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Speaking at the meeting, President Vladimir Putin suggested analyzing the situation in the cultural sphere in order to determine measures required to support it, primarily mechanisms of financial assistance.

He called on the members of the State Council to pay special attention to the development of the Russian language, which is the native tongue of 288 million people of different ethnic origins. All these people form a unique “Russian world,” for which Russian culture and multinational traditions are great unifying values, Putin emphasized.

Mr Putin believes that the Russian language is a reliable guarantee of success in developing humanitarian and economic relations with other countries, primarily CIS nations.

The year 2007 has been declared the year of the Russian language. Based on the results of the meeting, the president instructed the government to draw up, together with the Academy of Sciences, a concept and program for preserving non-material cultural heritage. The President also charged the relevant bodies with the task of drafting proposals for supplements to the federal program Russia’s Culture, which deals with the social development of the rural areas.