Legitimacy of Russian English

The paper substantiates the argument that though oriented towards the British or American model in education, proficient Russian users of English speak Russian English, which is a variety within the family of world Englishes and cannot be associated only with stigmatized Ruslish spoken by uneducated communicators from Russia. As an exonormative variety, Russian English is characterized by a greater variability of standards, usually has certain traces of the Russian language native to its users, and is underpinned by the Russian culture and mentality. As such, it is used as a secondary means to single out Russian identity in intercultural communication.