English in Russia: To Learn or Not To Learn – That Is the Question

This article explores the issues of the English language position in Russia. In recent years English has emerged as the pre-eminent language for international communication all over the globe. It is spoken by more people around the world than any other language, and is regularly described as a truly ‘global ’ language. The author claims that the position of English in Russia is not that striking as in the whole world. It is mostly connected with the geographical position of this huge country / Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's ninth most populous nation with 143 million people as of 2012. Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans nine time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. The author comes to the conclusion that only the center of Russia (such cities as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg) exhibits the special role of English for most of the population due to the international companies that are mostly located there and offer jobs for people, the most outstanding Universities that invite students from abroad and international affairs that huge Russian companies accumulated in the above mentioned cities have with their foreign partners