The right ethnic policies in a multicultural Russia: the state’s strategic aim!

This was the title of a round-table discussion organised by the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia together with the City of Moscow’s Committee on inter-regional relations and nationalities policy and the Nationalities Committee of the Russian Duma. It was held on the 5th of February 2008 in the Moscow Nationalities Hall.

According to the organisers, “Judging by the experience of Assembly of the Peoples of Russia, the City of Moscow Government and other governmental and non-governmental bodies involved in inter-ethnic interaction, it is very important, on the eve of the presidential election, to discuss a range of topical ethnic and nationality-related problems and ways of dealing with them. This is done with a view to presenting joint proposals to the President and the Russian Government”.

As expected, the main speaker was Ramazan Abdulatilov. He proposed “giving the new President of the Russian Federation recommendations, according to a long-held tradition”. According to the former Vice-Premier Minister and Minister for Nationalities, the most important recommendation would be to continue the course of stability. He also stated that there is no need to search for Russia’s enemies outside the country, for instance in America. “We have no more dangerous enemies than the ones we have inside the country”, he said. He added: “Where is the concept of a state policy on nationalities, where is the separate funding in the country’s budget? Why was the death of the little Tadjik girl not taken to be a national tragedy by the authorities?”

Alexei Aleksandrov, the chairman of the Committee on inter-regional relations and nationality policies, was more optimistic. According to him, the City of Moscow government has launched an initiative called “Moscow – Capital of a multicultural Russia’ and has given it a budget of more than 500 million rubles. The main aim of the initiative is to revive inter-cultural education. The city will host a rock festival featuring well-known groups from different countries. There will be special lessons in the capital’s schools. A special programme dedicated to the cultures and traditions of different nationalities will be shown on the ‘Stolitsa’ television channel. New advertising promoting harmony has already appeared on Moscow’s streets. “Intercultural strife presents a more serious threat to Russia than war or economic instability”, said Aleksandrov.

Then, former Russian ministers Mikhailov, Zorin, Bokov and others reminisced at length about the days of the Soviet Union, the inter-cultural education and the first few years under Boris Yeltsin. After the third hour, the Chairman of the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia suggested ending the event. “We’re very tired, but if anyone insists, I can let them say a few words” he told the assembled delegates.

The invitation I received to take part in this round-table discussion suggested I write the title of my speech. I wrote “The Russian and international experience of solving problems between different nationalities”, although I was sure that I would not get a chance to speak. Of course, this problem had never surfaced at the conferences of the UN, the Council of Europe or the OSCE. Prophets aren’t needed in their own homeland. That’s the way it’s always been. And it’s not like the international experience interests anyone here, unfortunately. For instance, in the US presidential candidates meet with representatives of the Jewish, Greek, Italian, and Armenian Diasporas. But here, despite the fact that the organisers of the round-table sent out invitations to all the presidential candidates, not one of them even sent their representatives along. That’s why I, along with the majority of other participants, decided not to insist on speaking. Everything that was said at the round-table was very relevant and correct. However, it was nothing more than the sound of someone shouting in the desert.

Ashot Airapetyan