Based on accusations of Russia's interference in the US election and their aggression against Ukraine a few years ago, I'd like to understand more about the country, it's past, and where it may be heading, particularly as it relates to the rest of the world.
One of the best online resources for Russian/Soviet history and politics is Sean's Russia Blog which features podcasts and blog posts about current and historical events ranging from 2016 labor unrest to an essay on the nature of Russian nationality.
The latter essay references the work of Geoffrey Hosking who has written two books that are very good introductions the the complicated relationship of the Russian state (in whatever form) and Russian national identity: Russia: People and Empire, 1552-1917 and Rulers and Victims: The Russians in the Soviet Union. The second edition of Ronald Suny's The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States is also a good background for the Soviet period as well as its immediate aftermath. Suny's The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union is also a short introduction into how the USSR broke up, an event that still has ramifications today.
If you have access to an academic library or JSTOR, the journal Kritika is an excellent source for academic scholarship on Russia/USSR. Kritika's book reviews provide a decent digest of the directions current scholarship and research while its articles a good windows into this region's history.
If you want to put yourself through the wringer, a number of PhD programs also have reading lists for qualifying exams in their own fields. UIUC's Russian & Soviet List is one of the more organized lists. Penn's list, put together by Benjamin Nathans, is more thorough and gives a good idea of the state of the field. Even if you don't have masochistic tendencies, the lists do give a sense of what are the landmark books and authors in this vast field.