The Continual War Against Russia & Its Primary Defense Mechanism–Ethnic Unity

As disclosed at the 90-minute meeting of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations.

With thanks to Karl Sanchez from karlof1’s Geopolitical Gymnasium

Featured Image:  Ethnic groups map that still comes up short of the overall total but offers a good look.

The Interethnic Relations Council looks big but still falls short of having a representative from all 194 ethnic groups—almost four times the number of delegates would need to be seated around the table below:

Russia’s National Unity Day is 4 November and President Putin provides a short history lesson in the preamble to his speech to the Council. The video tells us the proceedings lasted 90-minutes with others besides Mr. Putin speaking to the issue at hand, which as Putin tells us “is dedicated to the State National Policy Strategy, the results of its implementation since 2012, and the preparation of a new version of this document for the next ten years.” More Russian planning which is clearly not done in a vacuum or by just one person or a small oligarchy. The article’s title touches on the basis for Russia’s Unity Day and the strategic reason why it has a national policy strategy to deal with the never-ending attempts to undermine its unity and split Russia into small statelets. Given what we see happening in the Collective Western Empire to maintain its oligarchic rule by the continual use of divide and rule policies that are aimed at all sectors of their societies so unity cannot occur, what Russia does to oppose such efforts can be used as an example for those within the Empire trying to defeat the oligarchy’s policies and attain societal solidarity. To the meeting:

V. Putin: Dear colleagues!

First, I would like to return to yesterday’s events, the festive events associated with National Unity Day.

You know that this holiday is associated with the turning points of the early 17th century, with the victory over the intervention and the Time of Troubles. It was a true feat of the people, and it was accomplished by representatives of different social classes and nationalities in the name of their common homeland.

At the same time, those distant events are also a lesson for all of us, a lesson for all time, a warning to our descendants not to allow disputes to escalate into conflicts that destroy the country, not to allow the foundations of the state to become unstable, and, of course, to preserve social and national unity, our values, and our shared principles. This is, without exaggeration, the most important and fundamental pillar of our sovereignty.

Today, our heroes, soldiers, and officers are showing a vivid example of genuine interethnic unity and combat brotherhood during the special military operation. They are fighting together for Russia, proving in battle that we are all one people.

Dear colleagues!

Our meeting is dedicated to the State National Policy Strategy, the results of its implementation since 2012, and the preparation of a new version of this document for the next ten years.

I would like to note that over the past years, a number of significant organizational and managerial decisions have been made within the framework of the Strategy. Essentially, a comprehensive national policy system has been built, updated to meet current challenges and objectives.

I would like to thank all of you, the Presidential Council, our colleagues from government agencies and public organizations, the spiritual leaders of traditional religious associations, and our scientific community, for your work.

The legal framework, institutions, and mechanisms that have proven their effectiveness need to be further refined and adjusted, including the system for monitoring and early warning of risks of conflict situations in the field of interethnic and interreligious relations.

In general, sociology records stable and positive trends in these areas, thank God, but this is in general. It is important to respond immediately to any local incidents that may arise, as life is complex and diverse. It is necessary to prevent provocations and attempts to incite discord among people, given that the provocateurs themselves are usually based abroad and are supported, financed, and directed by foreign intelligence agencies.

The goal is obvious–-to undermine our unity. Our opponents use any and every pretext and excuse, from everyday incidents to the migration factor, to destabilize the situation, incite conflicts, and rely on radical groups, which are openly terrorist methods.

Outside of Russia, new supposedly international organizations and all sorts of pseudo-national centers are being created, but in reality they are just tools of information war against us. You know this: now more and more often they are talking about some kind of” decolonization “ of Russia, and in fact, the dismemberment of the Russian Federation and inflicting the same notorious strategic defeat on us.

They even coined a special term, “post-Russia,” which refers to a territory that has lost its sovereignty and has been fragmented into small pieces controlled by the West. We have heard about this in various editions, and new ones are being published, but the essence remains the same.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that they have failed to achieve anything for decades, if not centuries, it can be said that this continues to happen, and therefore we still face threats. We must take this into account, act firmly, consistently, and systematically, and respond adequately to risks and challenges. The new version of the National Policy Strategy should reflect all of this.

What would you like to draw our attention to, dear colleagues?

First, as I have already said, the ideology of aggressive Russophobia is directed against all the peoples of our country, because without the Russian people, without the Russian ethnic group, there is no Russia, and there cannot be. Therefore, Russophobia is the focus of attention for our opponents.

The Russian identity, tradition, culture, and language of our nation-forming people need to be treated with the utmost care and protected. Their unifying role is a guarantee of the unity of our already multinational Fatherland.

Of course, the culture, customs, and languages of every nation in our vast country are also important and necessary for us. This diversity and the care for its preservation are the foundation of Russia’s national policy.

I would like to add that there will now be two new holidays on the Russian calendar: Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation Day. These holidays will be celebrated annually on April 30 and September 8, respectively.

The second is that one of the most important indicators of the effectiveness of national policy should be the opinion of our citizens. In other words, it is important to know how people themselves assess the state of interethnic relations in their region, city, or village, and what they think about the quality of government work in such a sensitive area.

And of course, in order to get an accurate picture and see the real dynamics of processes, including the strengthening of all-Russian identity, we need “precise tools.”

In this regard, I would like to invite leading scientists and experts to study the experience of sociological research in this area and propose ways to improve it using advanced scientific approaches and developments.

Third, in general, the system of performance indicators for the new Strategy is very important for the quality of management and well-timed decisions.

I agree with my colleagues: the list of such indicators in the field of national policy should be unified, comprehensive, and objective, so to speak, end-to-end, for assessing the work of authorized authorities at all levels. I ask the Government, together with the Council and the regions, to further work on this issue.

Fourth, the Strategy proposes to strengthen the regional component. This is the right step for our large, federal country. At the same time, the heads of the constituent entities should have all the tools to work on the ground, and the federal center should continue to provide a unified strategic line.

Fifth, today the coordination of interethnic relations is entrusted to an interdepartmental working group. Given the importance of this area, I propose raising its status to that of a government commission.

Let’s move on to the agenda. The floor is now given to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Alekseevna Golikova.

T.Golikova: Thank you.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Dear Council members,

As we all know, Russia is home to 194 peoples, each with its own traditions and way of life. And of course, this requires a well-balanced approach to state national policy. As you have already said, Vladimir Vladimirovich, in December 2012, your Decree approved the Strategy for State National Policy until 2025.

The past 13 years have been a significant historical period marked by major changes both internally and externally. The Russian Constitution has been amended to recognize the historical unity of the country. Russia has gained the territory of Crimea and other historical regions. As a result, millions of our fellow citizens have returned to their homeland, and they need to be integrated into the country’s life.

A special military operation is being conducted, which has seriously consolidated our society. During the same period, the foundations of state policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional spiritual and moral values, state language policy, and state policy in the field of historical education were approved. Of course, all of these documents have had a significant impact on achieving the goals of national policy.

During the implementation of the Strategy, as you have already said, Vladimir Vladimirovich, a management system has been established in this area, and legislation has been updated. Over the past two years, the Government has been preparing and presenting a state report to you and the State Duma and the Federation Council on the state of national policy in the Russian Federation. Implementation tools have been created, including a state program with the same name, and subsidies have been provided to the regions.

But our experience shows that the mechanism needs to be fine-tuned, and the requirements for the quality of the subsidised activities need to be increased so that they meet the goals that we are implementing and will continue to implement as part of the new strategy. Modern realities present us with new challenges. One of the key challenges is external information influence, as you have already mentioned, which aims to sow discord within Russia. A single incident or conflict in a particular city or region can quickly create tension in society.

