ASTRAKHAN, October 31. /TASS/. Society that cannot protect its children does not have a future, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday at a session of the Counctil for Inter-ethnic Relations. He called for staying away from reliance on Europe's experience in immigration policies.

"A society that doesn't have an opportunity to protect its children today doesn't have a future," he said.

As an instance of mischievous policies in the sphere of interethnic relations, Putin cited a recent situation in an EU member-state where an immigrant raped a child and was subsequently exonerated by blame by a court, which ruled that he did not have command of the language and therefore could not understand the child’s objections.

"What they’re doing there is unfathomable," he said. "That’s a result of an erosion of the traditional national values, and I don’t even know how their feeling of guilt can be explained for."

"The cause of the situation is hard to make out," Putin added

"That's why their European experience is far from the best one, to put it mildly, while we have a millennium-old history of building up a multi-ethnic state and that's why we have a much more profound experience," Putin said.

New federal law on interethnic relations?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the idea of elaborating a federal law on interethnic relations.

"It is a good idea," he said on Monday at a meeting of the council on interethnic relations.

One of the participants in the meeting voiced a proposal "to proceed from the strategy to a federal law" that is to include all the novelties linked with interethnic relations.

The idea was initiated by Vyacheslav Mikhailov, a department head at the Russian Academy of the National Economy and State Service. He proposed the title "On the Russian nation and interethnic relations management."

President supports idea to hold a Year of Unity of the People of Russia

Vladimir Putin has supported an idea of holding a Year of Unity of the People of Russia.

"The Year of Unity of the People of Russia might be a very good event," he said on Monday as he summed up results of a session of the Council for Inter-Ethnic Relations.

He said it was important to choose the calendar year, adding: "This could be a big, emblematic, consolidating event that would embrace practically every ethnic group, every nationality living in Russia.'

Putin believes various events and functions held during the Year of Unity of the People of Russia could help inform people in different parts of the country in more detail about the ethnic groups living here.