Russia 

(Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya, pronounced [rɐˈsʲijə]), or the Russian Federation,[c] is

a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country
in the world by area, covering over 17,098,246 square kilometres (6,601,670 sq mi)[d], and
encompassing one-eighth of Earth's inhabitable landmass. Russia extends across eleven time
zones and borders fourteen countries by land[e] (the most in the world, tied with China). Russia
also shares narrow maritime boundaries with two countries.[f] It is the ninth-most populous
country in the world and the most populous country in Europe, with a population of 146 million.
[g]
 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
CE. The medieval state of Kievan Rus' arose in the 9th century, and in 988 adopted Orthodox
Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. The Rus' ultimately disintegrated, with one faction
emerging as the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 13th century, later growing to become
the Tsardom of Russia. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through
conquest, annexation, and exploration to become 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 was 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 slid back from democracy to authoritarianism, eventually becoming a
dictatorship. 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 has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, with the fifth-highest military
expenditures. 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 home to 30 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
o 2.1Early history
o 2.2Kievan Rus'
o 2.3Grand Duchy of Moscow
o 2.4Tsardom of Russia
o 2.5Imperial Russia
 o 2.6Revolution and civil war
o 2.7Soviet Union
 2.7.1World War II
 2.7.2Cold War
o 2.8Post-Soviet Russia (1991–present)
 3Geography
o 3.1Climate
o 3.2Biodiversity
 4Government and politics
o 4.1Political divisions
o 4.2Foreign relations
o 4.3Military
o 4.4Human rights and corruption
 5Economy
o 5.1Transport and energy
o 5.2Agriculture and fishery
o 5.3Science and technology
 5.3.1Space exploration
o 5.4Tourism
 6Demographics
o 6.1Language
o 6.2Religion
o 6.3Education
o 6.4Health
 7Culture
o 7.1Holidays
o 7.2Art and architecture
o 7.3Music
o 7.4Literature and philosophy
o 7.5Cuisine
o 7.6Mass media and cinema
o 7.7Sports
 8See also
 9Notes
 10Sources
 11References
 12Further reading
 13External links

Etymology
Main article: Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia
The name Russia is derived from Rus', a medieval state populated primarily by the East Slavs.
[18]
 However, the proper name[which?] became more prominent in later history, and the country
typically was called by its inhabitants "Rus land".[19] This state is denoted as Kievan Rus' after
its capital city by modern historiography. The name Rus' itself comes from the early
medieval Rus' people, a group of Norse merchants and warriors who relocated from across
the Baltic Sea and founded a state centred on Novgorod that later became Kievan Rus'.[20]
A Medieval Latin version of the name Rus' was Ruthenia, which was used as one of several
designations for East Slavic and Eastern Orthodox regions, and commonly as a designation for
the lands of Rus'.[21] The current name of the country, Россия (Rossiya), comes from
the Byzantine Greek designation of the Rus', Ρωσσία Rossía – spelled Ρωσία
(Rosía pronounced [roˈsia]) in Modern Greek.[22] The standard way to refer to the citizens of
Russia is "Russians" in English.[23] There are two words in Russian which are commonly
translated into English as "Russians" – one is "русские" (russkiye), which most often refers to
ethnic Russians – and the other is "россияне" (rossiyane), which refers to citizens of Russia,
regardless of ethnicity.[24]

History
Main article: History of Russia

Early history
Further information: Ancient Greek colonies, Early Slavs, Huns, Turkic expansion,
and Prehistory of Siberia
See also: Proto-Indo-Europeans and Proto-Uralic homeland
The first human settlement on Russia dates back to the Oldowan period in the early Lower
Paleolithic. About 2 million years ago, representatives of Homo erectus migrated to the Taman
Peninsula in southern Russia.[25] Flint tools, some 1.5 million years old, have been discovered in
the North Caucasus.[26] Radiocarbon dated specimens from Denisova Cave in the Altai
Mountains estimate the oldest Denisovan specimen lived 195–122,700 years ago.[27] Fossils of
"Denny", an archaic human hybrid that was half Neanderthal and half Denisovan, and lived
some 90,000 years ago, was also found within the latter cave.[28] Russia was home to some of
the last surviving Neanderthals, from about 45,000 years ago, found in Mezmaiskaya cave.[29]
The first trace of a early modern human in Russia dates back to 45,000 years, in western
Siberia.[30] The discovery of high concentration cultural remains of anatomically modern
humans, from at least 40,000 years ago, was found at Kostyonki and Borshchyovo,[31] and
at Sungir, dating back to 34,600 years ago—both, respectively in western Russia.[32] Humans
reached Arctic Russia at least 40,000 years ago, in Mamontovaya Kurya.[33]

