Russia (Russian: Россия, tr.

Rossiya, pronounced [rɐˈsʲijə]), or the Russian

Federation (RF),[c] is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and
Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area, covering over
17,125,191 square kilometres (6,612,073 sq mi), and encompassing one-eighth of
Earth's inhabitable landmass. Russia extends across eleven time zones and borders
sixteen sovereign nations, the most of any country in the world.[d] It is the
ninth-most populous country and the most populous country in Europe, with a
population of 145.5 million. The country's capital and largest city is Moscow, the
largest city entirely within Europe. Saint Petersburg is Russia's cultural centre
and second-largest city. Other major urban areas include Novosibirsk,
Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan.

The East Slavs emerged as a recognisable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th
centuries AD. The medieval state of Kievan Rus' arose in the 9th century. In 988,
it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Rus' ultimately
disintegrated, and among its principalities, the Grand Duchy of Moscow rose and
grew to become the Tsardom of Russia. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly
expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to evolve into the Russian
Empire, the third-largest empire in history. The monarchy was abolished following
the Russian Revolution in 1917, and the Russian SFSR became the world's first
constitutionally socialist state. Following a civil war, the Russian SFSR
established the Soviet Union with three other republics, as its largest and the
principal constituent. The country underwent a period of rapid industrialisation at
the expense of millions of lives. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the
Allied victory in World War II and emerged as a 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 human into space.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the newly independent
Russian SFSR renamed itself the Russian Federation. In the aftermath of the
constitutional crisis of 1993, a new constitution was adopted, and Russia has since
been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Since his election in 2000,
Vladimir Putin has dominated Russia's political system and Russia has experienced
democratic backsliding, shifting into an authoritarian state. It ranks low in
international measurements of freedom of the press and civil liberties and has high
levels of perceived corruption.

The Russian economy is the world's eleventh-largest by nominal GDP and the sixth-
largest by PPP. It is a recognised nuclear-weapons state, possessing the world's
largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, with the fourth-highest military expenditure.
Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the world's largest, and it is
among the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally. It is a permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the G20, the SCO, BRICS,
the APEC, the OSCE and the WTO, as well as the leading member of the CIS, the CSTO,
and the EAEU, Russia is also home of 30 UNESCO World Heritage