This paper describes the linguistic plurality of the Russian Federation, assessing the impact that the hypothetical ratification of the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages could have on it. Four sections focus on the following:

(1) Introduction;

(2) Part 1--The Linguistic Plurality of the Russian Federation: the linguistic geography of Russia; the languages of Russia in history (the Indo-European family, the Altaic family, and Caucasian family, the Uralic-Yukaghir family, and the Paleo-Asiatic languages); linguistic policy and history; and the present day linguistic situation;

(3) Part II--Law and Languages in the Russian Federation: constitutional structure after independence; the normative policy of linguistic protection (contents of the linguistic regulations and conditions for the application of linguistic regulations); and future perspectives: Russia and the European Charter (the European Charter of regional and minority languages, consequences for Russia of the ratification of the Charter, and proposal for the application of the Charter to the languages of Russia);

(4) Sources and References. An appendix contains languages of the Russian Federation.

(Contains 30 bibliographic references.)