Bronze Age spread of Yamnaya Steppe pastoralist ancestry.[34]

The Kurgan hypothesis places the Volga-Dnieper region of southern Russia and Ukraine as

the urheimat of the Proto-Indo-Europeans.[35] Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic–
Caspian steppe spread Yamnaya ancestry and Indo-European languages across large parts of
Eurasia.[36][37] Nomadic pastoralism developed in the Pontic–Caspian steppe beginning in
the Chalcolithic.[38] Remnants of these steppe civilizations were discovered in places such
as Ipatovo,[38] Sintashta,[39] Arkaim,[40] and Pazyryk,[41] which bear the earliest known traces
of horses in warfare.[39] The genetic makeup of speakers of the Uralic language family in
northern Europe was shaped by migration from Siberia that began at least 3,500 years ago.
[42]
 In classical antiquity, the Pontic-Caspian Steppe was known as Scythia.[43] In late 8th century
BCE, Ancient Greek traders brought classical civilization to the trade emporiums
in Tanais and Phanagoria.[44]
In the 3rd to 4th centuries CE, the Gothic kingdom of Oium existed in Southern Russia, which
was later overrun by Huns.[45] Between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE, the Bosporan Kingdom,
which was a Hellenistic polity that succeeded the Greek colonies,[46] was also overwhelmed by
nomadic invasions led by warlike tribes such as the Huns and Eurasian Avars.[47] The Khazars,
who were of Turkic origin, ruled the lower Volga basin steppes between the Caspian and Black
Seas until the 10th century.[48] After them came the Pechenegs who created a large
confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the Cumans and the Kipchaks.[49]
The ancestors of Russians are among the Slavic tribes that separated from the Proto-Indo-
Europeans, who appeared in the northeastern part of Europe ca. 1500 years ago.[50] The East
Slavs gradually settled western Russia in two waves: one moving from Kiev towards present-
day Suzdal and Murom and another from Polotsk towards Novgorod and Rostov. From the 7th
century onwards, the East Slavs constituted the bulk of the population in western Russia,[51] and
slowly but peacefully assimilated the native Finnic peoples.[45]

Kievan Rus'
Main articles: Rus' Khaganate; Kievan Rus'; and List of tribes and states in Belarus, Russia
and Ukraine

East Slavic state of Kievan Rus' after the Council of Liubech in 1097

The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with the arrival
of Varangians, the Vikings who ventured along the waterways extending from the eastern
Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas.[52] According to the Primary Chronicle, a Varangian from
the Rus' people, named Rurik, was elected ruler of Novgorod in 862. In 882, his
successor Oleg ventured south and conquered Kiev, which had been previously paying tribute
to the Khazars.[45] Rurik's son Igor and Igor's son Sviatoslav subsequently subdued all
local East Slavic tribes to Kievan rule, destroyed the Khazar Khaganate,[53] and launched
several military expeditions to Byzantium and Persia.[54][55]
In the 10th to 11th centuries, Kievan Rus' became one of the largest and most prosperous
states in Europe. The reigns of Vladimir the Great (980–1015) and his son Yaroslav the
Wise (1019–1054) constitute the Golden Age of Kiev, which saw the acceptance of Orthodox
Christianity from Byzantium, and the creation of the first East Slavic written legal code,
the Russkaya Pravda.[45] The age of feudalism and decentralization had come, marked by
constant in-fighting between members of the Rurik dynasty that ruled Kievan Rus' collectively.
Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east, the Novgorod
Republic in the north, and Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west.[45] By the 12th century, Kiev lost
its pre-eminence and Kievan Rus' had fragmented into different principalities.[56] Prince Andrey
Bogolyubsky sacked Kiev in 1169 and made Vladimir his base,[56] leading to political power
being shifted to the north-east.[45]
Kievan Rus' finally fell to the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240, which resulted in the sacking of
Kiev and other cities, as well as the death of a major part of the population.[45] The invaders,
later known as Tatars, formed the state of the Golden Horde, which pillaged the Russian
principalities and ruled the southern and central expanses of Russia for over two centuries.
[57]
 Only the Novgorod Republic escaped Mongol occupation after it agreed to pay tribute.[45]
Galicia-Volhynia was eventually absorbed by Lithuania and Poland,[45] while the Novgorod
Republic and Vladimir-Suzdal, two regions on the periphery of Kiev, established the basis for
the modern Russian nation.[45] Led by Prince Alexander Nevsky, Novgorodians repelled the
invading Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in 1240,[58] as well as the Germanic crusaders in
the Battle of the Ice in 1242.[59]

