Russian is an official language in 5 countries (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan) and a widely understood language throughout the former Soviet Union.
More interesting facts about the Russian language
Russian language has the largest number of native speakers in Europe, followed by German.
More than a quarter of the world's scientific literature is published in Russian.
The Russian language has a relatively difficult grammar and some letters that do not exist in Western languages.
Outside the former Soviet Union, Germany has the most Russian native speakers (about 3 million).