Вековни езикови взаимодействия между българи и руси

There has been а centuries-long exchange of spiritual values between the Bulgarian and Russian people. The Old Bulgarian literary language which penetrated into the Russia of Kiev together with the spread of Christianity became the first standard language of the Eastern Slavs. The Old Bulgarian (and Middle Bulgarian) language systems were interwoven with Russian language elements, thus creating an interesting genre variety in Russian literature. In spite of the penetration of the vernacular language, the Old Church-Slavonic literary norm remained predominant in standard Russian during the pre-national period. The considerable number of Bulgarisms in modern standard Russian may serve as evidence of that. Russian phonetic features began to appear in Bulgarian written records probably in the 12th с. However the Old Church-Slavonic linguistic penetration actually started during the second half of the 17th c. and lasted through the 17th, 18th and 19th c., the Russian elements (mainly lexical) being added to the Old Church-Slavonic language system. This influence played an important role in the formation of Modern Standard Bulgarian.