The name Russia is derived from Rus, a medieval state populated mostly by the East Slavs.

However, this proper name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was
called by its inhabitants " " (russkaja zemlja), which can be translated as "Russian Land" or
"Land of Rus'". In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted
as Kievan Rus' by modern historiography. The name Rus itself comes from the early medieval Rus'
people, Swedish merchants and warriors[36][37] who relocated from across the Baltic Sea and founded
a state centered on Novgorod that later became Kievan Rus.

An old Latin version of the name Rus' was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern
regions of Rus' that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country,
(Rossija), comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus', Rossaspelt
(Rosa pronounced [rosia]) in Modern Greek.[38]

The standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is "Russians" in

English[39] and rossiyane (Russian: ) in Russian. There are two Russian words which are
commonly translated into English as "Russians". One is "" (russkiye), which most often means
"ethnic Russians". Another is "" (rossiyane), which means "citizens of Russia, regardless of
ethnicity". Translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups.