Russia (21st Century Crisis)

The Union of Soviet Republics (Russian: Союз Советских республик, Belarusian: Саюз Савецкіх Рэспублік, Ukrainian: Союз Радянських Республік, Kazakh: Кеңес мемлекеттер одағы, Romanian: Uniunea Statelor Sovietice), also known as the Soviet Union as well as Vostochnoslavia(Восточнославия) (lit. "Land of the East Slavs" in Russian), is a country in Eastern Europe and Central Asia that consists of the Soviet Republics of Russia, Belarus, Chechnya, Moldova and Kazakhstan.

Originally founded as a socialist and communist nation, the Soviet Union today is a capitalist and democratic country. In 1992, many of the Soviet republics, namely Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia broke away from the Soviet Union. However, Russia and Belarus stayed together, and in 1994, was joined by Kazakhstan and Moldova.

The Soviet Union borders Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the east, Romania to the south as well as the Black Sea and Kazakhstan to the west.

The Soviet Union is currently one of the competing military powers of the world, boasting the largest army, and the second-largest air force, having allies and puppet states in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

The major religions are Christianity - which the majority follows (Russian Orthodox and Ukrainian Orthodox Church), followed by Islam, Buddhism and Shamanism. While Russian is designated as the national language, the Soviet Union has four official languages, they are: Russian, Belarusian, Kazakh and Romanian as the 1992 Soviet Constitution recognizes the language of each Soviet state to be granted with official government recognition.

History
In 1992, Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would transition into a free market economy, among other major reforms. The name "socialist" was dropped from the Soviet Union's official name, and simply became the Union of Soviet Republics. In addition, Gorbachev allowed for the formation of political parties in the Soviet Union. As a result of Gorbachev's policies, he was elected as the first president of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev rejected Chechen independence, but he allowed Chechnya to exist as a Soviet republic.

In 1994, Kazakhstan and Moldova re-joined the Soviet Union amid favorable views of the Soviet Union.

In 2014, amid political unrest in Ukraine, militants in eastern Ukraine called for the region, including the Crimean Peninsula, to be under Soviet control. Soviet president Vladimir Putin provided political asylum for Viktor Yanukovych and his family.

Ignoring western demands, Putin sent ground forces into eastern Ukraine. NATO and the western countries attempted to stop the Soviets by sending forces, however they were outgunned by the ferocious resistance from pro-Soviet Ukrainians and the Soviet forces themselves. As a result, the Soviets successfully occupied eastern Ukraine, and was established as the Soviet Republic of Ukraine, and the Soviet Republic of Crimea.

Military
The Soviet Armed Forces is one of the competing military powers of the world, and boasts having the largest land force and air force. It currently contains the third-largest navy.

The armed forces also contains the People's Army, the gandermarie force of the Soviet Armed Forces. The People's Army is divided into two battalions: the Civil Battalion and the Home Battalion. The Civil Battalion is the gandermarie force, and is organized like any military force. The Home Battalion consists of armed civilians, and functions as a partisan movement.