Grand Duchy of Moscow

Main article: Grand Duchy of Moscow

Sergius of Radonezh blessing Dmitry Donskoy in Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the Battle of Kulikovo,

depicted in a painting by Ernst Lissner

The destruction of Kievan Rus' saw the eventual rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, initially a
part of Vladimir-Suzdal.[60]: 11–20  While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their
connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the region in the early 14th century,
[61]
 gradually becoming the leading force in the "gathering of the Russian lands".[62] When the
seat of the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church moved to Moscow in 1325, its
influence increased.[63] Moscow's last rival, the Novgorod Republic, prospered as the chief fur
trade centre and the easternmost port of the Hanseatic League.[64]
Led by Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted a
milestone defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.[45] Moscow gradually
absorbed its parent duchy and surrounding principalities, including formerly strong rivals such
as Tver and Novgorod.[62]
Ivan III ("the Great") finally threw off the control of the Golden Horde and consolidated the
whole of northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first Russian ruler to take the
title "Grand Duke of all Rus'". After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed
succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire. Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina,
the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, and made the Byzantine double-
headed eagle his own, and eventually Russia's, coat-of-arms.[62] Vasili III completed the task of
uniting all of Russia by annexing the last few independent Russian states in the early 16th
century.[65]
Tsardom of Russia
Main article: Tsardom of Russia
See also: Moscow, third Rome

Ivan IV was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then "Tsar of All the Russias" until his death
in 1584.

In development of the Third Rome ideas, the grand duke Ivan IV ("the Terrible") was officially

crowned the first tsar of Russia in 1547. The tsar promulgated a new code of laws (Sudebnik of
1550), established the first Russian feudal representative body (the Zemsky Sobor), revamped
the military, curbed the influence of the clergy, and reorganised local government.[62] During his
long reign, Ivan nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar
khanates: Kazan and Astrakhan along the Volga,[66] and the Khanate of Sibir in southwestern
Siberia. Ultimately, by the end of the 16th century, Russia expanded east of the Ural
Mountains.[67] However, the Tsardom was weakened by the long and unsuccessful Livonian
War against the coalition of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (later the
united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), the Kingdom of Sweden, and Denmark–Norway for
access to the Baltic coast and sea trade.[68] In 1572, an invading army of Crimean
Tatars were thoroughly defeated in the crucial Battle of Molodi.[69]
The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient Rurik dynasty in 1598, and in
combination with the disastrous famine of 1601–1603, led to a civil war, the rule of pretenders,
and foreign intervention during the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century.[70] The Polish–
Lithuanian Commonwealth, taking advantage, occupied parts of Russia, extending into the
capital Moscow.[71] In 1612, the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps, led
by merchant Kuzma Minin and prince Dmitry Pozharsky.[72] The Romanov dynasty acceded to
the throne in 1613 by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor, and the country started its gradual
recovery from the crisis.[73]
Russia continued its territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age of
the Cossacks.[74] In 1654, the Ukrainian leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, offered to place Ukraine
under the protection of the Russian tsar, Alexis; whose acceptance of this offer led to
another Russo-Polish War. Ultimately, Ukraine was split along the Dnieper, leaving the eastern
part, (Left-bank Ukraine and Kiev) under Russian rule.[75] In the east, the rapid Russian
exploration and colonisation of vast Siberia continued, hunting for valuable furs and
ivory. Russian explorers pushed eastward primarily along the Siberian River Routes, and by
the mid-17th century, there were Russian settlements in eastern Siberia, on the Chukchi
Peninsula, along the Amur River, and on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.[74] In 1648, Semyon
Dezhnyov became the first European to navigate through the Bering Strait.[76]

