MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. The geographical distribution of the Russian language is shrinking worldwide and this tendency cannot be reversed just yet, the Chairwoman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, said on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, we have not managed yet to beat this shrinking trend in the scope of the Russian language," the chairwoman claimed, adding that "at the beginning of the 20th century every seventh person on the planet belonged to "the Russian world" but today only every fiftieth."
Moreover, according to her, since the end of the previous century "the amount of Russian speaking people has decreased by several tens of millions of people".
Matviyenko called the situation uneasy when, according to opinion polls, up to 10% of people don’t speak Russian in some regions.
The senator noted that Russian needs to be supported not only abroad but also "in its own country." "According to the latest opinion polls, I won’t name the areas so that nobody will be insulted, but there are regions where around 10% of citizens don’t speak Russian," she asserted, adding that this is "extremely vital."
"Before saying that others need to be taught, it is better to focus on yourself," the chairwoman said. "It is unacceptable that 4-5% or 10% of people, like in some regions, cannot speak the state language," she added.