Russia

The largest country on earth, spanning eleven time zones, and the only one of the fifteen that inherited the union's seat, debts and weapons. The state began as Kievan Rus, was fragmented by the Mongol conquest of the 1240s, and was rebuilt from Moscow, which grew powerful partly by collecting the Horde's tribute for it. Ivan IV took Kazan in 1552 and turned a Russian principality into a multi-ethnic empire; Siberia was crossed within a century. Peter the Great forced through westernisation and built St Petersburg to face Europe, and Catherine II extended the empire to the Black Sea and partitioned Poland. Serfdom lasted until 1861, later than anywhere comparable, and its legacy shaped the revolutionary movements that followed. Defeat and hunger in the First World War brought down the monarchy in February 1917 and the Bolsheviks to power in October, and the union they built industrialised at enormous cost - collectivisation famine, the Gulag, the purges - then absorbed the largest share of the casualties in the war against Germany. The Soviet collapse in 1991 was followed by a decade of economic contraction, a war in Chechnya, and the transfer of state assets to a small group of owners. Putin's governments since 2000 have recentralised power and pursued the near abroad by force in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine from 2014. Oil and gas dominate exports. Moscow is the capital and St Petersburg the second city. The country borders fourteen states, more than any except China. Russian is the most widely spoken language in Europe. Over a hundred other languages are spoken within its borders. The Trans-Siberian is the longest railway line in the world.

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