g. a series of novels about the 19th century sleuth Erast Fandorin, was eagerly read across the country. Science fiction was always well selling, albeit second to fantasy, that was relatively new to Russian readers. These genres boomed in the late 1990s, with authors like Sergey Lukyanenko, Nick Perumov, Maria Semenova, Vera Kamsha, Alexey Pekhov, Anton Vilgotsky and Vadim Panov. A good share of modern Russian science fiction and fantasy is written in Ukraine, especially in Kharkiv, home to H. L. Oldie, Alexander Zorich, Yuri Nikitin and Andrey Valentinov. Many others hail from Kiev, including Marina and Sergey Dyachenko and Vladimir Arenev. Significant contribution to Russian horror literature has been done by Ukrainians Andrey Dashkov and Alexander Vargo. Russian poetry of that period produced a number of avant-garde greats. The members of the Lianosovo group of poets, notably Genrikh Sapgir, Igor Kholin and Vsevolod Nekrasov, who
Sarajevo 529,000 Volgograd_ Kiev. Kharkiv agr Bulga ria Sofia 1.191.000 UK N me
4 1. UKRAINE 1.1. General information 1.1.1. Country Profile Capital: Kyiv. Total area: 603,550 sq. km (the largest country in Europe by area that is physically within Europe entirely). Population: ~ 45 million (declining). Major cities and estimated population (Good news! Not all the business and capital concentrated in the capital): Kyiv (Kiev) 2.8 million, Kharkiv (Kharkov) 1.5 million, Lviv (Lvov) - 1.5 million, Donetsk 1 million, Dnipropetrovsk (Dnepropetrovsk) - 1 million, Odesa (Odessa) 1 million. Zaporizhzhya (Zaporozhye) 0.8 million. 5 GDP growth, %: 1.0 (2013 forecast EBRD downward revision from previously projected 2.5%). Official language: Ukrainian (although Russian is widely used in business communication). Currency: Hryvnya (UAH).