131-587: Ded Moroz , or Morozko ( Russian : Морозко , romanized : Morozko ), is a legendary figure similar to Saint Nicholas , Father Christmas , and Santa Claus who has his roots in Slavic mythology . The tradition of Ded Moroz is mostly spread in East Slavic countries and is a significant part of Russian culture . At the beginning of the Soviet era, communist authorities banned Ded Moroz. However,
262-674: A constitutional referendum on whether to adopt Russian as a second official language. According to the Central Election Commission, 74.8% voted against, 24.9% voted for and the voter turnout was 71.1%. Starting in 2019, instruction in Russian will be gradually discontinued in private colleges and universities in Latvia, and in general instruction in Latvian public high schools. On 29 September 2022, Saeima passed in
393-519: A new education law which requires all schools to teach at least partially in Ukrainian, with provisions while allow indigenous languages and languages of national minorities to be used alongside the national language. The law faced criticism from officials in Russia and Hungary. The 2019 Law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" gives priority to
524-698: A troika . He is often depicted bringing presents to well-mannered children, often delivering them in person in the days of December and secretly under the New Year Tree over night on New Year's Eve . The residence of Ded Moroz in Russia is considered to be the town of Veliky Ustyug , Vologda Oblast . The residence of the Belarusian Dzyed Maroz is said to be in Belavezhskaya Pushcha . In East Slavic cultures , Ded Moroz
655-542: A farmer was the creation of a self-sustainable and business efficient enterprise, developing and promoting to the regional and federal authorities a system of support for private agricultural enterprises. After his death, the farm was inherited by Luzhkov’s younger son Alexander. In 1998, as Boris Yeltsin 's political troubles grew partly because of the August economic crisis , Luzhkov formed his own national political faction, Otechestvo (Fatherland), to serve as his base for
786-424: A formula with V standing for the nucleus (vowel) and C for each consonant, the maximal structure can be described as follows: (C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C) Yury Luzhkov Yury Mikhailovich Luzhkov (Russian: Юрий Михайлович Лужков , IPA: [ˈjʉrʲɪj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ lʊˈʂkof] ; 21 September 1936 – 10 December 2019) was a Russian politician who served as mayor of Moscow from 1992 to 2010. Before
917-422: A good or very good view of Mayor Luzhkov. However, Luzhkov's ratings steadily declined, and according to the latest poll from October 2009, only 36% of Muscovites viewed him positively. Allegations of wrongdoing by Luzhkov had been made before, but he had been notable for never having lost a libel suit in his career, including against Boris Nemtsov , the newspaper Kommersant , and The New York Times . Despite
1048-558: A hard or soft counterpart, and the distinction is a prominent feature of the language, which is usually shown in writing not by a change of the consonant but rather by changing the following vowel. Another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels . Stress , which is often unpredictable, is not normally indicated orthographically , though an optional acute accent may be used to mark stress – such as to distinguish between homographic words (e.g. замо́к [ zamók , 'lock'] and за́мок [ zámok , 'castle']), or to indicate
1179-490: A home in the affluent Kensington area of London, purchased in 2013 through an offshore company domiciled in Gibraltar . Luzhkov frequently appeared in public at different festivals and celebrations, and was an enthusiastic promoter of Moscow. His hobbies included tennis and beekeeping . His support for physical fitness was well known, and a statue of the mayor in tennis garb was created by Zurab Tsereteli . Luzhkov
1310-484: A language that "belongs to the European cultural space". The financing of Russian-language content by the state will cease, which the concept says create a "unified information space". However, one inevitable consequence would be the closure of public media broadcasts in Russian on LTV and Latvian Radio, as well as the closure of LSM's Russian-language service. In Lithuania , Russian has no official or legal status, but
1441-539: A lesser extent in the Baltic states and Israel . Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide. It is the most spoken native language in Europe , the most spoken Slavic language , as well as the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia . It is the world's seventh-most spoken language by number of native speakers , and the world's ninth-most spoken language by total number of speakers . Russian
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#17327757187611572-588: A lesser extent the languages to the south and the east: Uralic , Turkic , Persian , Arabic , and Hebrew . According to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California , Russian is classified as a level III language in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers, requiring approximately 1,100 hours of immersion instruction to achieve intermediate fluency. Feudal divisions and conflicts created obstacles between
1703-533: A license costing up to $ 75. In the predominantly Muslim but secular country , where Christians are a small minority, these traditions and celebrations remain very popular, however the Christian origin is barely to not known at all and they're rather cultural. Şaxta Baba is also an Azerbaijani version of Ayaz Ata , the Ded Moroz of Turkic mythology . Ded Moroz is Dzied Maroz ( Belarusian : Дзед Мароз ) in
1834-622: A minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities . 30% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 2% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. In Azerbaijan , Russian has no official status, but is a lingua franca of the country. 26% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 5% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. In Georgia , Russian has no official status, but it
1965-526: A qualitatively new entity can be said to emerge—the general language of the working class... capitalism has the tendency of creating the general urban language of a given society. In 2010, there were 259.8 million speakers of Russian in the world: in Russia – 137.5 million, in the CIS and Baltic countries – 93.7 million, in Eastern Europe – 12.9 million, Western Europe – 7.3 million, Asia – 2.7 million, in
2096-536: A rapidly growing population. Some of the most blatant limitations were removed by the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court after a long fight with Luzhkov's lawyers, making the registration process somewhat simpler. In 2003 Privacy International awarded Luzhkov the runner-up position in its Most Egregiously Stupid Award for the propiska rules. In April 2001, 63% of Moscow residents had
2227-666: A replacement for Moş Crăciun (Father Christmas), a new character was introduced, Moş Gerilă (literally "Old Man Frosty", a Romanian language adaptation of the Russian Ded Moroz). He was said to bring gifts to children on 31 December. Officially, the New Year's Day celebrations began on 30 December, which was named the Day of the Republic, since it was the day when King Mihai I of Romania abdicated in 1947. After
