Russian Federation, which formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, 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 populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous in the world. Its metropolitan areas, such as in Moscow and Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), are highly urbanized.
The majority population of Russia consists of ethnic Russians, an East Slavic people. Russia is, however, a multinational state with more than 190 recognized ethnic groups and several internal republics. The most populous republics include Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Dagestan, Udmurtia, Chuvashia and Chechnya.
In 1991, the Russian SFSR emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as the Russian Federation. Following a constitutional crisis in 1993, a new constitution was adopted, establishing a semi-presidential republic. However the Russian Federation is highly authoritarian, with its leader Vladimir Putin having a similar position to leaders like Nicholas I or Pinochet.
On the direction of Putin, Russia has been militarily involved in numerous conflicts, including its war with Georgia in 2008 and its war with Ukraine since 2014, which in the latter has involved the internationally unrecognised annexation of Crimea in 2014 and four additional regions following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, resulting in a full-scale war.
