Russia Russia ( also known as the Russian Federation ) was a country that spanned eastern Europe and northern Asia . It also formed the largest part the Soviet Union . History of Russia . Early history . Peter the Great was titled the Tsar of All Russias . ( AUDIO : " Sound the Siren And I ' ll Come To You Comrade " ) The Varangian s were 9th century Russian Viking s . Kate Wilson believed that they sounded like something out of " Star Trek " . ( AUDIO : " The Conspiracy " ) 19th century . In the 19th century , Russia controlled Poland , which was at one point taken over by Napoléon Bonaparte . In 1812 , Bonaparte invaded Russia in anticipation of a Russian attempt to retake Poland , but was defeated by the Russians . The First Doctor met Napoleon in Russia during that time ( AUDIO : " Mother Russia " , " A Thousand Tiny Wings " ) whereas the renegade Time Lady Iris Wildthyme later claimed to have done so . In the late 1830s , Russia began expanding in Central Asia . The British feared that this expansion would pose a threat to their rule in India and so they occupied areas of Afghanistan to halt the Russian growth in the region . This sparked hostilities between the British and the Afghans which lasted until 1842 . ( PROSE : " Mire and Clay " ) Nicholas I was the Tsar of Russia during the Crimean War in the 1850s . ( AUDIO : " The Angel of Scutari " ) In 1894 , Fitz Kreiner joined a scientific expedition to Russia . ( PROSE : " Time Zero " ) By the end of the 19th century , Russia was ruled by Tsar Alexander . According to one account , he set up the organisation later known as KVI to combat alien threats after he learned of the establishment of the British Torchwood Institute by Queen Victoria . ( AUDIO : " The Torchwood Archive " ) However , another account attributes this to his successor Nicholas II . ( PROSE : " Trace Memory " ) 20th century . In 1903 , Nicholas II was the Tsar of Russia . At that time , the First Doctor , Ian Chesterton , Barbara Wright and Susan Foreman travelled to Zarechny , Siberia , where they met Grigori Rasputin . After receiving a wealth of information from the future , Rasputin foresaw the Russian Revolution of 1917 . ( AUDIO : " The Wanderer " ) In 1905 , soldiers from the Russo - Japanese War were abducted by the War Lord s for use in their war games . ( TV : " The War Games " ) On 30 June 1908 , the energy created by the meteor strike which later became known as the Tunguska Event caused the Great Divide to open in Russia , allowing some of the Charrl to enter that time period . ( PROSE : " Birthright " ) The Third Doctor attempted to take Liz Shaw and Jo Grant to witness the meteor impact but the TARDIS instead materialise d in St Petersburg in December 1916 . ( PROSE : " The Wages of Sin " ) According to one account , after the Tunguska event , Tsar Nicholas set up an organisation to investigate extraterrestrial matters . ( PROSE : " Trace Memory " ) However , another account attributes this to his predecessor , Alexander . ( AUDIO : " The Torchwood Archive " ) During World War I , Bertie Stopford was the United Kingdom ambassador to the Russian Empire . He worked in British Intelligence with Alistair Lethbridge - Stewart , the paternal grandfather of Brigadier Lethbridge - Stewart . In December 1916 , the Third Doctor , Jo Grant and Liz Shaw visited Russia and met the mystic Rasputin shortly before he was murdered . ( PROSE : " The Wages of Sin " ) On 7 November 1917 , the October Revolution , part of the Russian Revolution of 1917 , took place . At the ceremony held in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Revolution in Red Square in Moscow on 7 November 1967 , the Seventh Doctor explained to his companion Ace that the celebration of the October Revolution was held in November as Russia was still using the Julian calendar , which was eleven days behind the Gregorian calendar , in 1917 . ( AUDIO : " Thin Ice " ) Some years later , Russia and its satellite countries became the Soviet Union . In the 1920s , the organisation originally set up by the Tsar to investigate alien threats became the KVI . ( PROSE : " Trace Memory " ) In 1943 , Russian soldiers attempted to steal the ULTIMA device from its base at Maiden ' s Point . ( TV : " The Curse of Fenric " ) In 1951 , the Eighth Doctor visited Russia . ( PROSE : " Endgame " ) In May 1957 , Russia launched a satellite that was hijacked by , who used it to summon the Tzun to Earth . ( PROSE : " First Frontier " ) On 15 October 1957 , a BBC News bulletin referred to the recent launch of " Sputnik " , Earth ' s first artificial satellite , by the Soviet Union . ( AUDIO : " Unregenerate ! " ) Miles Barrington Smythe was a part of a Russian spy network in 1963 London . ( TV : " The Cambridge Spy " ) In 1983 , the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald arrived on a Soviet nuclear missile submarine , " Firebird " , which also contained an Ice Warrior on board . ( TV : " Cold War " ) The Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian Federation was formed in the early 1990s . ( AUDIO : " Protect and Survive " ) 21st century . In the early 21st century , the Ninth Doctor , Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness were drawn to a derelict Russian naval base by an intergalactic distress signal . ( PROSE : " The Deviant Strain " ) In 2009 , the " Russian Federation " was among the nations which agreed to let John Frobisher speak on their behalf to the 456 . ( TV : " " ) In the same year Deathy caught the genocidal war criminal Ephnol in Russia . ( AUDIO : " The Ghost House " ) In 2011 , Henry van Statten ' s scientists discovered the cure for the common cold from alien bacteria in " the Russian crater , " presumably that which was created by the Tunguska Event . ( TV : " Dalek " ) By the 2050s , same - sex marriage was legal in Russia . ( TV : " The Waters of Mars " ) In 2058 , Russia was part of the Bowie Base One mission to Mars , sending astronaut Yuri Kerenski . ( TV : " The Waters of Mars " ) Undated events . Missy stole a jeweled egg in Russia . ( PROSE : " Dr . Twelfth " ) Either at the end of the 19th century or at the beginning of the 20th century , some religion s in Russia were persecuted forcing people to flee to other countries . ( COMIC : " The Weeping Angels of Mons " ) Parallel universe . In a parallel universe visited by the Third Doctor , White Russia was led by Joseph Stalin and was a close ally of the fascist Republic of Great Britain . Europe was divided between these two vast spheres of influence . This state of affairs meant that World War II never happened as Russia and the British Republic were able to crush Nazi Germany by intimidating Adolf Hitler into backing down from his sabre - rattling . The Russian - British alliance , which still existed in the 1970s , was one of Stalin ' s greatest legacies . White Russia was a member of the Conclave , a super cabinet designed to ensure world peace which was composed of the leaders of Earth ' s five continents . ( PROSE : " The Face of the Enemy " ) Alternative timeline . During the Year That Never Was , the made Russia the topmost shipyard of weaponry for the Time Lord Empire . According to Martha Jones , the shipyards spanned all across Russia , " from the Baltic to the Bering Strait s . " ( TV : " Last of the Time Lords " ) Russia ' s name became Shipyard Number One . ( PROSE : " The Story of Martha " ) Behind the scenes . To describe events throughout the second half of the 20th century , the names " Russia " and " Soviet Union " are often used interchangeably , but are in fact separate . Although the biggest by far , Russia was only one of several republics that formed the Union . In the real world , the Soviet Union was created in 1922 and dissolved in 1991 .