2358-521: A round dormouse fur cap. This version of the character is based on traditional imagery, especially as depicted by Maksim Gaspari in images commissioned in 1952. Although the name was translated literally from the Soviet figure, other names for the character were also considered: Sneženi mož ("the Snow Man") and oca Triglav ("Daddy Triglav"). A female figure named babica Zima (Grandma Winter)
2489-406: A similar Russian-imported character lacking the Christian connotations and thus popular during Communist rule. However, he has been largely forgotten since 1989, when Dyado Koleda again returned as the more popular figure. In socialist Yugoslavia (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Montenegro , Macedonia , Serbia , and Slovenia ) the character who was said to bring gifts to children
2620-650: A small village in Tver Oblast in the 1930s. In April 1990, the new chairman of the Moscow City Council, Gavriil Popov, on the recommendation of Boris Yeltsin, nominated Luzhkov for the post of chairman of the Mosgorispolkom. Following the August coup Luzhkov was appointed on 24 August 1991, without leaving the post of vice-mayor of Moscow, one of three deputy heads of the Committee on
2751-548: A tradition to invite Dzmer Pap and Dzyunanushik to their children. In Azerbaijan , Ded Moroz is known as Şaxta Baba and Snegurochka as Qar Qızı , with whom Şaxta Baba brings gifts to children at New Year's Eve . Every December, actors playing Şaxta Baba and Qar Qızı stand next to a Christmas tree (Azerbaijani: Yolka or Yeni il ağacı ) at Baku Boulevard and other attractions in Baku, giving away presents to and taking pictures with children. Since 2014 however, every actor needs
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#17327757187612882-539: Is Belarusian, among ethnic Belarusians this share is 28.5%; the highest share of those who speak Belarusian at home is among ethnic Poles — 46.0%. In Estonia , Russian is spoken by 29.6% of the population, according to a 2011 estimate from the World Factbook, and is officially considered a foreign language. School education in the Russian language is a very contentious point in Estonian politics, and in 2022,
3013-481: Is a co-official language per article 5 of the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan . The 2009 census states that 482,200 people speak Russian as a native language, or 8.99% of the population. Additionally, 1,854,700 residents of Kyrgyzstan aged 15 and above fluently speak Russian as a second language, or 49.6% of the population in the age group. In Tajikistan , Russian is the language of inter-ethnic communication under
3144-401: Is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian , and a moderate degree of it in all modern Slavic languages, at least at the conversational level. Russian is written using a Cyrillic alphabet. The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The following table gives their forms, along with IPA values for each letter's typical sound: Older letters of
3275-610: Is a post-posed definite article -to , -ta , -te similar to that existing in Bulgarian and Macedonian. In the Southern Russian dialects , instances of unstressed /e/ and /a/ following palatalized consonants and preceding a stressed syllable are not reduced to [ɪ] (as occurs in the Moscow dialect), being instead pronounced [a] in such positions (e.g. несл и is pronounced [nʲaˈslʲi] , not [nʲɪsˈlʲi] ) – this
3406-456: Is accompanied by Snegurochka ( Russian : Снегурочка , Snegurochka ; Belarusian : Снягурка , Sniahurka ; Ukrainian : Снігуронька , Snihurońka ; "Snow Maiden"), his granddaughter and helper. The origins of the character of Ded Moroz predates Christianity as a Slavic spirit of winter [ ru ] . Since the 19th century the attributes and legend of Ded Moroz have been shaped by literary influences, which were also influenced by
3537-694: Is an ongoing supporter of the educational campaign “All-Russian Economic Dictation” developed by the Free Economic Society of Russia and pays special attention to supporting young economists: the youngest author of the dictation tasks receives a special award from the Yury Luzhkov Foundation. Together with the Moscow Sports Department and the Russian and Moscow Tennis Federations, the Foundation holds
3668-790: Is another counterpart of Snegurochka . The tradition was set throughout the times of the Russian Empire after the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) , when Eastern Armenia was joined to Russia according to the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay . For almost 160 years of influence Dzmer Pap and Dzyunanushik have hardly changed their appearance or behavior: they come in red, blue or white winter fur coats and, bringing presents to children, expect them to sing songs or recite poems. They are parts of New Year and Epiphany matinées and shows in Armenia. In recent decades well-off parents have developed
3799-488: Is being used less frequently by Russian-speaking typists in favor of the extension of Unicode character encoding , which fully incorporates the Russian alphabet. Free programs are available offering this Unicode extension, which allow users to type Russian characters, even on Western 'QWERTY' keyboards. The Russian language was first introduced to computing after the M-1 , and MESM models were produced in 1951. According to
3930-624: Is called yakanye ( яканье ). Consonants include a fricative /ɣ/ , a semivowel /w⁓u̯/ and /x⁓xv⁓xw/ , whereas the Standard and Northern dialects have the consonants /ɡ/ , /v/ , and final /l/ and /f/ , respectively. The morphology features a palatalized final /tʲ/ in 3rd person forms of verbs (this is unpalatalized in the Standard and Northern dialects). During the Proto-Slavic (Common Slavic) times all Slavs spoke one mutually intelligible language or group of dialects. There
4061-453: Is known as Ҡыш бабай , Qïš babay , lit. ' Winter Old Man ' ), in Tatar it has the similar spelling Кыш бабай , Qış Babay with the same meaning. In Nenets he is known as Yamal Iri ("Grandfather of Yamal"). The Yakut indigenous people have their own counterpart to Ded Moroz, which is called Chys Khaan ("Master of Cold"). Ded Moroz, and on occasion
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4192-573: Is more spoken than English. Sizable Russian-speaking communities also exist in North America, especially in large urban centers of the US and Canada, such as New York City , Philadelphia , Boston , Los Angeles , Nashville , San Francisco , Seattle , Spokane , Toronto , Calgary , Baltimore , Miami , Portland , Chicago , Denver , and Cleveland . In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, and live in ethnic enclaves (especially
4323-564: Is odd") – чу́дно ( chúdno – "this is marvellous"), молоде́ц ( molodéts – "well done!") – мо́лодец ( mólodets – "fine young man"), узна́ю ( uznáyu – "I shall learn it") – узнаю́ ( uznayú – "I recognize it"), отреза́ть ( otrezát – "to be cutting") – отре́зать ( otrézat – "to have cut"); to indicate the proper pronunciation of uncommon words, especially personal and family names, like афе́ра ( aféra , "scandal, affair"), гу́ру ( gúru , "guru"), Гарси́я ( García ), Оле́ша ( Olésha ), Фе́рми ( Fermi ), and to show which
