unacceptable. Beginning her project to have Shinichi experience a fun lifestyle, Hana stalks him like an annoying pest. Will Shinichi ever make her understand that he prefers doing things by himself, or will he be won over by Hana's zany charm?


title: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

text: "Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!" is written and illustrated by . It began serialization through Niconico Seiga's "Dra Dra Sharp" website on December 1, 2017. The series has been compiled into individual "tankōbon" volumes. The first volume was published on July 9, 2018. As of September 9, 2022, nine volumes have been published. In North America, the series is licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment, who began publishing it in English on September 17, 2019.


title: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

text: An anime television series adaptation was announced by Kadokawa on February 3, 2020. The series was animated by ENGI and directed by Kazuya Miura, with Takashi Aoshima handling series composition, Manabu Kurihara designing the characters, and Satoshi Igarashi composing the music. It ran for 12 episodes on AT-X and other channels from July 10 to September 25, 2020. The opening theme, , was performed by Kano and Naomi Ōzora (performing as her character, Hana Uzaki), while the ending theme, , was performed by YuNi.


title: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

text: On July 3, 2020, Funimation announced at FunimationCon that they had acquired the series, and would stream it on its website in North America and the British Isles, and on AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand. On September 10, 2020, Funimation announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.


title: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

text: On September 25, 2020, shortly after the first season's finale aired, it was announced that a second season had been greenlit for production. The second season, titled "Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! ω", premiered on October 1, 2022. Kano and Naomi Ōzora, as her character, Hana Uzaki, performed the opening theme , while MKLNtic performed the ending theme .


title: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

text: The Japanese Red Cross has used Hana's image to promote blood donation campaigns in 2019 and 2020, with the manga's creator Take also donating blood.


title: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!

text: The manga series ranked on the top 20 web manga list at "Da Vinci Magazine" and Niconico's Next Manga Awards in 2018.


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: Jason Miller (born John Anthony Miller Jr.; April 22, 1939May 13, 2001) was an American playwright and actor. He won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play for his play "That Championship Season", and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Father Damien Karras in the 1973 horror film "The Exorcist," a role he reprised in "The Exorcist III." He later became artistic director of the Scranton Public Theatre in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where "That Championship Season" was set.


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: Miller was born John Anthony Miller Jr. in Queens, New York City to Mary Claire (née Collins), a teacher, and John Anthony Miller Sr., an electrician. His ancestry was primarily Irish Catholic, with some German.


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: His family moved to Scranton in 1941, where Miller was educated at St. Patrick's High School and the Jesuit-run University of Scranton, where he received a degree in English and philosophy. He then attended the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., as a graduate student in the speech and drama department; although the Associated Press reported upon his passing that he earned a master's degree there, Miller had claimed that he was asked to leave the school before taking a degree "for never attending classes, never taking tests and never getting the girls back to their dormitory by 10 o'clock." During this period, he taught drama and English at nearby Archbishop Carroll High School (Washington, D.C.).


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: Miller attracted fame in 1972 by winning a Pulitzer Prize for his play, "That Championship Season", which also won the 1973 Tony Award for Best Play. The original Broadway cast featured Charles Durning, Richard Dysart, and Paul Sorvino. That same year, he was offered the role of the troubled priest, Father Damien Karras, in William Friedkin's horror film "The Exorcist" (1973), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. After his nomination for "The Exorcist", he was offered the lead role in "Taxi Driver" but turned it down to do Robert Mulligan's "The Nickel Ride".


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: In 1982, Miller directed the screen version of "That Championship Season". Featured in the cast were Robert Mitchum (replacing William Holden, who died before filming began), Paul Sorvino, Martin Sheen, Stacy Keach, and Bruce Dern. His own film career was sporadic, as he preferred to work in regional theater. He starred as Henry Drummond, opposite Malachy McCourt as Matthew Brady, in the Philadelphia production of "Inherit The Wind".


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: Miller worked as artistic director with the Scranton Public Theatre. With SPT, he directed and starred in various productions including "Blithe Spirit", "Harvey", "California Suite", "Crimes of the Heart", and "The Lion in Winter". He acted occasionally in feature films, including "The Devil's Advocate" (1977), "The Dain Curse" (1978), "The Ninth Configuration" (1980), "Toy Soldiers" (1984), "The Exorcist III" (1990) and "Rudy" (1993), playing Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian.


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: In 1998, he toured the country in his one-man play "Barrymore's Ghost", ending the tour with a four-month run off-Broadway. In October 2000, he performed "Barrymore's Ghost" in a successful and critically acclaimed production directed by Michael Leland at Theatre Double main stage in Philadelphia. Miller's last project was a 2001 revival of "The Odd Couple" for the Pennsylvania Summer Theatre Festival, in which he was to appear in the role of Oscar Madison, but he died of a heart attack before the production opened.


