Photo: Ruslana Alibekova. Source: chernovik.net. All rights reserved.According to the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, a bill on the voluntary study of national languages that was passed by parliament this April will have a detrimental effect on inter-ethnic relations in Russia. The Kremlin’s position on the question still remains unknown.
Meanwhile, civic activists across the national republics of the Russian Federation are demonstrating a willingness to fight for the preservation of identity. Unexpectedly for many, national linguistic policies have provoked a wave of mobilisation.
Integral, but voluntary
The draft law is the result of a statement made by President Putin last year, in which he claimed that “forcing someone to learn a non-native language is just as unacceptable as lowering the level of Russian education.” During the meeting of the Council for Cross-National Relations that took place in Yoshkar-Ola in July 2017, Putin urged the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to pay “special attention” to this issue.
