Russia

151 million inhabitants
Religion: majority orthodox Christians

 History:

The East Slavs built up an empire in the 9th century. The centre was Kiev. In 988 Byzantine missionaries began to convert the country to Christianity.
In the late Middle Ages the political centre transferred to Moscow. Under Czar Ivan III and (1462-1506) and Ivan IV (1533-1584) the frontiers of Russia were expanded far into the Asian area. The Russian socialistic federal Soviet Republic became after the October Revolution the precursor of the USSR, that was proclaimed in 1922. At the "Congress of All Unions", some states, which are official independent and non-Russian Republics joined the USSR.
In 1954 the peninsula Crimea was handed over to the Ukraine. There were big changes in 1936, when Kazakhstan became an independent republic.

GUS:

Members of the GUS: Russia, White Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kirghizia, Tadzhikistan, Usbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia

Over 70 years the state was run by the party and the army. The conflicts inside the state were denied. Since Gorbatschew got the power in 1985, the questions of nationalities became louder and louder. After Glasnost and Perestroika gained more importance, the peoples of the Sovjetunion looked for a new identity. The break down of the USSR and the GUS brought a new self-confidence. On the other side the conflict between the different nations grew.

New states of the Soviet Union:
15 republics built the USSR. There existed 20 autonomous republics, 8 autonomous areas and 10 autonomous districts. They all had some competencies, but in fact they had not any authorities. Great ethnic groups with more than a million members hadn’t any autonomy. This structure existed until the revolts in 1991. The states that emerged after the revolt are states with more than one ethnic group. And that is why the borders are very disputed.

The Gorbatschew era:
1988: The popular fronts ( they are fighting for national self-determination and for an own state) in the republics of the union become the representatives for the national movements.