Council for Interethnic Relations meeting was held in Bashkiria

The Government of Bashkortostan hosted a meeting of the updated Council for Interethnic Relations under the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Azat Badranov. During the meeting, the issues of strengthening the all-Russian civic identity, the organization of the all-Russian population census, and the need to intensify interaction with national-cultural organizations and diasporas expert-scientific community on the implementation of state ethnic policy were discussed.

According to Azat Badranov, in Bashkortostan, as well as in the Russian Federation as a whole, interethnic harmony is a key factor in domestic political stability and civil unity.

"The government of the republic intends to reconsider its approach to working with leaders of national-cultural organizations and diasporas," Azat Badranov stated.

Ural Kilsenbayev, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Head of Bashkortostan for Domestic Policy, also stressed that true patriotism was possible only with respectful relations between the peoples' representatives. This is especially important for multinational Bashkortostan, where representatives of more than 160 peoples live. He paid special attention to the upcoming population census, during which it would be necessary to strictly observe the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, based on the principle of observing the constitutional right of people to determine their nationality freely.

The results of sociological research in interethnic relations were presented by the director of the Center for Humanitarian Research under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bashkortostan Marat Mardanov. According to him, forming a Russian common civic identity is one of the priority directions of state programs on national policy and monitoring of interethnic relations in the regions. The main indicator of general civic identity in the republic is the share of the population experiencing a spiritual connection with Russia's citizens, measured according to the methodology of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs.

So, in 2017 this indicator was at the level of 70.6%. In 2020, the share of the population experiencing a spiritual connection with the country's citizens was already 78.9%. According to the survey results, 83.4% of the republic's population believes that relations between representatives of different nationalities are friendly or normal, which proves a favorable situation in this matter in the republic. In the course of the survey, 88.7% of the respondents noted that they had never experienced hostility towards themselves because of their nationality, faith, and language.

"Interfaith relations are also stable in the republic - 89% of the respondents gave a positive assessment of the relations between representatives of different religions (confessions) in Bashkiria, calling them "calm"," the scientist shared the data.

The Council members concluded that the interethnic peace in the republic was quite stable. This is the result, first of all, of the national policy pursued by the republican authorities and the historical experience of interethnic interaction, which has been developing for centuries between different peoples living in the region.