![Russian language East Slavic language](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Idioma_ruso.PNG/320px-Idioma_ruso.PNG)
Russian is an East Slavic language, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Although, nowadays, nearly three decades after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, as well as in Israel and Mongolia, the rise of state-specific varieties of this language tends to be strongly denied in Russia, in line with the Russian World ideology.
![Nu Virgos Ukrainian girl group](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/%D0%92%D0%98%D0%90_%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B0.jpg/320px-%D0%92%D0%98%D0%90_%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B0.jpg)
Nu Virgos was the name used to promote the musical group VIA Gra outside of Ukraine and other nearby countries. The name VIA Gra is a triple wordplay: it is an allusion to the drug Viagra, also the first three letters "ВІА" ("VIA") stand for "vocal-instrumental ensemble" in Ukrainian, and "Гра" ("hra") means "game" or "play" in Ukrainian, and it is also kind of a signature of the surnames of the two first girls of the group, VI-nnytsk-A and GRA-novska, the originally used maiden name of Nadya Meikher. Nu Virgos was a Ukrainian girl group that hit the charts in Ukraine and Russia in September 2000 with their first single "Popytka No. 5". Their first success outside the Russian language area was in May 2004 with the single "Stop! Stop! Stop!", an English version of their 2002 Russian song. The group is known for their frequent lineup changes, with 13 different individuals having at one time been in the group. The group was co-created by Dmitriy Kostyuk and Konstantin Meladze. Kostyuk is the manager of the group and the co-producer of the group's albums. Meladze is the writer of the group's songs and the co-producer of the group's albums.