ABSTRACT
Russian is the language of command in the Soviet armed forces. All commands are given in Russian, all training is conducted in Russian, and all orders are written in Russian. Observations on the general Russian-language abilities of various non-Russian servicemen differ from respondent to respondent, depending upon each one's own service experiences and the minorities with whom he had contact. Several clear patterns do emerge, however. In Central Asia, the problem is most severe, with rural youth often having had little or no Russian-language training. The determination about a conscript's Russian-language ability probably takes place at the voenkomat. Soldiers from different language families occasionally are observed using Russian as a lingua franca, for example, Georgians speaking with Tatars or Kirghiz speaking with Armenians. Three main kinds of problems are caused by the difficulties minority servicemen have with the Russian language: problems in carrying out military tasks, widespread dissimulation, and social conflict caused by communication breakdowns.
