On September 23, 2010, a resolution "On the Program To Implement the State Policy of Russian Federation Concerning the Compatriots abroad for 2011-2013" was approved at a session of the St.Petersburg Government, a presentation on which was made A.V. Prokhorenko, Chairman of St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations.
On September 23, 2010, a resolution "On the Program To Implement the State Policy of Russian Federation Concerning the Compatriots abroad for 2011-2013" was approved at a session of the St.Petersburg Government, a presentation on which was made A.V. Prokhorenko, Chairman of St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations.
The program "Compatriots" is a logical continuation of the previous Program, adopted in 2008 and designed for 3 years, which takes into account the years of experience in St.Petersburg to support compatriots in order to continue, improve, and upgrade work in this direction.
The goal of the Programme is the implementation of complex measures aimed at creating the favourable environment for the compatriots to develop the ties with Russia, strengthen the role of Russian language, and claim the role of St.Petersburg as a cultural and intellectual center of Russia.
The program consists of 5 sections:
• cooperation in education and Russian language support;
• working with the youth;
• support for WWII veterans and residents of besieged Leningrad;
• cooperation in the area of culture;
• informational, scientific-methodical, and organizational support for the program.
The implementation of the Program will involve eight sectoral committees and 14 regional administrations of St.Petersburg, within their areas of competence.
Coordinating the implementation of the Program will be carried out by St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations.
Further information at St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations: Vladislav Nikolaevich Balskiy, Head of the Department for Relations with Compatriots Abroad, tel. 576-7159, fax 576-4584, e-mail: balsky@kvs.gov.spb.ru; compatriots@kvs.gov.spb.ru.
News source: Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg
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Assisting the consolidation of organizations of compatriots abroad in order to better safeguard their rights in their countries of residence, the preservation of ethnic and cultural identity of the Russian diaspora and its links with the historical homeland, the study and propagation of Russian language as an integral part of world culture and an instrument of international communication is one of the priorities of the foreign policy of Russian Federation concerning the compatriots abroad.
Since July 2008, pursuant to orders of V.V. Putin, President of Russian Federation, and the Federal Law "On State Policy of Russian Federation Concerning the compatriots Living abroad", St.Petersburg Government adopted and executed the program to implement the state policy of Russian Federation concerning the compatriots abroad for 2008-2010, approved by the St.Petersburg Government Resolution № 825 of 08.07.2008.
With the adoption of the above program, St.Petersburg Government managed to make the work with the Russians abroad systematic, to attract the most active and skilled partners in order to tie the compatriots abroad with Russia. For the first time, the interaction with the Russians abroad covers the whole range of areas: education, culture, youth policy, social support, research, and information exchange.
The geography of the activity has greatly expanded, and now the constant and systematic work is carried out concerning the compatriots abroad, living in the following countries: Austria, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, , Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and the USA. However, the cooperation with the compatriots in other countries is also involved, while for the events programs, the main objective is to maximize the coverage of Russian-speaking diaspora.
2010 is a final year of the Program to implement the state policy of Russian Federation concerning the compatriots abroad for 2008-2010, and in order to continue, develop, improve, and modernize the work in this direction, with the experience of previous years, the program has been developed to implement Russian Federation state policy concerning the compatriots abroad for 2011–2013 years – the program “Compatriots”.