Imperial Russia
Main article: Russian Empire
Expansion and territorial evolution of Duchy of Moscow, Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire
between the 14th and 20th centuries.

Under Peter the Great, Russia was proclaimed an empire in 1721, and established itself as
one of the European great powers. Ruling from 1682 to 1725, Peter defeated Sweden in
the Great Northern War (1700–1721), securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade. In
1703, on the Baltic Sea, Peter founded Saint Petersburg as Russia's new capital. Throughout
his rule, sweeping reforms were made, which brought significant Western European cultural
influences to Russia.[77] The reign of Peter I's daughter Elizabeth in 1741–1762 saw Russia's
participation in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). During the conflict, Russian troops
overran East Prussia, reaching Berlin.[78] However, upon Elizabeth's death, all these conquests
were returned to the Kingdom of Prussia by pro-Prussian Peter III of Russia.[79]
Catherine II ("the Great"), who ruled in 1762–1796, presided over the Russian Age of
Enlightenment. She extended Russian political control over the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth and annexed most of its territories into Russia, making it the most populous
country in Europe.[80] In the south, after the successful Russo-Turkish Wars against
the Ottoman Empire, Catherine advanced Russia's boundary to the Black Sea, by dissolving
the Crimean Khanate, and annexing Crimea.[81] As a result of victories over Qajar Iran through
the Russo-Persian Wars, by the first half of the 19th century, Russia also conquered the
Caucasus.[82] Catherine's successor, her son Paul, was unstable and focused predominantly on
domestic issues.[83] Following his short reign, Catherine's strategy was continued
with Alexander I's (1801–1825) wresting of Finland from the weakened Sweden in 1809,[84] and
of Bessarabia from the Ottomans in 1812.[85] In North America, the Russians became the first
Europeans to reach and colonise Alaska.[86] In 1803–1806, the first Russian
circumnavigation was made.[87] In 1820, a Russian expedition discovered the continent
of Antarctica.[88]
During the Napoleonic Wars, Russia joined alliances with various European powers, and
fought against France. The French invasion of Russia at the height of Napoleon's power in
1812 reached Moscow, but eventually failed miserably as the obstinate resistance in
combination with the bitterly cold Russian winter led to a disastrous defeat of invaders, in
which the pan-European Grande Armée faced utter destruction. Led by Mikhail
Kutuzov and Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, the Imperial Russian Army ousted Napoleon
and drove throughout Europe in the War of the Sixth Coalition, ultimately entering Paris.
[89]
 Alexander I controlled Russia's delegation at the Congress of Vienna, which defined the map
of post-Napoleonic Europe.[90]

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow by Albrecht Adam (1851).

The officers who pursued Napoleon into Western Europe brought ideas of liberalism back to
Russia, and attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive Decembrist revolt of
1825.[91] At the end of the conservative reign of Nicholas I (1825–1855), a zenith period of
Russia's power and influence in Europe, was disrupted by defeat in the Crimean War.
[92]
 Nicholas's successor Alexander II (1855–1881) enacted significant changes throughout the
country, including the emancipation reform of 1861.[93] These reforms spurred industrialisation,
and modernised the Imperial Russian Army, which liberated much of the Balkans from
Ottoman rule in the aftermath of the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War.[94] During most of the 19th
and early 20th century, Russia and Britain colluded over Afghanistan and its neighboring
territories in Central and South Asia; the rivalry between the two major European empires
came to be known as the Great Game.[95]
The late 19th century saw the rise of various socialist movements in Russia. Alexander II was
assassinated in 1881 by revolutionary extremists.[96] The reign of his son Alexander III (1881–
1894) was less liberal but more peaceful.[97] Under last Russian emperor, Nicholas II (1894–
1917), the Revolution of 1905 was triggered by the failure of the humiliating Russo-Japanese
War.[98] The uprising was put down, but the government was forced to concede major reforms
(Russian Constitution of 1906), including granting freedoms of speech and assembly, the
legalisation of political parties, and the creation of an elected legislative body, the State Duma.
[99]

