The world's largest country by area, Russia stretches from
Eastern Europe across Northern Asia to the Pacific Ocean, spans
11 time zones and borders 14 countries, including China. It is
tied with China for having the most international neighbors. The
first Russian state was established in the ninth century,
centering in Novgorod and Kiev. Ivan the Terrible was the first
to formally be declared tsar in 1547. Peter the Great founded
the Russian empire in 1721. Social unrest, economic hardship and
utter disaster in World War I led to the downfall of the
autocracy, culminating in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the
establishment of a communist regime and - five years later - the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviet Union officially
splintered on December 26, 1991. President Boris Yeltsin
resigned on December 31, 1999 and Vladimir Putin became acting-
president. He was officially elected president on March 26,
2000. In March 2008, Dmitry Medvedev was elected president.
Russia has competed as an indepen