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Russian military donates educational textbooks to Syrian university

The interest in the Russian language among the Syrians has significantly grown in the past few years

© AP Photo/Diaa Hadid

LATAKIA, December 27. /TASS/. Officers from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria have handed Russian study books and books in Arabic telling about the blockade of Leningrad during World War II, to the Tishreen University located in the city of Latakia, a TASS correspondent reported.

"Interpreters, including your graduates, have been actively assisting our officers," Spokesman for the Center of Reconciliation Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Vasilyev said during the handover ceremony. "On behalf of the Center, I would like to express deep gratitude to the university’s professors and hand Russian study books and books in Arabic about World War II over to the University library," he added.

Russian language courses at Tishreen University

Latakia’s Tishreen University, founded in 1971, is one of the five state universities in Syria.

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Russian language courses were launched at the university in 2011. At first, there was only one teacher, while the group of students learning Russian consisted of no more than 20 people. "At the moment, there are 11 teachers, while the number of groups has grown to 22, with up to 30 students in each group," Russian language teacher Yelena Zavalishina told reporters.

"Apart from the main course, there are also additional ones, where students are trained to teach Russian to Syrian school children," the university’s head Oras Osman said.

The interest in the Russian language among the Syrians has significantly grown in the past few years. "Since the Russian military came to Syria, there has been an upsurge in the interest in Russian. Not only university students attend our courses, but also older people, including housewives," teacher Yelena Saad pointed out.

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