Geographical distribution of Russian speakers
This article details the geographical distribution of Russian speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of derussification aimed at reversing former trends of Russification, while Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko and the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin reintroduced Russification policies in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively.
After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, derussification occurred in the newly-independent Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Kars Oblast, the last of which became part of Turkey.
The new Soviet Union initially implemented a policy of Korenizatsiya, which was aimed in some ways at the reversal of the Tsarist Russification of the non-Russian areas of the country. Joseph Stalin mostly reversed the implementation of Korenizatsiya by the 1930s, not so much by changing the letter of the law, but by reducing its practical effects and by introducing de facto Russification. The Soviet system heavily promoted Russian as the "language of interethnic communication" and "language of world communism".
Eventually, in 1990, Russian became legally the official all-Union language of the Soviet Union, with constituent republics gaining the right to declare their own regional languages.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, about 25 million Russians found themselves outside Russia and were about 10% of the population of the post-Soviet states other than Russia. Millions of them later became refugees from various interethnic conflicts.
Statistics
Native speakers
Subnational territories
Native and non-native speakers
Former Soviet Union
Other countries
Asia
Armenia
In Armenia, Russian has no official status but is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 15,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 1 million active speakers. 30% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 2% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work. Russian is spoken by 1.4% of the population according to a 2009 estimate from the World Factbook.In 2010, in a significant pullback to derussification, Armenia voted to re-introduce Russian-medium schools.
Azerbaijan
In Azerbaijan, Russian has no official status but is a lingua franca of the country. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 250,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 2 million active speakers. 26% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 5% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work.Research in 2005–2006 concluded that government officials did not consider Russian to be a threat to the strengthening role of the Azerbaijani language in independent Azerbaijan. Rather, Russian continued to have value given the proximity of Russia and strong economic and political ties. However, it was seen as self-evident that to be successful, citizens needed to be proficient in Azerbaijani.
The Russian language was co-official in the breakaway Armenian-populated Republic of Artsakh.
China
In the 1920s, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party sent influential figures to study abroad in the Soviet Union, including Deng Xiaoping and Chiang Ching-kuo, who both were classmates and fluent in Russian. Now, Russian is only spoken by the small Russian communities in the northeastern Heilongjiang province and the northwestern Xinjiang province.Israel
Russian is also spoken in Israel by at least 1,000,000 ethnic Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, according to the 1999 census. The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian, and there are Russian newspapers, television stations, schools, and social media outlets based in the country.Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, Russian is not a state language, but according to Article 7 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan, its usage enjoys equal status to that of the Kazakh language in state and local administration. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 4,200,000 native speakers of Russian in the country and 10 million active speakers. 63% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 46% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work. According to a 2001 estimate from the World Factbook, 95% of the population can speak Russian. Large Russian-speaking communities still exist in northern Kazakhstan, and ethnic Russians comprise 25.6% of Kazakhstan's population. The 2009 census reported that 10,309,500 people, or 84.8% of the population aged 15 and above, could read and write well in Russian and understand the spoken language.Kyrgyzstan
In Kyrgyzstan, Russian is an official language per Article 5 of the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 600,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 1.5 million active speakers. 38% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 22% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work.The 2009 census states that 482,200 people speak Russian as a native language, including 419,000 ethnic Russians, and 63,200 from other ethnic groups, for a total of 8.99% of the population. Additionally, 1,854,700 residents of Kyrgyzstan aged 15 and above fluently speak Russian as a second language, 49.6% of the population in that age group.
In 2011, President Roza Otunbaeva controversially reopened the debate about Kyrgyz getting a more dominant position in the country.
Tajikistan
In Tajikistan, Russian is the language of interethnic communication under the Constitution of Tajikistan. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 90,000 native speakers of Russian in the country and 1 million active speakers. 28% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 7% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work. The World Factbook notes that Russian is widely used in government and business.After independence, Tajik was declared the state language, with Russian enshrined as the "language for interethnic communication" in the constitution. In 2009, a law was passed stating that all official papers in the country should have a version in the Tajik language. Russian media erroneously reported that as Russian losing its official status in the country. However, president Emomali Rahmon rejected these claims and clarified that the law regulates the scope of usage of only Tajik language, without changing the status of Russian, adding that "all laws and presidential decrees continue to be adopted in Tajik and Russian languages, dozens of newspapers and magazines are published in Russian, which, in my opinion, reflects the real state of affairs". Further rejecting claims of "persecution", Rahmon pointed out that "Russian is taught in all schools without exception, of which there are more than four thousand in total", with more than 31,000 students further studying Russian as their major in universities. He added: "We are clearly aware that for decades the Russian language has been and remains a window into science for us, a means of communication with the outside world, and wasting this capital would be to our own detriment."
The law was edited in 2011 to clear up the confusion, with Russian media claiming that "Russian language's status was restored", despite keeping its status in the constitution the whole time.
Current law states that all minority ethnic groups in the country have the right to choose the language in which they want their children to be educated.
On April 17, 2019, Russia and Tajikistan signed an agreement on the construction and material and technical equipment of schools in the cities of Dushanbe, Kulob, Khujand, Bokhtar and Tursunzade providing education in the Russian language. Opening the new Russian schools, President Rahmon emphasized that the Constitution of Tajikistan defines Russian as a language of inter-ethnic communication, and this constitutional provision is being implemented through the widespread study of the Russian language from the second grade onwards in all schools. Emomali Rahmon also declared 2023 the Year of the Russian Language in Tajikistan.
Currently, there are 39 schools in the country with fully Russian language of instruction, where about 27 thousand children study. There are also more than 170 mixed Tajik-Russian schools attended by 70,000 children. Russian language teaching is a mandatory element of the curriculum and, starting from the second grade, it is studied in all general education schools of Tajikistan, which is about 4000 educational institutions.
Turkmenistan
Russian lost its status as the official lingua franca of Turkmenistan in 1996. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 150,000 native speakers of Russian in the country and 100,000 active speakers. Russian is spoken by 12% of the population, according to an undated estimate from the World Factbook.Russian television channels have mostly been shut down in Turkmenistan, and many Russian-language schools were closed down.
Uzbekistan
In Uzbekistan, Russian has no official status but is a lingua franca and a de-facto language throughout the country. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 1,200,000 native speakers of Russian in the country and 5 million active speakers. Russian is spoken by 14.2% of the population, according to an undated estimate from the World Factbook. Throughout the country, there are still signs with Uzbek and Russian.After the independence of Uzbekistan in 1991, Uzbek culture underwent the three trends of derussification, the creation of an Uzbek national identity, and westernization. The state has primarily promoted those trends through the educational system, which is particularly effective because nearly half the Uzbek population is of school age or younger.
Since the Uzbek language became official and privileged in hiring and firing, there has been a brain drain of ethnic Russians in Uzbekistan. The displacement of the Russian-speaking population from the industrial sphere, science and education has weakened those spheres. As a result of emigration, participation in Russian cultural centers like the State Academy Bolshoi Theatre in Uzbekistan has seriously declined.
In the capital, Tashkent, statues of the leaders of the Russian Revolution were taken down and replaced with local heroes like Timur, and urban street names in the Russian style were Uzbekified. In 1995, Uzbekistan ordered the Uzbek alphabet changed from a Russian-based Cyrillic script to a modified Latin alphabet, and in 1997, Uzbek became the sole language of state administration.