The primary language spoken in Russia is Russian. As the official language of the country, it belongs to the East Slavic group of the Indo-European language family. Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which was developed in the 9th century and has since undergone several modifications. It is the most widely spoken Slavic language and serves as a lingua franca among various ethnic groups within the vast Russian Federation. Additionally, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The language has a rich literary tradition, producing renowned authors like Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose works continue to be celebrated globally.