10.2002 - Source: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Overview on the Russian minority in Armenia ("The Ethnic Minorities of Armenia") [#9856],  [ID 3078]

"However, the presence of whatever substantial Russian ethnic element in Armenia is noted only
after the inclusion of Eastern Armenia into the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century.
The Russian sectarians, officials, military structures, etc., are the first manifestation of the Russian
presence on the demographic map of Eastern Armenia. A substantial inflow of Russians to Armenia
occurred only after the establishment of the Soviet Power.
The largest number of resident Russians was noted by the late 1970s – 70 000, including the
Molocans (Old Ritualists). However at the Union-wide census of 1989 this number was reduced to
51 000, while now, due to the general migration processes, the country retained only 7 – 8 thousand
Russians, barring the Molokans (see THE MOLOKANS).
Despite the numerical reduction of Armenia’s Russian population, the status of the Russian
language is sustainable, as far as an unofficial language can go: there are Russian newspapers,
societies, TV- and radio programming, books in Russian are published extensively in science,
education, fiction, etc. The Slavic University is a recent establishment with Russian as the language
of instruction, departments of the Russian language and literature are functional at the Yerevan State
University and at the V. Briusov Linguistic University; there are Russian schools, classes, etc."

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