SARANSK, August 24 (Itar-Tass) —— President Vladimir Putin will think about the opening of a cultural center of peoples of Russia in Moscow and will meet with the leaders of the Association of Small-Numbered Indigenous Peoples.
The idea to open the center was put forward at the first meeting of the Presidential Council on Inter-Ethnic Relations in Saransk, Mordovia, on Friday.
“That is a good idea to have a cultural center of peoples of Russia in Moscow,” Putin said. He noted that Russia was populated by 193 peoples and nationalities.
“We should think about it and implement the project together with the government,” he said.
President of the Association of Small-Numbered Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East Sergei Kharyuchi asked Putin for meeting with the association leaders.
“We may have this meeting and other meetings of the sort,” Putin said.
Head of the Presidium of the Council of the Association of Ugro-Finnic Peoples of Russia Pyotr Tultayev proposed to hold Days of Russian Regions in Moscow and festivals of Russian peoples with a gala concert in Moscow.
Director of the Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Tishkov proposed to focus on personnel training so that people with xenophobic ideas do not take positions at managerial structures.
Chairman of the Public Council of the Moscow House of Nationalities Vladimir Zorin proposed the development of a system of public monitoring of inter-ethnic relations.
Member of the Russian Public Chamber, journalist Maxim Shevchenko proposed to create a similar monitoring service at the Presidential Council on Inter-Ethnic Relations. He also said it was necessary to set up the Council’s group on ethnics, which would evaluate statements by politicians.
President of the Union of Georgians in Russia Mikhail Khubutia proposed to open schools for gifted children throughout Russia.