History of Russia and by the 18th century, the Tsardom of Russia had grown to become the Russian Empire, stretching from eastern Poland to the Pacific Ocean. Peasant revolts were common, and all were fiercely suppressed. Russian serfdom was abolished in 1861, but the peasants fared poorly and often turned to revolutionary pressures. In the following decades, reform efforts such as the Stolypin reforms, the constitution of 1906, and the State Duma attempted to open and liberalize the economy and political system, but the tsars refused to relinquish autocratic rule or share their power. The Russian Revolution in 1917 was triggered by a
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 C1R officially announced that they would internally select the artist and song that would represent Russia. On 19 February, Dina Garipova and the song "What If", composed by Gabriel Alares, Joakim Bjornberg and Leonid Gutkin, were selected to represent Russia. "What If" was presented to the public on 24 February during the C1R television newscast "Vremya". After the presentation of the song, several media outlets reported the possibility of plagiarism of several previously released songs: "Skin on Skin" originally recorded by Sarah Connor, "Pozwól życ" originally recorded by Gosia Andrzejewicz, "All Over The World" originally recorded by Brian Kennedy and