Introduction The Russian Federation The Land and the People History The Communist Era Stalin's Revolution of the 1930s The Post-Stalin Era The Brezhnev Era Government Transition The Gorbachev Era An Independent Russia is Reborn The Putin Presidency Russian Foreign Policy since Independence Government of the Russian Federation Constitution of the Russian Federation Culture The Changing Economy The Commonwealth of Independent States Collapse of the Soviet Union Commonwealth of Independent States Economy under the CIS Some Regional Problems of the CIS Western Republics Belarus Ukraine Moldova Transcaucasian Republics Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Central Asian Republics Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Web Sites and Bibliography