Moscow Pupils Call for Adding Russian Language to ’17 Traditional Values of Russia’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 21 – School children across Russia are now being taught “the 17 traditional values of Russia.” Some of those who are studying these values in Moscow say that the authorities ought to add at least one more to the list – the Russian language – a call that is gaining support among educational officials.

            The 17 values now being promoted include life, dignity, human rights and freedoms, patriotism, citizenship, service to the Fatherland and responsibility for its fate, high moral ideals, strong family, creative work, priority of the spiritual over the material, humanism, mercy, justice, collectivism, mutual assistance and mutual respect, historical memory and continuity of generations, and unity of the peoples of Russia (rg.ru/2025/05/19/kompas-smyslov.html).

            The new proposal to add the Russian language to this list, which echoes Putin’s recent statements, could open the floodgates to including even more values on this enumeration, a development that by including so many makes the listing ever less distinctive (nazaccent.ru/content/43974-russkij-yazyk-nazvali-eshe-odnoj-tradicionnoj-cennostyu-rossii/).

            To prevent that from happening, the Kremlin is likely to rewrite the list, combining some of the existing 17 so as to add the Russian language to it.