Revolution and civil war

Main articles: Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and the Romanovs were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

In 1914, Russia entered World War I in response to Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on
Russia's ally Serbia,[100] and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its Triple
Entente allies.[101] In 1916, the Brusilov Offensive of the Imperial Russian Army almost
completely destroyed the Austro-Hungarian Army.[102] However, the already-existing public
distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war, high casualties, and rumors of
corruption and treason. All this formed the climate for the Russian Revolution of 1917, carried
out in two major acts.[103] In early 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate; he and his family
were imprisoned and later executed in Yekaterinburg during the Russian Civil War.[104] The
monarchy was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared itself
the Provisional Government.[105] The Provisional Government proclaimed the Russian
Republic in September. On 19 January [O.S. 6 January], 1918, the Russian Constituent
Assembly declared Russia a democratic federal republic (thus ratifying the Provisional
Government's decision). The next day the Constituent Assembly was dissolved by the All-
Russian Central Executive Committee.[103]
An alternative socialist establishment co-existed, the Petrograd Soviet, wielding power through
the democratically elected councils of workers and peasants, called Soviets. The rule of the
new authorities only aggravated the crisis in the country instead of resolving it, and eventually,
the October Revolution, led by Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional
Government and gave full governing power to the Soviets, leading to the creation of the world's
first socialist state.[103] The Russian Civil War broke out between the anti-communist White
movement and the new Soviet regime with its Red Army.[106] In the aftermath of signing
the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that concluded hostilities with the Central Powers of World War I;
Bolshevist Russia surrendered most of its western territories, which hosted 34% of its
population, 54% of its industries, 32% of its agricultural land, and roughly 90% of its coal
mines.[107]

Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky during a 1920 speech in Moscow

The Allied powers launched an unsuccessful military intervention in support of anti-communist

forces.[108] In the meantime, both the Bolsheviks and White movement carried out campaigns of
deportations and executions against each other, known respectively as the Red
Terror and White Terror.[109] By the end of the violent civil war, Russia's economy and
infrastructure were heavily damaged, and as many as 10 million perished during the war,
mostly civilians.[110] Millions became White émigrés,[111] and the Russian famine of 1921–
1922 claimed up to five million victims.[112]

Soviet Union
Main article: History of the Soviet Union
Location of the Russian SFSR (red) within the Soviet Union in 1936

On 30 December 1922, Lenin and his aides formed the Soviet Union, by joining the Russian

SFSR into a single state with the Byelorussian, Transcaucasian, and Ukrainian republics.
[113]
 Eventually internal border changes and annexations during World War II created a union
of 15 republics; the largest in size and population being the Russian SFSR, which dominated
the union for its entire history politically, culturally, and economically.[114] Following Lenin's
death in 1924, a troika was designated to take charge. Eventually Joseph Stalin, the General
Secretary of the Communist Party, managed to suppress all opposition factions and
consolidate power in his hands to become the country's dictator by the 1930s.[115] Leon Trotsky,
the main proponent of world revolution, was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929,[116] and
Stalin's idea of Socialism in One Country became the official line.[117] The continued internal
struggle in the Bolshevik party culminated in the Great Purge.[118]
Under Stalin's leadership, the government launched a command economy, industrialisation of
the largely rural country, and collectivisation of its agriculture. During this period of rapid
economic and social change, millions of people were sent to penal labor camps, including
many political convicts for their suspected or real opposition to Stalin's rule;[119] and millions
were deported and exiled to remote areas of the Soviet Union.[120] The transitional
disorganisation of the country's agriculture, combined with the harsh state policies and a
drought, led to the Soviet famine of 1932–1933; which killed up to 8.7 million.[121] The Soviet
Union, ultimately, made the costly transformation from a largely agrarian economy to a major
industrial powerhouse within a short span of time.[122]
World War II
Main article: Soviet Union in World War II

The Battle of Stalingrad, the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, ended in 1943 with a
decisive Soviet victory against the German army.

