Turkmenistan is a country located in Central Asia, straddling the border of China and Russia. The country has a population of about 5 million people, and spans approximately 1,717,000 square kilometers. The capital city is Ashgabat. The country's toponym is Turkmen, deriving from the Kypchak Turkmen language. The territory now occupied by Turkmenistan was formerly part of the ancient Khorezm and Bukhara provinces of Iran, and was conquered by the Russian Empire in 1881 as a result of the Russo-Persian War. In 1945, following World War II, the region became part of the Soviet Union as part of its Central Asian campaign. In 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan declared its independence. Today, Turkmenistan is a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. The country has little infrastructure or agriculture and relies heavily on energy exports to support its economy. Berdimuhamedow has been in power since 2006 and has made little significant change to thecountry's political system or economy.