When the Soviet Union collapsed Russia was one of the countries that emerged from it.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 , fifteen independent republics emerged from the USSR : Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , Kazakhstan , Uzbekistan , Armenia , Azerbaijan , Estonia , Georgia , Kyrgyzstan , Latvia , Lithuania , Moldova , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan ; the Russian SFSR reconstituted itself as the Russian Federation and is recognized as the continuing legal personality and sole successor state of the Soviet Union.
