(also included in the western group of Southern Russian dialects) Smolenskian (Smolenskiy) (includes Smolensk, Nevel, Klintsy) Northeast Old East Slavic (Old Russian) Russian (Pусский язык – Russkij / Russkiy Yazyk) (an older name was великорусский - Velikorusskiy - Great Russian or Great Russian language) (distinction between russian dialects of primary formation and russian dialects of second formation is mainly chronological and geographical not genealogical) (dialects of primary formation correspond to Old Russia, mainly settled before 16th century, the Russian Core dialects in the central area of European Russia) (dialects of secondary formation correspond to the new territories where Russians expanded, mainly and especially after the Russian expansion and conquests from the 16th century until 19th centuries and the formation of a Russian diaspora outside Russia proper) Southern Russian Western Southern Russian Upper Dnieper (includes Vyaz'ma) Upper Desna (includes Bryansk) Transitional Group A (between Western Southern Russian and Central Southern Russian) (includes Mosal'sk, Zhizdra, Sevsk) Central Southern Russian / Oryol-Don / Kursk-Oryol (Orlovskiy – Orelian; Broad Orlovskiy) (includes Oryol or Orel, Kursk, Belgorod, Kozel'sk) Orlovskiy Proper (origin in Oryol region) (spoken in east central and southern European Russia, including Russians in North Caucasus, and by many Russians in Eastern Ukraine and Southern Ukraine) Transitional Group B (Tul'skiy – Broad Tulian) (between Central Southern Russian or Orlovskiy, and Eastern Southern Russian or Ryazan'skiy) Tul'skiy – Tulian / Tulian Proper (includes Kaluga, Tula, Serpukhov, Kolomna) Yeletsian (includes Yelets) Oskolian (includes Stary Oskol) Eastern Southern Russian (Ryazan'skiy – Ryazanian; Broad Ryazanian) (origin in Ryazan region) (east of the Don (river) and south of the Oka (river) ) (includes Ryazan, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Tambov) (spoken in east central and southeast European Russia, in part of the Middle Volga and in the Lower Volga, Volga Delta and Orenburg region, and along the border with western Kazakhstan and the Ural river region) (in some regions it overlapps with Central Russian dialects) Central-Northern Russian / Middle-Northern Russian Central Russian / Middle Russian (Transitional Northern-Southern Russian, has characteristics with both southern and northern dialects) (this dialectal area forms a big arc strip or bow-shaped strip, from northwest towards southeast, between southern and northern dialects, including both dialects of primary and second formation, from Saint Petersburg, passing by Veliky Novgorod, Tver, Moscow, Penza, Saratov and Volgograd, to Astrakhan) West Central Russian / West Middle Russian (Novgorodskiy – Novgorodian) (Old Novgorodian substrate) Groups with okanye Gdov dialectal group (in Gdov city and