MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. The accession of four new regions into Russia will be taken into account in the 2025 Strategy of the State Ethnic Policy, according to the instructions that President Vladimir Putin handed down following the May meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations.

According to a document published on the Kremlin website, the president ordered the Russian government and the Council for Interethnic Relations "to make sure that the Strategy of Russia’s 2025 State Ethnic Policy is adjusted."

Putin emphasized the need "to provide for the integration of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions in the implementation of Russia’s state ethnic policy."

Putin also pointed to "the need to prepare and publish annual reports on the implementation of Russia’s state ethnic policy starting in 2024." In addition, the president handed down instructions "to define the goals that will make it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of work on the key aspects of Russia’s state ethnic policy and achieve the desired outcome of its implementation." The president set a deadline until December 1 for the government and the council to fulfill these instructions, putting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Magomedsalam Magomedov in charge.