According to the Dialog ANO, the number of negative news stories about interethnic relations has been increasing since 2022. Therefore, the first thing we need to do and the tasks we set for ourselves are to respond to information risks and conflicts in a correct and timely manner. In today’s environment, where citizens receive information through their phones, even 15 minutes can be too long to respond to an event. Without official information, people tend to believe other people’s interpretations, rumors, and the first things they come across.

The State Information System for Monitoring Interethnic and Interfaith Relations has been in place since 2017, but we now see that it needs to be improved. Therefore, in 2025, we have started working with the Presidential Administration to create a new system that will respond to emerging and nascent risks, provide prompt responses, and ensure that information is thoroughly processed and verified based on the principles of interagency cooperation. This will result in the evaluation of the quality of this processing and the training of relevant specialists.

The second is news. Sociological studies conducted by the Dialog NGO this summer show that 62 percent of the surveyed citizens are interested in news with a focus on nationality, 47 percent encounter negative news about interethnic relations every day, and 52 percent have encountered fake news with a focus on nationality.

In 2022, there were 15 unique fake news stories on this topic, but as of October 2023, there have been 63 information leaks with tens of thousands of copies. The main themes of these leaks include crimes, violence, and fraud, with a focus on ethnicity and religion. It is crucial to respond promptly to such leaks and be the first to share the truth in the public domain, rather than waiting for interpretations and speculation. Only on the basis of proper handling of incidents and disinformation can we build a systematic and positive approach to promoting good-neighborly and friendly relations among all the peoples of Russia.

And here, of course, an important role–-and you have already noted this, and we are talking about it in the draft strategy–is the regional component. Regions should monitor the information that comes to them and respond to it immediately.

What else do we consider important, and what do we plan to focus on?

The first is the support of the ethno-cultural development of the peoples of Russia. In 2022, the Federal Law “On the Intangible Ethno-Cultural Heritage of the Russian Federation” was adopted. The first significant result of this law will be the creation of a register of objects of intangible ethno-cultural heritage. This register is maintained by the Ministry of Culture, and currently includes 31 objects, with another 48 under consideration, but this is just the beginning.

A comprehensive plan for the socio-cultural development of the Roma people and a set of measures for the ethno-cultural development of the Finno-Ugric peoples have been implemented. Special attention is being paid to the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East. In May of this year, the Government approved a concept for the sustainable development of these regions. A plan for its implementation will be approved in the near future.

In 2022, the Association of National Theaters of Russia was founded under the auspices of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, which includes 32 theatres that perform in the languages of Russia’s peoples. In the same year, the Association of Ethnographic Museums of Russia was established at the initiative of the Russian Ethnographic Museum. Currently, it includes 155 regional museums, including ten from historical regions.

Since 2023, projects aimed at promoting ethno-cultural heritage and preserving traditions have been supported on a competitive basis. Over the past three years, 70 projects have received support.

The second is the support of the languages of the peoples of Russia. There are about 300 languages in our country, of which more than 150 are the languages of the peoples who have historically lived in the country. The indicators of television and radio broadcasting in the languages of the peoples of Russia are at a consistently high level, 65 and 59 [languages], respectively. Printed newspapers are published in more than 60 languages, magazines in 35, and books in 90.

According to the Ministry of Education, 75 native languages are being taught in 64 regions this academic year. The total number of students studying native languages exceeds 3.2 million. 368 native language textbooks have been included in the federal list of school textbooks, and an additional 106 will be included based on the results of the federal review. This will be done in the near future.

Our country was the first among the UN member states to establish a national organizing committee for the preparation and implementation of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages and to adopt a plan of key activities for its implementation. As part of the Decade, the World Atlas of Languages is being created. Currently, the profile of the Russian Federation in the World Atlas includes information on the use of more than 70 languages of the peoples of Russia in the publishing industry, cinema, mass media, and the Internet.

In 2026, we will complete the creation of a national dictionary fund for a publicly available state information system that contains dictionaries of various types, including normative dictionaries that define the norms of the modern Russian literary language.

Third. Interaction with civil society institutions. As of October 2025, 1,254 national and cultural autonomies have been registered. The Federal Agency for Nationalities has established an Advisory Council for National and Cultural Autonomies, which includes representatives from all 22 federal autonomies.

The House of Peoples of Russia coordinates methodological work with regional and local houses of friendship, nationalities, non-profit organizations, and national-cultural autonomies, while the All-Russian Public and State Organization “Assembly of the Peoples of Russia” interacts with national-cultural associations in all regions and implements all-Russian public projects together with them.

Support for projects in the field of ethnocultural development, preservation of languages, traditions, and customs is also provided by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Digital Development, the Presidential Grants Foundation, and the Cultural Initiatives Foundation. Projects supported by the Film Foundation and the Internet Development Institute include the theme of national unity and cultural diversity as a priority.

The Russian Cossacks, which unite representatives of various nationalities, make a significant contribution to strengthening the unity of the country’s peoples and fostering patriotism. We work closely with the All-Russian Cossack Society and implement the State Policy Strategy for the Russian Cossacks until 2030.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

The last year of the Strategy’s implementation is coming to an end. It will be replaced by a new document that takes into account current realities. In accordance with your instructions, the Government has developed a draft strategy for the period up to 2036. The goal of this strategy is to strengthen the unity of the Russian nation and the all-Russian civic identity while preserving the ethnocultural and linguistic diversity to ensure the country’s development, its state and territorial integrity, and internal political and social stability. This strategy is consistent with the objectives of the current Strategy.

We have identified three main areas in the project that are linked to the priorities of the National Security Strategy, as well as the tasks for their implementation.

First. Forming in children and young people an awareness of belonging to their country, the unity of its peoples, fostering patriotism, protecting historical truth, historical memory, our traditional values, supporting, developing, and promoting the Russian language as the state language and as the language of interethnic communication.

Second. Ethnocultural and spiritual development of the peoples, strengthening the unifying role of the Russian people, preservation of the original culture, traditional way of life, and support for the traditional economic activities of the indigenous peoples.

And thirdly. Prevention of conflicts on national and religious grounds, ensuring the equality of citizens, and the participation of civil society institutions in the implementation of state national policy.

The project’s innovation is to increase attention to the preservation and development of the Russian people’s culture as the state-forming culture.

Special attention is being paid to working with historical regions to strengthen civic consciousness, promote interethnic harmony, counteract neo-Nazism and attempts to falsify history, and eliminate the consequences of anti-Russian propaganda, nationalism, and religious hatred.

As I have already mentioned, the regional component has been significantly strengthened in the draft strategy. This will increase the level of responsibility of the regions for the implementation of their powers. The results will be evaluated based on nine indicators, each of which is measurable, and some of them are sociological. In the near future, Vladimir Vladimirovich, taking into account today’s discussion, the draft strategy will be submitted to you for review, and once it is approved, a plan for its implementation will be developed.

Of course, you have just said that you plan to raise the level of the interdepartmental commission to the level of a government commission. In this case, we would also like to ask you to include either the plenipotentiary representatives or the representatives of the plenipotentiary representatives of the President in the territories in the commission, given the regional component, as I have already mentioned, as the role and responsibility of the regions for implementing national policy is expanding.

Please assign this task, and thank you for your attention.

V. Putin: Thank you. I agree with your proposal.

Please, Valery Aleksandrovich Tishkov, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology.

