Lavrov pledges to actively promote Russian language in the CIS

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry will actively promote the study of the Russian language in member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the statement on February 11 during a government hour session in the State Duma.

Lavrov emphasized that Russia’s foreign policy agency is ready to offer its CIS counterparts various forms of cooperation in the field of education.

“The Foreign Ministry will continue to take an active part in this work, which is very promising. Within the framework of the new international organization and other formats, the promotion of the Russian language has good prospects,” Lavrov said.

According to him, there are modest positive developments in the CIS, including a Russia–Kyrgyzstan project initiated by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.

“It provides for harmonization of educational programs, including school and university curricula. An event on this topic has already been held in Bishkek, and a new meeting is being prepared. Based on the results of these events, conclusions will be drawn and presidents will be informed,” Lavrov said.

It is worth recalling that on April 22, 2025, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Uzbekistan. He was welcomed at Samarkand International Airport by Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov. On April 23, while laying flowers at the Mourning Mother monument in Samarkand, Lavrov expressed dissatisfaction that the inscription there was not also written in Russian. Alisher Qodirov, a deputy of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and leader of the Milliy Tiklanish Democratic Party faction, responded by saying Russian politicians were trying every possible way to worsen attitudes toward Russian culture and language in Uzbekistan. Another deputy, Odiljon Tojiyev, said Lavrov’s proposal could be considered “after Uzbek inscriptions appear in Moscow’s Red Square.”

For reference, the idea of creating an international organization for the Russian language was proposed by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the CIS heads of state summit held in Bishkek on October 13, 2023.

Later, CIS leaders signed a statement supporting the Russian language as a language of interethnic communication and an agreement on establishing the International Organization for the Russian Language.

Uzbekistan ratified the agreement on establishing the international organization for the Russian language in November 2024.