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Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific.

Under PeterI (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household.

The Communists under Vladimir Lenin seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif Stalin (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics.

Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. In tandem with its prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth, which has helped the country rebound from the economic collapse of the 1990s, the Kremlin in recent years has has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national elections, former President Putin's genuine popularity, and the prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth.

On March 2 , 2008 Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev became the third and current President of Russia. Given Putin’s  blessing, Medvedev won the presidential election with 71.25% of the popular vote.

Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus. Russia has also shut down it’s gas pipelines to other countries when negotiations on pricing didn’t go Russia’s way.  Russia has shut down its stock market a number of times in the last months as the global economic meltdown continues. The country continues to suffer a significant loss of income as the price of oil has fallen by 50%. Russia is also losing international investment as it the world sees increasing use of illegal methods against "enemies" of the regime. The loss of confidence has dramatically hurt foreign investment.