V. Tishkov: Thank you.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! Dear colleagues!

We are present today at a significant event–-the summing up of the implementation of the Strategy of the State National Policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025 and the consideration of the draft strategy for the new period. The Russian Academy of Sciences and its specialized Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology named after Nikolay Nikolaevich Miklukho-Maklay, which I represent, are directly involved in both of these documents, primarily in their preparation and implementation within the framework of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Complex Issues of Identity and other programs and projects.

The team that worked under the leadership of Tatyana Alekseevna Golikova really wanted the strategy, the new version of the strategy, to reflect the spirit of the times and meet the challenges that society and the state face today. It is important to see the inclusion of support for the language and culture of the state-forming people as one of the priority areas in the new version of the strategy.

In our opinion, the strategy has a very high level of elaboration and preparation, [it] is rich, has gone through all the discussions, and I think it would be very good for us to receive your decree and approval of this document.

The objective reality reflected in the Basic Law of our country states that the Russian language is the language of the state-forming people who are part of the multinational union of equal peoples of the Russian Federation. Russians are the largest ethnic group in the country, making up 80% of its population. The Russian language is the native language of millions of people of different nationalities who live in Russia and beyond. The contribution of Russian culture and education to the cultural heritage of the Russian people cannot be overstated.

Turning to history, the need to study Russian folk culture was recognized by the government and formulated by the scientific community as early as the mid-19th century, but it was not until after the end of the Great Patriotic War that the task began to be addressed comprehensively. It was then that the Russian people, who had endured the hardships of war and had united many languages and faiths for centuries, began to be actively studied, including by the staff of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The book contains a wealth of information about the daily lives of Russians in the Soviet Union, including large-scale urbanization processes, the disappearance of entire cultural patterns, including the so-called “unpromising” villages, and the migration of young professionals from predominantly Russian regions, who played a crucial role in establishing modern industries, science, and education in the Soviet Baltic states and Central Asia.

For various reasons, this body of knowledge has only been partially published. For example, in the mid-1990s, a fundamental monograph titled “Russians: History and Ethnography” was published, which reflected the life of the Russian people from the early stages of their history until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Since then, we have experienced the greatest geopolitical drama: the collapse of the Soviet Union, which left the Russian people the most divided people in the world.

Over the past 30 years, despite the lack of comprehensive research and generalizing works on the culture of the Russian people, new scientific material has appeared that significantly complements the work of previous years. However, the most significant change has been in our internal motivation, as well as in the research environment itself. Russia has regained its historical territories, including Crimea, Donbas, and Novorossiya. The people of Russia are fighting on the frontlines of the Special Military Operation, including for the right of Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine to speak their native language, preserve their culture, and maintain their historical memory.

Through their work, Russian scientists are opposing attempts to rewrite history and diminish the contribution of the Russian cultural tradition to the global cultural heritage, and they are standing up to Western and other “decolonizers.”

We are initiating and asking for support for a research program dedicated to the traditions and values of the Russian people, their interaction, and spiritual enrichment with the peoples of Russia. Working together on a unified plan will lead to the consolidation of researchers within the country and abroad, and the creation of a scientific community capable of addressing one of the key challenges of Russian humanitarian science: understanding the uniqueness of Russian culture, which unites the creative forces of the nation-forming people.

The three-year scientific program includes the preparation and publication of the works of the complex Russian expedition of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the conduct of field ethnographic research in various regions of Russia, and the preparation of the collective work “The Russian People: Traditions, Values, and the Image of the Future.” The materials obtained and the conclusions drawn will be used to prepare proposals and recommendations for the preservation and development of Russian culture in the Union of Cultures of the Peoples of Russia, and will undoubtedly help to answer the pressing issues of the country’s socio-demographic development, self-knowledge, and self-awareness of the multinational people of the Russian Federation and the Russian nation.

The draft research program was discussed at the Russian Historical Society. Its development is currently on the agenda of the Russian Ministry of Education and the Russian Academy of Sciences. If you agree, we are ready to start working on this program.

In conclusion, I would like to mention another very important issue. I have a letter addressed to you from the residents of Moscow and the western suburbs. It is signed by two thousand citizens of the Russian Federation who live here. The essence of the letter is that on the eve of the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow, we ask you to instruct the Government of Moscow and the Government of the Moscow Region to consider granting a protected status to the last remaining landscape of the Moscow defense line near the city of Zvenigorod.

There are officially three fields of military glory in Russia: Kulikovo, Borodino, and Prokhorovo. However, the only surviving section of the Moscow defense line, where the turning point in World War II occurred, has not been granted a protected status. Therefore, we are requesting that you consider our proposals, which have been thoroughly researched and developed. I would like to submit these materials to you for possible review through your protocol.

Thank you.

V. Putin: Okay, please.

Thank you very much. thank you.

Vitaly Vladimirovich Kuznetsov, All-Russian Cossack Society. Please.

V. Kuznetsov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! Dear colleagues!

Thank you for the opportunity to speak at the Council meeting.

For centuries, the Russian Cossacks have stood guard over the interests of their homeland. Today, Cossacks are participating in a special military operation, using the traditions of their ancestors to raise a new generation of patriots in their families and Cossack cadet corps, and providing support to Cossacks participating in the special military operation, as well as to the residents of the affected areas in the historical regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.

There is no greater bond of camaraderie, and at all times, the Cossack troops have been synonymous with the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect among the various peoples united by their common purpose of defending their Motherland, Russia. Today, we continue to uphold the legacy of our ancestors. The volunteer Cossack units of the Armed Forces are home to the valiant efforts of all the diverse peoples of our great country, including the Russians, as well as the peoples of the Volga region, Siberia, the North Caucasus, and the Far East.

On behalf of the fighters, I would like to express my deep gratitude to you, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, for your attention and the attention of the Government of the Russian Federation to the entire Russian Cossack community.

The Cossacks were awarded a special honor by participating in the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory in the military parade on Red Square on May 9, as part of three Cossack parade units: the Kuban, Terek, and Don Cossacks.

In the Year of the Fatherland Defender, the battle banner of the Terek Cossack Reconnaissance Brigade, marked with your signature, Vladimir Vladimirovich, became a symbol of the highest trust and recognition of the Cossacks’ achievements in defending their homeland.

And of course, we would like to express our gratitude for the creation of the Central Museum of the Russian Cossacks, which is part of the State Historical Museum, in the heart of our country, in the Hero City of Moscow.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, the Cossacks of Russia supported your course at the Great Circle in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and are ready to continue serving Russia in strengthening civil unity, developing the power and greatness of our Fatherland in the world. We will not let you down.

Yesterday, our country celebrated National Unity Day. This is a very important holiday for every citizen, and the future prosperity of our Russia depends on how united we are and how important peace and harmony between nations are.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I ask you to support the Council’s proposals and consider the possibility of declaring the next year, 2026, as the Year of Unity for the Peoples of Russia. I am confident that the entire country will support you in this endeavor.

Thanks for attention.

V. Putin: Yes, Valery Alexandrovich, that’s a good suggestion. Let’s do it. I will ask Tatyana Alekseevna to prepare the relevant draft decisions.

Thank you.

T. Golikova: We will do everything.

V. Putin: Please, Tamara Valentinovna Purtova, State Russian House of Folk Art.

T. Purtova: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! Dear members of the Council!

Thank you for the opportunity to speak, because the outcome of each Council meeting is decisions that bring significant benefits to the main cause of my life: the preservation and promotion of the national cultures of the peoples of Russia, our unique ethno-cultural heritage.

