Putin wants a new federal agency to promote interethnic harmony

Vladimir Putin has tasked Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with drafting a proposal to create a Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs.

According to Putin’s instructions, which mention the term “Russian nation” (using the non-ethnic word rossiiskii, not russkii), one of the new agency’s tasks will be “strengthening the unity of the multinational people of the Russian Federation.”

The agency’s other duties would include implementing state policy in interethnic and ethno-religious relations, the ethno-cultural development of the people of Russia, state monitoring and control in the sphere of interethnic and interreligious relations, and ensuring interethnic and interreligious understanding. 

Vladimir Putin instructed Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to review the issue and submit a proposal for creating a Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs.

In 2012, Putin signed an executive order “Russia's Nationality Policy Strategy through to 2025.” The strategy calls for “the development of an action plan to implement the Strategy, monitor its implementation and submit annual reports to the President.”

In this 2012 document, Putin said the main task of Russia’s nationality policy are preserving and developing the cultures and languages of the peoples of Russia, protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities, and supporting Russian citizens living abroad. Independent of the larger strategy, Putin also stressed the need to promote interethnic understanding in the North Caucasus.

In 2011, the Ministry of Culture introduced a Department for Nationality Relations.