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: Miller was the father of actors Jason Patric (by first wife Linda Gleason, daughter of Jackie Gleason) and Joshua John Miller (by second wife Susan Bernard).


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: In 1982, he returned to Scranton to become artistic director of the Scranton Public Theatre, a regional theatre company founded the year before.


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: In 2004, actor Paul Sorvino, a longtime friend of Miller and a cast member of all three versions of "That Championship Season", was commissioned by Scranton to create a bronze bust of the late playwright and actor. The statue was unveiled in December 2008.


title: Jason Miller (playwright)

text: In March 2011, the first Broadway revival of "That Championship Season" opened. The cast comprised Brian Cox, Kiefer Sutherland, Jim Gaffigan, and Miller's elder son, actor Jason Patric. The urn containing Miller's ashes was placed on the set by Patric, who played the role Miller had based on himself.


title: Brno

text: Brno ( , ; ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic after the capital, Prague, and one of the 100 largest cities of the EU. The Brno metropolitan area has almost 700,000 inhabitants.


title: Brno

text: Brno is the former capital city of Moravia and the political and cultural hub of the South Moravian Region. It is the centre of the Czech judiciary, with the seats of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, and the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, and a number of state authorities, including the Ombudsman, and the Office for the Protection of Competition. Brno is also an important centre of higher education, with 33 faculties belonging to 13 institutes of higher education and about 89,000 students.


title: Brno

text: Brno Exhibition Centre is among the largest exhibition centres in Europe. The complex opened in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fairs held in Brno. Brno hosts motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit, a tradition established in 1930, in which the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious races. Another cultural tradition is an international fireworks competition, "Ignis Brunensis", which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each display.


title: Brno

text: The most visited sights of the city include the Špilberk Castle and fortress and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on Petrov hill, two medieval buildings that dominate the cityscape and are often depicted as its traditional symbols. The other large preserved castle near the city is Veveří Castle by Brno Reservoir. Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat, which was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2001. One of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst. The city is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and has been designated as a "City of Music" in 2017.


title: Brno

text: The etymology of the name "Brno" is disputed. It might be derived from the Old Czech "brnie" 'muddy, swampy.' Alternative derivations are a Slavic verb "brniti" (to armour or to fortify) or a Celtic language spoken in the area before it was overrun by Germanic peoples and later Slavic peoples. The latter theory would make it cognate with other Celtic words for hill, such as the Welsh word "bryn".


title: Brno

text: Throughout its history, Brno's locals also referred to the town in other languages, including "Brünn" in German, ברין ("Brin") in Yiddish and "Bruna" in Latin. The city was also referred to as Brunn () in English, but that usage is not common today.


title: Brno

text: The asteroid 2889 Brno was named after the city, as was the Bren light machine gun (Brno + Enfield), one of the most famous weapons of World War II.


title: Brno

text: The Brno basin has been inhabited since prehistoric times, but the town's direct predecessor was a fortified settlement of the Great Moravian Empire known as "Staré Zámky", which was inhabited from the Neolithic Age until the early 11th century.


title: Brno

text: In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of a non-ruling prince from the House of Přemyslid, and Brno became one of the centres of Moravia along with Olomouc and Znojmo. Brno was first mentioned in Cosmas' "Chronica Boëmorum" dated to the year 1091, when Bohemian king Vratislav II besieged his brother Conrad at Brno castle.


title: Brno

text: In the mid 11th century, Moravia was divided into three separate territories; each had its own ruler, coming from the Přemyslids dynasty, but independent of the other two, and subordinate only to the Bohemian ruler in Prague. The seats of these rulers and thus the "capitals" of these territories were the castles and towns of Brno, Olomouc, and Znojmo. In the late 12th century, Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia. From then until the mid of the 17th century, it was not clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. Political power was divided between Brno and Olomouc, but Znojmo also played an important role. The Moravian Diet, the Moravian Land Tables, and the Moravian Land Court were all seated in both cities at once. However, Brno was the official seat of the Moravian Margraves (rulers of Moravia), and later its geographical position closer to Vienna also became important. Otherwise, until 1642 Olomouc had a larger population than Brno, and was the seat of the only Roman Catholic diocese in Moravia.


title: Brno

text: In 1243 Brno was granted the large and small city privileges by the King, and was thus recognized as a royal city. As throughout Eastern Central Europe, the granting of city privileges was connected with immigration from German-speaking lands. In 1324 Queen Elisabeth Richeza of Poland founded the Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, which now houses her grave. In the 14th century, Brno became one of the centres for the Moravian regional assemblies, whose meetings alternated between Brno and Olomouc. These assemblies made political, legal, and financial decisions. Brno and Olomouc were also the seats of the Land Court and the Moravian Land Tables, thus they were the two most important cities in Moravia. From the mid 14th century to the early 15th century, Špilberk Castle had served as the permanent seat of the Margraves of Moravia; one of them was elected the King of the Romans. Brno was besieged in 1428 and again in 1430 by the Hussites during the Hussite Wars. Both attempts to conquer the city failed.


