| Russian Federation Российская Федерация | ||||||
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| Anthem: Государственный гимн Российской Федерации Gosudarstvennyy gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" |
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| Capital (and largest city) | Moscow | |||||
| Official languages | Russian | |||||
| Demonym | Russian | |||||
| Government | Federal semi-presidential republic under an authoritarian dictatorship | |||||
| - | President | Kheromon Putin | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Volk Nogakov | ||||
| Legislature | Federal Assembly | |||||
| - | Upper house | Federation Council | ||||
| - | Lower house | State Duma | ||||
| Currency | Ruble (₽) (RUB) |
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| Time zone | UTC+3 to UTC+5 | |||||
Russia (Russian: Россия), officially the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация), also inofficially known as West Russia (Russian: Западная Россия) is a country located in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Tredvia, Estonia and Sweden to the north, Belarus and Ukraine to the west, Caucasus to the south and Siberia, the Mongol Federation and Kazakhstan to the east.
The country's head of state is the President of Russia, Kheromon Putin and the Prime Minister is Volk Nogakov.
In 1991, the Russian SFSR emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as the Russian Federation. A new constitution was adopted, which established a federal semi-presidential system. Once the largest country in the world, Siberian opposition groups launched a 2010 offensive that divided the nation into the Russian Federation and the Siberian Oblast Republics. Since the turn of the century, Russia's political system has been dominated by Kheromon Putin, under whom the country has experienced democratic backsliding and become an authoritarian dictatorship.
Russia has been militarily involved in a number of conflicts in its largest neighbor Siberia, former Soviet states and other countries, including its war with Georgia in 2008, the 2010 Siberian offensive which dissolved its peak state and annexation of four Ukrainian regions in 2022 during an ongoing invasion.
Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council; a member state of the G20, SCO, BRICSS, APEC, OSCE, and WTO; and the leading member state of post-Soviet organisations such as CIS, CSTO, and EAEU/EEU. It possesses the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and has the third-highest military expenditure. Internationally, Russia ranks very low in measurements of democracy, human rights and freedom of the press; the country also has high levels of perceived corruption. As of 2024, Russia has a high-income economy which ranks eleventh in the world by nominal GDP and fourth at purchasing power parity, relying on its vast mineral and energy resources; the world's second-largest for oil production and natural gas production. Russia is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Etymology[]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English name Russia first appeared in the 14th century, borrowed from Medieval Latin: Russia, used in the 11th century and frequently in 12th-century British sources, in turn derived from Russi, 'the Russians' and the suffix -ia. In modern historiography, this state is usually denoted as Kievan Rus' after its capital city. Another Medieval Latin name for Rus' was Ruthenia.
In Russian, the current name of the country, Россия (Rossiya), comes from the Byzantine Greek name for Rus', Ρωσία (Rosía). A new form of the name Rus', Росия (Rosiya), was borrowed from the Greek term and first attested in 1387. The name Rossiia appeared in Russian sources in the late 15th century, but until the end of the 17th century the country was more often referred to by its inhabitants as Rus', the Russian land (Russkaia zemlia), or the Muscovite state (Moskovskoe gosudarstvo), among other variations. In 1721, Peter the Great changed the name of the state from Tsardom of Russia (Russian: Русское царство, romanized: Russkoye tsarstvo) or Tsardom of Muscovy (Russian: Московское царство, romanized: Moskovskoye tsarstvo) to Russian Empire (Rossiiskaia imperiia).
There are several words in Russian which translate to "Russians" in English. The noun and adjective русский, russkiy refers to ethnic Russians. The adjective российский, rossiiskiy denotes Russian citizens regardless of ethnicity. The same applies to the more recently coined noun россиянин, rossiianyn, "Russian" in the sense of citizen of the Russian state.
According to the Primary Chronicle, the word Rus' is derived from the Rus' people, who were a Swedish tribe, and where the three original members of the Rurikid dynasty came from. The Finnish word for Swedes, ruotsi, has the same origin. Later archeological studies mostly confirmed this theory.[better source needed]
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