4454-657: Is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is the native language of the Russians . It was the de facto and de jure official language of the former Soviet Union . Russian has remained an official language of the Russian Federation , Belarus , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , and Tajikistan , and is still commonly used as a lingua franca in Ukraine , Moldova , the Caucasus , Central Asia , and to
4585-762: Is one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station , one of the six official languages of the United Nations , as well as the fourth most widely used language on the Internet . Russian is written using the Russian alphabet of the Cyrillic script ; it distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without—the so-called "soft" and "hard" sounds. Almost every consonant has
4716-402: Is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities . Russian is the language of 9% of the population according to the World Factbook. Ethnologue cites Russian as the country's de facto working language. In China , Russian has no official status, but it is spoken by the small Russian communities in the northeastern Heilongjiang and
4847-401: Is said to brings gifts at Christmas instead of Djed Božićnjak . Also, in some parts of Dalmatia the gifts are brought by Saint Lucy ( Sveta Lucija ). In Slovenia , the name Ded Moroz was translated from Russian as Dedek Mraz (literally, "Grandpa Frost"). Dedek Mraz is depicted as a slim man wearing a grey leather coat, which has fur inside and is decorated outside, and
4978-569: Is sometimes considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. Also, Russian has notable lexical similarities with Bulgarian due to a common Church Slavonic influence on both languages, but because of later interaction in the 19th and 20th centuries, Bulgarian grammar differs markedly from Russian. Over the course of centuries, the vocabulary and literary style of Russian have also been influenced by Western and Central European languages such as Greek, Latin , Polish , Dutch , German, French, Italian, and English, and to
5109-585: Is spoken by 14.2% of the population according to an undated estimate from the World Factbook. In 2005, Russian was the most widely taught foreign language in Mongolia, and was compulsory in Year 7 onward as a second foreign language in 2006. Around 1.5 million Israelis spoke Russian as of 2017. The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian and there are Russian newspapers, television stations, schools, and social media outlets based in
5240-518: Is the stressed word in a sentence, for example Ты́ съел печенье? ( Tý syel pechenye? – "Was it you who ate the cookie?") – Ты съе́л печенье? ( Ty syél pechenye? – "Did you eat the cookie?) – Ты съел пече́нье? ( Ty syel pechénye? "Was it the cookie you ate?"). Stress marks are mandatory in lexical dictionaries and books for children or Russian learners. The Russian syllable structure can be quite complex, with both initial and final consonant clusters of up to four consecutive sounds. Using
5371-555: The 2010 summer peat fires and accused him and his wife of corruption. Some observers have seen this as being part of a struggle between Medvedev and then-Prime Minister Putin. Luzhkov officially declared that he had left the United Russia party. Luzhkov had sent a letter to the President on 27 September criticizing Medvedev's policy and his administration's actions. According to the President's press-secretary Medvedev read
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5502-470: The 2011 Lithuanian census , Russian was the native language for 7.2% of the population. In Moldova , Russian was considered to be the language of interethnic communication under a Soviet-era law. On 21 January 2021, the Constitutional Court of Moldova declared the law unconstitutional and deprived Russian of the status of the language of interethnic communication. 50% of the population
5633-1000: The Apollo–Soyuz mission, which first flew in 1975. In March 2013, Russian was found to be the second-most used language on websites after English. Russian was the language of 5.9% of all websites, slightly ahead of German and far behind English (54.7%). Russian was used not only on 89.8% of .ru sites, but also on 88.7% of sites with the former Soviet Union domain .su . Websites in former Soviet Union member states also used high levels of Russian: 79.0% in Ukraine, 86.9% in Belarus, 84.0% in Kazakhstan, 79.6% in Uzbekistan, 75.9% in Kyrgyzstan and 81.8% in Tajikistan. However, Russian
5764-614: The Belarusian language . He is not a historical folkloric Belarusian character, but was a replacement for Saint Nicholas , known locally as Śviaty Mikałaj , whom Soviet authorities disapproved of because of his Christian origin. The official residence of Dzied Maroz in Belarus is declared to be in the Białowieża Forest . The Bulgarian name of Santa Claus is Дядо Коледа , Dyado Koleda (Grandfather Koleda ), with Дядо Мраз , Dyado Mraz ("Grandfather Frost") being
5895-634: The Black Sea Fleet (housed at Sevastopol) and helping spur Ukraine to seek a relationship with NATO . On 12 May 2008 Luzhkov was banned from entering Ukraine by the Security Service (SBU) after his statement concerning the legal status of Sevastopol: In 1954 the city of Sevastopol was not included into the Oblast , the territory, which was transferred to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev . We state that this issue remained unresolved. It
6026-413: The Constitution of Tajikistan and is permitted in official documentation. 28% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 7% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work. The World Factbook notes that Russian is widely used in government and business. In Turkmenistan , Russian lost its status as the official lingua franca in 1996. Among 12% of the population who grew up in
6157-579: The Eastern bloc and in the former Yugoslavia . After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , some of these countries made efforts to move away from Soviet and Russian heritage toward their own ancient traditions. The Armenian name for Ded Moroz is Dzmer Pap ( Armenian : Ձմեռ Պապ ), literally Grandfather Winter. His loyal granddaughter Dzyunanushik ( Armenian : Ձյունանուշիկ ), whose name means Snow Sweetie, or Snow Anush (a popular Armenian female name),
6288-600: The Kadashi Church in the proximity of the Moscow Kremlin . Many neighbourhoods, like Zamoskvorechye , were dramatically changed. Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli enjoyed Luzhkov's personal support in setting many of his works over the city. In 1999, in order to improve the housing conditions of Moscovites, Yury Luzhkov initiated a major demolition programme to replace Moscow’s old five-story apartment blocks that were unsuitable for renovation because of
6419-540: The Romanian Revolution of 1989 , Moş Gerilă lost his influence, being replaced by Moş Crăciun . Chyskhaan ( Yakut : Чысхаан , romanized: Çısxân ) is known as the master of cold, accompanied by the Yakut version of Snegurochka, Kharchaana ( Yakut : Харчаана , romanized: Xarçâna ). He is very similar to Ded Moroz, however a more "East Asian" version of him. In Tajikistan
