Russia

Map of Russia

Russia also officially known as the Russian Federation is a sovereign country in Eurasia. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with over 144 million people at the end of March 2016. The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the eastern; about 77% of the population live in European Russia. Russia's capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world; other major urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, and Kazan.

Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.

Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world's first constitutionally socialist state. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II, and emerged as a recognized superpower and rival to the United States during the Cold War. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the world's second largest economy, largest standing military in the world and the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, twelve independent republics emerged from the USSR: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Baltic states regained independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and is recognized as the continuing legal personality and sole successor state of the Soviet Union. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic.

## Key Cities

* Moscow
* Vladivostok
* Yaroslavl
* Yekaterinburg

## Residents

* **Kershinsky** (1929-1960) - Kershinsky was born in Yekaterinburg on November 12, 1929. He trained to be a Soviet spy in Moscow at the age of 18. He married his wife, Vasiliev, in Moscow and they continued to live there until 1960, when they were mysteriously murdered in their apartment.
* **Lucius Kershinsky** - Lucius Kershinsky was born in Moscow on August 13, 1959. He moved to Vladivostok at the age of 18, where he lived and trained at Whitebeard's dojo from 1977 to 1980.
* **Nicholas** (1956-2010) - Nicholas lived and trained at Whitebeard's dojo in Vladivostok from 1973 to 1974.
* **Vasiliev** (1931-1960) - Vasiliev was born in Yaroslavl on February 10, 1931. At the age of 23, she lived and trained at Whitebeard's dojo in Vladivostok from 1954 to 1956. She married her husband, Kershinsky, in Moscow, and they continued to live there until 1960, when they were mysteriously murdered in their apartment.
* **Waldo Kershinsky** - Waldo Kershinsky was born in Moscow on April 7, 1958. He lived and trained at Whitebeard's dojo in Vladivostok from 1976 to 1977.
* **Whitebeard** (1914-2011) - Whitebeard was born in Vladivostok on July 11, 1914. He lived there for his entire childhood, until he moved to Moscow to train as a Soviet spy at the age of 18. He returned to Vladivostok after he retired from being a spy, and set up a training dojo there.

## Notable Events

* July 11, 1914 - Whitebeard is born in Vladivostok.
* November 12, 1929 - Kershinsky is born in Yekaterinburg.
* July 29, 1932 - Whitebeard begins training to be a Soviet spy in Moscow.

* December 2, 1947 - Kershinsky begins training to be a Soviet spy in Moscow.

* October 14, 1954 - Whitebeard sets up his training dojo in Vladivostok.
* October 3, 1956 - Kershinsky and Vasiliev get married in Moscow.
* May 14, 1960 - Kershinsky and Vasiliev are murdered in their apartment in Moscow.

* April 21, 2011 - Whitebeard dies in his sleep at the age of 97 in his dojo in Vladivostok.