Russia (Russian: Россия, Rossiya), officially known as the Russian Republic, is a republic of the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics which includes territory within Eastern Europe. For all intents and purposes, Russia acts as the core of the entire Soviet Union and has dominates most aspects of the nation (including demographics, linguistics, and politics to name a few). Prior to the separation of Siberia in the 1990s, Russia's territory was the largest within the USSR.