The Soviet Union entered World War II on 17 September 1939 with its invasion of Poland,[123] in
accordance with a secret protocol within the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany.
[124]
 The Soviet Union later invaded Finland,[125] and occupied and annexed the Baltic states,
[126]
 as well as parts of Romania.[127]: 91–95  On 22 June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union,
[128]
 opening the Eastern Front, the largest theater of World War II.[129]: 7 
Eventually, some 5 million Red Army troops were captured by the Nazis;[130]: 272  the latter
deliberately starved to death or otherwise killed 3.3 million Soviet POWs, and a vast number of
civilians, as the "Hunger Plan" sought to fulfill Generalplan Ost.[131]: 175–186  Although
the Wehrmacht had considerable early success, their attack was halted in the Battle of
Moscow.[132] Subsequently, the Germans were dealt major defeats first at the Battle of
Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943,[133] and then in the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943.
[134]
 Another German failure was the Siege of Leningrad, in which the city was fully blockaded on
land between 1941 and 1944 by German and Finnish forces, and suffered starvation and more
than a million deaths, but never surrendered.[135] Soviet forces steamrolled through Eastern and
Central Europe in 1944–1945 and captured Berlin in May 1945.[136] In August 1945, the Red
Army invaded Manchuria and ousted the Japanese from Northeast Asia, contributing to the
Allied victory over Japan.[137]
The 1941–1945 period of World War II is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War.[138] The
Soviet Union, along with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered
the Big Four of Allied powers in World War II, and later became the Four Policemen, which was
the foundation of the United Nations Security Council.[139]: 27  During the war, Soviet civilian and
military death were about 26–27 million,[140] accounting for about half of all World War II
casualties.[141]: 295  The Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation, which
caused the Soviet famine of 1946–1947.[142] However, at the expense of a large sacrifice, the
Soviet Union emerged as a global superpower.[143]
Cold War

The "Big Three" at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Winston Churchill, Franklin D.

Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.

After World War II, parts of Eastern and Central Europe, including East Germany and eastern
parts of Austria were occupied by Red Army according to the Potsdam Conference.
[144]
 Dependent communist governments were installed in the Eastern Bloc satellite states.
[145]
 After becoming the world's second nuclear power,[146] the Soviet Union established
the Warsaw Pact alliance,[147] and entered into a struggle for global dominance, known as
the Cold War, with the rivaling United States and NATO.[148] After Stalin's death in 1953 and a
short period of collective rule, the new leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin and
launched the policy of de-Stalinization, releasing many political prisoners from the Gulag labor
camps.[149] The general easement of repressive policies became known later as the Khrushchev
Thaw.[150] At the same time, Cold War tensions reached its peak when the two rivals clashed
over the deployment of the United States Jupiter missiles in Turkey and Soviet missiles in
Cuba.[151]
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik  1, thus starting
the Space Age.[152] Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth,
aboard the Vostok  1 manned spacecraft on 12 April 1961.[153] Following the ousting of
Khrushchev in 1964, another period of collective rule ensued, until Leonid Brezhnev became
the leader. The era of the 1970s and the early 1980s was later designated as the Era of
Stagnation. The 1965 Kosygin reform aimed for partial decentralisation of the Soviet economy.
[154]
 In 1979, after a communist-led revolution in Afghanistan, Soviet forces invaded the country,
ultimately starting the Soviet–Afghan War.[155] In May 1988, the Soviets started to withdraw from
Afghanistan, due to international opposition, persistent anti-Soviet guerrilla warfare, and a lack
of support by Soviet citizens.[156]

Mikhail Gorbachev in one-to-one discussions with Ronald Reagan in the Reykjavík Summit, 1986.

