Language Spoken in Moscow: Russian (Official, Dominant, Slavic)

The Direct Answer

Russian (русский язык, russkiy yazyk) is the sole official language of Moscow and the Russian Federation. It is the native language of ~90% of Moscow's 13M residents and the lingua franca for virtually all interethnic communication.

Linguistic Profile

• Family: Indo-European → Balto-Slavic → East Slavic.
• Closest relatives: Ukrainian, Belarusian, Rusyn (mutual intelligibility ~60–80% written, less spoken).
• Script: Cyrillic (33 letters, derived from Greek uncial + Glagolitic, 10th c.).
• Grammar: Synthetic, fusional — 6 cases, 3 genders, aspectual verbs (perfective/imperfective), free word order (SVO default).
• Vocabulary: Native Slavic core + Church Slavonic liturgical layer + 18th–20c. French/German/English loans (science, admin, tech).

Moscow's Linguistic Landscape

• Standard Russian (Modern Literary) — based on Moscow dialect (central Russian).
• Migrant languages: Tajik, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Ukrainian, Moldovan, Chinese, Vietnamese — heard in markets, construction, services. No official status.
• English: Widely taught; proficiency varies (higher in business, IT, youth). Not an official language.
• Signage: Russian only (federal law). Airports/major hotels add English/Chinese.

Why It Matters

• Moscow = political, economic, cultural, scientific capital → Russian standardization radiates outward.
• Education, media, law, military, internet (Runet) all operate in Russian.
• Minority languages (Tatar, Chechen, etc.) have republic-level status elsewhere, not in Moscow city.

Bottom Line

In Moscow, Russian is everything. If you function there, you function in Russian.