Russia , also the Russian Federation , is a transcontinental country extending over much of northern Eurasia . With an area of 17,075,400 km², Russia is the largest country in the world, covering almost twice the total area of the next-largest country, Canada, and has significant mineral and energy resources. Russia has the world's ninth-largest population. Russia shares land borders with the following countries : Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It is also close to the United States , Sweden, and Japan across relatively small stretches of water . Formerly the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , a republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , Russia became the Russian Federation following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. After the Soviet era, the area, population, and industrial production of the Soviet Union that were located in Russia p More »