The network of folk art houses and centers, which are successfully operating in every region of the country today, has undoubtedly done a lot to support the rich heritage of national cultures over its almost 100-year history. However, the projects of recent years have been the most extensive and effective, and they are interethnic in nature.

These include the World Folklore Festival, the Decade of Folk Festivals and Rites held during the Year of Russia’s Cultural Heritage, the All-Russian Children’s Folklore Festival, which brings together more than a thousand children from all regions of the country who preserve their national traditions every two years, and the Anthology of Folk Culture, which includes descriptions of 100 unique examples of the national cultures of the peoples of Russia.

This year, the first All-Russian Cultural Forum of Russia’s Indigenous Peoples was held, with 28 representatives of the indigenous peoples participating. This shows that their traditions are alive and evolving.

Thank you very much, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, for your assistance in organizing these events, for the national project “Culture,” and now for the national project “Family,” as well as for the law “On the Intangible Ethnocultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia.”

Today, thanks to the Government of the Russian Federation, the assistance of Tatiana Alekseevna, and the support of Olga Borisovna, the Ministry of Culture has finally become the operator of the state information system, the very registry that Tatiana Alekseevna spoke about. Today, it includes the Bashkir musical instrument kurai, the Tuvan throat singing khoomey, the unique carpet weaving of Dagestan, the songs of the Nekrasov Cossacks, and the applied art of the Negidal people, an indigenous minority group living in the Far East. As Tatiana Alekseevna said, we have 31 objects so far, but we hope to have three times that by the end of the year.

In general, I am confident that it won’t take long for us to surpass UNESCO and fill our catalog with the inexhaustible wealth of Russia’s national cultures. By the end of the year, this registry will be integrated into the Culture.RF portal ecosystem, allowing anyone to access unique materials.

Starting in 2022, for the first time in many years, we were able to organize 57 folklore and ethnographic expeditions under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. These expeditions took us not only to remote regions such as Kamchatka, Sakhalin, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Tyva, Khakassia, the Amur, Irkutsk, and Tomsk regions, but also to their most remote corners. Our researchers traveled to the Tofalars, Nivkhs, Chulym people, and Galendras. By the way, “Galendras” comes from the word “Dutchman,” and they are descendants of German and Polish immigrants.

Despite Europe’s unsuccessful attempts to abolish Russian culture, our country has convincingly demonstrated that the preservation and development of the national cultures of all the peoples living on our territory is equally important and valuable for the Russian state.

The results of these expeditions form the basis for short films for viewers of all ages, as well as for videos for children and young adults. We have already created 43 such materials.

And another unique project is our All-Russian Festival of Folk Art and Traditions “Together We Are Russia!”, which brings together the rarest examples of national culture in the work of artistic groups, and we connect them with a teleconference. In 2022, we connected Kamchatka and Kaliningrad; in 2023, Murmansk and Makhachkala; in 2024, Yakutsk and Lugansk; and in September of this year, on the Day of Russian Statehood, in honor of the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland, all our nine Hero Cities joined the teleconference. [Even Kiev?]

This is where the ethnocultural heritage, friendship, and unity of the peoples of our great country were clearly demonstrated. I sincerely thank the heads of the regions for their support of these projects. Next year, we plan to connect the peoples of the Crimean Peninsula and the island of Sakhalin with a national culture teleconference.

Taking this opportunity, we would like to thank you, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, for establishing the Day of Indigenous Peoples.

But we still have a lot of work to do. As Tatiana Alekseevna said, we have 194 nationalities, and each of them has its own special folk traditions. And it is in these traditions that we find the spiritual and moral values that are so important today, and which we must not only preserve, but also pass on to the younger generation, and instill in them the main qualities of our unique Russian character: humanism, kindness, and patriotism.

We will do it, Mr. Putin.

V. Putin: Thank you.

Please, Konstantin Iosifovich Kosachev.

K. Kosachev: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Opening today’s meeting of our Council, you called the opinion of Russian citizens the most important indicator of the effectiveness of our state national policy. The share of Russian citizens who positively assess the state of interethnic relations is quite high and tends to increase.

This confirms that the system is working, that the system is holding up, although we are well aware that the number of attacks on this system will increase, because interethnic relations are a kind of solar plexus in the body of our society, which will be targeted.

Both the current Strategy and the new version of the Strategy that we are discussing today are undoubtedly very important tools, and they need to be used correctly. The main burden here, as you have also mentioned, falls on the regions and municipalities.

Proper organization of work requires the professionalism of the personnel involved, a deep understanding of local and specific realities, fine-tuning of interdepartmental work based on accurate analysis of the situation on the ground, and, of course, dialogue with society and its institutions.

In our opinion, the new version of the Strategy contains two central elements that are important to implement simultaneously. These are the unifying role of the state-forming Russian people, firstly, and the ethnocultural and linguistic diversity as a treasure of the Russian nation, protected by the state, secondly.

At the last meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations and Cooperation with Religious Organizations under the Federation Council, we paid special attention to the topic of Russia’s linguistic wealth and proposed a number of specific measures to support and develop linguistic diversity, including intensifying efforts to digitize written records from regional libraries and archives. We also discussed the importance of training and retraining personnel.

Our draft Strategy specifically mentions the need to provide conditions for the professional development of state and municipal employees based on standard additional professional programs in the field of state national policy and intercultural communication.

In accordance with the current regulations of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, civil servants are being trained in three standard educational programs. From our perspective, it is very important to align the content of these programs with the strategic documents that have been adopted in the past five years.

And, of course, it is very important, from our point of view, to ensure a qualitative shift in the systemic and scientific basis of personnel training. We consider it appropriate to involve the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Complex Issues of Ethnicity and Interethnic Relations, which has the function of providing scientific support for national policy.

In addition to the content of the training, the organization of training and retraining of civil servants is also important. Currently, the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs provides training to 1,650 people annually as part of the relevant state program: 650 people in person and 1,000 people online. However, the number of civil servants in this field was approximately 700 in 2024.

There is probably no need to chase after big numbers, to try to cover all specialists every year, without exception, taking into account the three-year cycle of professional development for civil servants. As they say, it’s better to have fewer but better specialists.

We propose establishing a single federal center of competence in the field of state national policy, which would provide training based on updated programs.

Thanks for attention.

V. Putin: Thank you.

Colleagues, please, there are probably some people who would like to comment or make additional suggestions.

I ask you to.

R. Gusarov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Council members! Friends!

I also want to remind you of the quote of our President Vladimir Putin as a military correspondent and documentary filmmaker for RT TV channel: “Russia has not only the army, navy and literature, but also the cinema-our ally.” Supporting this, I want to add, in particular: our reliable ally is documentaries, because they not only capture history, make sense of it, but also preserve it and pass it on to generations.

Since February 2023, RT has been hosting the RT.Doc: Time of Our Heroes International Documentary Film Festival. The festival was created by Ekaterina Yakovleva, Director of RT’s Documentary Programming, with the support of Margarita Simonyan, the ideological mastermind and CEO of RT. For several years, we have been showcasing the best documentaries about the special military operation created by RT’s military documentarians, as well as by their colleagues from Russia and other countries.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers have already watched more than 200 documentaries. They tell about the feats of our soldiers, sacrifice, mutual assistance, the meaning of what is happening, and, of course, about support in the rear. There are a lot of emotions at the screenings, and at the discussions, people talk a lot about the feats of their ancestors, about their roots, about the common civic identity, about the unity of the country. This, of course, causes a lot of emotions for the organizers.