title: Brno

text: In 1641, during the Thirty Years' War, the Holy Roman Emperor and Margrave of Moravia Ferdinand III ordered the permanent relocation of the diet, court, and the land tables from Olomouc to Brno, as Olomouc's Collegium Nordicum made it one of the primary targets of Swedish armies. In 1642 Olomouc surrendered to the Swedish Army, which occupied it for eight years. Meanwhile, Brno, as the only Moravian city which, under the leadership of Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches, succeeded in defending itself from the Swedes under General Lennart Torstenson, served as the sole capital of the Margraviate of Moravia. After the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, Brno retained its status as the sole capital. This was later confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II in 1782, and again in 1849 by the Moravian constitution. Today, the Moravian Land Tables are stored in the Moravian Regional Archive, and are included among the national cultural sights of the Czech Republic.


title: Brno

text: During the 17th century Špilberk Castle was rebuilt as a huge baroque citadel. Brno was besieged by the Prussian Army in 1742 under the leadership of Frederick the Great, but the siege was ultimately unsuccessful. In 1777 the bishopric of Brno was established by the Catholic Church; Mathias Franz Graf von Chorinsky Freiherr von Ledske was the first Bishop.


title: Brno

text: In December 1805 the Battle of Austerlitz was fought near the city; the battle is also known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors". Brno itself was not involved with the battle, but the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte spent several nights here at that time, and again in 1809.


title: Brno

text: In 1839 the first train arrived in Brno from Vienna; this was the beginning of rail transport in what is now the Czech Republic. In the years 1859–1864 the city fortifications were almost completely removed. In 1869 a horsecar service started to operate in Brno, the first tram service in what would later become the Czech Republic.


title: Brno

text: Gregor Mendel conducted his groundbreaking experiments in genetics while he was a monk at St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno in the 1850s.


title: Brno

text: Around 1900 Brno, which consisted in administrative terms only of the central city area until 1918, had a predominantly German-speaking population (63%), as opposed to the suburbs, which were predominantly Czech-speaking. Life in the city was therefore bilingual, and what was called in German "Brünnerisch" was a mixed idiom containing elements from both languages.


title: Brno

text: In 1919, after World War I, two neighbouring towns, Královo Pole and Husovice, and 21 other municipalities were annexed to Brno, creating Greater Brno (). This was done to dilute the German-speaking majority of close to 55,000 by the addition of the Czech communities of the city's neighborhood. Included in the German-speaking group were almost all of the 12,000 Jewish inhabitants, including several of the city's better known personalities, who made a substantial contribution to the city's cultural life. Greater Brno was almost seven times larger, with a population of about 222,000 – before that Brno had about 130,000 inhabitants.


title: Brno

text: In 1921 Brno became the capital of the Land of Moravia (Czech: "země Moravská"). Seven years later, Brno became the capital of the Land of Moravia-Silesia (Czech: "země Moravskoslezská").


title: Brno

text: In 1930, 200,000 inhabitants declared themselves to be of Czech, and some 52,000 of German nationality, in both cases including the respective Jewish citizens.


title: Brno

text: During the German occupation of the Czech lands between 1939 and 1945, all Czech universities were closed by the Nazis, including those in Brno. The Faculty of Law became the headquarters of the Gestapo, and the university hall of residence was used as a prison. About 35,000 Czechs and some American and British prisoners of war were imprisoned and tortured there; about 800 civilians were executed or died. Executions were public. The Nazis also operated a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which held mostly Polish prisoners, an internment camp for Romani people in the city, and a forced labour "education" camp in the present-day district of Dvorska.


title: Brno

text: Between 1941 and 1942, transports from Brno deported 10,081 Jews to Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp. At least another 960 people, mostly of mixed race, followed in 1943 and 1944. After Terezín, many of them were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, Minsk Ghetto, Rejowiec and other ghettos and concentration camps. Although Terezín was not an extermination camp, 995 people transported from Brno died there. Only 1,033 people returned after the war.


title: Brno

text: Industrial facilities such as the Československá zbrojovka arms factory and the Zweigwerk aircraft engine factory (which became Zbrojovka's subsidiary Zetor after the war) and the city centre were targeted by several Allied bombardment campaigns between 1944 and 1945. The air strikes and later artillery fire killed some 1,200 people and destroyed 1,278 buildings. After the city's occupation by the Red Army on 26 April 1945 and the end of the war, ethnic German residents were expelled. In the Brno death march, beginning on 31 May 1945, about 27,000 German inhabitants of Brno were marched to the Austrian border. According to testimony collected by German sources, about 5,200 of them died during the march. Later estimates by Czech sources put the death toll at about 1,700, with most deaths due to an epidemic of shigellosis.