6550-584: The Ukrainian language in more than 30 spheres of public life: in particular in public administration , media, education, science, culture, advertising, services . The law does not regulate private communication. A poll conducted in March 2022 by RATING in the territory controlled by Ukraine found that 83% of the respondents believe that Ukrainian should be the only state language of Ukraine. This opinion dominates in all macro-regions, age and language groups. On
6681-641: The United States Census , in 2007 Russian was the primary language spoken in the homes of over 850,000 individuals living in the United States. Russian is one of the official languages (or has similar status and interpretation must be provided into Russian) of the following: The Russian language is also one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station – NASA astronauts who serve alongside Russian cosmonauts usually take Russian language courses. This practice goes back to
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#17327757187616812-692: The water problem of Central Asia and earn money for Russia. Luzkhov died on 10 December 2019 in Munich , Germany at the Klinikum der Universität München where he underwent invasive heart surgery. Luzhkov was administered anesthesia and died from subsequent anaphylactic shock . The Yury Luzhkov Foundation was established in September 2020 with the purpose of preserving his memory, work and accomplishments, as well as popularizing his socio-political, literary and scientific heritage. The memorial work of
6943-553: The "turbulent" 1990s when Western culture increased its penetration into the post-Soviet Russia. The resurgence of Russia in the early 21st century brought about a renewed emphasis on the basic Slavic character of Ded Moroz. This included the Russian Federation and subordinate governments sponsoring courses about Ded Moroz every December, with the aim of establishing appropriate Slavic norms for Ded Moroz and Snegurochka ("Snow Maiden" – Ded Moroz' granddaughter) roles for
7074-519: The 20th century, Russian was a mandatory language taught in the schools of the members of the old Warsaw Pact and in other countries that used to be satellites of the USSR. According to the Eurobarometer 2005 survey, fluency in Russian remains fairly high (20–40%) in some countries, in particular former Warsaw Pact countries. In Armenia , Russian has no official status, but it is recognized as
7205-458: The Belarusian Dzied Maroz , are presented in the media as being in on-going détente with various counterparts from other cultures, such as the Estonian Santa Claus ( Jõuluvana or "Old man of Yule"), the Finnish Santa Claus ( Joulupukki or " Yule Goat "), and other Santa Claus , Father Christmas , and Saint Nicholas figures. The détente efforts portrayed have included one-on-one meetings, group meetings and friendly competitions, such as
7336-412: The Belarusian society the Russian language prevails, so according to the 2019 census 6,718,557 people (71.4% of the total population) stated that they speak Russian at home, for ethnic Belarusians this share is 61.4%, for Russians — 97.2%, for Ukrainians — 89.0%, for Poles — 52.4%, and for Jews — 96.6%; 2,447,764 people (26.0% of the total population) stated that the language they usually speak at home
7467-506: The Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting under the Government of Tajikistan, announced in an interview that "Father Frost, his maiden sidekick Snegurochka (Maiden Snow), and New Year's tree will not appear on the state television this year, because these personages and attributes bear no direct relation to our national traditions, though there is no harm in them". However next day this was denounced, and planned celebrations did include these despite objections of some religious figures. Since
7598-463: The Communist period. Until the late 1940s it was also said in some areas of Slovenia that Christkind (called Jezušček ("little Jesus") or Božiček ) brought gifts on Christmas Eve. Slovenian families have different preferences regarding their gift-giver of choice, according to political or religious persuasion. Slovenian popular culture depicts Grandpa Frost, Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus as friends and has also started blending attributes of
7729-427: The Foundation was endorsed by a special order of President Vladimir Putin. The Foundation strives to support and develop the socio-cultural and philanthropic initiatives that continue the line of Yury Luzhkov’s work to benefit the citizens of Moscow and Russia, with a particular focus on involvement of younger people into developing solutions for contemporary urbanistic problems. An award for prominent theatre management
7860-409: The Great and developed from the Moscow ( Middle or Central Russian ) dialect substratum under the influence of some of the previous century's Russian chancery language. Prior to the Bolshevik Revolution , the spoken form of the Russian language was that of the nobility and the urban bourgeoisie. Russian peasants, the great majority of the population, continued to speak in their own dialects. However,
7991-468: The Institute of Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an optional acute accent ( знак ударения ) may, and sometimes should, be used to mark stress . For example, it is used to distinguish between otherwise identical words, especially when context does not make it obvious: замо́к ( zamók – "lock") – за́мок ( zámok – "castle"), сто́ящий ( stóyashchy – "worthwhile") – стоя́щий ( stoyáshchy – "standing"), чудно́ ( chudnó – "this
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#17327757187618122-411: The Middle East and North Africa – 1.3 million, Sub-Saharan Africa – 0.1 million, Latin America – 0.2 million, U.S., Canada , Australia, and New Zealand – 4.1 million speakers. Therefore, the Russian language is the seventh-largest in the world by the number of speakers , after English, Mandarin, Hindi -Urdu, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Portuguese. Russian is one of the six official languages of
8253-618: The New Year holiday. People playing Ded Moroz and Snegurochka now typically make appearances at children's parties during the winter holiday season, distributing presents and fighting off the wicked witch, Baba Yaga , who children are told wants to steal the gifts. In November and December 2010, Ded Moroz was one of the candidates in the running for consideration as a mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , Russia. Many ethnic minorities have for linguistic reasons other names for Ded Moroz or even have their own culture-equivalent counterparts to Ded Moroz. For example, in Bashkir Ded Moroz
8384-409: The New Year's festivities as a formal holiday. Өвлийн өвгөн , Övliin Övgön (Grandfather Winter) is the Mongolian equivalent of Ded Moroz, who brings children and adult alike gifts on New Year's Eve. In 1948, after the Communists gained power in Romania, it was decided that Christmas should not be celebrated. 25 and 26 December became working days and no official celebrations were to be held. As
8515-562: The Operational Management of the Soviet economy , which was created to replace the Cabinet of Ministers , which had supported the coup, and became the last government of the Soviet Union. He was responsible for questions related to the agro-industrial complex, trade, foreign economic relations and the social sphere. Two months later it became known that Luzhkov left the committee due to employment as vice mayor. Many old Soviet landmarks, such as Rossiya Hotel or Voentorg, were reconstructed or demolished, as well as several old buildings around
