Russia, formerly one of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics, sits between north/south neighbors China and the Arctic Ocean, and between Ukraine and the Pacific Ocean to its east and west. Russia’s vast territory includes 6,592,772 square miles – nearly twice the size of the United States. In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution seized control of the state from the ruling Romanov family. And for more than seventy years, Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union were governed by the subsequent totalitarian regime --Communism. Led by a series of warlords, the Soviet Union overthrew the governments of numerous neighbors, expanding its boundaries into parts of the Middle East and Europe, where it remained until the late 1980s. And then in 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated. Russia and its former satellites have been independent and democratic ever since.

Capital: Moscow
Official Language: Russian
Population: 142,893,540
Currency: Russian Ruble
What's Popular: American Chicken: Russians adore U.S. imported chicken, referred to as 'Bush legs'