S: (n) Russia (a former empire in eastern Europe and northern Asia created in the 14th century with Moscow as the capital; powerful in the 17th and 18th centuries under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great when Saint Petersburg was the capital; overthrown by revolution in 1917)
S: (n) Soviet Union, Russia, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR (a former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia; established in 1922; included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 December 1991)
S: (n) Russia, Russian Federation (a federation in northeastern Europe and northern Asia; formerly Soviet Russia; since 1991 an independent state)
S: (n) Scythia (an ancient area of Eurasia extending from the Black Sea to the Aral Sea that was populated by Scythians from the eighth to the fourth century BC)
S: (n) Asia (the largest continent with 60% of the earth's population; it is joined to Europe on the west to form Eurasia; it is the site of some of the world's earliest civilizations)
S: (n) Europe (the 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use `Europe' to refer to all of the continent except the British Isles)