By Vestnik Kavkaza
The all-Russian social organization the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia was established on July 8th 1998, within the Concept of the State Ethnic Policy of RF as one of the main mechanisms of providing the ethnic policy of the country. The Assembly of the Peoples of Russia unites representatives of more than 180 peoples.
“Our country is unique from the point of view of the cultural variety, plenty of languages and cultures, the variety of peoples’, cultural, and religious traditions,” Alexander Zhuravsky, the head of the Department of State Policy in the Sphere of Inter-ethnic relations under the Ministry of Regional Development of the RF, says. “At the same time, we all realize that this unity and preservation of the cultural variety is provided by civil integrity. On the one hand, we are citizens of the Russian Federation, and we are bearers of a civic continuity, as the well-known article by Vladimir Putin stated, we are united by a common cultural code. From this point of view, even though we are bearers of different cultures, ethnic peculiarities, religions, we are bearers of a common cultural code as citizens of the Russian Federation.”
“We have been working on the ethnic and cultural variety of our country for a long time,” Vladimir Zorin, first deputy of the chairman of the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia, states. “Of course there are drawbacks and certain difficulties, but focusing on this direction of the state ethnic policy is rather strong. Speaking about ethnic social unities, various organizations, there are thousands of them. However, our country has had one organization which has been the all-Russian inter-ethnic platform for many years. We have similar organizations. For example, the Association of Finno-Ugric peoples; it is also multinational, but mainly Finno-Ugric peoples. We have the union of North Caucasus peoples. We have the union of small-numbered peoples. But only one organization has been the all-Russian organization for 15 years, where all-Russian values and all-Russian civic identity could be discussed. It was established within the strategy of the state ethnic policy of 1996; and Ramazan Khadjimuratovich was the vice premier of the Russian government, when he developed and headed it. But later life changed. Today we return to our roots, to the idea of an all-Russian civic identity, patriotism and not only what differentiates us from each other, but what unites us, makes us a roundly civic nation. I believe the Assembly has vast prospects in this sphere, as it has always maintained this position, is experienced in this sphere and possesses positive practices. I think the strategy of the state ethnic policy gives an opportunity for the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia and similar organizations.”
Svetlana Smirnova, acting chairwoman of the Board of the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia, commented on a new draft on the responsibility of heads of regions for inter-ethnic relations in a certain region, which will be discussed by the State Duma. The Assembly of the Peoples of Russia supports the draft.
According to Svetlana Smirnova, the draft corresponds to the state ethnic policy of the RF: “The strategy requires that heads of Russian regions and municipal entities are responsible for the situation in inter-ethnic relations in a certain region. On the other hand, we support it, as all developments happen on a certain territory, in towns and regions. If we speak about the development of culture, traditions, education and languages, it also happens in a certain facility, in a certain educational institute. It is controlled either by municipal state bodies or by the regional state bodies of Russia. We think that the draft is perspicacious. It will enable us, on the one hand, to establish conditions for the preservation and development of languages, cultures and traditions of people who live on this or that territory, and on the other hand, to prevent possible conflicts which are still taking place, unfortunately… Each region of the North Caucasus is multinational. I believe it will organize the work in every region and enable the authorities to react to developments in the sphere of inter-ethnic relations in a faster manner.”
