Russia: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

'''Russia''' ({{Lang-ru|Россия|Rossiya}}, {{IPA-ru|rɐˈsʲijə| }}), or the '''Russian Federation''',{{efn|{{lang-rus|Российская Федерация|r=Rossiyskaya Federatsiya|p=rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə|links=yes}}}} is a ~~[[Boundaries between the continents|transcontinental]]~~ country spanning [[Eastern Europe]] and [[North Asia|Northern Asia]]. It is the [[list of countries and dependencies by area|largest country in the world by area]] extending across [[Time in Russia|eleven time zones]], and shares [[Borders of Russia|land boundaries with fourteen countries]].{{efn|Russia shares land borders with fourteen [[sovereign state]]s:<ref>{{Citation |title=Russia |date=2022 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/russia/#geography |work=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en |access-date=14 October 2022}}</ref> [[Norway]] and [[Finland]] to the northwest; [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]] to the west, as well as [[Lithuania]] and [[Poland]] (with [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]); [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Azerbaijan]] to the southwest; [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Mongolia]] to the south; China and [[North Korea]] to the southeast—as well as sharing [[Maritime boundary|maritime boundaries]] with Japan and the United States. Russia also shares borders with the two [[partially recognized states|partially recognised]] breakaway states of [[South Ossetia]] and [[Abkhazia]] that it occupies in Georgia.}} It is the [[List of countries and dependencies by population|world's ninth-most populous country]] and [[List of European countries by population|Europe's most populous country]]. The country's capital and [[List of cities and towns in Russia by population|largest city]] is [[Moscow]]. [[Saint Petersburg]] is Russia's second-largest city and "cultural capital". Other major urban areas in the country include [[Novosibirsk]], [[Yekaterinburg]], [[Nizhny Novgorod]], [[Chelyabinsk]], [[Krasnoyarsk]], [[Kazan]], [[Krasnodar]] and [[Rostov-on-Don]].

The [[East Slavs]] emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, [[Kievan Rus']], arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] from the [[Byzantine Empire]]. Rus' ultimately disintegrated, with the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]] growing to become the [[Tsardom of Russia]]. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of [[List of Russian explorers|Russian explorers]], developing into the [[Russian Empire]], which remains the [[List of largest empires|third-largest empire in history]]. However, with the [[Russian Revolution]] in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule [[Dissolution of the Russian Empire|was abolished]] and eventually replaced by the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]]—the world's first constitutionally [[socialist state]]. Following the [[Russian Civil War]], the Russian SFSR established the [[Soviet Union]] with three other [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republics]], within which it was the largest and principal constituent. At the [[Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin|expense of millions of lives]], the Soviet Union underwent [[Industrialization in the Soviet Union|rapid industrialisation in the 1930s]] and later played a decisive role for the [[Allies in World War II]] by leading large-scale efforts on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]. With the onset of the [[Cold War]], it competed with the [[United States]] for global ideological influence. The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the [[Timeline of Russian innovation|most significant Russian technological achievements]], including the [[Sputnik 1|first human-made satellite]] and the [[Vostok 1|first human expedition into outer space]].