03.06.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

The Law on Languages discriminates languages of the national minorities in radio and television broadcasting; mandatory use of Cyrillic graphics ruled to be consistent with the Constitution ("Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation [Doc. 10568]") [#32710], [ID 11052]

"416. Another concern with regard to the legal framework, expressed by the Advisory Committee and which has not been addressed yet, is the provision of Article 20 of the Law on Languages of the Russian Federation's Peoples, which stipulates that broadcasts of the «all-Russian» TV and radio programmes are conducted in the Russian language only. This article appears to be overly restrictive as it implies an overall exclusion of the use of the languages of national minorities in nation-wide radio and TV broadcasting. The Advisory Committee concluded that such an a priori exclusion is not compatible with Article 9 of the Framework Convention, bearing in mind, inter alia, the size of the population concerned and the fact that a large number of persons belonging to national minorities are dispersed and reside within several subjects of the federation.

417. Moreover, in December 2002, the Law on Languages of the Russian Federation's Peoples was supplemented with a provision (paragraph 6, Article 3) requiring the use of an alphabet based on the Cyrillic graphics for the state languages of the Russian Federation and its Republics, unless exceptions are introduced through federal legislation. This, contrary to the Advisory Committee's opinion, means that the right of Republics to introduce a state language to be used alongside the Russian language, as provided in Article 68, paragraph 2, of the Russian Federation Constitution, is not considered to entail the right to choose the alphabet for the use of the language at issue.

418. On 16 November 2004, the Russian Constitutional Court ruled that the mandatory use of the Cyrillic graphics was consistent with the Constitution as it complies with the fixed principles of the federal organisation, first of all the principle of state unity, and also with the constitutional provisions that the basics of the federal policy in the cultural and national development field, in particular state language policy, protection of human rights and freedoms, are regulated by federal laws.

419. We, therefore, call on the Russian authorities to take account of the comments mentioned above and to bring the relevant legislation into line with the Council of Europe standards."

Document(s): Open document

20.04.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - Commissioner for Human Rights

Russian as the official language of the Federation; at least two official languages in the majority of republics ("Report by Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights, on his visit to the Russian Federation, 15-30 July 2004 and 19-20 September 2004 [CommDH(2005) 2]") [#32581], [ID 11053]

"203. The Constitution of the Russian Federation recognises Russian as the official language. However the individual republics may declare one or more official languages. Most of the subjects of the Russian Federation have at least two - Russian and the language of the “eponymous“ nationality. Dagestan is an exception, with ten official languages - Avar, Azeri, Dargin, Lak, Lezgin, Nogai, Tabasaran, Tat, Chechen and Russian - thus placing all the main nationalities in the republic on the same footing. Such a democratic approach to language use is a great asset to Russian culture. Moreover, it appears that this freedom has always existed, other than in the dark days of Stalinism.

204. I was particularly struck by my experience in Tatarstan. The local authorities had taken many steps to protect the rights of each ethnic group in the Republic, particularly regarding language use. Under local legislation, in areas where people from a particular minority language group are concentrated, that language may be designated a language of communication in addition to the official languages laid down in the republic‘s constitution."

Document(s): Open document

20.04.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - Commissioner for Human Rights

4000 newspapers published in national languages; many channels broadcasted in national languages face financial problems ("Report by Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights, on his visit to the Russian Federation, 15-30 July 2004 and 19-20 September 2004 [CommDH(2005) 2]") [#32581], [ID 11054]

"205. The written press, radio and television all help to keep national languages alive and in active use. Some 4000 newspapers in national languages are published across the country. In Krasnodar region, seven national languages are represented in the press: Russian, Armenian, Adyg, Georgian, Kurdish, German and Greek. However, although most subjects of the Federation have their own radio and television channels in national languages, Russian remains the main language of broadcasting. There are many channels and programmes in national languages but they do not always receive state financial support and find it difficult to achieve continuity of programming. However, these difficulties should not mask the successes. In Khanty-Mansiysk, for example, I met representatives of the Tatar cultural autonomy entity who told me about a regional television channel in the Tatar language, which is apparently doing well, with interesting programmes and a daily audience that is constantly rising."

Document(s): Open document

07.2002 - Source: Ethnologue.com

Languages of Russia ("Languages in the Asian regions") [ID 11055]

"Number of languages listed for Russia is 103. Of those, 100 are living languages and 3 are extinct"

Document(s): Languages in the Asian regions

07.2002 - Source: Ethnologue.com

Languages of Russia ("Languages in the European regions") [ID 11055]

"Number of languages listed for Russia is 103. Of those, 100 are living languages and 3 are extinct"

Document(s): Languages in the European regions

07.2002 - Source: Ethnologue.com

Languages of Russia ("Languages of Russia") [ID 11055]

"Number of languages listed for Russia is 103. Of those, 100 are living languages and 3 are extinct"

Document(s): Languages of Russia