"Each of the small nations is the keeper of unique traditions"

Today, 47 indigenous small—numbered peoples live in Russia, and each of them is an integral part of the country's heritage. This was stated by Vladimir Putin on April 30 at a meeting with representatives of small nationalities at the marathon of the Znanie Society. The President promised that those ethnic groups whose number exceeds the threshold of 50 thousand people will not lose this status either — this worries, for example, the Nenets. Representatives of the Abaza and Yukaghir peoples asked the head of state to provide grants for the development of textbooks for the sake of preserving the language, and Vladimir Putin promised to build a bridge to a Russian nivkh from Sakhalin. The information about what interested the president in the gastronomy of small nations and why the bear is the most dangerous animal is in the Izvestia article.

What did Vladimir Putin talk about with representatives of small nations?

The educational marathon "Knowledge. The first ones": all leading politicians, representatives of business and culture have already spoken at the venue. Despite the fact that it has been held for several years, this time the marathon can really be called historic — it was timed to coincide with the Day of the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation, which is celebrated for the first time in 2026.

There are more than 190 peoples living in Russia, but there is a separate category among them — the small ones. They number less than 50 thousand people and live in the territories of the traditional settlement of their ancestors. Many of them were at the Manege site, where the forum was held for three days. On April 30, Vladimir Putin personally came to talk with them.

— There are 47 indigenous small-numbered peoples in our country. As I have already said, each of them is an integral part of Russia and its unique diversity, a guardian of unique traditions, cultures, and characters. Every nation and ethnic group belonging to the fraternal family of the peoples of Russia is, of course, our common heritage. And its preservation, multiplication, and well—being is the preservation and multiplication of the entire multinational people of Russia. The universality and strength of Russia lies in its diversity," the president said.

Representatives of more than 10 ethnic groups gathered at the table. All of them are as different as possible: from appearance and ethnicity to the place of settlement and type of activity. Some create cartoons, others teach indigenous languages, some work as reindeer herders, and others lead tours of their area. But they have much more in common. Everyone is distinguished by a special love for their small homeland and region: these people came here from the Caucasus, Kamchatka, Yugra, Perm Krai, Udmurtia, Karelia, and even from Chukotka and Sakhalin. Regardless of age — and the participants of the meeting ranged from 12 to 50 years old — everyone was willing to talk about the history of their kind and region. And, tellingly, everyone came in national costumes with unique decorations and embroideries, which many of them cut themselves.

There were completely different languages at the table — the president was greeted in Sami, Vepsian, and Koryak. Vladimir Putin, who speaks excellent German, was particularly interested in this. He even greeted a representative of the small Finno-Ugric people, the Besermians, who greeted him in their native dialect.

"Come on!" — the president said in response to the besermyanka Nadezhda Sidorova.

— Great! — She responded with a smile.

The Besermyan people, who live in Udmurtia, number only 2,067 people. Nadezhda Sidorova and her daughter even sang a song to the president in their rare language. It was an improvisational text that will never be repeated anywhere else. Such songs are called kresy: they have no semantic content, the main thing is to convey the inner state of a person.

— Such elements of oral culture, I know, they are usually transmitted very accurately by many peoples of the world. With certain precise intonations and pauses. This is a very accurate thing," the head of state appreciated.

Yanessa Kuznetsova, a representative of the Khanty people from the Khanty—Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a 5th grade student, also wanted to show the richness of her culture and played a rare instrument of the peoples of the North, nars—yukh, which means "singing tree" to the president. It is a string-plucked instrument similar to a psaltery. Appreciating the girl's game, the head of state began to ask her and everyone present about how they live.

For example, the Kosygin family, representatives of the Koryak and Dolgan peoples from the village of Palana in the Kamchatka Territory, he was seriously interested in how they get along with bears. The head of the family said that animals really can pass under the windows of their house in the summer, and on the way to kindergarten there may be an animal. But in general, they are not afraid of them in the region.

"That's where the bears are!" I'm serious, they're walking around like stray dogs. The truth is the truth! There are bears everywhere you turn, and it's kind of creepy. You need to be careful anyway. The beast is so dangerous. Starts running faster than the horse. Yes, he swims, climbs trees. A serious car! — the president warned.

From the very beginning of the meeting, it became clear that the conversation would be more like a family meal, rather than an ordinary discussion. It seems that the only one who was somewhat worried at this table was Maxim Dreval, General Director of Znanie, who moderated the meeting.

— Vladimir Vladimirovich, I'm worried that I need to let you go. I know you have a busy schedule," he said.

How to prepare multicapsades and gates

Vladimir Putin was also interested in the local cuisine of small nations. First, the president learned how to cook a stewed cabbage with meat and pearl barley from the Seto people living in the Pskov region. The representative of the people, Elena Variksoo, told the president that the national cuisine of her people is quite simple and tasty. First, the ingredients for the dish are stewed, and ideally, they are stewed for several hours in the oven. The head of state also listened about pumpkin compote, which also includes cinnamon, cloves, sugar and a little "sourness". And as an appetizer, I learned the secrets of the onion filling of traditional pies.

— We make amazing pies with lots of fillings. The onion pie is probably my favorite. Onion filling. Moreover, when you eat it, you will never in your life think that it is an onion. That is, it is so interesting to prepare," she said.

