OREANDA-NEWS. Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations in Ufa. The meeting’s main theme was implementing state ethnic policy in Russia’s regions.

The meeting’s agenda also included improving regional legislative frameworks, staffing systems, ethnological monitoring, socio-cultural adaptation and migrant integration.

Opening remarks at meeting of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues,

Our meeting is devoted to implementing state ethnic policy in Russian regions. The majority of them are characterised by ethno-cultural and religious diversity; this fact is well-known. And we shall discuss what is being done at the local level to ensure interethnic peace and accord.

We have already established the good tradition of holding our Council’s meeting in a given Russian region. Today we are in Ufa, where we are celebrating the 225th anniversary of Catherine the Great’s decree establishing the Muslim Spiritual Assembly. This decision contributed to the self-organisation of Russia’s Muslim community and, of course, its fruitful development in order to serve society and our country.

This event played an important, very important role in strengthening Russian statehood, contributed to creating a common spiritual and cultural space, and to establishing the values and traditions that unite us. It is our duty to preserve this unique heritage, support interethnic harmony, and respond adequately and competently to new, contemporary challenges and problems.

Colleagues, we identified specific areas for joint work at the Council’s first meeting. They were integrated into the National Ethnic Policy Strategy through to 2025, approved in December 2012. The Government has adopted the relevant implementation plan for 2013-2015, and the programme Strengthening the Unity of the Russian Nation and the Ethnic and Cultural Development of the Peoples of Russia, which provides funding for regional programmes. For the first time we are using a so-called targeted programme approach to addressing ethnic issues. This was an initiative of our Council members; they suggested it at our meeting in Saransk. It is laid out in the documents I just mentioned.

Today, special importance is given to active, meaningful efforts taken at the local level, and regional and municipal authorities’ strive to enforce the new National Ethnic Policy Strategy, taking into account, of course, each territory’s specific nature and unique qualities.