Russia is located in northern Eurasia. Russia is the largest country in the world at 6.6 million square kilometers. It shares borders with China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, North Korea, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Finland. It has nine different time zones. It's very big, but the east is not inhabited by many people. It is mainly inhabited by animals due to the weather. Russia was united with fifteen other countries to form a single state, they were called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union. They divided in 1991 into fifteen different countries. They separated because each republic wanted its independence and no one wanted to be together anymore. The split began with a failed coup that contributed to the collapse of the Communist Party. The Communist Party was the main political party of the Soviet Union. Since all the republics wanted independence, they formed the CIS, which stands for Commonwealth of Independent States. The putschists were members of the Communist Party, they arrested Mikhail Gorbachev (who was the President of the Soviet Union) and entered Moscow with tanks and armed vehicles. They wanted to defend their freedoms. They tried to get troops to attack the Parliament building where the office of Boris Yeltsin (MP and former mayor of Moscow) was located. The troops refused to attack and left Moscow the next day. After that, the CIS formation collapsed. Russia has a semi-presidential federal republic government. Their president is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. He has been their president since May 7, 2012. Russia today has a huge monopoly on gas and oil. This is where most of Russia's money comes from and this is where its economy depends. Rus...... middle of paper...... April 9, 2014. "EU and US impose sanctions on Russia over Crimea." -Europe. Np, and Web. April 29, 2014. Farhi, Paul. "Did the Sochi Winter Olympics really cost $50 billion? A closer look at that figure." Washington Post. The Washington Post, February 11, 2014. Web. April 29, 2014. “Free Market Definition | Investopedia.” Investopedia. Np, and Web. April 29, 2014. "Inflation Definition | Investopedia." Investopedia. Np, and Web. April 29, 2014. “Olympics: Going for Gold, Spending in the Red.” » CNBC.com. Np, and Web. April 30, 2014. "'Russia is trying to create chaos in Ukraine'" Global Public Square RSS. Np, and Web. April 29, 2014. “Olympic Abuse in Russia | Human Rights Watch. » Russia's Olympic abuses | Human Rights Watch. Np, and Web. April 29, 2014. “The United States announced it would sanction seven Russians and 17 companies. » Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg and Web. April 29. 2014.