The main audience consists of SMО veterans, their relatives, priests of various denominations, war correspondents, public opinion leaders, poets, and musicians. However, it is crucial to note that the project also attracts our younger generation. Although we often observe gaps in knowledge about the country’s heroic history among children and young people during discussions, it is precisely in children and young people that we can sense the unique code of the victorious nation. This is our most sensitive and demanding audience.

This is how the idea came up to develop, together with the veterans of the SMO, state and public organizations, special film screenings of the festival’s films in schools and universities, as well as meetings with the heroes of these films. Recently, Vladimir Vladimirovich met with such young people and communicated with them at the RT anniversary.

We believe that such film lessons will become an effective model for shaping the personality of a patriotic citizen. While we are conducting this experiment, it would be beneficial to organize the process on a systematic basis throughout Russia. Additionally, documentary films serve as a form of popular film diplomacy.

The festival’s films have already been screened in more than 30 countries, including two NATO countries, Turkey and Italy. We refer to our Italian friends as the “Italian Partisans.” Despite the pressure from the authorities and Ukrainian nationalists, these individuals have shown remarkable resilience and organized 150 screenings in 50 cities across Italy, all on legal grounds. Following the May festival in Goritia, there has been widespread hysteria in the Italian government’s corridors. This is a testament to the power of Russia’s strategic weapon, the truth.

And finally. For Russia, the hero’s exploits are not only wartime, but also peaceful life, and the history of our country confirms this. Therefore, the festival “ RT.Doc: The Time of our Heroes”, we believe, will always be relevant.

I propose that we consider providing state support for this project on a systematic basis and in the following areas: organizing film screenings and creative meetings in schools and universities across the country, holding annual festivals in Russian regions with regional funding supported by RT, and expanding opportunities for holding festivals abroad.

As for the idea of holding a Year of National Unity, I fully support it both as the head of the Beacons of Friendship movement and as a citizen.

Thank you very much. Thank you for your attention.

V. Putin: Thank you. We will try to support your proposal. We will have to formalize it accordingly and work it out as a government order.

R. Gusarov: Thank you.

V. Putin: Thank you very much.

Igor Vyacheslavovich, please.

I. Barinov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

I have a few points to make in continuation of today’s discussion. If we understand, and we definitely understand, that the interethnic and interreligious factor will still be in the crosshairs of our opponents, they will continue to target it and seek to undermine our national unity and destabilize the overall political situation.

That is why we place a special emphasis on strengthening the unity of the Russian nation and working in the regions in the new Strategy, because we believe that the regions are the central link in implementing state national policy.

In this regard, there are several suggestions, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

We need to strengthen the vertical of executive power in the regions. We have tried to do this on our own, and some have listened to us, while others have not. However, as of today, the vast majority of the regional departments responsible for our field are non-core departments that combine their responsibilities with other functions. In our opinion, I understand that these are the responsibilities of the regions, the vertical, and the executive power in the regions. However, given the risks and the current situation, we need to consider how to unify these responsibilities.

And the second proposal. In fact, any issue in our field is interdepartmental. We are greatly assisted by our colleagues in the Government, both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, but our specialized departments, which organize events in the regions, should focus on educational and preventive activities that convey meanings, ideologies, debunk fake news, and explain complex historical moments in our country’s history. In my opinion, their work will be more effective if they move away from the decorative and entertaining format of events, which is unfortunately present at times.

And one more suggestion, Vladimir Vladimirovich. You recently held a Council on Demography, and there the general producer of the Rossiya channel, Oleg Borisovich Dobrodeev, made a voluntary commitment to film movies, series, and commercials–-it turns out that 15 percent of the airtime is occupied by commercials-–that the filming will use a Russian family, the archetype of which is three children. He then referred to our fairy tales, how it was: everywhere there was a large family, everywhere there were three children.

Taking into account the suggestions that the next year, if you make a decision, will be the Year of National Unity, it would be a good idea to apply the same approach to our topic, which is interethnic. We should talk about interethnic friendship and unity. In fact, we can include an ethno-cultural component in any story.

I’m not even talking about the special military operation, where it’s the foundation of everything. When we held the last Council, we invited guys of different nationalities from the military operation zone. They talked about it a lot and in vivid terms. They will definitely carry this friendship and interethnic unity that was born there throughout their lives.

And I have a task for you, by the way. If you remember, Vladimir Vladimirovich, an Afghan, an ethnic Pashtun, with the call sign “Abdullah”–-Rafi Abdul Jabbar–-took part in our Council. In 2014, he volunteered to fight in Donbas and was seriously wounded, losing both legs. I asked you at the time: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, help him get new legs.”

He tried very hard to be in time for today’s Council, and he sent me a video confirmation—there will be a second, I’ll show you later. Last week, he took the first steps on his new legs and sent you huge words of appreciation and gratitude. He said he was proud and happy that you cared about ordinary soldiers like him. Moreover, he calls himself “a Russian soldier of Afghan origin.” Says: “We are all Russian soldiers there.”

We can’t be defeated with people like this, with this kind of character. We will definitely win, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Thank you.

V. Putin: Thank you. Give him my best regards and all the best for his future here in Russia.

As for your proposal on working with the regions, it is correct. Unfortunately, we believe that this is a non-serious, secondary issue, and often the regions are treated as a last resort, with limited resources allocated to them.

We should not directly regulate the decisions of our colleagues in the regions, but we can recommend them, and we will work with them through the Administration. Please mark this in our decisions.

Thank you.

Please, colleagues, who else? Please.

M. Chernysh: Federal Research Sociological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

I would like to thank you for the attention you have paid to the quality of sociological research in the field of interethnic relations. At first glance, this may seem like a technical or specialized issue. However, it is actually a diagnostic tool that influences many approaches and decisions in this field.

I would like to point out that, in addition to the most important indicator that you mentioned, namely the level of all-Russian civic identity, there is another very important indicator in the new version of the strategy that requires constant and close attention: the share of citizens who allow conflicts on ethnic grounds to occur in their place of residence.

Currently, sociological monitoring of interethnic relations is provided by government agencies, such as the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, the Federal Protective Service of Russia, and regional and municipal authorities. Additionally, private organizations conduct similar research, with the largest ones being VTsIOM and FOM.

And of course, these studies are being conducted in depth by the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Federal Research Sociological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Our center is ready to join the comprehensive ethnographic study of the state-forming Russian people. We have a foundation for these studies, and we will continue to work on this topic.

As for the study of identity, it is important to understand that this is a very complex subject, and it is impossible to simplify it or reduce it to a single indicator. Human identity has several levels, and as you have repeatedly emphasized, civil and national identity do not contradict each other in Russia; instead, they reinforce each other. However, there are also many other types of identity, such as professional, settlement, and religious identity. In short, the space of identity is multidimensional, and it is certainly necessary to conduct methodological work in order to understand the place of all-Russian identity and how it interacts with other identities in the space of identity in which each individual lives.

It should be noted that scientific methods for studying interethnic relations were developed quite a long time ago, about 20 years ago, and it is now necessary to bring them in line with modern requirements.

I’ll give you an example. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to use traditional methods of collecting and analyzing sociological information, such as household surveys or telephone interviews. Over the past 30 years, there has been a steady increase in the number of people refusing to answer survey questions. This is not just a local trend; it’s a global phenomenon that is happening everywhere. Currently, any survey center collects approximately 20 interviews out of 100 contacts, which means that approximately 20% of the contacts are successful. This means that 80 percent of the people who could participate in the study remain outside of it.

