Putin Orders Educational Ministry to Drop Key Reference to ‘Native’ Languages

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Jan. 2 – In yet another move against non-Russians in the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin has ordered his educational ministry to change the name of the curriculum module about language from “native language and/or state language” to “language of the people of the Russian Federation and/or state language of the republic of the Russian Federation.”
    This may seem on first glance a small thing, but it is likely to cast an enormous shadow on the future (kremlin.ru/acts/assignments/orders/76077 and nazaccent.ru/content/43353-vladimir-putin-poruchil-sozdat-edinuyu-linejku-uchebnikov-po-russkomu-i-drugim-yazykam-narodov-rossii/).
    This dropping the reference to “native” detaches languages from the ethnic communities which speak them and makes it easier for Moscow to insist that these languages are not theirs from time immemorial but those of the republic in which they are spoken, reducing still further the possibilities of those who don’t have a republic or live within its borders.
    The fact that Putin made this announcement at a time when the Russian Federation is in the midst of its mid-winter holiday suggests that the Kremlin is aware of how unhappy many non-Russians will be about this change and decided to take this step at time when most residents of that country are focused on celebrations rather than government actions.