Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik ) abbreviated to USSR ( Russian : СССР , tr .
The Soviet Union ( short for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ) ; Russian : Союз Советских Социалистических Республик \ / Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik ) was a group of countries under Russian influence that came together to be one larger country .