Russia, often known as the Russian Federation, is a nation that spans Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the world's biggest nation by area, comprising over 17,125,191 square kilometers (6,612,073 square miles) and containing one-eighth of the Earth's habitable continent. Russia spans eleven time zones and borders sixteen sovereign states, more than any other country on the planet. With a population of 145.5 million, it is the ninth-most populated nation in the world and the most populous country in Europe. Moscow, the biggest metropolis wholly inside Europe, is the country's capital and largest city. Saint Petersburg is Russia's cultural capital and the country's second-largest metropolis. Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan are other prominent cities.
Between the third and eighth centuries AD, the East Slavs formed as a distinct ethnic group in Europe. In the ninth century, the medieval state of Kievan Rus' formed. It embraced Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988. Rus' eventually collapsed, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow developed and expanded to become the Tsardom of Russia. Russia had significantly expanded by the early 18th century via conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, the third-largest empire in history. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, the monarchy was abolished, and the Russian SFSR became the world's first legally socialist state. Following a civil war, the Russian SFSR, together with three other republics, formed the Soviet Union, of which it was the biggest and most important element. The nation went through a period of tremendous industrialization, which cost millions of lives. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union emerged as a superpower and challenger to the United States after playing a critical part in the Allied victory in World War II. Some of the most important technological breakthroughs of the twentieth century occurred during the Soviet period, including the creation of the world's first man-made satellite and the launch of the first person into space.
After the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, the newly independent Russian SFSR called itself the Russian Federation. Following the constitutional crisis of 1993, a new constitution was established, and Russia has been ruled as a federal semi-presidential republic ever since. Vladimir Putin has controlled Russia's political system since his victory in 2000, and Russia has seen democratic backsliding, transforming into an authoritarian state.
With a universal healthcare system and free university education, Russia is placed 52nd on the Human Development Index. Russia's economy is the world's tenth biggest in terms of nominal GDP and the sixth largest in terms of PPP. It is a nuclear-weapons state, with the world's biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons and the fourth-highest military spending. Russia has the world's greatest mineral and energy resources, and it is one of the world's major producers of oil and natural gas. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of the G20, SCO, BRICS, APEC, OSCE, and WTO, as well as a prominent member of the CIS, CSTO, and EAEU, and was ejected from the Council of Europe in 2022. In addition, Russia has 30 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
