Civilization battle for the Russian world

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Leonid Slutsky, Head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and Communication with Compatriots, describes the geopolitical confrontations over Russian compatriots abroad ‘a civilization battle for the Russian world.’

“In many countries we can see an increase in the number of young people who hardly speak Russian. Even in the post-Soviet territories. In Ukraine, long before the bloody civil crisis, which began to form at the well-known online Eastern Partnership in Vilnius in November 2013. 650 Russian schools were closed from 2008 to 2013. There is only one Russian school in Turkmenistan – Pushkin school number 1 in Ashgabat. The situation is unfavorable in other Central Asian republics, i.e. the post-Soviet countries. Nowadays they are the countries of Central Asia, where we can see a huge expansion of education, especially in Turkey, in a number of the European countries, in specific universities,” Slutsky thinks.

He admits that Russian Slavic universities in Bishkek and Dushanbe work very well. “This is a stronghold of the Russian world and the Russian language, but these conditions are not enough today. In order to open new centers of Rossotrudnichestvo, the leadership of the federal agency ought to move its representative offices in some countries from the famous houses of science and technology, which are famous, symbolic, emblematic for its capitals. We can see them on all the postcards and medals. They move its representative offices to some small buildings on the outskirts of the city in order to have money for program activities. And we realize that in those countries neither our reputation, nor our authority as a great country improves. A new generation will replace us. But if the situation keeps on continuing as it is today, people will not speak the Russian language. The collapse of the Russian world, unfortunately, will go on. We should be realists and clearly realize what is happening around us, realize the processes in the Russian world. Because our generation is responsible for the fate of the Russian world. We need to put an end to the collapse and stop these terrible processes for the Russian world. Primarily, we need to expand our Russian educational area rather than narrow it. This does not require huge sums of money,” Slutsky says.

According to him, in April 2013 a special session in the Security Council was held. It was decided to increase support for Rossotrudnichestvo’s activity. “Even though the sums were not so big, Rossotrudnichestvo didn’t get anything, despite the decision by the Security Council, which was signed by the President.”

“In the context of the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union, we shouldn’t forget about the Russian language,” the MP stresses, suggesting the idea of a common Eurasian educational space.

According to the MP, his committee had many times discussed an increase of the financial support for compatriots by the state in the State Duma, but it didn’t achieve any results. The current budget of Rossotrudnichestvo is much smaller than the budgets of similar foreign structures.