Final answer:
Russia hosts over 150 distinct ethnic groups, with ethnic Russians making up about 80% and Tatars 3.8% of the population. The Soviet Union formed various republics for certain major groups, but not for all ethnic groups. Post-Soviet Union collapse caused demographic changes, with ethnic Russians moving back to Russia from former Soviet republics.
Step-by-step explanation:
Russia is a multi-ethnic country with a vast number of distinct ethnic groups. Approximately 80 percent of the population is ethnically Russian, while the Tatars, who represent about 3.8 percent, are the second largest ethnic group. In total, there are more than 150 ethnic groups represented within Russia. These groups include indigenous Arctic peoples, such as reindeer herders, as well as individuals from the former Soviet republics. While many of these groups have their own languages and cultural traditions, the policy of establishing Soviet Socialist Republics during the Soviet era was aimed at organizing some of the major ethnic groups into separate republics, like the Uzbek SSR, Kazakh SSR, and Ukrainian SSR.
However, despite the formation of these republics, about 85 other ethnic groups were not given their own republics and instead were allocated regions within the Russian Republic. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to significant demographic shifts, with many ethnic Russians moving from the newly independent former Soviet republics back to Russia. Ethnic and cultural diversity in Russia is a legacy of both the imperial conquests of the Russian Empire and the administrative policies of the Soviet Union.