Of course, this affects the quality of the sample. And of course, we need to work on improving the quality of our sample sets. We need to use online methods and panel studies more frequently in order to maintain the quality of the information we receive and to perform the functions that I mentioned earlier, such as diagnosing interethnic and interfaith relations.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, the Russian Academy of Sciences is ready to analyze the existing experience and prepare proposals for improving sociological research in the field of interethnic and interreligious relations in the interests of the authorities of the Russian Federation.

Thank you.

V. Putin: Thank you very much. I very much hope that the work that you have mentioned will continue.

You have drawn our attention to the fact that civic and national identity do not contradict each other. I would like to say that I have already spoken about this topic. In the Soviet Union, I believe, an effective formula was created, a new community called the Soviet people. This community was ideological, of course, and it was promoted and strengthened on ideological and conceptual grounds.

Of course, we always have a question: what should we replace it with? I think the answer is that we should replace it not with ideology, but with patriotism, but not in a superficial way, but in a serious and profound sense of the word. This means fostering a love for our common great Fatherland, Russia, with a clear understanding of what it means for every people and ethnic group living in the Russian Federation. It means fostering an understanding that preserving our common homeland is in the best interests of every Russian people. Because it means better protection, it means confidence in the future and in the future of your children.

Please, who else? Please.

A. Polezhaeva: Thank you.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! Dear members of the Council!

Anna Polezhaeva, House of the Peoples of Russia.

In continuation of Tatiana Alekseevna’s words about the strategy that the House of Peoples of Russia is developing with the regions, our absolute priority today is to unite the peoples on relevant and sometimes vital issues for the country.

The new federal standard for the House, which we recently opened on the Day of Reunification with our historical regions in Donetsk and the Donbas, is a space for knowledge and unity based on values.

The first level and the first global project that develops the theme of historical memory and continuity of generations is the Svoi project. This is a nationwide movement, our chronicle that tells the story of the Great Patriotic War and the special military operation. We are asking the regions to join and support our project, the archiveSvoi.rf portal, because these are the living stories of families that reflect the values that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers defended. Most of the stories that are sent by multinational battalions, representatives of the worthy rear, and our young people, they begin with the words: my grandfather fought, and I couldn’t help but…

And you know, there’s no such thing as “against the grain.” When these stories are sent by the residents themselves, it’s a grassroots movement, and any distortion of the outcome of the Great Patriotic War or the special military operation is simply impossible. Moreover, it exists in the information space today, and more and more countries are joining our project at the level of civil society.

The second level is charity, because we are united by our values. If we are talking about the formation of a national civic identity, then the projects that unite us, each [of them], must answer the question: what value do they convey? For example, on the track of Charity, we are united with youth teams through a partnership with the company Innopractika and their community Razgon.

The guys who live in Donetsk–-I can tell you that they are guys with burning eyes and hearts–-are already forming a conceptual approach to what mercy is today, and that a philanthropist is not just a patron of the arts; it doesn’t depend on the size of their wallet; it depends on the contribution they are willing to make to society.

And we are creating such conditions today as a social project office, because the state national policy needs to reach out to the outside world as much as possible and attract a wide range of active citizens to our projects.

And the highest-level process that we started this year together with the Russian Ministry of Education is the 17 traditional values of Russia, our educational project

[Life dignity. Human rights and freedoms. Patriotism. Civic responsibility. Service to the fatherland and responsibility for its fate. High moral ideals. Strong family. Creative labor. The spiritual over the material. Humanism. Compassion. Justice. Collectivism. Mutual aid and mutual respect. Historical memory and continuity of generations. Unity of the peoples of Russia. The institution of family.]

that promotes the values that unite us. Based on the experience we have gained through the formats and communities that promote values, each value is a competence in its own right. Many people are interested in joining forces with representatives of foreign countries in terms of strategic partnerships and taking into account the mentioned partners. Together with the Dialogue ANO and the Assembly of Peoples of the World, we are moving towards the creation of an international center of values based on the House of Peoples of Russia, which will study values and create joint integration formats and present teams at the many international platforms that have been established in Russia.

So I would ask [the project] “ archivesvoi.Russian Federation” to support us as much as possible. This year, Chechnya, the Chelyabinsk Region, the Sverdlovsk Region, the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Yugra and the Leningrad Region have implemented the entire “Russia-House of Peoples” program. These are our leaders, and they have implemented a full cycle of events on values. And now we believe that with “archivesvoi.RF” it is very relevant to include this information in all schools in Russia, so that children come to their parents, we have directed the “compass” of values to a strong family and collected the stories of their families, because our first value in our “compass” is life, thanks to your Decree. And all the living projects are of interest to young people today and unite us as a family of families.

Thank you.

V. Putin: Thank you very much for your ideas and suggestions.

D. Umarov: May I ask you something, Vladimir Vladimirovich?

Dzhambulat Umarov, President of the Academy of Sciences of the Chechen Republic.

V. Putin: Please, I ask you.

D. Umarov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! Dear colleagues!

As a Chechen, I cannot but support my Cossack brother, because at certain turns in history, the Cossacks and the highlanders have shown examples of what true patriots of their country should be, loyal to their sovereigns to the end. And I will say, Vladimir Vladimirovich, that the initiative that you have supported by declaring the next year, 2026, the Year of National Unity, I see as a kind of battle flag, a great banner under which all the other 200 peoples of Russia will unite and gather around the President and the Russian people.

This is similar to the purpose of this National Unity Day, which was established 400 years ago when a militia of various nationalities gathered near Nizhny Novgorod, led by Prince Pozharsky, Kuzma Minin, and Dmitry Cherkassky, a rare name of a fellow countryman from the Caucasus, who came with his mountaineers.

I want to assure you, Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief, that the Chechens, who are confidently following the path of the unforgettable Akhmat-Khadzhi and Ramzan Kadyrov, who, with your support, have achieved a decisive victory over international terrorism and destruction, as well as the other mountain peoples of the Caucasus, are ready to fight bravely today. Every highlander and every highlanderess is ready to fight bravely for the interests, sovereignty, and freedom of our country.

Taking this opportunity, I would also like to point out that the Commander-in-Chief, or, I don’t know, the leader of the Kiev criminal junta, Zelensky, often takes pictures in front of various bas-reliefs, including the bas-relief of Imam Shamil, in an attempt to provoke the Muslims of the Volga region, the mountain peoples of the Caucasus, and our young people, so that they would succumb to these provocations and make anti-Russian statements. But believe me, our young people and we saw it as nothing more than another boring reprise of his old profession.

Therefore, as with Zelensky and his Nazis, and various NATO “hawks” with their henchmen, Satanists and terrorists of various trends and colors, we can definitely say today that the warlike horsemen of Russia have smashed and will mercilessly smash its enemies, just as the Chechen-born Russian general Alexander Nikolaevich Chechensky did in the early 19th century, defeating the enemy at Preussisch-Eylau, Borodino, and Paris. This was done by the Chechen general Eris Khan Aliyev, a friend of Anton Ivanovich Denikin, who wrote about him in his famous book The Path of a Russian Officer, when he defeated the samurai at Mukden.

We will fight for our Motherland, for our Russia, with the same fury as our noble ancestors fought in the Wild Division: the Chechen Regiment, the Ingush Regiment, the Ossetian Regiment, and other regiments. The Tsar awarded them with St. George’s Crosses in entire regiments. We remember all of this very well.

We will also fight as fiercely as our grandfather, who would have been a grandfather today if he hadn’t died at the age of 19, the Hero of the Soviet Union Khanshah Nuradilov, who literally drove the insolent Nazis into the freezing ground of burning Stalingrad. Today, he rests beneath the Mamayev Kurgan.

