Russia
Language Language family Federal subject ( s )
Abaza Northwest Caucasian Karachay-Cherkessia
Adyghe Northwest Caucasian Adygea
Altai Turkic Altai Republic
Bashkir Turkic Bashkortostan
Buryat Mongolic Buryatia
Chechen Northeast Caucasian Chechnya
Cherkess Northwest Caucasian Karachay-Cherkessia
Chuvash Turkic Chuvashia
Crimean Tatar Turkic Republic of Crimea
Erzya Uralic Mordovia
Ingush Northeast Caucasian Ingushetia
Kabardian Northwest Caucasian Kabardino-Balkaria
Kalmyk Mongolic Kalmykia
Karachay-Balkar Turkic Kabardino-Balkaria Karachay-Cherkessia
Khakas Turkic Khakassia
Komi Uralic Komi Republic
Hill Mari Uralic Mari El
Meadow Mari Uralic Mari El
Moksha Uralic Mordovia
Nogai Turkic Karachay-Cherkessia
Demographics -- Language
Main articles : Russian language , Languages of Russia , and List of endangered languages in Russia Russia 's 185 ethnic groups speak over 100 languages . [ 15 ] According to the 2002 Census , 142.6 million people speak Russian , followed by Tatar with 5.3 million and Ukrainian with 1.8 million speakers . [ 346 ] Russian is the only official state language , but the Constitution gives the individual republics the right to establish their own state languages in addition to Russian . [ 347 ] Despite its wide distribution , the Russian language is homogeneous throughout the country . Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia , as well as the most widely spoken Slavic language . [ 348 ] It belongs to the Indo-European language family and is one of the living members of the East Slavic languages , the others being Belarusian and Ukrainian ( and possibly Rusyn ) . Written examples of Old East Slavic ( Old Russian ) are attested from the 10th century onwards . [ 349 ] Russian is the second-most used language on the Internet after English , [ 350 ] one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station [ 351 ] and is one of the six official languages of the UN . [ 352 ] 35 languages are officially recognised in Russia in various regions by local governments . The Turkic-speaking Tuvans
Russia (Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə]), or the Russian Federation,[e] is a European country located in Eastern Europe with a vast expanse of territory that stretches across Northern Asia. At 17,125,200 square kilometres (6,612,100 sq mi), it is by far the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, spanning eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. The territory of Russia extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south. With 146.7 million inhabitants living in the country's 85 federal subjects as of 2020, Russia is the most populous nation in Europe and the ninth-most populous nation in the world. Russia's capital and largest city is Moscow; other major urban areas include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Chelyabinsk. The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states, until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th century. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east. Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR) became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR/Soviet Union), the world's first constitutionally socialist state.