Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed support for a proposal to create a national center that would promote Russian as a second language around the world, similar to China’s Confucius Institutes, Spain’s Instituto Cervantes, the UK’s British Council, and France’s Alliance Française.
“I think creating a special center will benefit the promotion of the Russian language,” Putin said at a council meeting on state language policy implementation.
He ordered the Kremlin and his cabinet to begin work on a “university-based national interdepartmental scientific and methodological center for the promotion of the Russian language in the world.”
Nikita Gusev, acting chancellor of the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, who made the proposal, said the work would build on “an ecosystem of Russia’s presence abroad” created by government agencies like the Foreign Ministry.
Gusev said a more detailed proposal would be presented at the next council on Russian language state policy with Putin’s approval.
The move comes at a time when the US is cutting its international soft power programs.