Russias

Russias is not a single political entity but a term sometimes used in historical or scholarly contexts to refer to the sequence of states and polities that carried the name Russia or traced their origins to Rus. The plural usage appears when discussing multiple eras or regimes that claimed continuity with earlier Rus or used the designation Russia.

Historically, the lineage begins with Kievan Rus', a medieval federation in Eastern Europe (roughly 9th to 13th centuries), and continued through the rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow as its perceived successor. This evolved into the Tsardom of Russia, and later the Russian Empire, which expanded across Europe and Asia. In the 20th century, the Soviet Union united numerous Soviet republics, with the Russian SFSR being the largest component; after its dissolution in 1991, the Russian Federation emerged as the modern successor state.

Geography and scope associated with Russias cover large parts of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, including vast territories from the Baltic to the Pacific, and from the Arctic to the southern Caucasus and Central Asia. The term emphasizes historical continuity more than a single, unchanging territory, since borders, institutions, and governance have changed markedly across periods.

In contemporary discourse, Russias is rarely used as a formal designation. Most often the terms Russia or the Russian Federation are preferred to denote the modern state and its government. See also Russia, Rus’, RSFSR, USSR.