Russian Federation

Flag of the Russian Federation

> "*Единая и Неделимая Россия!
>  United and Indivisible Russia!*"
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>
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> —National motto of the Russian Federation

The Russian Federation, or Russia, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northwestern Asia. It is the 7th largest country in the world, with its internationally recognized territory covering 5,440,735 square kilometers (2,123,648 sq mi) and shares land boundaries with ten countries. It is the world's ninth-most populous country and Europe's second-most populous country, with a population of over 110 million people. The country's capital and largest city is Moscow. Saint Petersburg is Russia's cultural center and second-largest city. Other major urban areas include Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan.

Russia is bordered by Karelia, Scandinavia, Balticia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kursk, Belgorod, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Siberia.

Russia is divided into 8 Federal Districts - Muscovy, Volga, Ural, Tataristan, Bashkortostan, Perm, Caucasian and Petrograd. Worldwide, Russia is the 18th largest global economy, relying heavily upon its abundant natural resources, although with resources from solar colonization pouring into the market, it is becoming increasingly noncompetitive on international markets. However, Russia ranks poorly in measurements of democracy, human rights and freedom of the press, although it is considered relatively corruption-free when compared to past perceptions.

## History

### Early History

The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, Kyivan Rus', arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. The Rus' began to decline in the wake of the Mongol invasions, and eventually fragmented into smaller principalities, most of which were client states of the Mongols. The Mongols in Russia eventually formed the state of the Golden Horde, which ruled over Russia for the next two centuries.

### Grand Duchy of Moscow

The fall of the Kyivan Rus' led to the rise of Moscow as Russia's principal city and began to assert its influence in the region in the early 14th century, eventually becoming the dominant power in Russia, rivaled only by Novgorod, which prospered through trade in the Hanseatic League. Muscovite forces eventually defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, a prelude to fully securing their independence. Ivan III "the Great" finally threw off the control of the Golden Horde and consolidated the whole of northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire, and proclaimed itself as the Third Rome.

### Russian Empire

In pursuing its goals as the "Third Rome", Ivan IV "The Terrible" was crowned Tsar of Russia in 1547, and greatly expanded Russia through invasions along the Volga River. However, Russia faced a period of decline during the Livionian War, which cut off Russia from Baltic trade routes. Russia's situation was worsened as the Rurik dynasty died out, triggering a civil war, famine and foreign invasions, culminating in a Polish occupation of Moscow itself. The Romanov dynasty acceded to the throne in 1613, with Michael of Russia, and the country began to recover from the crisis.

Peter I (1682–1725) fought numerous wars and expanded an already vast empire into a major power of Europe. During his rule, he moved the Russian capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg. He also led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditional customs with a modern, scientific, rationalist, and Western-oriented system. Catherine the Great presided over a golden age: she expanded Russia by conquest, colonization, and diplomacy, while continuing Peter I's policy of modernization towards a Western model. Alexander I played a major role in defeating Napoleon and the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. The Russian Empire further expanded to the west, south, and east, strengthening its position as a European Great Power. Russian dominance was countered in Crimean War.

The Russian Empire entered the twentieth century in a perilous state. A devastating famine in 1891–92, killed millions across the empire leading to discontent among the population. Moreover, the Russian Empire was the last remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, which played a role in the rapid radicalization of Russian politics. In 1905 Russia experienced a revolution in which Tsar Nicholas II authorized the creation of a parliament, the Duma, although he still retained absolute political power. During the First World War, which Russia entered on the side of the Entente, Russia suffered immense losses, leading to the February Revolution against the monarchy.

### Russian Revolution & Civil War

In 1917, mass unrest among the population and mutinies in the army resulted in Russian leaders pressuring Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, which he did during the February Revolution. Following his abdication, the Russian Provisional Government was formed and continued Russia's involvement in the war, despite near universal opposition to further involvement. This decision, coupled with food shortages, led to mass demonstrations against the government in July. The Russian Provisional government was overthrown in the October Revolution by the Bolsheviks, who ended Russia's involvement in WWI with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Russian Revolution led to the end of almost two centuries of imperial rule.

The Bolshevik seizure of power resulted in the Russian Civil War, which pitted the Bolsheviks (Red Army) against their adversaries (White Army). The Bolsheviks initially consolidated control over most of the former empire in the West, while the Whites controlled most of Siberia. In 1919, the White Army launched several offensives from the east, the south, and west. The advances were later checked by the Eastern Front counteroffensive, the Southern Front counteroffensive, and the defeat of the Northwestern Army. By late 1919, the White armies were in retreat and by the start of 1920 were defeated on all three fronts. Soviet Russia sought to re-conquer all newly independent nations of the former Empire, although their success was limited. Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland all repelled Soviet invasions, while Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were occupied and annexed by the Red Army. After 1920, anti-Bolshevik resistance was sporadic for several years until the collapse of the White Army in 1923.

