Russian lessons: Russia is increasing its presence in the countries of Eurasia
The Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Sergey Kravtsov announced the creation of the Eurasian Association for the Support of the Russian Language. The organization will promote the Russian language, culture and traditional values in the post-Soviet space and beyond. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
The Ministry of Education is preparing a program for foreign countries
Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov announced the creation of the Eurasian Association for the Support of the Russian Language at a press conference in Moscow. According to him, the organization will promote the Russian language, culture and traditional values. "This is a very important step towards friendly countries not only in Eurasia, but also in Latin America and Africa. I am sure that such interaction, exchange and enrichment of cultures will benefit everyone," he stressed.
It is assumed that within the framework of the project, Russian language learning centers will be opened in all EAEU and CIS countries, which will be provided with educational and fiction literature as a matter of priority. Numerous humanitarian events will be held on the basis of these centers, local communities will be created with the participation of representatives of NGOs and local businesses.
Russian Russian language schools are also planned to open bookstores and shops at the centers, launch courses for teachers of the Russian language, and organize Olympiads in the Russian language for schoolchildren. Finally, meetings with Russian writers will be held periodically in these centers, and a special program "Cool Friendship" will also be launched, within which schoolchildren from the CIS countries will be able to study on exchange. Additional details have not yet been announced, Izvestia has sent a request to the Ministry of Education, but no response has yet been received.
Elizaveta Khamraeva, Head of the Education Department of the Center for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Education, emphasized that the Russian language is becoming an important export product. According to her, Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the task of accepting more foreign applicants to Russian universities, and local work is underway in schools and kindergartens. "It is important to create a continuous educational track, and the Eurasian Association can become such a platform," she said.
In turn, the leader of the Moldovan political bloc "Victory" Ilan Shor said that the Russian language in the post-Soviet space is a unifying factor. "We must support this so that young people know him. Using the example of Moldova, I can say that the adult generation knows Russian, while the youth know less and less. Some political leaders contribute to this situation, they don't need anything to unite people," he argues.
The status of the Russian language in the world
The Russian language remains an important connecting factor in the post-Soviet space. At the same time, his status varies from country to country, and in some states his positions are protected by law. Thus, in Belarus it is recognized as the state language (along with Belarusian), in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — the official language (used together with the state language in various institutions), in Tajikistan — the language of interethnic communication.
In some countries, its positions are not regulated by law, but the situation remains relatively comfortable. Thus, in the Armenian Constitution, only Armenian is recognized as the official language, other languages are not mentioned. Russian Russian schools are operating in the country, and education in Russian can be obtained at several universities. Russian Russian media outlets are also published in Russian, Russian TV channels are broadcast in the country, and the Russian Drama Theater continues to operate in Yerevan.
In some other countries, there has been a long-term struggle over humanitarian issues. For example, Moldova adopted a law on language back in 1989, and Russian was denied the status of a second state language, which was one of the reasons for the war in Transnistria and the conflict in Gagauzia. Then Russian was given the status of the language of interethnic communication, but in 2018 the Constitutional Court overturned this decision, and in 2021 the verdict was repeated.
As a result, all office work and the work of the authorities are conducted in the official language, which has been called Romanian since 2023. Recently, pressure on Russian in the field of education has also been increasing. Russian Russian Minister of Education Dan Perchun said that the subject "History and culture of the Russian people", which is taught in schools with Russian as the language of instruction, promotes "Kremlin narratives." Natalia Davidovich, a deputy from the ruling party, proposed that the study of Russian in Moldovan schools should be gradually minimized.
In general, the position of the Russian language in the Eurasian space is dynamic. Russian Russian State Institute named after A.S. Pushkin stated in its special study that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of students studying Russian in neighboring countries fell by half, reducing to 20% of the total number of schoolchildren. In absolute terms, the number decreased from 9.2 million to 4.06 million people.
The largest drop was recorded in Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia and Turkmenistan, with Ukraine becoming the record holder, where there were 3 million fewer Russian-speaking students. At the same time, two countries — Kyrgyzstan and Belarus — recorded significant growth. In the last decade, indicators have also been growing in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. "This is due to the demographic factor, the high competitiveness of such education and direct support at the state level," the study notes.
Russian Russian authorities have been supporting and promoting the Russian language and culture since the early 2000s. In 2015, they adopted the Concept of Supporting and Promoting the Russian Language Abroad and launched a federal targeted program. Rossotrudnichestvo (a federal agency subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) plays an important role in this work, which has opened its representative offices in 80 countries — Russian Houses. They have libraries and reading rooms, film screenings, exhibitions, contests, lectures, and holidays.
The Agency also regularly organizes advanced training courses for teachers in those countries where there is a request for such training; conducts sociological research to understand how to adapt programs to the needs of the target audience. "It is important that the language is taught not abstractly, but for the sake of practical benefits. We need to understand what the motivation of the students is, what learning formats are in demand," emphasized Dmitry Polikanov, Deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo. Apparently, the Ministry of Education will now be more actively involved in this work.
What the experts say
Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries, believes that the creation of the Eurasian Association for the Support of the Russian Language meets the interests of both Russia and neighboring countries.
— Russian in the near abroad is often taught by commercial structures, they have different standards, the level of teachers, and the depth of study. It is important to bring order to this area and standardize it in a certain way. This is in our common interests — we cannot abandon the foreign workforce, our markets and jobs are important to these countries," he notes.
Mikhail Neizhmakov, Director of Analytical Projects at the Agency for Political and Economic Communications, calls the preservation of the position of the Russian language in foreign countries an important political issue.
— The promotion of Russian "soft power" is impossible without solving this problem, the work with the information space of the respective countries, the implementation of cultural and educational programs, and much more depend on its results. It is no coincidence that the issue of building Russian schools or educating teachers in Russian universities usually becomes one of the topics in interstate negotiations. I am sure that in such circumstances, new organizations that will deal with this topic will receive serious federal support," he explains.
The interlocutor adds that Moscow will face a serious challenge in the near future — there will be a generational change in the post-Soviet space, and people who did not find the USSR will increasingly come to the fore in society and elite groups.
— In these conditions, Russia will have to invest more resources in promoting its information and cultural influence and look for new approaches for this in the coming decade. The effectiveness of this work will largely depend on Moscow's political influence — whether such programs will enjoy the support of these countries or, on the contrary, face direct or covert opposition," he concluded.
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