Director of the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication Radif Zamaletdinov joins first meeting of Russian Presidential Council on the Implementation of State Policy in Support of Russian Language and Languages of the Peoples of Russia

The meeting was chaired by President Vladimir Putin via video link on 5 November.

The discussion was also joined by Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sergey Kravtsov, Minister of Education, Sergey Stepashin, President of the Russian Book Union, Yevgeny Primakov, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Sergey Bezrukov, actor and Artistic Director of the Moscow Governorate Theatre, and other representatives of state authorities and public organizations, artists, scientists, and teachers.

In his speech, the head of state emphasized that support for the Russian language as the state language and the languages of the peoples of Russia is among the country’s key priorities.

“With all the unique ethno-cultural and religious diversity of our country, it is the Russian language that largely determines our spiritual and national identity,” Vladimir Putin said.

Speaking about the last meeting, Radif Zamaletdinov noted the depth and seriousness of preparations for it.

“Long before this meeting, Yelena Yampolskaya, Chairwoman of the Council, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, invited its members to present their thoughts on the development and promotion of the Russian language. All of them were submitted to Vladimir Putin for consideration, and we are very proud that the proposals in this area that we presented and agreed with the leadership of the university and the Republic of Tatarstan were approved and included in the text of his opening report. This concerns our proposals on the need to legislate uniform requirements for the minimum level of Russian language proficiency of foreign applicants and students, the organization of their state testing, the standardization of Russian language testing of migrant workers taking into account their professional specifics, the introduction of a system of mandatory diagnostics of the level of Russian language proficiency for children of migrants. Now there is a lot of work to be done to fulfill the tasks set by the President,” comments the Director.

Since the establishment of the previous Presidential Council on Russian Language in 2014, Radif Zamaletdinov has been its permanent member, as well as a member of the Presidium of the Council. Two years ago, he was entrusted with the leadership of the Center for Native Languages and Cultures of the Peoples of the Russian Federation of the Russian Academy of Education.