�the�Russians�in�Eastern Europe.

It is an�official
language�in�Russia,�Belarus,�Kazakhstan,�Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used
throughout the�Baltic states, the�Caucasus�and�Central Asia.[23][24]�Russian
belongs to the family of�Indo-European languages, one of the four living members of
the East Slavic languages alongside, and part of the larger�Balto-Slavic�branch.
There is a high degree of�mutual intelligibility�between
Russian,�Belarusian�and�Ukrainian.
Russian was the�de facto�language of the�Soviet Union�until its�dissolution�on 26
December 1991.[25]�Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all
the post-Soviet nation-states. Large numbers of Russian speakers can also be found
in other countries, such as�Israel�and�Mongolia.
Russian is the largest�native language�in�Europe, and the most geographically
widespread language in�Eurasia.[26]�It is the most widely spoken of the�Slavic
languages, with over 258 million total speakers worldwide.[27]�Russian is
the�seventh-most spoken language in the world�by number of native speakers and
the�eighth-most spoken language in the world by total number of speakers.[28]�The
language is one of the�six official languages�of the�United Nations. Russian is
also the second-most widespread language on the�Internet, after�English.[29]
Russian distinguishes between�consonant�phonemes�with�palatal�secondary
articulation�and those without, the so-called�soft�and�hard�sounds. Almost every
consonant has a hard or a soft counterpart, and the distinction is a prominent
feature of the language. Another important aspect is
the�reduction�of�unstressed�vowels. Stress, which is unpredictable, is not normally
indicated�orthographically[30]�though an optional�acute accent�may be used to
mark�stress, such as to distinguish between�homographic�words, for example�??????
�(zam�k�� a lock) and�??????�(z�mok�� a castle), or to indicate the proper
pronunciation of uncommon words or names