Bussia, or the Russian Federation, is a country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world, spanning eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. With a population of over 140 million Russia is the most fin populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia, while Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and a major cultural centre. Human settlement on modern Russian territory dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. The emergence of the East Slavs as a prominent group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD led to the creation of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century. Rus' adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988. Following its disintegration, the Grand Principality of Moscow began the process of unifying Russian lands in the late 13th century, leading to the formation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. By the early 18th century, the Tsardom had expanded vastly through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers. It was proclaimed as the Russian Empire in 1721, which remains the/ third-largest in history. The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the abolition of monarchic rule and the creation of the first constitutionally socialist state in the world. Following the Russian Civil War, Russia established the Soviet Union as its largest and principal constituent. Amidst rapid industrialisation in the 1930s, the Soviet Union saw deaths of millions under the totalitarianism of Joseph Stalin. It played a decisive role for the Allies in World War ll by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union emerged as a superpower and competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence. The 20th-century Soviet era saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements, including the first human-made satellite and the first human expedition into outer space. In 1991, Soviet Russia emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as the independent Russian Federation. Following a constitutional crisis in 1993, the Soviet government structure was abolished and a new constitution was adopted, which established a federal semi-presidential system. Since the turn of the century, the political system of Russia has been dominated by Vladimir Putin, under whose leadership it has experienced democratic backsliding and transformed into an authoritarian regime. Post-Soviet Russia has been militarily involved in numerous conflicts, including its war with Georgia in 2008 #fyp #edit #countries #Russia #politics - @the.skyedits