title: Brno

text: After the reestablishment of an independent Czechoslovak state after World War II, Prime Minister Edvard Beneš delivered a speech in Brno demanding the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia. Shortly afterwards, 20,000 ethnic Germans from the city were expelled into Allied-occupied Austria. After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic abolished Moravian autonomy and Brno thus ceased to be the capital of Moravia. Since then Moravia has been divided into administrative regions, with Brno the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region.


title: Brno

text: In 1960s and 1970s, large panel housing estates were built in border districts, such as Bohunice, Líšeň, Bystrc and Vinohrady. During the communist era, most of the workforce was employed in industry, mainly machinery.


title: Brno

text: After 1989, part of the workforce switched from industry to services, and Brno became the IT centre of the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, new industrial zones were built at the edge of the city, such as Černovická terasa in the east of the city.


title: Brno

text: Brno is located in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic, at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, and there are also several brooks flowing through it, including the Veverka, Ponávka, and Říčka. The Svratka River flows through the city for about , and the Svitava River cuts a path through the city. Brno is situated at the crossroads of ancient trade routes which have joined northern and southern European civilizations for centuries, and is a part of the Danube basin region. The city is historically connected with Vienna, which lies to the south.


title: Brno

text: Brno is across, measured from east to west, and its total area is . Within the city limits are the Brno Reservoir, several ponds, and other standing bodies of water, such as the reservoirs in the Marian Valley and the Žebětín Pond. Brno is surrounded by wooded hills on three sides; about of the area of the city is forest, 28% of the total. Due to its location between the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the Southern Moravian lowlands (Dyje-Svratka Vale), Brno has a moderate climate. Compared to other cities in the country, Brno has a very high air quality, which is ensured by a good natural circulation of air; no severe storms or similar natural disasters have ever been recorded in the city.


title: Brno

text: Under the Köppen climate classification, Brno has an oceanic climate ("Cfb") for −3 °C original isoterm, but near of the (−2.5 °C average temperature in January, month most cold) or include by updated classification in humid continental climate ("Dfb") with cold winters and warm to hot summers. However, in the last 20 years the temperature has increased, and summer days with temperature above are quite common. The average temperature is , the average annual precipitation is about , the average number of precipitation days is 150, the average annual sunshine is 1,771 hours, and the prevailing wind direction is northwest. The weather box below shows average data between years 1961 and 1990.


title: Brno

text: Its height above sea level varies from to . The highest peak in the municipal area is the Kopeček Hill (), and the highest point overall lies in Útěchov on the border with the municipality of Vranov.


title: Brno

text: Legally, Brno is a statutory city, consisting of 29 administrative divisions known as city districts. The highest body of self-government is the Brno City Assembly. The city is headed by the lord mayor, who has the right to use the mayor's insignia and represents the city externally. As of 2021, the lord mayor is Markéta Vaňková of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). The executive body is the city council and local councils of the city districts; the city council has 11 members including the lord mayor and her four deputies. The assembly of the city elects the lord mayor and other members of the city council, establishes the local police, and is also entitled to grant citizenship of honour and the Awards of the City of Brno. The head of the Assembly of the City of Brno in personal matters is the Chief Executive, who according to certain special regulations carries out the function of employer of the other members of the city management. The Chief Executive is directly responsible to the Lord Mayor.


title: Brno

text: The city itself forms a separate district, the Brno-City District, surrounded by the Brno-Country District. Brno is divided into 29 administrative divisions (city districts) and consists of 48 cadastral areas. The "Brno-City District" and "Brno-Country District" are not to be confused with the "city districts" of Brno.


title: Brno

text: The city districts of Brno vary widely in their size by both population and area. The most populated city district of Brno is Brno-Centre, which has over 91,000 residents, and the least populated are Brno-Ořešín and Brno-Útěchov, with about 500 residents. By area, the largest district is Brno-Bystrc () and the smallest is Brno-Nový Lískovec ().


title: Brno

text: Brno is the home to the highest courts in the Czech judiciary. The Supreme Court is on Burešova Street, the Supreme Administrative Court is on Moravské náměstí (), the Constitutional Court is on Joštova Street, and the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office of the Czech Republic is on Jezuitská street.


