Derzhavin University hosted an international round table "Russian as a language of interethnic
communication in the modern world" dedicated to the Year of the Russian Language in the CIS
countries. Participants are specialists in the field of Russian as a Foreign Language from
Abkhazia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Uzbekistan and Russia, as well as Alexei Nekrasov,
representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Voronezh.

During the meeting, experts discussed practical recommendations and spoke about international
academic cooperation in the field of teaching and supporting the Russian language, literature and
culture in the CIS countries, near and far abroad.

They noted the important role of universities in promoting the Russian language and culture
abroad and in the implementation of educational and socio-cultural projects; considered the
issues of methodological support and assistance of foreign teachers of Russian as a Foreign
Language; shared their experience in writing textbooks and guidelines, etc.

- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is the developer and responsible
executor of the comprehensive state program in the Russian Federation "Support and
dissemination of the Russian language abroad" which started in 2022, - said Alexei Nekrasov,
representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Voronezh. – To do this, we have developed
methodological recommendations to stimulate interest in the study of the Russian language
among a foreign audience, to encourage its promotion in the educational, scientific, cultural, and
information environment. A large number of higher education organizations actively participate
in these programs, including Derzhavin University.

TSU has a long tradition of teaching Russian as a foreign language, which began in Soviet times.
Then, on the basis of the university, they trained personnel for Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

– In its activities to promote the Russian language and culture, Derzhavin University rests on the
“Concept of State Support and Promotion of the Russian Language Abroad”, approved by the
President of the Russian Federation in 2015, says Irina Bezukladova, Director of the Department
of International Relations of Derzhavin University. – At the site of our university, we regularly
hold linguoculturological schools for foreign students, Russian language competitions, online
festivals, and more. We pay great attention to working with teachers and professors of Russian as
a Foreign Language - the University organizes onsite scientific and methodological seminars and
advanced training courses, including those using distance learning technologies.

The participants of the round table discussed the state of the Russian language and the problems
of teaching it as a foreign language in their countries. One of them is the lack of Russian

language textbooks published in the Russian Federation. Colleagues from the CIS and Abkhazia
noted that in their countries it is necessary to increase the level of knowledge of the literary
Russian language among young people, since there is a general trend towards a decrease in the
culture of speech and insufficient knowledge of the written form of the language. In Uzbekistan,
there is a lack of hours in teaching Russian as a foreign language for students of non-philological
specialties.

“As the experience of cooperation between the secondary school in Despotovac and Derzhavin
University shows, holding joint events with Serbian and Russian schoolchildren can motivate
Serbian children to study the Russian language and culture,” says Svetlana Stojanovic (Serbia).

Foreign participants believe that in order to increase the motivation for learning the Russian
language among young people, it is necessary to use textbooks of a linguistic and cultural nature
in the classroom and hold various competitions and events related to Russian culture. The
participants of the meeting asked the organizers to make such an online platform a regular tool
for exchanging experience and developing strategic directions for promoting and strengthening
the position of the Russian language abroad.