Population: 145 mln
Nationalities: over 100 incl Russians (81.5%), Tatars (3.8%), Ukranians (3%), Chuvashs (1.2%), Bashkirs (0.9%), Byelorussians (0.8%), Mordvinians (0.7%), Germans and Chechens (0.6% each), Avarians, Armenians, Jews (0.4% each), etc.
Language: Russian (the Cyrillic alphabet) as the state language
All the population speaks Russian. In some regions, the local ethnic groups also have their languages and dialiects; media and school teaching might be in native languages.
Nowadays, most of the young generation of Russians from Moscow and St Petersburg speak English, but the knowledge of English remains rare in the regions.
English is a common language in the country’s hotels, resorts and restaurants. Other languages are not widely spoken. Only Moscow and St Petersburg have information indicators in English downtown. The signs in the subway and along the highways are in Cyrillic.
Religion: Orthodox for most population. Common are Catholicism, Lutheranism (in the western parts of the country), Islam (with ethnic groups in the south incl South Ural), Buddhism, Shamanism (in Asian part incl Buryatia). Atheism after the Soviet period became common.