Well, as a person who's won a plurality of my games as Russia, I find that it very much suits my playing style. I like to expand early quickly, and no power is better at this than Russia. Just make sure either Austria or Turkey's on board with you for the opening few turns and you should be fine. Also as Russia you almost never need to care about stalemates. If you've got 15 centers as Russia, you're going to get 18 nine times out of ten.

1 word. Juggernaut

The foundation for a Russian victory is to establish two separate opposite theater alliances. And by 'theater,' I don't mean East/West. Russia's two contentious theaters are Scandinavia and the Balkans. Russia must ally with the power on the opposite side from it in both Scandinavia and the Balkans -- that is, France and Italy. England and Germany and Austria and Turkey should be played off of each other.

It is important to note that the common statement that there are two triangles the board divides into (with Italy being a wildcard) is very much false. Italy and Russia are both wildcards: Italy can affect the West or the East, Russia can affect the East or both. I believe that Russia must affect both fronts to win the game.

With this in mind, Italy should be encouraged east and only east; there is no profit to Italy for an invasion of Germany, and Russia needs France as much as he needs Italy in order to win, so France and Italy cannot be fighting one another. Ignore the nonsensical claim that Italy can never attack Austria or else he will die by the Juggernaut; Turkey is very easy to stab after Austria is slain. Russia and Italy can choose which of Austria or Turkey they want to die first; I favor Austria, but either works. Be receptive to Italy here -- Russia needs Italy to be willing to help in order to conquer Austria and Turkey effectively, so hear the little green guy out. Whatever you do, ensure an Austro-Turkish alliance doesn't form; do not mention cooperation with Italy to either Turkey or Austria unless you can absolutely convince your short-term partner that Italy is only going to be used against the other player before you and the partner kill Italy. Austria-Turkey may only form out of necessity, but it is by no means a bad alliance.

The West is trickier. If Italy is encouraged east, then you have another quadrangle -- England/France/Germany/Russia. I feel like Russia must ally with Germany no matter what France wants to do. This quadrangle accurately parallels the east -- England is the Witch, like Turkey; Germany is the Corridor, like Austria; France is the Corner, like Russia; and Russia is the Spoiler, like Italy. So the EF v G dynamic is like the RT v A dynamic... with one HUGE exception. There is no western equivalent of a Lepanto, that is, no efficient or reasonable way for Russia to attack England like Italy can attack Turkey. This is due to the geography of the board and the starting units. Turkey takes a few years to get enough naval power to challenge Italy; England can be in Barents/Norway by A01. The only way Russia can attack England is with a Franco-German coalition, much like the AIR alliance against Turkey. This of course means alliance with Germany.

The only other real alternative -- because, again, an Anglo-German alliance, much like an Austro-Turkish alliance, can NOT be allowed to form -- is to see an attack on Germany. But think about this. If you made Italy absolutely incapable of attacking Turkey without Austrian help the way Russia cannot attack England without German and even French help, then there would be no reason for Italy to ever attack Austria. Helping a Juggernaut would invariably lead to Italy dying next. The reason Italy could spare an attack on Austria is because Turkey *can* be attacked by RI once Germany dies.

But Russia won't have that ability because of the split of St. Petersburg into separate coasts. If it could simply build a fleet in St. Petersburg things would be different, but the coast rule means that Russia must specify north or south -- and specifying north is basically mailing a declaration of war to Buckingham Palace. Russia has no excuse to build the fleets needed to attack England, and France cannot be expected to stab England alone and buy Russia time to build fleets and help. If an EF alliance kills Germany, then France has basically committed to continue the alliance and allow England to destroy northern Russia and any chance of Russian victory.

So what's a Russian to do? Keep England bottled up if not have England destroyed. If an active anti-English coalition can't be formed, then that means either an Anglo-German alliance has formed (BAD BAD BAD) or an Anglo-French alliance has formed. If the latter, then Russia must ally with Germany and keep Germany alive. This will stalemate the West long enough for Russia and Italy to progress in the East. Russia can either use the builds to build up sea power in the north and take the fight to England or stab Germany himself once Germany is arranged west and quickly grab so much of Germany that England will not be able to profit. Either way, if England is kept bottled up, then France can safely oppose England after Russia dies, which is exactly what Russia needs.

At this point you should see either a dead Germany or England and a dead Austria or Turkey. Now Russia should turn on the survivors with France and Italy. My preference is to maintain the French alliance to the end, as it's difficult to take France's gains in England and even some of his German holdings; while Germany is a corridor it's easy to hold from the west. Meanwhile Austria is easy to run through from either side, and Russia probably has enough troops around Turkey to make a good stab at Italian holdings there. But once you've gotten it down to France-Italy-Russia, you may well be a solo threat, and if those two ally then a draw is probably your best outcome. (Hence why France-Italy-Russia draws are actually somewhat frequent combinations.) But if you can use witty diplomacy to keep them from seeing you as a solo threat, you've basically won.

That's my thoughts on Russia. Your objectives are threefold: (1) prevent EG/AT alliances, (2) create strong, lasting alliances with France and Italy, and (3) keep England bottled up if not eliminated early.

President Eden, that's a very good read. What your describing is my standard plan with Russia. you have said much about strategy, but not yet about diplomacy. Perhaps I can elaborate on that.

As Russia, you are a special country. Not only do you have more starting units than the rest, your border is huge, so everyone has to deal with you somehow. This has multiple effects on your diplomacy.

