Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky has expressed concern over a number of media reports saying that the Russian language is now being given less attention in Belarus.
“Among the things that unite us, there is the Russian and Belarusian languages’ equitable development, which we consider politically wise <…> And we may find it on the periphery of the current interaction! I would like that important part of the cultural cooperation to come into the focus of the Ministry of Culture,” Medinsky said addressing Mikhail Babich, Russia’s Ambassador and Putin’s special representative in Belarus.
In turn, Belarusian Culure miniser Yury Bondar assured his Russian counterpart that the Russian language was not facing any threat in Belarus. The statement was made at the joint meeting of the two ministries’ representatives.
“Nothing threatens the Russian language in Belarus; such rumours exist for some reason, but they are not true. On the contrary, we think of the program on further promoting the Russian language,” the Belarusian top official said.
Speaking about the cooperation in the cultural field, he noted that an inter-ministerial group would be established to implement the plan adopted.
As reported in January, Ambassador Babich found it very important that ‘the two brotherly Slavic countries’ have ‘common territory, a common history and culture, a common language’. “Let me remind you that Belarus is the only country in the world where Russian, on par with the national Belarusian language, is a state language,” he stressed.
belsat.eu, following interfax.by
