Russia

ven today the mention of Russia invokes certain mystical ideas, and no amount of westernisation and integration with global markets will change this. Nevertheless, the country has changed beyond recognition since Gorbachev set out to reform the Soviet Union more than 15 years ago.

Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. It is spoken in all former Soviet Republics and much of Eastern Europe. A difficult language to master, it is correspondingly rewarding when you start to make progress.