title: Brno

text: According to the 2011 census, Brno had 385,913 inhabitants. The largest ethnic groups reported (without options to choose between) were Czechs (51.6%), Moravians (18.7%), Slovaks (1.5%), Ukrainians (0.9%), Vietnamese (0.4%), and Poles (0.2%). 23.7% of inhabitants did not write any nationality. In the 2001 census, when the most common nationalities were list to choose between, 76.1% were Czechs and 18.7% Moravians (94.8% Czechs in the broader sense).


title: Brno

text: Brno experienced its largest increases in population during the 19th century at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and in 1919 due to a merger with surrounding municipalities.


title: Brno

text: The city spends about 30 million euro every year on culture. A vibrant university city with about 90,000 students, Brno is home to many museums, theatres and other cultural institutions, and also hosts a number of festivals and other cultural events.


title: Brno

text: Since the 1990s Brno has experienced a great cultural "rebirth": façades of historical monuments are being repaired and various exhibitions, shows, etc., are being established or extended. In 2007 a summit of 15 presidents of EU Member States was held in Brno.


title: Brno

text: Despite its urban character, some of the city districts still preserve traditional Moravian folklore, including folk festivals with traditional Moravian costumes, Moravian wines, folk music and dances. Unlike smaller municipalities, in Brno annual traditional Moravian folk festivals are held in several city districts, including Židenice, Líšeň, and Ivanovice.


title: Brno

text: Brno has hundreds of historical sights, including one designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and eight monuments listed among the national cultural heritage of the Czech Republic. Most of the main sights of Brno are situated in the historical centre. The city has the third largest historic preservation zone in the Czech Republic, the largest one being in the Czech capital Prague. However, there is a considerable difference in the number of historical preservation zones of both cities. While Brno has 484 legally protected sites, Prague has as many as 1,330.


title: Brno

text: Špilberk Castle, originally a royal castle founded in the 13th century, was from the 17th century a fortress and feared prison (e.g. Carbonari). Today it is one of the city's principal monuments.


title: Brno

text: Another key landmark is the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, built during the 14th and 15th centuries in place of an 11th-century chapel. Its present form with two neo-Gothic towers was completed in 1909. The other large castle near the city is Veveří Castle.


title: Brno

text: The Abbey of Saint Thomas was the site of Gregor Mendel's experiments establishing the new science of genetics. The Church of Saint Tomas houses the tomb of its founder, John Henry and his son Jobst of Moravia, Margraves of Moravia. The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady houses the grave of its founder Queen Elisabeth Richeza. The Church of Saint James is one of the best preserved and most spectacular Gothic churches in Brno.


title: Brno

text: Brno Ossuary is the second largest ossuary in Europe, after the Catacombs of Paris. Another ossuary is the Capuchin crypt, with mummies of Capuchin monks and some of the notable people of their era, including architect Mořic Grimm and the mercenary leader Baron Trenk. The Labyrinth under Zelný trh (), a system of underground corridors and cellars dating back to the Middle Ages, has been recently opened to the public. These cellars have been used mainly for storing food, maturing beer and wine, and as wartime shelters. Originally, they were not interconnected as they are now – this happened later during the reconstruction in 2009.


title: Brno

text: Brno is home to a functionalist Synagogue and the largest Jewish cemetery in Moravia. A Jewish population lived in Brno as early as the 13th century, and remnants of tombstones can be traced back to as early as 1349. The functionalist synagogue was built between 1934 and 1936. While the Brno Jewish community numbered 12,000 in 1938, only 1,000 survived Nazi persecution during Germany's occupation in World War II. Today, the cemetery and synagogue are again maintained by a Brno Jewish community. The only Czech mosque, founded in 1998, is also located in Brno.


title: Brno

text: The era between the world wars saw a building boom to the city, leaving it with many modern and especially functionalist buildings, the most celebrated being Villa Tugendhat, designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the 1920s for the wealthy family of Fritz Tugendhat, and finished in 1930. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001. Another renowned architect who significantly shaped Brno was Arnošt Wiesner. Other functionalist buildings include the Avion Hotel and Morava Palace. The Brno Exhibition Centre is the city's main attraction for international business visitors, visited by over one million visitors each year, and hosting over 40 professional trade fairs and business conferences.


title: Brno

text: Lužánky is the oldest public park in the Czech Republic, established in the late 18th century by the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Denis Gardens were founded in the early 19th century and were the first public park in the present-day Czech Republic founded by public authorities. Špilberk Park is classified as a national cultural sight of the Czech Republic, as a unique piece of landscape architecture.


title: Brno

text: The biggest festival in Brno is the fireworks competition festival, Ignis Brunensis (Latin for "Flame of Brno"), held annually in June, part of the "Brno - City in the Centre of Europe" festival. Ignis Brunensis is the biggest show of its kind in Central Europe, usually attracting 100,000-200,000 visitors to each display.