8646-807: The Russian alphabet include ⟨ ѣ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ е ⟩ ( /je/ or /ʲe/ ); ⟨ і ⟩ and ⟨ ѵ ⟩ , which both merged to ⟨ и ⟩ ( /i/ ); ⟨ ѳ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ ф ⟩ ( /f/ ); ⟨ ѫ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ у ⟩ ( /u/ ); ⟨ ѭ ⟩ , which merged to ⟨ ю ⟩ ( /ju/ or /ʲu/ ); and ⟨ ѧ ⟩ and ⟨ ѩ ⟩ , which later were graphically reshaped into ⟨ я ⟩ and merged phonetically to /ja/ or /ʲa/ . While these older letters have been abandoned at one time or another, they may be used in this and related articles. The yers ⟨ ъ ⟩ and ⟨ ь ⟩ originally indicated
8777-458: The Russian principalities before and especially during Mongol rule. This strengthened dialectal differences, and for a while, prevented the emergence of a standardized national language. The formation of the unified and centralized Russian state in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the gradual re-emergence of a common political, economic, and cultural space created the need for a common standard language. The initial impulse for standardization came from
8908-405: The Soviet era can speak Russian, other generations of citizens that do not have any knowledge of Russian. Primary and secondary education by Russian is almost non-existent. In Uzbekistan , Russian is the language of inter-ethnic communication. It has some official roles, being permitted in official documentation and is the lingua franca of the country and the language of the elite. Russian
9039-403: The United Nations. Education in Russian is still a popular choice for both Russian as a second language (RSL) and native speakers in Russia, and in many former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics. In Belarus , Russian is a second state language alongside Belarusian per the Constitution of Belarus . 77% of
9170-399: The Western tradition of Santa Claus . The play The Snow Maiden (named Snegurochka in Russian) by Aleksandr Ostrovsky was influential in this respect, as was Rimsky-Korsakov 's The Snow Maiden with libretto based on the play. By the end of the 19th century Ded Moroz became a popular character. The children's tradition of writing letters to Ded Moroz has been known since the end of
9301-466: The XIX century. Following the Russian Revolution , Christmas traditions were actively discouraged because they were considered to be " bourgeois and religious". Similarly, in 1928 Ded Moroz was declared "an ally of the priest and kulak ". Nevertheless, the image of Ded Moroz took its current form during Soviet times, becoming the main symbol of the New Year's holiday ( Novy God ) that replaced Christmas. Some Christmas traditions were revived following
9432-558: The Yuri Luzhkov Prize to "Young Innovators" is annually granted to the youngest and most talented inventor among those who bring their projects to the festival. Annual scholarship and grant programmes have been established with Moscow universities to honour Luzhkov’s contribution to industry, science and education, including his alma mater Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. The foundation
9563-579: The agricultural enterprise with the territory of 5,500 hectare in the North-West of Russia. He established and managed a large farmstead that was active in horse and sheep breeding, grain growing and cereal production, cheese making, etc. In 2017, the farm produced a total of 10,000 tons of grain (barley, wheat, buckwheat), and its buckwheat harvest covered 2/3 of the regional need. The farm employed more than 100 locals, offered highly competitive wages and social support. Luzhkov claimed that his main goal as
9694-539: The annual November Santa Claus championships of Celle , Germany. In November 2009, for the first time, the Russian Federation offered competition to NORAD Tracks Santa with GLONASS Tracks Ded Moroz, which purports to use GLONASS (the Russian satellite navigation system, comparable to GPS) to track Ded Moroz on New Year's Eve (according to the Gregorian calendar ). The Russian-language website provides "real-time tracking" of Ded Moroz, "news" of Ded Moroz throughout
9825-522: The annual all-Russian youth competition “Tennis Tournament in Memory of Yury Luzhkov." Other sports events supported by the foundation include the annual summer Moscow festival of street sports The BOWL and an amateur tennis tournament “Leather Cap”. The Yuri Luzhkov Foundation consistently works on collecting and systematizing, publishing and popularizing the social, political, literary and scientific heritage of Yu. M. Luzhkov. The archives collected by
9956-410: The ban was lifted and he soon became a significant part of Soviet culture . The literal translation of Ded Moroz is "Grandfather Frost" or "Old Man Frost", but traditionally the name is translated as Father Frost . Ded Moroz wears a heel-length fur coat , in red or blue, a semi-round fur hat, and valenki on his feet. He has a long white beard. He walks with a long magic stick and often rides
10087-530: The breakup of the Soviet Union, and especially in recent years, there has been a shift from Ded Moroz ( Ukrainian : Дід Мороз ), who came to be associated with the Soviet-era heritage, to Saint Nicholas ( Ukrainian : Святий Миколай , romanized : Sviatyi Mykolai ), who is more popular in Western Ukraine . With the onset of the Russian invasion there were rumors that Ded Moroz imagery
10218-403: The broader sense of expanding the use of Russian alongside or in favour of other languages. The current standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language ( современный русский литературный язык – "sovremenny russky literaturny yazyk"). It arose at the beginning of the 18th century with the modernization reforms of the Russian state under the rule of Peter
10349-555: The characters, for example, mention of Santa's reindeer is sometimes mingled into the Grandpa Frost narrative at public appearances. Due to his non-religious character and strong institutionalization, Grandpa Frost continues to retain a public presence. Ayaz Ata is the Kazakh and Kyrgyz name for Ded Moroz. Since the introduction and familiarization of Russian culture during the socialist era , Mongolia has been celebrating
10480-572: The country. There is an Israeli TV channel mainly broadcasting in Russian with Israel Plus . See also Russian language in Israel . Russian is also spoken as a second language by a small number of people in Afghanistan . In Vietnam , Russian has been added in the elementary curriculum along with Chinese and Japanese and were named as "first foreign languages" for Vietnamese students to learn, on equal footing with English. The Russian language
10611-406: The election of Gavriil Popov as the first mayor of Moscow, he also headed the capital in 1990-1991 as chairman of the Mosgorispolkom. He was the vice-chairman and one of the founders of the ruling United Russia party. During Luzhkov's time, Moscow's economy expanded and he presided over large construction projects in the city, including the building of a new financial district. At the same time, he
10742-413: The factory and the industrial plant their local peasant dialects with their phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary, and the very process of recruiting workers from peasants and the mobility of the worker population generate another process: the liquidation of peasant inheritance by way of leveling the particulars of local dialects. On the ruins of peasant multilingual, in the context of developing heavy industry,