We will do this as bravely and with dignity as we did it under the leadership of Akhmat-Khadzhi, destroying all terrorist foundations and sending them to the sidelines of history.

We will do this in the same way that General Kadyrov is doing it today, leading various units of the Akhmat, who are literally fighting tooth and nail to defend the sacred lands of Novorossiya.

We have done this, we have never let you down, and we will never let you down in the future. This is today. But if, God forbid, an inevitable tomorrow comes, then believe me, Vladimir Vladimirovich, we will stand united as a mountain lava to protect the gains and borders of our great multinational country.

And at the end of my speech, I would like to quote the words of your devoted infantryman and my immediate commander and dear brother, Ramzan Kadyrov, who speaks Chechen. I will translate this phrase into Russian: “It is better to die ten times in battle for one’s homeland than to live a comfortable life far away from it.”

Stay healthy, Vladimir Vladimirovich, and we won’t let you down.

Thank you.

V. Putin: Thank you very much for your emotional speech. I do not doubt a single word that has been said.

Thank you.

A. Novyukhov: May I?

V. Putin: Please.

A. Novyukhov: Good afternoon, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

Over hundreds of years, as part of the Russian state, the indigenous peoples have preserved their traditional settlement systems, way of life, and unique culture.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to note the general expectation of your Decree on the Day of Remembrance of the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation. This is not just a date, but a recognition of our centuries-long journey alongside our country. I would like to emphasize that, unlike many other countries, Russia legally recognizes all the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples, and we are actively working to implement them in practice. The priorities and key provisions of the federal strategy for state social policy take into account our legitimate interests and constitutional rights.

A significant event was the update of the federal concept of sustainable development of our peoples in May. We consider it to be a qualitatively new document, including because its priorities and key provisions were formulated with our active participation in a multi-format and truly broad discussion organized by the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs. Today, this is our roadmap.

Thus, the concept has secured the status of the School of Public Diplomacy, a competitive educational program for indigenous peoples, which is implemented by our organizations and authorities in collaboration with the Federal Agency for Indigenous Affairs and supported by Norilsk Nickel. Hundreds of our representatives have been trained and selected, ensuring a strong collective position on international platforms. In contrast to disinformation, we are actively sharing our relationship with the government and the role of indigenous peoples in the country’s development. This program serves as a tool for achieving progress at the national level, and we ask the Council to support the expansion of its geography and mechanisms.

I would also like to mention the implementation of your instructions following the previous meetings of the Council and the maintenance of a list of individuals belonging to indigenous small-numbered peoples. This tool serves as a real basis for targeted and barrier-free support. In addition, the Association has developed a list of 80 statistical indicators of the socioeconomic situation of our peoples. Together with the Federal Agency for Indigenous Affairs, we are exploring its potential for enhancing targeted government support and monitoring.

This year, the Association is celebrating its 35th anniversary. Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to thank you for your congratulations to the Association and for the government’s highest attention to the sustainable development of Russia’s indigenous peoples.

Thank you.

V. Putin: Thank you. We will continue like this.

Please, who else would like to? Please, Vladimir Abdualievich.

V. Vasilyev: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich! Dear participants of our very important, useful, and necessary meeting!

I would like to thank all the participants for what they have said and what they have prepared. I would like to point out that there are representatives of our 18 indigenous organizations present at this meeting. In addition, we have 54 participants today.

What is contained in the materials, what has been said, is very interesting. Igor Vyacheslavovich [Barinov] and I have just exchanged views, and we have a common opinion: perhaps we should address all the participants, Vladimir Vladimirovich, and ask them to analyse these speeches. First, [to analyse] your analysis, the formulation of the task, and the statements that we have heard today.

Thank you for both the emotions and the content.

For my part, I would like to point out that this is a time of efficiency, and we all feel this very well. Therefore, we could look at important things such as this: Vladimir Vladimirovich, you devoted the State Council to the topic of family and demography, and there is such a family, an interethnic family–-Russia, a diverse family–-Russia.

Today, our colleagues were talking about history. And how many such families are there in Russia, in the history of Russia, our Fatherland? Remember the names that our country’s history is proud of, and everyone!

And it seems to me that at one time, Vladimir Vladimirovich, [you] remembered about the “Soviet people” community, and it seems that we relaxed and thought that it had already been formed. I was studying at the Moscow City Party School at the time, and I remember writing my notes. But it needs to be ensured, and it should not be fixed. However, it seems that it was fixed.

And maybe then we would have excluded the national article–-on the one hand, it seems to be good. And on the other hand, think: interethnic, multi-ethnic families of Russia, you know, they all speak Russian. Well, how else to speak at home, when the father, for example, is Avar, the mother is Russian, or Chechen, the mother is also Russian or Ingush? Correct. Well, how, each in his own? Question.

Everyone writes that they are Russian citizens. How else? I come from a multiracial family. My mother decided what to call me. She gave me a Russian last name and first name, but thankfully, she kept my Kazakh father’s last name. What did it change? On the one hand, it didn’t change much. But at the same time, it changed a lot. We need to remember and appreciate it.

And I would like to thank you once again, Dzhambulat Vakhidovich, for your energy, sincerity, and frankness. We have great resources and enormous opportunities.

And in order not to waste time, I just suggest, once again referring to your opinion, Igor Vyacheslavovich: we, Vladimir Vladimirovich, will work through these issues, pass them through the sieve of our emotions, our experience, and the effectiveness that we see, and we will try to work with everyone to do what is most effective in the short term. And then we can meet again and report on what has worked and what has not worked, and what needs to be done to make it work.

Thank you very much.

V. Putin: Thank you.

We should wrap this up. Please, I’m asking you.

M. Lange: Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich. I would like to focus on information threats and creative industries. Surprisingly, they are very close to each other and can help us in many ways.

Moscow is one of the world’s creative capitals. Large-scale creative clusters, such as the film and innovation clusters, have been established here. This is in line with the spirit of the times and fills us with pride. However, Moscow is also the capital of a multi-ethnic and multicultural country, setting the trends for the perception of ethnic traditions and identity by young people in different parts of our vast country.

When, at the beginning of 2022, our Guild of Interethnic Journalism decided to enter the topic of the peoples of Russia on the Internet platforms popular among young people, as they say, we were absolutely predicted to fail. However, by the end of the year, we already had 1.5 million subscribers, and now there are more than three million, and we are the largest ethnic block in Russia.

In 2023 and 2024, our educational content about the culture and traditions of the 194 peoples of our country received 890 million views. 75 percent of viewers are young people between the ages of 14 and 34. And, Vladimir Vladimirovich, I have met them both on the island of Iturup and in Mariupol. They are watching about the culture and traditions of the peoples of Russia, and this is very encouraging.

From their comments, we learn that for most people, it is a revelation that Russia has saved entire nations from extermination, such as the Assyrians, Altaians, and many others. Currently, with the support of the Internet Development Institute, we are producing several videos on this topic every day. The success of these videos has inspired our followers, and we have recently established an association of ethnobloggers. Ten days ago, at the Mashuk Knowledge Center (where they came from all over the country), they participated in a special training program for the first time. You should have seen their excited eyes. And the question they most often asked (you know what it was): is what we’re doing really necessary?

