Russia

1 or officially Russian Federation independent country in eastern Europe and northern Asia bordering on the Arctic and Pacific oceans and on the Baltic and Black seas and covering the largest area of any country in the world; capital Moscow area 6,592,812 square miles (17,075,383 square kilometers), population 143,300,000 ◆From 1922 to 1991, Russia was a constituent republic of the U.S.S.R. called the Russian Republic or Soviet Russia .

2 the U.S.S.R. —a common usage despite the fact that the U.S.S.R. included other republics besides Russia

3 or formerly Muscovy play \ˈməs-kə-vē\ former empire in eastern Europe and northern Asia coextensive (except for Finland and Kars, a mountainous region now in northeastern Turkey) with the U.S.S.R.; capital Saint Petersburg