10873-641: The famous letter by Pavel Postyshev , published in Pravda on 28 December 1935. Postyshev believed that the origins of the holiday, which were pre-Christian, were less important than the benefits it could bring to Soviet children. Ded Moroz is very popular in modern Russia. In 1998, the town of Veliky Ustyug in Vologda Oblast , Russia was declared the home of the Russian Ded Moroz by Yury Luzhkov , then Mayor of Moscow . Between 2003 and 2010,
11004-456: The final reading amendments that state that all schools and kindergartens in the country are to transition to education in Latvian . From 2025, all children will be taught in Latvian only. On 28 September 2023, Latvian deputies approved The National Security Concept, according to which from 1 January 2026, all content created by Latvian public media (including LSM ) should be only in Latvian or
11135-631: The generation of immigrants who started arriving in the early 1960s). Only about 25% of them are ethnic Russians, however. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the overwhelming majority of Russophones in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn in New York City were Russian-speaking Jews. Afterward, the influx from the countries of the former Soviet Union changed the statistics somewhat, with ethnic Russians and Ukrainians immigrating along with some more Russian Jews and Central Asians. According to
11266-480: The government bureaucracy for the lack of a reliable tool of communication in administrative, legal, and judicial affairs became an obvious practical problem. The earliest attempts at standardizing Russian were made based on the so-called Moscow official or chancery language, during the 15th to 17th centuries. Since then, the trend of language policy in Russia has been standardization in both the restricted sense of reducing dialectical barriers between ethnic Russians, and
11397-462: The historical influence of Austrian culture in parts of Croatia, presents are also said to be brought by a traditional figure called Sveti Nikola (Saint Nicholas) who closely resembles Djed Mraz or Djed Božićnjak , except for the fact that he is accompanied by Krampus who takes misbehaving children away, another character from Central European folklore. In some religious families, little Jesus ( Isusek, Mali Isus , Kriskindl )
11528-463: The land the houses were built on and many of these titles were bought or inherited from the original owners; Luzhkov was accused of lobbying the interests of building companies. However, the City Hall claimed that no permissions for private house building on that land were given since the 1950s and that the residents could never claim amnesty because of that. Nevertheless, Luzhkov stated that the city
11659-470: The lawsuit history between the two, after Luzhkov’s dismissal Boris Nemtsov said: ‘I can’t help feeling that the current investigation is more of a revenge against Luzhkov and Baturina, and not an attempt to restore a lawful situation. I am absolutely convinced that the main task here is raiding with the help of the State. The goal is to take Baturina's business from her for a pittance. And criminal cases are just
11790-560: The letter after the decision had been made but it would not have affected that decision in any case. On 1 October 2010 Luzhkov was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Management of major cities of the International University in Moscow. The order for appointment was signed by the president of the university, former mayor (and Luzhkov's predecessor as mayor) of Moscow Gavriil Popov. The faculty of management of large cities
11921-524: The northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region . Russian was also the main foreign language taught in school in China between 1949 and 1964. In Kazakhstan , Russian is not a state language, but according to article 7 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan its usage enjoys equal status to that of the Kazakh language in state and local administration. The 2009 census reported that 10,309,500 people, or 84.8% of
12052-515: The other hand, before the war, almost a quarter of Ukrainians were in favour of granting Russian the status of the state language, while after the beginning of Russia's invasion the support for the idea dropped to just 7%. In peacetime, the idea of raising the status of Russian was traditionally supported by residents of the south and east . But even in these regions, only a third of the respondents were in favour, and after Russia's full-scale invasion , their number dropped by almost half. According to
12183-461: The other three languages in the East Slavic branch. In many places in eastern and southern Ukraine and throughout Belarus, these languages are spoken interchangeably, and in certain areas traditional bilingualism resulted in language mixtures such as Surzhyk in eastern Ukraine and Trasianka in Belarus. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect , although it vanished during the 15th or 16th century,
12314-404: The outdated technology used during their construction. 1,722 of them were to be razed by 2010. The authorities stipulated that the apartment blocks could only be torn down and replaced after its residents had been moved into new housing. Luzhkov's rationale for permanent living place (propiska) registration was that Moscow's city infrastructure could not handle
12445-446: The parliament approved a bill to close up all Russian language schools and kindergartens by the school year. The transition to only Estonian language schools and kindergartens will start in the 2024-2025 school year. In Latvia , Russian is officially considered a foreign language. 55% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 26% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. On 18 February 2012, Latvia held
12576-459: The parliamentary and presidential elections due to be held in late 1999 and mid-2000, respectively. However, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister in August 1999. While virtually unknown when first appointed, Putin rapidly gained popular support due to a hard-line law and order image and the backing of powerful state-owned and state-allied media and economic interests. Supporters of
12707-453: The peasants' speech was never systematically studied, as it was generally regarded by philologists as simply a source of folklore and an object of curiosity. This was acknowledged by the noted Russian dialectologist Nikolai Karinsky , who toward the end of his life wrote: "Scholars of Russian dialects mostly studied phonetics and morphology. Some scholars and collectors compiled local dictionaries. We have almost no studies of lexical material or
12838-406: The population aged 15 and above, could read and write well in Russian, and understand the spoken language. In October 2023, Kazakhstan drafted a media law aimed at increasing the use of the Kazakh language over Russian, the law stipulates that the share of the state language on television and radio should increase from 50% to 70%, at a rate of 5% per year, starting in 2025. In Kyrgyzstan , Russian