### Soviet Union

Following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power. Stalin pursued rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant development, but also contributed to a famine in 1930–1933 that killed millions. The forced labour ‘gulag’ system was also expanded in this period. Stalin conducted the Great Purge to remove his actual and perceived opponents. After the outbreak of World War II, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The combined Soviet civilian and military casualty count—estimated to be around 20 million people—accounted for the majority of losses of Allied forces. In the aftermath of World War II, the territory occupied by the Red Army formed various Soviet satellite states.

The beginning of the Cold War saw the Eastern Bloc of the Soviet Union confront the Western Bloc of the United States - the latter becoming largely united under NATO and the former uniting in 1955 under the Warsaw Pact. There was no direct military confrontation between the two organizations; instead, the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars. Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs. Following Stalin's death in 1953, a period known as de-Stalinization occurred under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviets took an early lead in the Space Race with the first artificial satellite, the first human spaceflight, and the first probe to land on another planet (Venus).

In the 1970s, there was a brief détente in the Soviet Union's relationship with the United States, but tensions resumed following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform the country through his liberalizing policies of glasnost and perestroika. In 1989, during the closing stages of the Cold War, various countries of the Warsaw Pact overthrew their communist regimes, accompanied by the outbreak of strong nationalist and separatist movements across the entire Soviet Union. In August 1991, hardline members of the Communist Party staged a coup d'état against Gorbachev; the attempt failed, with Boris Yeltsin playing a high-profile role in facing down the unrest. The Soviet Union collapsed on December 25th 1991. The Russian Federation became the Soviet Union's successor state, while all of the other republics emerged from the USSR's collapse as fully independent post-Soviet states.

### First Russian Federation

The First Russian Federation was initially headed by Boris Yeltsin, although the collapse of the Soviet Union had led to a deep and prolonged depression. The transition from state-run economics to privately-run economics caused corruption, and led to the rise of the infamous Russian oligarchs. The newly rich moved billions out of the country, deepening the economic depression. In late 1993, tensions between Yeltsin and the Russian parliament culminated in a constitutional crisis which ended violently through military force. A new constitution gave the presidency enormous powers, and the rest of the decade was plagued with insurgencies in the Caucuses.

On December 31st 1999, Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned, and appointed Vladimir Putin as his successor. Winning the 2000 elections, and defeating the Chechen insurgency. Russia began to profit off its oil revenue and foreign investment. President Putin increased stability, while increasingly reverting Russia into an authoritarian state. Following a diplomatic crisis with Georgia, Russia invaded in August 2008, resulting in Russia recognizing two separatist states in the territories that it occupied in Georgia. It was the first European war of the 21st century.

In early 2014, following a revolution in Ukraine, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from neighboring Ukraine while Russian troops supported Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. In a major escalation of the conflict, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. It was the largest conventional war in Europe since WW2. However, amid NATO support of Ukraine, Russia struggled to advance, and Ukrainian counteroffensives throughout the autumn of 2022 and summer of 2023 resulted in Russian troops rapidly losing morale, and popular support for Putin fading. The fall of Sevastopol in November 2023 was the breaking point - a military coup against Putin was launched by leading military commanders, resulting in the "Christmas Dictatorship" - a period of military control over the government throughout late 2023 and early 2024. Over December, Russian forces were rapidly withdrawn from Ukraine to maintain order within Russia itself. A peace treaty was rapidly drawn out, resulting in the 1991 border being restored. However, pushback from reactionaries, and an extremely negative perception of the new government led to order disintegrating, beginning the second Russian civil war.

### Second Civil War & Reconstruction

The Second Russian Civil War was a major conflict between various ideological factions and sepratist groups in a bid to control Russia. As a prelude to the outbreak of direct war, much of the Far East broke contact with Moscow and declared independence throughout 2024-26. Although Russia did not recognize these breakaway states, the government was not in a position to retake them, as separatist groups and radicals increased their activities throughout Russia's interior, eventually building concrete militia forces with which to fight the central government. As order further disintegrated, the *Silovik* coalition government split into various warring factions, allowing for radicals to take more territory for themselves. The major unitary factions in the civil war were as follows:

* Moscow Military Government
* Bortnikov Government
* Mendeleev Government
* Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Novyy Leningrad Government)
* Russian Federal Republic (Volgograd Government)

Early into the conflict, NATO declared Russia a no-fly zone, marking the beginning of Operation Löschen, involving the paradropping of special forces onto sensitive locations, including nuclear silos and power plants. These special forces rapidly dismantled the vast majority of Russia's nuclear capabilities, withdrawing back to friendly soil within a month. With Russia now lacking nuclear armaments, rebel forces were forced to engage each other conventionally. Non-NATO involvement in the war was also significant - many of Russia's occupied territories were abandoned and ceded back to their original nations swiftly after the war began. Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia all successfully restored their recognized borders. Finland, in an unprecedented move, also reclaimed their territories which were annexed by Russia following the Winter War of 1940-41. Although this was met with minor international protest, most elected to recognize Finland's restored borders.

