Russia/Language

Russian is an East Slavic language and is one of the official languages of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is also widely spoken in Latvia, Estonia, and other countries with significant Russian-speaking populations. Russian uses the Cyrillic script, which was developed in the 9th century in the First Bulgarian Empire. Russian is known for its complex grammar, with six cases for nouns and adjectives, and a rich vocabulary with many loanwords from other languages.

History
The history of the Russian language can be traced back to the Old East Slavic language spoken in [ Kievan Rus] in the 9th to 13th centuries. The language was heavily influenced by Old Church Slavonic, the liturgical language of the Orthodox Church, and by the Mongol-Tatar invasions of the 13th century. In the 18th century, during the reign of Peter the Great, the Russian language underwent a major reform, with the introduction of a new alphabet and changes to grammar and vocabulary. During the Soviet era, the Russian language became the dominant language in the Soviet Union and was promoted as the language of interethnic communication. Today, Russian is an important international language, spoken by over 1██ million people worldwide.