Why learn Russian?

Around 260 million people speak Eastern Slavonic Russian, with 150 million of them being native speakers, predominantly in Russia and other countries.  It is the official language of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldavia, Gagauzia, Abkhazia, Transnistria, South Ossetia, and the United Nations. It is also recognised as a minority language in Romanian, Finnish, Norwegian,…