Slavic peoples speaking the East Slavic languages

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Slavs</span>

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "East Slavs" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR  (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

East Slavs

<p>The <b>East Slavs</b> are the most populous subgroup of the <a href="/en/Slavs" title="Slavs" class="wl">Slavs</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-GRE1_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-GRE1-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span> They speak the <a href="/en/East_Slavic_languages" title="East Slavic languages" class="wl">East Slavic languages</a>,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-GRE2_3-0"><a href="#cite_note-GRE2-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span> and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state <a href="/en/Kievan_Rus'" title="Kievan Rus'" class="wl">Kievan Rus'</a>, which they claim as their cultural ancestor.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-channon_5-0"><a href="#cite_note-channon-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span> Today, the East Slavs consist of <a href="/en/Belarusians" title="Belarusians" class="wl">Belarusians</a>, <a href="/en/Russians" title="Russians" class="wl">Russians</a>, <a href="/en/Rusyns" title="Rusyns" class="wl">Rusyns</a>, and <a href="/en/Ukrainians" title="Ukrainians" class="wl">Ukrainians</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Britannica_6-0"><a href="#cite_note-Britannica-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 6;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[6]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Slavic peoples speaking the East Slavic languages</div>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1097763485" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}html.client-js body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .mbox-text-span{margin-left:23px!important}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}</style>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Усходнія славяне / Uskhodniya slavyane (Belar...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vcard mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title fn org">East Slavs</caption><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above nickname" style="font-size:115%; font-weight:normal;"><div><small>Усходнія славяне / <i>Uskhodniya slavyane</i> (<a href="/en/Belarusian_language" title="Belarusian language" class="wl">Belarusian</a>)<br>Восточные славяне / <i>Vostochnyye slavianie</i> (<a href="/en/Russian_language" title="Russian language" class="wl">Russian</a>)<br>Восточны славяне / <i>Vostochny slaviane</i> (<a href="/en/Rusyn_language" title="Rusyn language" class="wl">Rusyn</a>)<br>Східні слов'яни / <i>Skhidni slov'yany</i> (<a href="/en/Ukrainian_language" title="Ukrainian language" class="wl">Ukrainian</a>)</small></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span><a href="/en/File:East_Slavic_Europe.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:East_Slavic_Europe.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/East_Slavic_Europe.svg/300px-East_Slavic_Europe.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="680" data-file-height="520" data-file-type="drawing" height="229" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/East_Slavic_Europe.svg/450px-East_Slavic_Europe.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/East_Slavic_Europe.svg/600px-East_Slavic_Europe.svg.png 2x" alt="East_Slavic_Europe.svg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r981673959" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}</style><div class="legend" style="text-align:left;"><span class="legend-color" style="border: 1px solid grey; background-color:#61db6fc3; color:;  -webkit-column-break-inside: avoid;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span><span>&nbsp;</span>Countries with predominantly East Slavic population<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" class="wl"><span>citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></div></div></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color:#b0c4de;">Total population</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data">200+ million<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" class="wl"><span>citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color:#b0c4de;">Regions with significant populations</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data">Majority: <br><a href="/en/Belarus" title="Belarus" class="wl">Belarus</a>, <a href="/en/Russia" title="Russia" class="wl">Russia</a>, <a href="/en/Ukraine" title="Ukraine" class="wl">Ukraine</a><sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" class="wl"><span>citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup><br>
Minority: <a href="/en/Baltic_region" title="Baltic region" class="wl">Baltics</a> (<a href="/en/Estonia" title="Estonia" class="wl">Estonia</a>, <a href="/en/Latvia" title="Latvia" class="wl">Latvia</a>, <a href="/en/Lithuania" title="Lithuania" class="wl">Lithuania</a>), <a href="/en/Serbia" title="Serbia" class="wl">Serbia</a>, <a href="/en/Caucasus" title="Caucasus" class="wl">Caucasus</a> (<a href="/en/Azerbaijan" title="Azerbaijan" class="wl">Azerbaijan</a>, <a href="/en/Georgia_(country)" title="Georgia (country)" class="wl">Georgia</a>), <a href="/en/Moldova" title="Moldova" class="wl">Moldova</a>, <a href="/en/Turkey" title="Turkey" class="wl">Turkey</a>, other <a href="/en/Former_Soviet_states" title="Former Soviet states" class="mw-redirect wl">former Soviet states</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" class="wl"><span>citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color:#b0c4de;">Languages</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><a href="/en/East_Slavic_languages" title="East Slavic languages" class="wl">East Slavic languages</a>:<br><small><a href="/en/Belarusian_language" title="Belarusian language" class="wl">Belarusian</a>, <a href="/en/Russian_language" title="Russian language" class="wl">Russian</a>, <a href="/en/Rusyn_language" title="Rusyn language" class="wl">Rusyn</a>, <a href="/en/Ukrainian_language" title="Ukrainian language" class="wl">Ukrainian</a></small></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color:#b0c4de;">Related ethnic groups</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data">Other <a href="/en/Slavs" title="Slavs" class="wl">Slavs</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>
<figure class="wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Slavic_girl.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Slavic_girl.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Slavic_girl.jpg/200px-Slavic_girl.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="744" data-file-height="1024" data-file-type="bitmap" height="275" width="200" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Slavic_girl.jpg/300px-Slavic_girl.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Slavic_girl.jpg/400px-Slavic_girl.jpg 2x" alt="Slavic_girl.jpg"></a><figcaption>A young Ukrainian girl in a folk costume, by Nikolay Rachkov</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg/250px-East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="767" data-file-height="952" data-file-type="bitmap" height="310" width="250" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg/375px-East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg/500px-East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg 2x" alt="East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg"></a><figcaption>Maximum extent of European territory inhabited by the East Slavic tribes—predecessors of Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Halecki_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-Halecki-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span>—in the 8th and 9th centuries.</figcaption></figure>


The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. 