The country has been called by many names over the years, including the Russian Federation.
Russia is officially known as the Russian Federation, but has also been called a number of other names over the years. This includes both official and unofficial monikers, as well as historical titles that are no longer used. Russia was named after a group of people known as the Rus, who came from Scandinavia and founded settlements in present-day Russia in 862 CE. These settlements were built around rivers and eventually became major cities like Novgorod and Kiev. The name Rus was adopted by Slavic peoples who settled in this area during the Middle Ages, giving rise to modern day Russia.
Over time, there have been several different versions of what to call Russia. The country has gone by different names based on which language is being used to refer to it. In English, it’s been called Muscovy or Moscovy (which comes from a transliteration of Moscow), while its original name Rus was preserved in other languages like Dutch (Rusland) and German (Russland). During World War II when relations between Germany and Russia were strained, Germany referred to Russia as Ostland or “East Land”.