First of all, you are the bear. You have many units, and you need them. Whenever a player tells you that you're becoming too powerful, and your alliance is unbalanced, mention this. A weak Russia is a dead Russia. But because you are strong, you can be a very good ally.

Second, you have to talk to everyone. This is true for all countries, but for Russia it is critical. Whereas communication between Eastern and Western powers can often be limited, Russia is always engaged. Your immediate neighbours are either allies or enemies, and I think Eden's story emphasis the importance of France and Russia.

Moreover, you can (should!) form alliances with everyone. Your ultimate goal is to make sure EG and AT are not allying. If you can ally with England agianst Germany, good. Ally with Turkey against Austria, perfect. And ally with the corner powers at the other side of the board, of course.

President Eden's plan is probably your best one, but you have alternatives. Be flexible, do not waste time, and most importantly, do not hide in your corner. If you do this, you can achieve a good game with Russia.

There is a reason Russia gets the most solo's.

*What you're describing*

What I can add is this: your best combination of allies in the triangles are England/Austria and Germany/Turkey. England/Turkey could work for a while, but Germany/Austria tend to prefer staying friends between themselves and taking you out.

Two things I'd like to mention:
First, look at this:
http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/diplomacy.html

Russia, while having a big border by the size of the map, actually doesn't have that big of a border to deal with when you look at the areas when they are all about the same size. He has to deal with germany, austria, and turkey. Look at austria.. he has to deal with all of the above + russia and italy!

Secondly, something needs to be said about this:
askninjasks: "Russia, I find that it very much suits my playing style. I like to expand early quickly, and no power is better at this than Russia."

I find that early expansion means that by midgame the entire board comes after you, quickly. Most people want to grow-grow-grow as fast as possible, and it tends to work against lesser opponents, but in games with vets, they see early growth as someone trying for a quick win and want to slap it down, quickly. So be careful with the fast expand. It can lead to trouble once midgame comes around.
I should qualify that by saying I'd rather be too big when midgame arrives than already out ;)

And since everyone is talking the triangles:
http://isabout.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/diplomacy-the-triangle-theory-of-variant-design/

The difference is that Austria is very compactly organised: every space you want to influence (Tri,Bud,Vie,Ser,Gre,Rum,Bul,Gal,Alb) is no more than two spaces from each other. So Austria can change direction almost instantly.

For Russia to relocate an army from Norway/Finland to Galicia/Rumania takes ages. And that's not even the most extreme example.

Not only can Austria change direction easily, but his builds are in the centre of the board, and can therefore be directed to where they are needed very quickly.

Interestingly, if you follow that link, there is an article by allen calhamer himself about the graphs and triangles. The graph he comes up with has edges EG,EF,FG,FI,IA,IT,TA,RT,RA,RG,RE (sorry, I don't know how to represent it better). Even in this very simple scheme, Russia looks big.

As Russia, dont be passive
Dont be expecting people to give you a break (they wont - they will break your legs instead..)

As Russia, take command diplomatically and tactically, and never let go.
Play forcefully on one front (to which you commit your bulk of your units).
Play the diplomatic game on the other front(s)

Survive as Russia? There is no way to survive as Russia. Admittedly Italy and Austria are even worse, but if you have drawn any of those powers you might as well give up immediately, as they are a lost cause. Germany should probably be added to that list too. France is the only decent power, that is unless it is triple attacked by England, Germany and Russia; and unfortunately that nearly always happens. I would suggest England, but it's options are limited, likewise for Turkey. Come to think of it Diplomacy is a futile game.

typo.. France... unless it is triple attacked by E/G/I

Actually I always Russia was a lost cause but then I read President Eden's advice. Great analysis.
President Eden +1

When you play Russia, don't play for a survive. Play for a win.

get a juggernaut with turkey, don't give anyone the chance to stab you and you win if the rest isn't working together...

Okay, this is one of the ways to err with Russia.

"..you win if the rest isn't working together..."

When you play a juggernaut, the rest will be working together. At the slightest sign of Russian-Turkish cooperation, Western triples and Italian-Austrian alliances will form all over the board.

No two-country alliance can win the game all by itself. You have to negotiate with every power. It may turn out that allying with Turkey is your best move, but make sure you have an ally in the west too.

Remember, just because you don't share a common border with a nation doesn't mean it can't help. France and Italy will have common enemies with you, so talk to them (and talk to them and talk to them) and make certain they aren't fighting each other. They need to go after E, G, A, and T. And you need to talk talkl talk to E abd out G, G about A/E, A about G/T, and T about A. Russia is,kt as bad as you think if you can think on your feet and have some actually diplomatic skills.

A very important fact about Russia is its ability to build fleets on both the Mediterranean and the open seas. Only France has the same ability, but France is almost at the connection of both.
Most stalemate lines are obtained by holding the opposing fleets on the other side of the board. For example, If Germany or England are dominating, it is still easy to hold their fleets off the Mediterranean Sea. The same thing applies to Turkey, Italy, and Austria, as they may never be able to reach Mid-Atlantic Ocean.
Russia, for these cases, is the stalemate breaker. It is the ally everyone needs.

Another important fact is having 4 home centers. The initial advantage is there for sure. But I think that the biggest advantage is the faster recovery rate.
When you are a central power (mainly Austria, but also Germany and France), the action usually comes inside your territory, and you have problems recovering and building. It is hard to protect your home centers, and at the same time leaving them open at the end of the turn to get to build there.
Russia has a similar problem, in most games there will be a lot of fighting inside Russia. But you have more options for building, and suffocating your builds is much harder.