The Russian Republic was a short-lived state that controlled, de jure, the territory of the former Russian Empire after the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II on . Less than eight months later, the Republic was dissolved after the October Revolution on and the establishment of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR). Officially, the Republic's government was the Provisional Government of Russia (Russian: Временное правительство России), although de facto control was split between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.

The Russian Federation is divided into 85 federal subjects (constituent units), 22 of which are republics. Most of the republics represent areas of non-Russian ethnicity, although there are several republics with Russian majority. The indigenous ethnic group of a republic that gives it its name is referred to as the "titular nationality". Due to decades (in some cases centuries) of internal migration inside Russia, each nationality is not necessarily a majority of a republic's population.