12969-418: The population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 67% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. According to the 2019 Belarusian census , out of 9,413,446 inhabitants of the country, 5,094,928 (54.1% of the total population) named Belarusian as their native language, with 61.2% of ethnic Belarusians and 54.5% of ethnic Poles declaring Belarusian as their native language. In everyday life in
13100-547: The post office in Veliky Ustyug received approximately 2,000,000 letters from within Russia and from all over the world for Ded Moroz. On 7 January 2008, then President Putin of the Russian Federation visited Ded Moroz' residence in the town of Veliky Ustyug as part of the Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve celebration. The western Santa Claus made inroads in the Russian Federation during
13231-458: The prime minister, Luzhkov and his party integrated with the pro-Putin Unity party into the single United Russia following the autumn 1999 Duma campaign, and endorsed Putin in the 2000 presidential elections , which he won easily. Luzhkov remained a co-chairman of United Russia. Luzhkov was accused of brutal suppression of opposition protests, and he was widely condemned for leaving Moscow during
13362-479: The pronunciation of ultra-short or reduced /ŭ/ , /ĭ/ . Because of many technical restrictions in computing and also because of the unavailability of Cyrillic keyboards abroad, Russian is often transliterated using the Latin alphabet. For example, мороз ('frost') is transliterated moroz , and мышь ('mouse'), mysh or myš' . Once commonly used by the majority of those living outside Russia, transliteration
13493-472: The proper pronunciation of uncommon words or names. Russian is an East Slavic language of the wider Indo-European family . It is a descendant of Old East Slavic , a language used in Kievan Rus' , which was a loose conglomerate of East Slavic tribes from the late 9th to the mid-13th centuries. From the point of view of spoken language , its closest relatives are Ukrainian , Belarusian , and Rusyn ,
13624-491: The respondents), while according to the 2002 census – 142.6 million people (99.2% of the respondents). In Ukraine , Russian is a significant minority language. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 14,400,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 29 million active speakers. 65% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 38% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. On 5 September 2017, Ukraine's Parliament passed
13755-601: The secular New Year . After the ousting of Communism at the beginning of the 1990s, two other "good old men" (as they are currently styled in Slovenian) reappeared in public: Miklavž (" Saint Nicholas ") is said to bring presents on 6 December, and Božiček ("Christmas man"; usually depicted as Santa Claus) on Christmas Eve . St. Nicholas has had a strong traditional presence in Slovenian ethnic territory and his feast day remained celebrated in family circles throughout
13886-519: The signatures of 114,000 Moscow residents against the statue's return. In 1996 Luzhkov, hoping to advance his political stature on a national level, became the main advocate for a claim to the city of Sevastopol in Ukraine. In December, the Russian Federation Council passed a resolution officially claiming the city, affecting negotiations between President Boris Yeltsin and Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma over possession of
14017-482: The smog crisis resulting from the 2010 Russian wildfires . He is also blamed for traffic congestion in the city. In 2002, Luzhkov proposed returning to Lubyanka Square the fifteen-ton iron statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky , founder of the Soviet Cheka . The statue was removed after the failure of the attempted coup against the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. Opponents of the proposal collected
14148-626: The survey carried out by RATING in August 2023 in the territory controlled by Ukraine and among the refugees, almost 60% of the polled usually speak Ukrainian at home, about 30% – Ukrainian and Russian, only 9% – Russian. Since March 2022, the use of Russian in everyday life has been noticeably decreasing. For 82% of respondents, Ukrainian is their mother tongue, and for 16%, Russian is their mother tongue. IDPs and refugees living abroad are more likely to use both languages for communication or speak Russian. Nevertheless, more than 70% of IDPs and refugees consider Ukrainian to be their native language. In
14279-459: The syntax of Russian dialects." After 1917, Marxist linguists had no interest in the multiplicity of peasant dialects and regarded their language as a relic of the rapidly disappearing past that was not worthy of scholarly attention. Nakhimovsky quotes the Soviet academicians A.M Ivanov and L.P Yakubinsky, writing in 1930: The language of peasants has a motley diversity inherited from feudalism. On its way to becoming proletariat peasantry brings to
14410-529: The tradition of Ded Moroz has continued. In Tajik, Ded Moroz is known as Boboi Barfi ("Grandfather Snow"), and Snegurochka is called Barfak ("Snowball"). In 2012, a young man dressed as Ded Moroz was stabbed to death in Dushanbe by a crowd shouting "You infidel!". The murder was motivated by religious hatred, according to the Tajik police. On 11 December 2013, Saidali Siddiqov, the first deputy head of
14541-786: The two. Others divide the language into three groupings, Northern , Central (or Middle), and Southern , with Moscow lying in the Central region. The Northern Russian dialects and those spoken along the Volga River typically pronounce unstressed /o/ clearly, a phenomenon called okanye ( оканье ). Besides the absence of vowel reduction, some dialects have high or diphthongal /e⁓i̯ɛ/ in place of Proto-Slavic * ě and /o⁓u̯ɔ/ in stressed closed syllables (as in Ukrainian) instead of Standard Russian /e/ and /o/ , respectively. Another Northern dialectal morphological feature
14672-410: The upcoming presidential election. Otechestvo had the support of many powerful regional politicians, and it gained further support when it merged with another party, Vsya Rossiya (All Russia) to form Otechestvo-Vsya Rossiya . Many observers of Russian politics believed that Luzhkov and his new ally, former prime minister Yevgeniy Primakov , would be likely to displace both Yeltsin and his inner circle in
14803-511: The use of the language has some presence in certain areas. A large part of the population, especially the older generations, can speak Russian as a foreign language. However, English has replaced Russian as lingua franca in Lithuania and around 80% of young people speak English as their first foreign language. In contrast to the other two Baltic states, Lithuania has a relatively small Russian-speaking minority (5.0% as of 2008). According to
14934-657: The way to do it. It's disgusting to take part in marauding, and I will never do it. Thus, the story of my conflict with Baturina is from now on completely over." Luzhkov was dismissed by President Medvedev on 28 September 2010, after returning from a holiday in Austria , citing "loss of trust". Pundits had been predicting Luzhkov's imminent ousting for years. The September 2010 dismissal followed weeks of speculation regarding Luzhkov's position, caused by his questioning of Medvedev's leadership. Government-controlled television channels had run programs criticizing Luzhkov's handling of
