Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first trace of Homo sapiens on the large expanse of Russian territory dates back to 45,000 years in central Siberia. Evidence for anatomically modern humans appeared at the Kostenki archaeological site near the Don River by 40,000 years ago.
The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus state in the north in the year 862. Prince Oleg of Novgorod seized Kiev in 882, uniting northern and southern lands under one authority.
Daniil Aleksandrovich founded Moscow principality which first cooperated with then expelled Tatars from Russia. Moscow became center of Russian Orthodox Church when Metropolitan fled Kiev to Vladimir in 1299.
Peter assumed emperor title making Tsardom officially Russian Empire in 1721. He reorganized government replacing boyar Duma with Senate supreme council of state and promulgated famous Table of ranks in 1722 abolishing patriarchate creating Holy Synod led by lay official.
Alexander II abolished Russian serfdom in 1861 following decades of reform efforts. In 1859 there were 23 million serfs out total population 67 million before this abolition.
Mikhail Gorbachev embarked major reforms in mid-1980s eventually leading weakening communist party dissolution Soviet Union leaving Russia again own marking start history post-Soviet Russia. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic renamed itself Russian Federation primary successor state Soviet Union Article 1 Lisbon Protocol U.S. State Department website.