title: Brno

text: The international film festival "Cinema Mundi" screens about 60 films competing for Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.


title: Brno

text: "Theatre World Brno" is another international festival held annually in the city, in which Brno theatres and the city centre stage around 100 performances by national and foreign ensembles.


title: Brno

text: Other festivals held regularly in Brno include the International Music Festival Brno, the Spilberk International Music Festival, and the Summer Shakespeare Festival.


title: Brno

text: Every September, Brno hosts a wine festival, "Slavnosti vína", to celebrate the harvest in the surrounding wine-producing region.


title: Brno

text: Brno has a long theatre tradition. Brno has the oldest theatre building in Central Europe, the Reduta Theatre on Zelný trh (). The first theatre plays in Brno probably took place in the 1660s in the "City Tavern", today's Reduta Theatre; however, the first theatre with boxes was built in this complex in 1733. The first documented professional Czech performance took place in 1767, again in the Reduta Theatre; the play was called "Zamilovaný ponocný" () and was performed by the Venice Theatre Company. The same year, Mozart performed in the theatre with his elder sister Anna Maria (Nannerl). In that year the Mozart family spent Christmas in Brno, and their visit is commemorated by a statue of Mozart as a child in front of the Reduta Theatre. The theatre's "Mozart Hall" was also named after him.


title: Brno

text: The Národní divadlo v Brně ) (NdB) is the leading producer of opera, drama and ballet in the city of Brno. The first permanent seat of NdB was established in 1884, and today this institution owns the Mahen Theatre, built in 1882, Janáček Theatre, built in 1965, and the Reduta Theatre. The composer Leoš Janáček is also connected with the National Theatre of Brno. The Mahen Theatre was the first theatre building in Europe to be illuminated by Thomas Edison's electric light bulbs; at that time it was a completely new invention and there were no power plants built in the city, so a small steam power plant was built nearby just to power the theatre, and Edison came to Brno in 1911 to see it.


title: Brno

text: The most commercially successful theatre in Brno is the Brno City Theatre, founded in 1945; its performances are usually sold out. They also stage about 150 performances abroad every year. The theatre's repertoire consists primarily of musical and dramatic shows.


title: Brno

text: There are a variety of smaller theatres in Brno, including Divadlo Bolka Polívky, Divadlo Husa na provázku, HaDivadlo, loutkové divadlo Radost, Divadlo Polárka, G Studio, Divadlo v 7 a půl – Kabinet múz, and Divadlo Vaňkovka children's theatre.


title: Brno

text: The Mahen Theatre was originally called the City Theatre, and until 1918 it performed exclusively in German and was not part of the National Theatre of Brno. Between 1971 and 1978, some plays were performed at the Brno Exhibition Centre due to reconstruction of the Mahen Theatre.


title: Brno

text: There are several legends connected with the City of Brno. One of the best known is the Legend of the Brno Dragon. It is said that there was a terrible creature terrorizing the citizens of Brno. The people had never seen such a beast before, so they called it a dragon. They lived in fear of the dragon until a brave man managed to kill the monster by tricking it into eating a carcass filled with lime. In reality the dragon was a crocodile, the preserved body of which is now displayed at the entrance of the Old Town Hall. Crocodile and dragon motifs are common in Brno. A crocodile () is the local stuffed baguette, and the city radio station is known as Radio Krokodýl. The local baseball team is named Draci Brno () and the local rugby club is named RC Dragon Brno. There is also a local American football team called the Brno Alligators. An Intercity train connecting Brno and Prague is called Brněnský drak ().


title: Brno

text: Next to the "dragon" at the Old Town Hall is the town's second well-known emblem, a wagon wheel made from a tree found and cut down 50 miles from the city. According to the legend, a local man made a wager that he could fell the tree, make a wheel out of it, and roll the wheel to the City of Brno, all within a single day. Since the achievement was deemed to be impossible by normal human means, the man was believed to have called on the devil for assistance, and died in poverty as a result.


title: Brno

text: Another local legend relates to the siege of the city by Swedish forces in 1645. The locals and the Swedish army were in a stalemate, and the Swedish general declared that he would withdraw if his army had not won by noon. The bell ringer at Petrov Cathedral tricked him by ringing the bell an hour early, and keeping his word, the general and his army left. As a historic tribute to the event, the bell at Petrov Cathedral still rings for noon an hour earlier, at 11 o'clock. At this time, the Brno astronomical clock also releases a glass ball as a souvenir.


title: Brno

text: The most significant museum in Brno is the Moravian Museum, the largest museum in Moravia and the second largest in the Czech Republic. The museum was founded in 1817 and its collections include over 6 million pieces. The biggest public library in Brno is the Moravian Library, the second largest library in the Czech Republic with around 4 million volumes. The biggest gallery in Brno is the Moravian Gallery, again the second largest institution of its kind in the Czech Republic and the biggest in Moravia. One section of the Moravian Museum, the Anthropos Pavilion, is related to the oldest history of mankind and prehistoric Europe.


