Rimma Kuruch

Rimma Dmitrievna Kuruch (, 6 May 1938 – 8 July 2019) was a specialist in language education. Much of her work focused on documenting, preserving, and encouraging the use of Kildin Sámi. Kuruch also helped form the Kola Sámi Association and served as its first co-vice president.

Early life and education Kuruch was born in the village of Balovo in Vachsky District, Gorky Oblast, Russia. Her parents were of Moldovan heritage. In 1961, she graduated from the Bălți State Pedagogical Institute in the Moldovan SSR with a degrees in Russian Language, Literature, and English and she began working as a teacher in rural schools in Moldova. In 1967, she completed graduate studies at the and she began work at Chernivtsi State University in the Ukrainian SSR in 1968. She became a full professor there in 1971 and continued at the university until 1975.

Sámi language work In 1975, Kuruch relocated to Murmansk, where she joined Pedagogical Institute Murmansk (now the ) to work with the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. There Kuruch participated as an editor and author in the project to create the first Sámi–Russian dictionary, Саамско–Русский Словарь/Са̄мь–Рӯшш Соагкнэһкь (published in 1985), which included 8,000 words, 400 proverbs and sayings, a sketch grammar, and extensive reference material.

In 1976, she became the head of a regional authors' group working to preserve and develop the Kildin Sámi language. The group developed the modern Cyrillic orthography for Kildin Sámi, along with curricula and resources for teaching Kildin Sámi to elementary schools. In 1995, Kuruch published with Nina Afanasyeva Правила орфографии и пунктуации саамского языка (Sámi Language Spelling and Punctuation Rules).

In 1989, she was elected as a co-vice president (alongside Nina Afanasyeva) of the Kola Sámi Association; however, she left the post after one year due to the association's requirement that officers be ethnic Sámi.