MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/ Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold on Tuesday a joint meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations and the Council on the Russian Language. It will focus on the role of the languages of Russia’s peoples in strengthening the Russian nation, the Kremlin press service said.
"The participants will discuss the role of the Russian language and the languages of the peoples of Russia in consolidating the statehood and measures aimed at preserving and developing the national languages," the press service said. "The questions of preserving and developing languages, as well as the formation and the implementation of the language policy are essential for harmonizing interethnic relations in the country, for its cultural development, for addressing the issues relating to education, upbringing, enlightenment and strengthening the unity of the multiethnic Russian people."
The task of supporting the Russian language as the state language of Russia’s peoples stems directly from the Strategy of Russia’s state national policy endorsed in December 2012. Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the two councils’ joint meeting would be "a large-scale event with a very broad representation"." In general, it will discuss the role of the Russian language in preserving the foundations of statehood, as well as the problems of preserving minority languages."
Peskov added that he was unaware whether the problem of the Crimean Tatars would be discussed at the meeting. "I don’t know whether the issue [of the Crimean Tatars] would be raised by any of its participants, but the agenda [includes the issue of] preserving the cultural identity," he told reporters. "I am unaware whether its participants have plans to discuss the issue," Peskov said.