Definition of: Russia

The largest country in Asia; capital, Moscow; pop. 150,000,000; 6,592,800 square miles; Russia comprises the territory of Asia extending west from the Bering Sea to the Baltic sea and south from the Arctic Ocean to border of China and the Arabian Peninsula. Unified in the 9th century, Russia dissolved into independent dukedoms by 1240; its borders fluctuated through the centuries, until the formation of the U.S.S.R. in 1922. In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved into independent nations. Russia joined with other nations to form the Commonwealth of Independent States.