Russia

Russia (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya), also officially the  Republic of Russia (Russian: Российская республика, tr. Rossiyskaya Respublika;), is a country in Eurasia. At 8.000.000 square kilometres (‪3.088.817‬ sq mi), Russia is on of the largest country in the world by surface area, on of the most populous, with over 90 million people. Russia's capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other major urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Kazan.

Extending across much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans three time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with the United Baltic Duchies, Finland and Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkestan, Sibiria and China.

The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. 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, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde, and came to dominate the cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus'. 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.

Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Republic became the largest Republic, later in 1930 it became the first facist state, led by Ungern von Sternberg. Russia was one of the main powers in the axis and was split after World War II, and was split in one German and one Chinese Occupation zone. The Cold war era saw the establishment of the Republic of Russia which was part of the European bloc. Now it is part of the European Union and it is governed as a constitutional unitary republic.