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Opening the first meeting of the Presidium of the Council with newly appointed members, Magomedsalam Magomedov reviewed the Council’s performance during the year. The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office noted that the situation in the sphere of interethnic relations remained stable and controllable despite ongoing attempts by foreign anti-Russian centres to precipitate social unrest in order to drive a wedge between the peoples of Russia. In this regard, in the coming year, it is planned to place greater emphasis on strengthening unity and interethnic harmony, implementing state ethnic policy in the regions and municipalities, timely forecasting and responding to conflicts, and increasing the effectiveness of civil society institutions.

The main outcome of the work this year was the meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations chaired by the President, during which Vladimir Putin supported the vision developed by the Council regarding the goals and priority areas of state ethnic policy for the coming decade, subsequently approving the State National Policy Strategy to 2036. In addition, an initiative to designate 2026 as the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia in the Russian Federation was endorsed.

Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs Igor Barinov provided information on the progress in drafting the federal plan of activities to implement the Strategy in 2026–2028. The participants approved the document in general and offered several suggestions. Concluding the discussion on this matter, Magomedsalam Magomedov had the following to say, “Given that the public authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies are encouraged to follow the provisions of the State National Policy Strategy in carrying out their activities and drafting plans in this sphere, a unified framework of planned activities for implementing the Strategy, aligned with common benchmarks, should be created across the country. It is imperative to provide guidelines when working with the regions.”

During the meeting, the participants also reviewed matters related to planning and organising the work of the Council in 2026. A new structure of working bodies was approved. The following commissions were created: Commission on Strengthening National Civic Identity; Commission on Preserving Russia’s Ethnocultural and Linguistic Diversity; Commission on Legislation, Ensuring Interethnic Harmony, and Preventing Extremism; Commission on Media Support and International Cooperation; Commission on Regional Aspects of State Ethnic Policy and Promotion of Civil Society Institutions. The

scientific support was entrusted to the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Complex Problems of Ethnicity and Interethnic Relations.

Decisions on the matters at hand have been made at the end of the meeting.