The book “Understanding Russia” gives the reader an opportunity to get thoroughly reasoned answers to age-old questions that at least once in his life asked himself a little educated and not indifferent to the fate of his people and country: “Who are we, where did we come from and where are we going?”. In this book you will not find sensational hypotheses designed to impress the reader with a beautiful and vivid fantasy about our national fate, but actually have nothing to do with what really happened and is happening to us. It does not speculate on national self-esteem, which excites ignorant national complacency. In this book, an extremely specific and objective analysis of the fate of the Russian nation, allowing a sober assessment of the roots of our national problems and possible ways to solve them. The book is also of interest to politicians who seek to bring real benefits to their country, business people who build their business taking into account Russian specifics. In the presented work, the author reflects on the roots of the ethnic identity of Russians, on the formation and features of Russian identity, on how the system of statehood developed in Russia and on its evolution. In the book you will find interesting thoughts about our military history and about the competitiveness of Russia as a civilization. In general, this book will be useful to anyone who would just like to understand Russia.