Staunton, Aug. 2 – Speaking in the Tuvan capital of Kyzyl, Vladimir Putin says that a knowledge of the Russian language is what “unites all the peoples of Russia into a single common organism,” the clearest sign yet that for him language is far more important than nationality or ideology as the basis for the unity of the country.
No Soviet or Russian leader has made the Russian language so central to his understanding of what unites the peoples of Russia as Putin has, and none has played down ideology so fully (kremlin.ru/events/president/news/74982 and nazaccent.ru/content/42759-vladimir-putin-russkij-yazyk-obedinyaet-vse-narody-strany-v-edinyj-organizm/).
Putin noted in his remarks that Russia is one of the official languages of the UN and that more than 300 million people around the world speak it. “We must do everything to maintain its level and status both within the country and with our closest friends … first of all, in the former Soviet space but also with our main partners and allies.”
The Kremlin leader’s focus on Russian language knowledge as key to the unity of the country helps to explain both his attacks on the study of non-Russian languages and his obvious belief that a common language means more than anything else when it comes to national unity, a view that suggests he will continue to work to undermine non-Russian languages in the future.
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