p> The population of Russia is 148.1 million as of 1996, the last year for which figures are available, which made up 51.4% of the population of the former Soviet Union. Of the total figure, 81.5% are ethnic Russian. Despite the land mass of Russia, 73.9% of the population is concentrated in urban areas. The population of Moscow is some 9 million, while the population of St. Petersburg is about 5 million (BISNIS). Russia accounted for 60% of Soviet GNP (GDP) and remains either the largest, or one of the largest, producers of many key commodities, being abundant in strategic natural resources such as petroleum, diamonds, gold, copper, rare metals, manganese, bauxite, uranium, silver, graphite, palladium, and platinum (BISNIS; Nevler 7A). However, the health of the Russian economy is in dispute. In 1996, Russian GDP was 2.756 trillion rubles, down 6% in real terms over 1995, compared to a 1995 GDP of 1,659 trillion rubles, itself down 4% from 1994 (BISNIS). However, according to Epstein (25), the official Russian GDP ignores at least half of its
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