Bobry Southern regions of European Russia Ras’ejcy Central European part of Russia Sibir’aki Siberia Russian Roma PROJECT EDUCATION OF ROMA CHILDREN IN EUROPE COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONSEIL DEL´EUROPE 3.15 INTRODUCTION Russian Roma (also known as Xaladytka Roma in English-lan- guage literature) live on all the vast territory of Russia, both in the European part of the country and in Siberia. Nowadays mem- bers of this ethnic group also inhabit many former Soviet repub- lics (primarily Ukraine and Kazakhstan). According to the 2010 census, the Romani population of Russia is estimated to approxi- mately 205,000 people. One can speculate that Russian Roma must make up at least 50% of the entire Romani population in Russia, i.e. around 100,000 people. The common endonym is ruska roma (lit. ʻRussian Romaʼ). The term “Xaladytka Roma” is an exonym used by other Romani groups (e.g. Lithuanian or Latvian Roma) and not used by the Russian Roma themselves. The word xalado means ‘soldier’ and it is used to describe Russians; it also has parallels in other languages of the region, cf. Pol. moskal; Ukr. moská l’ (old meaning ‘soldier’) etc. Russian Roma speak a language closely related to Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Belarusian va- rieties of Romani, belonging to the Northeastern group of Ro- mani dialects. However, all Russian Roma are at least bilingual, with Russian as their second language. Children under school age can sometimes show a relatively weak command of Rus- sian. However, many Russian Roma families (especially living in large cities or coming from mixed marriages) are starting to use Russian at home more and more widely. There are families where children who speak Romani poorly or not at all. HISTORY Judging by the language of Russian Roma, their ancestors spent some time in Germany and Poland before coming to the East Slavic territories. The existing sources start mentioning Roma population on the territory of Russia since the beginning of the 18 th century. For instance, the Scottish traveler John Bell writes about Roma people coming from Poland, sent away from the To- bolsk region in 1721. Soon after their arrival in Russia, ancestors of Russian Roma became involved in entertainment, playing and singing at large celebrations. Since the 19 th century, Russian Roma living in large cities such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg started cre- ating Romani choirs, which soon became very popular among the Russian urban population. Nomadic Russian Roma were en- gaged in horse dealing and fortune telling. A drastic change in the life of nomadic Russian Roma took place in 1956 when a special decree issued by the Soviet government banned Roma from leading a nomadic life. Russian Roma had to start living in houses permanently, although they are still more mobile than non-Roma population and can easily change their place of residence. Nowadays Russian Roma often live dispersed, but they do tend to look for a house or fat in the area where other Roma are also present. Russian Roma prefer to live in private houses, but it is not uncommon for a Russian Ro- mani family to live in a fat. Russian Roma are also one of the most educated Romani groups in Russia. Many Russian Roma work as lawyers, doctors and teachers. The number of Russian Roma recieving universi- ty-level education is constantly growing. Although Russian Roma still prefer to marry within the Romani community, cases of mixed marriages with non-Romani partners are quite numerous. SOCIAL STRUCTURE Russian Roma, similarly to other Romani groups, split into sev- eral subgroups. The notion of kin or clans (rodo, roda, priroda, prirod’), family or territorial subdivisions, plays a key role in Russian Roma are the largest and one of the oldest Romani ethnic groups in Russia. Since the arrival of their ancestors to the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 18 th century, they spread all over the vast ter- ritory of this country, splitting into two subdivisions: urban population working as musicians and singers, and nomadic population specializing in horse dealing and fortune telling. After the 1956 decree banning nomadism, Russian Roma settled down and started adapting to the new circumstances. Nowadays they are one of the most integrated Romani ethnic groups in Russia. FACTSHEETS ON ROMANI CULTURE Ill. 1 Subgroups of Russian Roma Kirill Kozhanov