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Conflict in Syria

Russian language classes to be compulsory in secondary schools in Syria

School children in Syria's Aleppo EPA/JM LOPEZ

School children in Syria's Aleppo

© EPA/JM LOPEZ

MOSCOW, May 29. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian language classes will be compulsory at all secondary schools in Syria, Sergei Stepashin, the president of the Russian Association of International Cooperation, said on Thursday.

“Following a recent visit to Syria by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Syria’s leaders passed a resolution introducing Russian language classes as a compulsory course in the secondary school curriculum. They are pressing us in Ukraine but Syria is an opposite example,” he said at a meeting of the Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots of the Russian State Duma.

Syria, in his words, had always been Russia’s ally. Moreover, “it has been our outpost in the Middle East,” he added.

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