15065-411: The year, a form to send e-mail to Ded Moroz, photos, videos, streaming audio of Russian songs, poems and verses from children's letters to Ded Moroz, information on Veliky Ustyug in Vologda Oblast (considered to be Ded Moroz's hometown) and opportunities to enter competitions and win prizes. There are equivalents of Ded Moroz and Snegurochka all over the former USSR , as well as the countries once in
15196-549: Was Luzhkov who controversially ordered the destruction of houses built in the Rechnik neighbourhood of Moscow. According to an interview published in the Moskovsky Komsomolets , Luzkhov said that the residents were squatting on land in a "protected environmental zone." Residents claimed that Soviet-era permits to the land, which was set aside as a gardening collective in the 1950s, gave them de facto title over
15327-405: Was accused of corruption, bulldozing historic buildings, and poor handling of traffic, as well as the city's smog crisis during the 2010 Russian wildfires . On 28 September 2010, Luzhkov was fired from his post by a decree issued by then- President Dmitry Medvedev . Yury Mikhailovich Luzhkov was born on 21 September 1936 in Moscow. His father, Mikhail Andreyevich Luzhkov, moved to Moscow from
15458-572: Was allegedly a devoted Orthodox Christian believer, often appearing at Christmas and Easter liturgies . A BBC documentary made during the late 1990s questioned this, asserting he was not an Orthodox Christian. When asked why he supported the Church, he replied that he supported its moral teachings. He was friendly with Patriarch Alexy II . In 2005 he was given an award from the International Fund of Unity of Orthodox Christians. Luzhkov
15589-792: Was also proposed. Initially he was said to live in Siberia , but with the Informbiro crisis and the schism between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union his home was relocated to Mt. Triglav , Slovenia's (and also Yugoslavia's) highest peak. Public processions featuring the character began in Ljubljana in 1953. The notion of Grandpa Frost was ideologically useful because it served to reorient the December/January holidays away from religion ( Saint Nicholas Day and Christmas ) and towards
15720-500: Was being discouraged by the authorities; however, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture had denied this. In 2012 it was reported that Uzbekistan , a largely Muslim nation, moved away from celebrating Christmas. While the celebration of the New Year still remains a notable family event, it is no longer celebrated on a wide national scale, as it was during the times of the Soviet Union , and Ded Moroz, while not being banned,
15851-405: Was being rehabilitated as memories of his "reign of terror" faded. Luzhkov married his first wife, Marina Bashilova, in 1958, and had two sons with her, Mikhail and Alexander. Bashilova died from liver cancer in 1989. He met his second wife, businesswoman Yelena Baturina , 27 years his junior, in 1987. They married in 1991 and had two daughters, Elena (born 1992) and Olga (born 1994), and owned
15982-422: Was called "Grandfather Frost" ( Bosnian : Djeda Mraz ; Croatian : Djed Mraz ; Macedonian : Дедо Мраз , romanized : Dedo Mraz ; Serbian : Деда Мраз , romanized : Deda Mraz ; Slovene : Dedek Mraz ). He was said to bring gifts for the New Year because public celebration of Christmas was frowned upon during communism. In Croatia after the breakup of Yugoslavia , Djed Mraz
16113-706: Was critical of homosexuality and issued several bans on the Moscow Pride parade , organised by Nikolay Alexeyev . Gay activists accused him of homophobia , and sent their appeals to the European Court of Human Rights complaining the breach of Freedom of Assembly , which is granted in the European Convention on Human Rights . Luzhkov was known as an enthusiastic advocate of the Northern river reversal project, which he believed would solve
16244-572: Was established in 2002 on the initiative of Luzhkov, in the same year Luzhkov became the scientific leader of this faculty and an honorary professor at the university. On the same day, ex-mayor Luzhkov left his former workplace. On 21 September 2016, Luzhkov's 80th birthday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding him the Order of Merit of the Fatherland, 4th degree "for active public work". In 2010, Luzhkov became head of Veedern,
16375-657: Was established in the name of Yuri Luzhkov by the National Theatre Award “Crystal Turandot” and first awarded in June 2021. At the festival the Foundation has established a special prize to the “Young Innovator” and awarded it annually. Long-term cooperation has been established with the International Festival of Scientific and Technological Development for Children and Youth. At the Festival,
16506-405: Was first introduced in North America when Russian explorers voyaged into Alaska and claimed it for Russia during the 18th century. Although most Russian colonists left after the United States bought the land in 1867, a handful stayed and preserved the Russian language in this region to this day, although only a few elderly speakers of this unique dialect are left. In Nikolaevsk, Alaska , Russian
16637-421: Was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 19% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. According to the 2014 Moldovan census , Russians accounted for 4.1% of Moldova's population, 9.4% of the population declared Russian as their native language, and 14.5% said they usually spoke Russian. According to the 2010 census in Russia , Russian language skills were indicated by 138 million people (99.4% of
16768-489: Was labeled a communist creation and Djed Božićnjak (literally: "Grandfather Christmas") was introduced. Attempts were made in the mass media and advertising to replace Djed Mraz with Djed Božićnjak . After 1999 the names of Djed Mraz and Djed Božićnjak became more or less synonymous, including in their use on public television. In some families Djed Mraz is still said to bring gifts at New Year. In Croatia, children also get presents on 6 December. Due to
16899-504: Was ready to provide full compensation by offering other land plots in the vicinity of Moscow for veterans of World War II who lived in Rechnik since Soviet times. In 2010, Luzhkov made public his plans to honour Soviet leader Joseph Stalin with ten posters of him in the city of Moscow, for the first time in around fifty years after Nikita Khrushchev 's criticism of Stalin-period policies . Liberal critics expressed concern that Stalin
17030-591: Was removed from Uzbek TV channels. This decision was met with mixed reception. Some say that traditions are not for the government to decide upon, whereas more orthodox Muslims want the New Year and Ded Moroz banned altogether, as was done with Valentine Day . Russian language Russian is an East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family . It
17161-402: Was the sixth-most used language on the top 1,000 sites, behind English, Chinese, French, German, and Japanese. Despite leveling after 1900, especially in matters of vocabulary and phonetics, a number of dialects still exist in Russia. Some linguists divide the dialects of Russian into two primary regional groupings, "Northern" and "Southern", with Moscow lying on the zone of transition between
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