We’ve heard the same question from young musicians from our other project, “Sound of Eurasia,” where we help contemporary artists from different regions whose music draws on the musical traditions of Russia’s peoples. From Kalmyk electro-punk to Mari rap, Tuvan jazz, and Russian folktronica, these musicians are creating a diverse range of talented works. Their music is completely contemporary, and audiences are captivated by their performances. However, they still wonder if this is truly Russian. Less than a month ago, we released music videos for their songs in the languages of the peoples of Russia, and they have already received more than half a million views on the Internet.

There are also ethnic clothing designers that we have started working with.

I would also like to thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, for the creation of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives four years ago. It has truly transformed the cultural landscape of our country. I say this on behalf of the thousands of people across the country whose projects, like the ones I mentioned earlier, would not have been possible without the support of the PFCI. It is encouraging to see the Ministry of Culture joining in on successful projects, as is the case with our ethno festival.

All of this is successful, but, Vladimir Vladimirovich, it is a project, which means that it is limited in time, and we believe that it should become a regular occurrence. In a multi-ethnic and great Russia, there should be a place for the creation, promotion, and support of Russia’s cultural wealth and diversity in modern formats. You have repeatedly emphasized the strength and competitive advantage of our country in this regard.

Therefore, I would like to ask you to instruct Moscow, as the creative capital, to work together with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which are responsible for crafts and design, to create an ethno-creative cluster with the participation of the Guild, based on the successful projects such as the Eurasian Sound, the School of Ethno-Bloggers, and the Ethno-Design Workshop.

Combining these different areas into a single cluster will have a synergistic effect on the development of ethnic creative industries, the preservation and promotion of our cultural identity based on the cultural code of the peoples of Russia.

And I would like to give you a [music] vinyl album that we have published, which contains two records of the best songs in the languages of the peoples of Russia, performed in a completely modern style. This is the same Kalmyk electro-punk and everything else.

Thank you.

K.Mathis: Very short.

My name is Konstantin Matis, and I am the head of the Federal National and Cultural Autonomy of Russian Germans.

We are currently in the beautiful Catherine Hall. For Russian Germans, Catherine holds a special significance, as it was thanks to Catherine II that many years ago, a significant number of European specialists moved to Russia and worked for the benefit of the country. For almost three centuries, Russian Germans have considered Russia their homeland, living here and serving their country with dedication.

First of all, thank you for the Decree on preparing for the 300th anniversary of Catherine II, this is also very valuable for us, we will be involved in this process. And our organization, in addition to preserving the history and culture of its people, is now actively promoting the resettlement of highly qualified personnel from Western countries who share our traditional and spiritual and moral values.

In this regard, together with the Assembly of Peoples of Russia, with the support of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, and with the participation of many people who are here today, we are holding the second Ekaterininsky Forum at the National Center “Russia” on December 20. This forum is an invitation to Russia. It is for those people who are already here, who want to come, and who are ready to work for the benefit of the country. We believe that it is important to pay special attention to such passionate individuals who have decided to become new immigrants.

And of course, we would like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit the Ekaterininsky Forum. We would also like to ask the Government to make the forum a tradition and include it in the implementation plan for the updated state national policy strategy that will be adopted. In fact, it could become a platform for preparing for the 300th anniversary of Catherine.

Thank you very much.

V. Putin: Thank you for your work, which is very important, and for your suggestions. If my schedule allows, I will [attend the forum].

I will build on what you said, which is related to information work, and it is close to what both Igor Vyacheslavovich [Barinov] and Tatyana Alekseevna [Golikova] have said. They started with fake news, information issues, disinformation, and so on.

This is a very important direction–-to counteract such attempts to influence us and our society. We must understand that this is a weapon. This is a weapon that Russia’s opponents are using against us and are improving it.

I must inform you that we have copies, just copies of documents from the intelligence services of Western countries and foreign centers that work for them, which explicitly state the goal of destabilizing Russia from within by dividing our society and provoking conflicts on ethnic and religious grounds. We all need to know this, and citizens of different nationalities should know it as well.

Those who follow this path are essentially… It is clear that life is complex and diverse, presenting us with many challenges, and conflicts can arise, both on a personal and broader scale. Many conflicts are natural. However, we have no right, especially today, to exaggerate even seemingly minor disagreements. On the contrary.

I want to thank you for your significant contribution to resolving any contradictions or conflicts on a national or religious basis. There are no small tasks or small conflicts. Everything needs to be taken into account, and we need to respond quickly, professionally, and with sensitivity, love, and respect for the interests of all the people involved in the situation. With goodwill, which we always have, and respect for people, we can always find a compromise.

And of course, we need to approach the issues that we are currently dealing with, and that you have been dealing with professionally for years, in a very serious, responsible, and appropriate manner for our country.

These issues are always important for States–-and there are many of them–-with a multi-ethnic population. But this is especially important for us. Tatyana Alekseyevna said we have 190, but 194–yes?—ethnic groups. But this is not an exact number in fact: both 196 sounds like a number, and another. Still, this is… There are many multinational countries, but there are still not so many like Russia. You see, it’s all the same… We have a unique country. And therefore, we must do everything to strengthen our commonality, our unity, as my colleague [Valery Tishkov] said, our civic and national, and therefore, our state and all-Russian identity, our Russian identity. And on this basis, we must strengthen our state, strengthen our Russian identity, and strengthen our Russian people. This is our task.

I would like to thank you for what has been done in the course of implementing the previous Strategy, which is coming to an end, and I would like to ask you to prepare a draft decree on the new national policy strategy for 2026-2036 as soon as possible.

Thank you very much. I look forward to continuing our work together. [My Emphasis]

So many things are happening within Russia constantly; there’s no way one person can keep tabs on them all and their vast diversity. In 1881, Helen Hunt Jackson’s book A Century of Dishonor was published that did more than just scratch the surface of the Outlaw US Empire’s Anti-Human treatment of Native Americans and the genocide they experienced. And Western Gym readers can reflect on what their nations say are its values and compare them with Russia’s and their nation’s actual practice. During the Cold War, what was then called the Nationalities Problem was seen as a tool to undermine Soviet solidarity, and to a degree that tool was successful. The Chechen Wars were used in the same manner as was the aim in 1944-5 at preserving the Nazi OUN in Ukraine which is now NATO’s proxy tool that’s being decimated. Russia’s continental expansion was deeply affected by the Mongol experience which aimed at assimilation, not extermination as the Anglo-Europeans chose. And that difference can be seen today in the vast chasm in policy regarding values between the West and Russia. Do recall the above discussion on identity and how complex it actually is not just to develop it but to understand the how and why of it and how it relates to your cultural context. Yes, Russian treatment of ethnic minorities wasn’t perfect as there’re several glaring cases—the longstanding ill treatment of Jews being the biggest problem that still hurts Russian policy making today and was exploited by the West to undermine the USSR. IMO, it’s important to know the true story of Imam Shamil who was a great patriot for his people and was honored and respected by Alexander II after his capture.

As many Russians are now discovering, trying to be Western was a mistake. The best course was to understand what it means to be Russian, which is a process that’s still ongoing for most. As readers may have noted, Russia is a multilateral, multipolar nation all within itself, which is why Primakov was able to see how the world would develop since the world in many ways mirrors Russia—there are as many ethnic groups within Russia as there are nations on the planet. Most of the world understands it’s best to partner with Russia, China and other nations than to try and subjugate them. The Western oligarchy has a level of pride worthy of a Greek Tragedy. Russia and China aren’t going to change for they are genuine civilization states. It’s the West that must evolve and change so peace can prevail on our planet. The West can start by adopting the first two of the seventeen Russian values: Life Dignity, and Human Rights and Freedoms.