From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who sought to enact liberal
reforms in the Soviet system, introduced the policies of glasnost (openness)
and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to end the period of economic stagnation and
to democratise the government.[157] This, however, led to the rise of strong nationalist and
separatist movements across the country.[158] Prior to 1991, the Soviet economy was the world's
second-largest, but during its final years, it went into a crisis.[159]
By 1991, economic and political turmoil began to boil over as the Baltic states chose to secede
from the Soviet Union.[160] On 17 March, a referendum was held, in which the vast majority of
participating citizens voted in favour of changing the Soviet Union into a renewed federation.
[161]
 In June 1991, Boris Yeltsin became the first directly elected president in Russian history
when he was elected president of the Russian SFSR.[162] In August 1991, a coup d'état
attempt by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at
preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union.[163] On 25 December 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, along with
contemporary Russia, fourteen other post-Soviet states emerged.[164]

Post-Soviet Russia (1991–present)

Main article: History of Russia (1991–present)
Further information: Presidency of Boris Yeltsin, Russia under Vladimir Putin, and Presidency
of Dmitry Medvedev

Vladimir Putin takes the oath of office as president on his first inauguration, with Boris Yeltsin looking
over, 2000.
The economic and political collapse of the Soviet Union led Russia into a deep and prolonged
depression. During and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, wide-ranging reforms
including privatisation and market and trade liberalisation were undertaken, including radical
changes along the lines of "shock therapy".[165] The privatisation largely shifted control of
enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government, which
led to the rise of the infamous Russian oligarchs.[166] Many of the newly rich moved billions in
cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous capital flight.[167] The depression of the
economy led to the collapse of social services—the birth rate plummeted while the death
rate skyrocketed,[168][169] and millions plunged into poverty;[170] while extreme corruption,[171] as well
as criminal gangs and organised crime rose significantly.[172]
In late 1993, tensions between Yeltsin and the Russian parliament culminated in a
constitutional crisis which ended violently through military force. During the crisis, Yeltsin was
backed by Western governments, and over 100 people were killed.[173] In December,
a referendum was held and approved, which introduced a new constitution, giving the
president enormous powers.[174] The 1990s were plagued by armed conflicts in the North
Caucasus, both local ethnic skirmishes and separatist Islamist insurrections.[175] From the
time Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla
war was fought between the rebel groups and Russian forces.[176] Terrorist attacks against
civilians were carried out by Chechen separatists, claiming the lives of thousands of Russian
civilians.[h][177]
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia assumed responsibility for settling the latter's
external debts.[178] In 1992, most consumer price controls were eliminated, causing extreme
inflation and significantly devaluing the ruble.[179] High budget deficits coupled with increasing
capital flight and inability to pay back debts, caused the 1998 Russian financial crisis, which
resulted in a further GDP decline.[180]

Vladimir Putin (third, left), Sergey Aksyonov (first, left), Vladimir Konstantinov (second, left) and Aleksei

Chalyi (right) sign the Treaty on Accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia in 2014

In 1999, president Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned, handing the post to the recently appointed
prime minister and his chosen successor, Vladimir Putin.[181] Putin then won the 2000
presidential election,[182] and defeated the Chechen insurgency in the Second Chechen War.
[183]
 Putin won a second presidential term in 2004.[184] High oil prices and a rise in foreign
investment saw the Russian economy expand significantly.[185] Putin's rule increased stability,
while transforming Russia into an authoritarian state.[186] In 2008, Putin took the post of prime
minister, while Dmitry Medvedev was elected president for one term, to hold onto power
despite legal term limits.[187]
Following a diplomatic crisis with neighboring Georgia, the Russo-Georgian War took place
during 1–12 August 2008, resulting in Russia imposing two unrecognised states in
the occupied territories of Georgia. It was the first European war of the 21st century.[188]
In 2014, following a revolution in Ukraine, Russia invaded and annexed the neighboring
country's Crimean peninsula[189] and contributed to the outbreak of war in eastern Ukraine with
direct intervention by Russian troops.[190] Russia steeply escalated the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian
War by launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.[191] The invasion marked
the largest conventional war in Europe since World War II[192] and was met with widespread
international condemnation,[193] as well as expanded sanctions against Russia.[194][195][196] As a
result, Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe in March[197] and suspended from
the United Nations Human Rights Council in April.[198] As of June 2022, Russian forces occupy
Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, parts of six of its twenty-four oblasts, about a fifth of the country.
[199]