The main language spoken in Russia is Russian. It is an East Slavic language, deriving from Old East Slavic, and Cyrillic script is used for its writing. Russian is not only the most widely spoken language in Russia but also serves as a lingua franca across several former Soviet republics. With more than 150 million native speakers and a total of about 260 million speakers worldwide, Russian is one of the most widely spoken languages globally. It plays an important role in politics, science, art, and culture, reflecting the rich heritage of Russian history.