Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), or the Russian Federation,[13][d] is a European country located in Eastern Europe with a vast expanse of territory that stretches across Northern Asia.[14] At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi),[15] it is, by a considerable margin, the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area,[16][17] spanning eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. The territory of Russia extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south. With 146.7 million inhabitants living in the country’s 85 federal subjects as of 2020,[8] Russia is the most populous nation in Europe and the ninth-most populous nation in the world. Russia’s capital and largest city is Moscow; other major urban areas include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Chelyabinsk.
The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD.[18] Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire,[19] beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium.[19] Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states,[20] until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th century. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east.[21][22] Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR) became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR/Soviet Union), the world’s first constitutionally socialist state.[23] The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II,[24][25] and emerged as a recognized superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world’s first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and is recognized as the continuing legal personality and a successor of the USSR.[26]
The political system of Russia is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic since 1993.[3] Vladimir Putin has dominated Russia’s political system since 2000, serving as either president or prime minister.[27] Often characterized as authoritarian, his government has been accused by political activists and human rights groups of human rights abuses, democratic backsliding and corruption. In response, Putin has argued that Western-style liberalism is obsolete in Russia, while maintaining that the country is still a democratic nation.[28][29][30]
Russia’s economy ranks as the fifth-largest in Europe, the eleventh-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the sixth-largest by PPP.[10] Russia’s extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world,[31] making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally.[32][33] The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.[34] Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. Its military has been ranked as the world’s second most powerful and the most powerful in all of the European continent. Russia hosts the world’s ninth-greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, at 29,[35] and is among the world’s most popular tourist destinations.[36] It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and an active global partner of ASEAN,[37][38][39] as well as a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the G20, the Council of Europe, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the International Investment Bank (IIB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as being the leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).