Hi, my mother is from Russia.
Good! officially known as the Russian Federation (), is a sovereign country in Eurasia.
How long has it been known as the Russian Federation?
Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in early 2014 and the peninsula, Ukrainian territory since 1954, is now administered as two Russian federal subject
So, Crimea was a part of Ukraine? 
sometimes incorrectly refered to as the Ukraine, is a sovereign state in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the east and northeast; Belarus to the northwest; Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia
When did the USSR break up?
officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), abbreviated as the USSR (), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991.