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The Russia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Bears, is administered by the Rugby Union of Russia (RUR). The RUR is considered the official successor union of the Soviet Union by World Rugby and the combined CIS team which played in the early 1990s. Since 1992, the team has played as Russia. Its first test match as Russia was against the Barbarians in Moscow in June 1992 and the country's first test against an official Test nation was against Belgium later that same year.
Rugby union in Russia is a moderately popular sport. Russia is ranked 18th worldwide by the World Rugby, having over three hundred clubs and close to 22,000 players nationally. Russia has a professional domestic competition.
Rugby union in Georgia is a popular team sport. Rugby union is considered the second most popular sport in Georgia, after association football.
The Soviet Championship was a rugby union club competition between the domestic teams of the Soviet Union era. It was first contested in 1966, and was last held in 1990.
Rugby union in Armenia is a growing sport. The national team is currently unranked in the world rankings, which records only the top ninety-six countries. The governing body for Armenia is the Rugby Federation of Armenia.
The most popular sport in Russia is football. According to Yandex search analysis results rating of the most popular sports among Russians: "Football topped the list of the most popular sports in Russia" with 5 to 10 million requests. Ice hockey came in second with handball, basketball, boxing, auto racing, volleyball, athletics, tennis and chess rounding out the top ten rankings. Other popular sports include bandy, biathlon, figure skating, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, rugby union, and skiing.
The USSR national rugby union team was a sporting side that represented the Soviet Union in rugby union until the early 1990s.
Rugby union in Azerbaijan is a growing sport. They are currently unranked in the International Rugby Board's world rankings, which ranks only the top ninety-five countries. The governing body for Azerbaijan is Azerbaycan Reqbi Federasiyasl.
Rugby union in Moldova is a popular sport.
The governing body in Moldova is the Moldovan Rugby Federation.
Rugby union in Latvia is a minor but growing sport. During the pre-independence period, Latvia was not a centre for the game but nonetheless Latvia managed to qualify for the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens - which may be seen as the highest point it has yet reached.
Rugby union in Lithuania is a minor but growing sport.
Rugby union in Ukraine is a minor but growing sport, with a history dating back over six decades.
Rugby union in Finland is a minor but growing sport. They are currently ranked 92nd by World Rugby World Rugby.
Rugby union in Kazakhstan is a fairly popular sport. As of May 2018, they are ranked 61st by World Rugby, and as of June 2009, they had 2335 registered players and twenty clubs.
Rugby union in Kyrgyzstan is a minor but growing sport.
Rugby union in Uzbekistan is a minor but growing sport.
Rugby union in the Soviet Union was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in Georgia; parts of the Russian SFSR such as Moscow and certain regions in Siberia like Krasnoyarsk; and Alma-Ata, the former capital of Kazakhstan. Rugby enjoyed a more limited popularity in the Ukraine, Minsk in the Byelorussia and parts of the RSFSR such as Leningrad and areas in Southern Russia, including Krasnodar. Rugby gained a significant following due to the vast size of the Soviet Union, but was never a major sport; despite many attempts to develop the sport, which Soviet citizens came to nickname the "leather melon" due to the shape of the ball. Still, an early championship in 1960 gives an idea of the sheer scale of Soviet rugby: one hundred teams from over thirty cities took part.
Rugby union in Turkmenistan is a minor but growing sport.
Rugby union in Belarus is a minor but growing sport. They are currently affiliated to FIRA-AER.
Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk is a Russian rugby union club founded in 1969 in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the unofficial capital of Russian rugby. They compete in the Professional Rugby League, the premier league in the country. They have an operating budget of 2.5m Euros, making them one of the biggest clubs in the competition. Their main rival is fellow Krasnoyarsk based, Enisey-STM.