"It's probably got some kind of sauce in it, isn't it?" the president clarified.

— No, we add salt and add a little sweetness. It turns out to be such a caramelized onion," Varixoo revealed the secret of the recipe.

"They would have brought us here," Vladimir Putin remarked.

The other hostess was also quick to show off her culture. Anastasia Yevtushenko, a teacher of the Vepsian language from the village of Sheltozero in Karelia, spoke about traditional Vepsian gates. It turned out that the head of state had already tried them once, but the girl insisted that each hostess gets this dish in her own way.

— I'm sorry, please. This is an important question. Are they adding something else in different ways? — the president asked.

— Of course, yes. Each housewife knead the dough in her own way... Everyone makes the filling in different ways. Someone does it with the addition of milk, someone does it only with the addition of eggs, someone does not add anything at all. Even the potatoes are different for everyone. Therefore, the gates are not the same," Yevtushenko said.

The President asked Maxim Dreval whether the Znanie society generalizes such things and whether such recipes are posted on the Internet. In a conversation with Izvestia, Maxim Dreval said that Znanie already has many practices with the traditional culture of the peoples of Russia, including gastronomic ones.

— We fully support the idea that the president voiced during the meeting. The gastronomic culture, traditions, crafts, and languages of the peoples of Russia should be accessible to all citizens of the country. Today, as part of our educational events, there are workshops on folk crafts, dances of different peoples of Russia, as well as culinary workshops. We will continue and expand this work," he said.

Where did the forum participants invite Vladimir Putin

Of course, everyone invited Vladimir Putin to visit them. Andrei Kafkan, a tour guide from Sakhalin, especially eagerly invited the head of state. He spoke colorfully about his region and offered the head of state tourist routes. The President first suggested imagining that the tour had already begun and asked to tell us about the way. The guide replied that he would start exploring the region from the Sea of Okhotsk. The President was clearly impressed and even touched upon one of the most anticipated projects for Sakhalin residents.

— The number of tourists is increasing. Will we build a bridge to Sakhalin? An expensive story. It's not even that the bridge is expensive, but that the adjacent infrastructure to this bridge is the most expensive. But it still needs to be done," the president said.

— Bridge, yes, that would be great. All Sakhalin residents are just waiting for this. Because it will be a significant event to really connect with Russia," Andrei Kafkan replied.

Where the president has definitely promised to come is to the city of Vilyuchinsk in the Kamchatka Territory. The Head of State was inspired by the story of Alexei Krasilnikov, a young military man, a participant in the Free Military. The young man spoke about the positive changes in the city in recent years. Vladimir Putin probably wanted to see this personally, because, according to him, he had not been to Vilyuchinsk for a long time and remembers that there was "a lot of junk there," hinting at the housing stock.

The President also met with spouses Rodion and Kristina Puiko, who returned from their military service area. He is a Nenets from Salekhard, she is Russian. The young men served in different units: Rodion commanded a platoon of an assault squad, and Kristina was a nurse in a medical company of a motorized rifle regiment. They presented the President with an exposition dedicated to the heroes of the special military operation. A screen with portraits of fighters, including representatives of 58 peoples of Russia, became part of it.

What concerns small nations today

At the meeting, people did not forget to draw the president's attention to the problems they were concerned about. For example, Nenets Dmitry Laptander, from a family of hereditary reindeer herders, worries that his people may lose their small-numbered status. The number of his ethnic group has grown by 11.5% and is approaching 50 thousand, and accordingly, they will lose their guarantees. The President admitted that the problem had never occurred to him before, but promised that the Nenets would retain their status even when their numbers grew. He promised to discuss this issue with the government. It was thanks to state support measures in the Russian Federation that it was possible to preserve small-numbered peoples, their national identity and traditions, experts explained.

— Russia pays great attention to the preservation of small-numbered peoples, their culture, traditions, and language. They have special rights, such as the right to protect their native habitat, and the right to perform alternative civilian service instead of military service. There are special quotas for hunting and fishing," Elena Linkova, Doctor of Historical Sciences, lecturer at the Russian Society Znanie, told Izvestia.

In some regions, there are additional federal support measures. For example, in the Yamalo—Nenets Autonomous District there is a "freaky capital" - a set of items that are given to young families of small indigenous peoples of the North who lead a nomadic lifestyle. It even includes winter deerskin coverings and an oven.

Obviously, everyone at the table was concerned about a common issue — the preservation of their culture. Victoria Kavry, a Chukchanka, touched upon the preparation of textbooks in the Chukchi language, Irina Dzamyhova, a representative of the Abaza people from the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, a teacher, told the head of state about the lack of methodological materials for teaching preschoolers, and Anna Tatayeva, a teacher of the Yukaghir language, asked for grants for the development of manuals. The President agreed with all the proposals of the women.

— I would like to say that I see that the support of initiatives, and that's all you do, is creativity, these creative initiatives, give the best possible result, — he stressed.

The President agreed that the list of languages of small indigenous peoples, for which textbooks should be created, should be expanded. There are only 32 of them now. He also promised to instruct the Minister of Education, Sergei Kravtsov, to create a website where the methodology of preschool education through games will be presented.