CIS, Commonwealth of Independent States - an alliance made up of states that had been Soviet Socialist Republics in the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution in Dec 1991

Foreign Intelligence Service, Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, SVR - Russia's intelligence service responsible for foreign operations, intelligence-gathering and analysis, and the exchange of intelligence information; collaborates with other countries to oppose proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and organized crime

country, land, state - the territory occupied by a nation; "he returned to the land of his birth"; "he visited several European countries"

Karelia - a region in Finland and Russia between the Gulf of Finland and the White Sea

capital of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian capital - a city of central European Russia; formerly capital of both the Soviet Union and Soviet Russia; since 1991 the capital of the Russian Federation

Astrakhan - a city in southwestern Russia on the delta of the Volga River

Cherepovets - a city of east central Russia north of Moscow

Chechen Republic, Chechenia, Chechnya - an autonomous republic in southwestern Russia in the northern Caucasus Mountains bordering on Georgia; declared independence from the USSR in 1991 but Russian troops invaded and continue to prosecute a relentless military campaign in the largely Muslim republic

Grozny, Groznyy - the capital of Chechnya in southwestern Russia; center of extensive oil fields

Kaluga - a city of central Russia south of Moscow

Khabarovsk - an administrative territory in Russia on the eastern coast of Siberia

Kursk - a city of southwestern Russia

Siberia - a vast Asian region of Russia; famous for long cold winters

European Russia - the Russia that is part of Europe

Asian Russia - the Russia that is part of Asia

Gorkiy, Nizhni Novgorod, Nizhnyi Novgorod, Gorky, Gorki - an industrial city in the European part of Russia; birthplace of Maksim Gorky

Kazan - an industrial city in the European part of Russia

Leningrad, Peterburg, Petrograd, Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg - a city in the European part of Russia; 2nd largest Russian city; located at the head of the Gulf of Finland; former capital of Russia

Murmansk - a port city in northwestern Russia on the Kola Peninsula; the largest city north of the Arctic Circle; an important supply line to Russia in World War I and World War II

Nalchik - a city in southwestern Russia in a valley of the Caucasus Mountains; an industrial center and health resort

Novgorod - a city in northwestern Russia on the Volkhov River; Russia's oldest city and an important trading center in the Middle Ages

Perm, Molotov - a city in the European part of Russia

Saratov - an industrial city in the European part of Russia

Smolensk - a city in western Russia on the Dnieper River; scene of severe fighting in World War II

Ufa - a city in the European part of Russia

Stalingrad, Tsaritsyn, Volgograd - a city in the European part of Russia on the Volga; site of German defeat in World War II in the winter of 1942-43

Novosibirsk - a city in the Asian part of Russia on the Ob river; largest city in Siberia

Chelyabinsk - a city in the Asian part of Russia

Omsk - a city in the Asian part of Russia

Vladivostok - a seaport in the Asian part of Russia

Nova Zembla, Novaya Zemlya - two islands in the Arctic Ocean belonging to Russia; site of a test center for nuclear warheads

Kola Peninsula - a peninsula in northwestern Russia projecting eastward between the Barents Sea and the White Sea

Amur, Amur River, Heilong Jiang - an Asian river between China and Russia; flows into the Sea of Okhotsk

Dnieper, Dnieper River - a river that rises in Russia near Smolensk and flowing south through Belarus and Ukraine to empty into the Black Sea

Don River, Don - a European river in southwestern Russia; flows into the Sea of Azov

Eurasia - the land mass formed by the continents of Europe and Asia

Ilmen, Lake Ilmen - a lake in northwestern Russia; drains through the Volkhov River into Lake Ladoga