The Russian language belongs to the East Slavic subgroup of Slavic languages. It is a part of the Indo-European language family and has a rich and complex history. As Indo-European tribes started to spread to the East as well as to the West, new dialect groups were formed. The Slavic tribes settled in present-day eastern Europe developed their own language, which is now known as the Proto Slavonic or Common Slavonic. 

Around 500 AD, Common-Slavonic was further divided into three distinct language groups- Eastern, Western, and Southern. Later, Eastern Slavic gave birth to three modern languages, Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian. However, the timeline of the evolution of this language is somewhat obscured and debated as no written evidence of this time could be found. 

The first written record of Eastern Slavic (Old Russian) can be traced back to the 9th century. In 862 AD, Thessalonian Monks Cyril and Methodius took the initiative of translating the Bible and other religious scriptures into Slavic language so that common people could access them. Around this time, Cyril and Methodius developed a complex writing system (Glagolitic alphabet) based on the Macedonian dialect. Later, other missionaries simplified the writing system and developed the Cyrillic alphabet. However, some historians believe Cyril himself developed the writing system. This writing system was mostly based on the Greek alphabet, with a dozen additional letters representing Slavic sounds. 

A drastic reformation of the language was undertaken in the 15th century after the decline of the Byzantine Empire. During this time, scholars who emigrated to Moscow felt the need for a standardized Slavic language. They reintroduced some archaic expressions and phonemes in an attempt to restore the ‘purity’ of the language.     

In the 18th century, Tsar Peter the Great made some changes in the writing system as a part of his westernizing policy. During this time, some irrelevant Greek letters were discarded from the alphabet to make it simpler.

During this time, the scholars were still not in agreement about which style of language was best suited for literary works- the Old Church Slavonic or the modern colloquial variations. In the 19th century, the great Russian poet Alexandar Pushkin began to combine both variations in his writings. Pushkin is considered the father of the modern Russian language as his style became the norm for later literary works.  

During the Soviet era, the Communist government reformed the language further so anybody could learn it without difficulties. A few phonemes were discarded, and the hard sign was eliminated altogether, as they were irrelevant to the contemporary language.