title: Brno

text: Brno also has a Technical Museum, the largest in Moravia and one of the largest in Czech Republic. The permanent exhibitions chart the advance of science and technology, accompanied by various lifelike models and restored machines. The museum also hosts short-term exhibitions of many different points of interest.


title: Brno

text: In 2016 the Vašulka Kitchen Brno (VKB) was established in Brno for research, artistic experiment and informal education in the field of new media art. Housed in the Brno House of Arts, it consists of the archive of Steina and Woody Vasulka’ work and presents a permanent exhibition of their selected works.


title: Brno

text: Over the past two decades Brno has evolved into an important university city; the number of students at Brno's higher education institutions reached 89,000 in 2010. The city has also become home to a number of institutions directly related to research and development, including the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), and the International Clinical Research Center (ICRC). The city is also gaining importance in various fields of engineering, especially in software development. Companies operating in Brno include AVG Technologies (headquarters), IBM (Client Innovation Centre), AT&T, Honeywell (Global Design Center), Siemens, SGI (Czech headquarters), Red Hat (Czech headquarters), and Motorola.


title: Brno

text: With over 40,000 students, Masaryk University is the largest university in Brno and the second biggest in the Czech Republic. Today, it consists of nine faculties, with more than 190 departments, institutes and clinics.


title: Brno

text: The Brno University of Technology was established in 1899, and is now among the biggest technical universities in the Czech Republic with over 20,000 students. Viktor Kaplan, inventor of the Kaplan turbine, spent nearly 30 years at the German Technical University in Brno, which ceased to exist in 1945, its property transferred to Brno University of Technology.


title: Brno

text: Mendel University, named after the founder of genetics Gregor Mendel, who developed his revolutionary scientific theories in Brno, has roughly 10,000 students.


title: Brno

text: Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, named after Leoš Janáček, was founded in 1947 and is one of two academies of music and drama in the Czech Republic. It holds the annual Leoš Janáček Competition.


title: Brno

text: The city has a long association with motor racing; among other events, the Masaryk Circuit has hosted the Moto GP championship since 1965. The annual Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix, the most famous motor race in the Czech Republic, has been held in the city since 1950. Since 1968, Brno has been a permanent fixture on the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) series.


title: Brno

text: The 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women was played in Brno's Arena Vodova, with the Czech squad taking the silver medal.


title: Brno

text: There is also a horse-race course at Brno-Dvorská and an aeroclub airport in Medlánky. Several sports clubs represent the city in the various Czech leagues, including FC Zbrojovka Brno (football), HC Kometa Brno (ice hockey), KP Brno (handball), BC Brno (basketball, men) and BK Brno (women), four baseball teams (Draci Brno, Hroši Brno, VSK Technika Brno, MZLU Express Brno), Brno Ravens Lacrosse Club (lacrosse), Brno Alligators (American football), two rugby teams (RC Dragon Brno, RC Bystrc) and others. Tennis players Lucie Šafářová, Lukáš Rosol, and Jana Novotná are from Brno, as well as Michal Březina, one of the top Czech figure skaters.


title: Brno

text: Public transport in Brno consists of 12 tram lines, 14 trolleybus lines (the largest trolleybus network in the Czech Republic) and almost 40 day and 11 night bus lines. Trams (known locally as "šaliny") first appeared on the streets in 1869; this was the first operation of horse-drawn trams in the modern-day Czech Republic. The local public transport system is interconnected with regional public transport in one integrated system (IDS JMK), and directly connects several nearby municipalities with the city. Its main operator is the Brno City Transport Company (DPmB), which also operates a mostly recreational ferry route at the Brno Dam Lake. A tourist minibus provides a brief tour of the city. In 2011, the city announced plans to build a metro system light rail system to alleviate overcrowding of trams and to reduce congestion on the surface.


title: Brno

text: Railway transport began operating in the city in 1839 on the Brno–Vienna line, the first operating railway line in the modern-day Czech Republic. Today, Brno is a transnational railway hub, with nine stations for passenger traffic. The current main railway station is the central hub of regional train services, used by about 50,000 passengers every day, with around 500 trains passing through. The station is currently operating at full capacity; the main station building is outdated and lacks sufficient operating capacity, but the construction of the new station has been postponed several times for various reasons. A referendum over whether to move the station was held on 7 and 8 October 2016, coinciding with regional elections.


