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Russia is regarded as the inheritor state and the USSR was dominated by Russia throughout it's entire history.
There were 15 countries in the Soviet Union from 1956 until its collapse in 1991. They were formally known as Soviet Republics. When the Soviet Union was dissolved, they each became independent countries.
The Russian SFSR was, by far, the largest of the Soviet Republics. The other republics were made up of parts of the former Russian Empire.
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