Russian (русский язык, tr. rússkiy yazýk) is an East Slavic language, which is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely spoken throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991.
Native speakers
154 million (2017)
265 million
(L1 plus L2; 2017)
It is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers and the seventh by total number of speakers. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the third most widespread language on the Internet after English and German, respectively.
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