title: Brno

text: Brno is also an international road transport crossroads. There are two motorways on the southern edge of the city: the D1 leading to Ostrava and Prague, and the D2 leading to Bratislava. Not far from the city limits is the D52 motorway leading to Vienna. Another planned motorway, the D43, will connect Brno to northwestern Moravia. The city is gradually building the large city ring road (road I/42). Several road tunnels have been built at Pisarky, Husovice, Hlinky and Královo pole, and more are planned. Due to the congestion in private transport, the city is continuing to try to build more parking ramps, including underground, but these efforts have not always been successful.


title: Brno

text: Air transport is enabled by two functional airports. The public international airport, Brno-Tuřany Airport, saw a sharp increase in passenger traffic up to 2011, however the number of passengers has since been in decline, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the only remaining scheduled flights being to London. The airport also serves as one of the two bases for police helicopters in the Czech Republic. The other airport, Medlánky Airport, is a small domestic airport serving mainly recreational activities such as flying hot air balloons, gliders or aircraft RC models.


title: Brno

text: Cycling is widespread in Brno due to lowland nature of the landscape. Existing tracks for cycling and roller skating in 2011 totalled approximately , and are gradually being expanded. There is also one long bikeway leading to Vienna, approximately long. Several hiking trails of the Czech Tourist Club also pass through Brno.


title: Crisis in Venezuela

text: The crisis in Venezuela is an ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis that began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened in Nicolás Maduro's presidency. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime and mortality rates, resulting in massive emigration from the country.


title: Crisis in Venezuela

text: The situation is by far the worst economic crisis in Venezuela's history, and is also the worst facing a country in peacetime since the mid-20th century. The crisis is often considered to be more severe than that of the United States during the Great Depression, the 1985–1994 Brazilian economic crisis, or the 2008–2009 hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Other writers have also compared aspects of the crisis, such as unemployment and GDP contraction, to that of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the 1992–1995 Bosnian War, and those in Russia, Cuba and Albania following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.


title: Crisis in Venezuela

text: On 2 June 2010, Chávez declared an "economic war" due to increasing shortages in Venezuela. The crisis intensified under the Maduro government, growing more severe as a result of low oil prices in early 2015, and a drop in Venezuela's oil production from lack of maintenance and investment. In January 2016, the opposition-led National Assembly declared a "health humanitarian crisis". The government failed to cut spending in the face of falling oil revenues, and has dealt with the crisis by denying its existence and violently repressing opposition. Extrajudicial killings by the Venezuelan government became common, with the United Nations (UN) reporting 5,287 killings by the Special Action Forces in 2017, with at least another 1,569 killings recorded in the first six months of 2019, stating that some of the killings were "done as a reprisal for [the victims'] participation in anti-government demonstrations."


title: Crisis in Venezuela

text: Political corruption, chronic shortages of food and medicine, closure of businesses, unemployment, deterioration of productivity, authoritarianism, human rights violations, gross economic mismanagement and high dependence on oil have also contributed to the worsening crisis.


title: Crisis in Venezuela

text: As a response to human rights abuses, the degradation in the rule of law, and corruption, the European Union, the Lima Group, the United States and other countries have applied individual sanctions against government officials and members of both the military and security forces. The United States would later extend its sanctions to the petroleum sector. Supporters of Chávez and Maduro have said that the problems result from an "economic war" on Venezuela and "falling oil prices, international sanctions, and the country's business elite", while critics of the government say the cause is "years of economic mismanagement, and corruption." Most observers cite anti-democratic governance, corruption, and mismanagement of the economy as causes of the crisis. Others attribute the crisis to the "socialist", "populist" or "hyper-populist" nature of the government's policies and the use of these policies to maintain political power. National and international analysts and economists have stated that the crisis is not the result of a conflict, natural disaster, or sanctions, but rather of the consequences of populist policies and corrupt practices that began under the Chávez administration's Bolivarian Revolution and continued under the Maduro administration.


title: Crisis in Venezuela

text: The crisis has affected the life of the average Venezuelan on all levels. By 2017, hunger had escalated to the point where almost seventy-five percent of the population had lost an average of over 8 kg (over 19 lbs) in weight and more than half did not have enough income to meet their basic food needs. A UN report estimated in March 2019 that 94% of Venezuelans lived in poverty, and by 2021 almost twenty percent of Venezuelans (5.4 million) had left their country. The UN analysis estimates in 2019 that 25% of Venezuelans need some form of humanitarian assistance. Venezuela led the world in murder rates, with 81.4 per 100,000 people killed in 2018, making it the third most violent country in the world. Following increased international sanctions throughout 2019, the Maduro government abandoned policies established by Chávez such as price and currency controls, which resulted in the country seeing a temporary rebound from economic decline before COVID-19 entered Venezuela the following year. As a response to the devaluation of the official bolívar currency, by 2019 the population increasingly started relying on US dollars for transactions.