One in Three of Languages Used in Russian Schools are at Risk of Disappearing and All except Russian May Do So as Well, Moscow Scholars Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 15 – Twenty-four languages out of 76 used for instruction in Russian schools are now at risk of dying out because those who know these languages don’t use them on a regular basis or are themselves passing from the scene, according to Russian linguists and other scholars.

            This disturbing fact is reported by Vedomosti journalist Yekaterina Dorofeyeva on the basis of an examination of data from the education ministry, the Federal Institute of Native Languages, and the Institute of Linguistics (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2025/09/15/1139222-tret-prepodavaemih-v-shkolah-rf-yazikov-nahoditsya-pod-ugrozoi-ischeznoveniya).

            And it is a useful reminder to those concerned about the survival of the languages and peoples of the Russian Federation that securing instruction in a language, as important as that is, doesn’t provide the guarantee that the language and the nation which speaks it will long survive, at least in the opinion of Russian academic experts.

            Other non-Russian languages now used in school instruction are at risk of falling into the category of dying languages. Andrey Kibrik, director of the Institute of Linguistics, says that “all languages except Russian” have ever fewer people who know their native languages and many more who already kna\\ow only Russian.

            Children of these nations often come to school with no knowledge of their native language and in fact knowing and using Russian instead. “From the point of view of preserving linguistic diversity,” Kibrik continues, the situation in Russia today is “negative,” despite the Russian Constitution’s specification that the state must work to keep such diversity alive.

            To be sure, the Academy of Sciences expert says, “the chances to preserve many languages remain; but for this it will be necessary to invest resources and conduct consultations with experts,” steps that Moscow is not now taking to the necessary extent.

            There are many take-aways from this report, but three are especially important: First, those who want to preserve their native languages must focus not just on the languages used in schools but on that used in early childhood. Second, no non-Russian language is safe from disappearing if Moscow continues its current policies.

            And third – and this is likely to be the most important – Russian experts despite their implicit criticism of Moscow’s policies are telling the Kremlin that the non-Russian languages are all likely to disappear in the coming decades, a message that means Putin and his successors will count on that rather than meeting constitutional requirements and trying to stop it.