Soviet Federation

Russia officially the Soviet Federation, is a nation in the Eurasian Sea. With around 122 worlds and 60 star systems, the Soviet Federation is the largest nation in the Milky Way by area, covering a large percentage of all of Human controlled space, and is currently the third most populous nation with over 11.9 billion people, excluding the Federation's various satellite states and occupied territories. About 60% of the population live in the core worlds of the Soviet Federation, the closest part of the Federation's territory to the European powers, of which it is bordered mostly by the Polish Commonwealth and the Nordic Federation with the rest of Soviet territory being bordered only by their satellite states, creating an effective buffer between Soviet space and the space of the European powers and most importantly of Germany and her satellites. The nation's capital, Moscow is one of the most populated worlds in the Milky Way; other major worlds include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod.

The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east.

Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world's first constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II, and emerged as a recognized superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the world's second largest economy, largest standing military in the world and the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, twelve independent republics emerged from the USSR: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Baltic states regained independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and was recognized as the continuing legal personality and a successor of the Soviet Union. It was governed as a federal semi-presidential republic until its eventual replacement with the Soviet Federation which functions much in the same manner.

The Russian economy ranks as the second largest by nominal GDP and fifth largest by purchasing power parity. Russia's extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the Milky Way, making it one of the leading producers of oil and natural gas in interstellar markets. The country is one of the eleven recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a superpower alongside the United States and Federal German Reich. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and an active global partner of ASEAN, as well as a leader of the Moscow Pact, a member of the G20, the Council of Europe, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the Interstellar Trade Organization (WTO), as well as being the leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and one of the five members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), along with its various satellite states.