[n] a former empire in eastern Europe and northern Asia; powerful in 17-18th centuries under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great; overthrown by revolution in 1917
[n] a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia; established in 1922; included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia an others); officially dissolved 31 December 1991
[n] a federation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia; formerly Soviet Russia; since 1991 an independent state
[n] formerly the largest Soviet Socialist Republic in the USSR occupying eastern Europe and northern Asia