Russian Language Day

On 6 June, for the first time, events to celebrate the Russian Language Day took place at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The celebration was organised by the House of the peoples of Russia and the Permanent Delegation of the Russian Federation to UNESCO with support from the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affaires.

The event was inaugurated by the Head of the Russian Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, Mr. Igor Barinov, who highlighted “the importance of the Russian language in creating a unique community of peoples, representatives of different cultures and religions in our country”, its “special place in the CIS countries”.

Ambassadors and representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan , Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan who took the floor emphasized the role of Russian as a language of interethnic communication in the CIS.

The project called “Pushkin Around the World” was launched, and a book of the great Russian poet will be given to representatives of countries where Russian is used in education, culture, science and communication to highlight the role of Russian in strengthening interethnic dialogue and cooperation. The Director of the Division of External Relations of the UNESCO Secretariat, Mr. Genc Seiti, who was the first to take the book, shared some words of support, highlighting the importance of multilingualism.

A concert programme was prepared for the Ambassadors and representatives of UNESCO with performers coming from all around the world: Russia, Belarus, Armenia, France and Japan. Among them there were groups led by Mr. Goryachkin, Honoured Artist of Russia, Mr. Makaruk and Mr. Kedrov, Honoured Artists of Belarus, D. Davydova, opera singer, students of Mr. Markarov, UNESCO Artist for Peace, children’s choir conducted by Ms. Ferrari.

On the margins of the event Ms. Anna Polezhaeva, Head of the House of the Peoples of Russia
with Ms. Feride Aroniia, Head of the Department for the Support and Development of languages of the peoples of Russia, had a working meeting with Ms. Marielza Oliveira, UNESCO Director of the Division for Digital Inclusion and Policies and Digital Transformation.

Guests who arrived at the UNESCO HQ, including compatriots, Slavists and Russian language students of French universities, watched the Russian feature film called “Amanat”.