Russian was essentially the lingua franca of Eastern Europe and it has spread as "second language" to many of the Soviet Union's former territories and politically allied countries. More rarely spoken in territories where Russia had no influence, the Russian language still survives in some communities of Russian immigrants around the world. This complete list demonstrates the influences of Russian and the countries where it is used as official language or second-official language:
| Country | Languages (%) |
|---|---|
| Armenia | Armenian 97.7%, Yezidi 1%, Russian 0.9%, other 0.4% (2001 census) |
| Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani (Azeri) 90.3%, Lezgi 2.2%, Russian 1.8%, Armenian 1.5%, other 3.3%, unspecified 1% (1999 census) |
| Belarus | Belarusian, Russian, other |
| Estonia | Estonian (official) 67.3%, Russian 29.7%, other 2.3%, unknown 0.7% (2000 census) |
| Finland | Finnish 91.2% (official), Swedish 5.5% (official), other 3.3% (small Sami- and Russian-speaking minorities) (2007) |
| Georgia | Georgian 71% (official), Russian 9%, Armenian 7%, Azeri 6%, other 7%
note: Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia |
| Kazakhstan | Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.) |
| Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz 64.7% (official), Uzbek 13.6%, Russian 12.5% (official), Dungun 1%, other 8.2% (1999 census) |
| Latvia | Latvian (official) 58.2%, Russian 37.5%, Lithuanian and other 4.3% (2000 census) |
| Lithuania | Lithuanian (official) 82%, Russian 8%, Polish 5.6%, other and unspecified 4.4% (2001 census) |
| Moldova | Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect) |
| Mongolia | Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999) |
| Russia | Russian, many minority languages |
| Svalbard | Norwegian, Russian |
| Tajikistan | Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business |
| Turkmenistan | Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% |
| Ukraine | Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%, other 9% (includes small Romanian-, Polish-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities) |
| Uzbekistan | Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% |
| World | Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, French 1.2% (2005 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only |
Source: CIA – The World Factbook