Russia and the Soviet Union, the two names have a close and complex connection in history, but they are not the same entity. Understanding the relationship between the two requires looking back at the context and changes of history.
First, let's start with the origins of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was founded in 1922. This vast political entity is made up of several union republics, including the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was a core component of the Soviet Union, and its territory, population, and economic power dominated all the union republics.
For nearly 70 years of the existence of the Soviet Union, Russia, as one of the republics, was deeply influenced and controlled by the Soviet Union in its political, economic and social life. Soviet policies and decisions often had a direct and far-reaching impact on Russia, including industrialization, collectivization, education, culture, and foreign policy.
However, with the end of the Cold War and the wave of upheavals in Eastern Europe, the internal and economic problems of the Soviet Union became increasingly prominent. In 1991, a series of events led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. In August, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania declared independence. Subsequently, on 8 December, the leaders of the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine signed the Agreement on the Commonwealth of Independent States, marking the end of the Soviet Union as a unified political entity.
In the process, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was transformed into the Russian Federation and inherited some of the Soviet Union's international rights and responsibilities, including permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council. However, there are significant differences between the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union in terms of political systems, economic models and social structures.
In general, while Russia was part of the Soviet Union and played a central role in the history and culture of the Soviet Union, Russia was not the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a dissolved union of multi-ethnic states, and Russia was an independent sovereign state after the collapse of this union, with its own **, legal and international status. Understanding this historical shift and identity shift is essential to our understanding of contemporary Russia and its role in international affairs. Russia