Russia (For Want of a Telegram)

Russian Federal Republic
Федеративная Республика России
*Federativnaya Respublika Rossii*
Russian Federal Republic Федеративная Республика России; Federativnaya Respublika Rossii
	Anthem: "Слава вечная святой России"; "Slava vechnaya svyatoy Rossii"; "Glory Eternal to Sacred Russia";
Capital; (and City)	Petrograd
Official languages	Russian
Ethnic groups (2016)	75% Russian; 9% Tatar; 6% Ukrainian; 10% others
Demonym	Russian
Government	Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic
Legislature	Federal Assembly
Formation
Population
Currency	Russian ruble (RUB)

Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossija; from the Greek: Ρωσία — Rus'), also officially known as the Russian Federal Republic (Russian: Федеративная Республика России, tr. Federativnaya Respublika Rossii), is a federal state in Eurasia. It is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of Earth's inhabited land area, and the fourth most populous with over 267 million people as of 2016. The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the East, about 80% of the population live in European Russia. Russia's capital Petrograd is one of the largest cities in the world, other major urban centers include Moscow, Kiev, Minsk Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara.

Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Livonia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Kurdistan, Iran, Afghanistan, East Turkestan, Mongolia, Manchukuo and Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.

The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs, who 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 and the Russian Civil War, the Russian Nationalist Republic became the eventual successor state of the Empire. The Russian Nationalist Republic played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II, and emerged as a recognized superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Nationalist 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 humans in space. By the end of 1990, the RNR had the world's second largest economy, largest standing military in the world and the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Over the course of the decade, Livonia, Poland and Mongolia all declared their independence from the Russian Nationalist Republic, and in 1999 the RNR was officially dissolved by Supreme Leader Vladimir Putin and replaced with the Russian Federal Republic, with Putin as President.

The Russian economy ranks as the ninth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas globally. The country is one of the six recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Russia is a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as well as a member of the G20, the Council of Europe, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Tokyo Cooperation Organisation (TCO), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).