[hourislate]

>but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers

Only because Russia tried to destroy the language and culture of all the nations it occupied. They forced citizens of other countries to speak Russian and not their native languages. It is only the most spoken by older generations while the younger generations of other countries are being raised in their native language.

Given enough time, the Russian language will only be spoken by Russians.

[DiogenesKynikos]

What a negative comment! The same could be said of English, which is the dominant international language because of British imperialism.

It's also, historically speaking, simply not true that Russia tried to wipe out the languages of the countries it occupied (also, liberated from the Nazis) after WWII. Russian was taught in school as a second language, but there wasn't any plan to wipe out the Polish language, for example.

[tempest345]

> liberated from the Nazis

'Liberated' by invading first you mean. As was done in my country, among others.