The conflict was eventually resolved when the military administration in Moscow successfully destroyed the other schismatic factions, followed by the separatists, bringing the war to an end in early 2031 although low-level conflict persisted for years afterwards. Reconstruction began, with an emphasis on military reconstruction. Much of Russia's old military hardware had been destroyed as a result of the civil war and foreign engagements, resulting in a massively weakened Russia. State-sponsored construction programs restored and improved the infrastructure, giving much of rural Russia access to urban centers and manufacturing plants. By the early 2040s, Russia was in a far better position both domestically and militarily, with a military which was only a decade behind the latest Western technology. Russia also expanded somewhat during this period - Belarus was formally annexed into the Federation as the Union State came into fruition.

### Third World War

Russia during the Third World War initially was neutral, although it covertly supported rebel groups in Ukraine, Kosovo and Azerbaijan. However, when those rebels were quickly defeated by the modernized armies of Europe, China pressured Russia to directly intervene, which it did in March 2051, with spearheads launched towards Kyiv, Riga, Helsinki, and Tallinn. Amphibious operations were launched onto Crimea, Odesa, and Constanţa. VDV units landed in Chişinău, capturing the government of Moldova by surprise. However, after the initial 24 hour period of shock, the lines froze as effective respondents began to be deployed to regions where Russian forces were. In Ukraine, the spearhead towards Kyiv was broken, encircled, and destroyed, while Ukraine launched a counterattack towards Rostov. The beachheads in Moldova, Romania and Odesa were rapidly abandoned as forces were pulled back. Russia did see more success in the north and south however, successfully capturing Helsinki by May 2052, and fully capitulating Kola while pushing through the northern Caucuses with ease.

However, the overall tide of battle changed as the United European Federation was proclaimed in January 2052, and a major counterattack was launched across the entire western front. Most Russian salients were pushed over the border, resulting in severe war-weariness among the populace. An attempted defensive line was built along the Don and Volga rivers to hold back the NATO attack, although by the time it had been established, several bridgeheads had been captured by NATO, leading to the rapid collapse of Russian lines, and the successive captures of Volgograd and St Petersburg. By early June, the Russian government appealed for a ceasefire and conditional surrender to NATO, bringing the war to an end in Europe. Parts of Russia remained occupied for over 18 months, until the war ended on April 21st 2054.

### Postwar Russia

Russia faced severe treatment in the Treaty of Taipei - Kursk, Rostov, Belgorod and Karelia were all stripped from Russia, and was forced to recognize the nations which had seceded from it in prior decades. Estonia and Latvia received minor territorial gains, Belarus was liberated under a democratic government, and Russia was forced to adopt democracy. The country was also saddled with war reparations and severe restrictions on its military, leaving it greatly weakened.

The new democratic government quickly devolved into corruption, and various political factions began to compete in the State Duma. As it appeared Russia was descending into the same chaos which gripped it in the 1990s, General Nikita Petrov launched a military coup, transitioning Russia back into a military dictatorship. Petrov, as a famed hero during the Third World War, received high popularity, and his coup was met with very little popular opposition. The Petrov dictatorship lasted until his death in 2097, with Russia successfully rebuilding and stabilizing. After his death, Russia remained under the de facto rule of the military, with a council of generals acting as the executive

### Solar Exploration

During this period of reconstruction Russia also began tentative expansion into space. With Luna and Mars already independent, Russia joined the UEF in settling the Jovian moon of Europa. Russia also began heavy expansion into the asteroid belt, establishing dozens of outposts and mining colonies, occasionally clashing with the claims of other spacefaring nations. Russia's colony on Europa was lost in early 2122 after the brief Europan-Russian war. The loss of the colony, and its 4 million inhabitants, marked a change in Russia's policy in space, and began a period of militarization. The investment in a proper starfleet, one of the few fields in which Russia's military was not restricted, significantly changed the balance of power in the solar system. Although their navy was not as large as the UEF or USA, Russian claims were now able to be enforced properly. This led to a serious incident in 2137, when small scale clashes began between Russia and India over mining rights on 4 Vesta briefly spiked, leading a UEF mediator force to step in and restore order.