Russian is natively spoken by about 143 million people, primarily in Russia, where it is the official language, and among Russian-speaking communities in former Soviet republics and around the world. It is integral to Russian cultural identity, known for its literature, classical music, and contributions to science and space exploration. Written in the Cyrillic alphabet, Russian grammar features a subject-verb-object (SVO) word order, extensive inflection of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, and a system of verb aspects that denote completed and ongoing actions.