President of Russia: Dmitry Medvedev renews Board of Trustees of “Russkiy Mir” foundation

The President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev has renewed membership of the Board of Trustees of the “Russkiy Mir” foundation, and included Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the Russian State Hermitage, Farit Mukhametshin, Director of the Federal Agency for Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrodnichestvo) and Vladimir Yakunin, President and CEO of Russian Railways (RZD). The relevant decree of the President of Russia can be found on the website of Kremlin.

Among other members of the Board is Sergei Vinokurov, Head of the Department of Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign countries under the Russian President and Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations.

The excluded members of the Board are Djakhan Pollyeva, the aide of the President of Russia and Eleonora Mitrofanova, Chairperson of the UNESCO Executive Board, who previously presided over the Russian Center of International and Cultural Cooperation (Roszarubezhcentr), which was abolished in 2008. Functions of Roszarubezhcentr were transferred to Rossotrudnichestvo.

The Executive Director of the Board of Trustees of the “Russkiy Mir” foundation, which was set up in 2007, is the President of the “Polity” Foundation Vyacheslav Nikonov.

“Russkiy Mir” foundation was founded for popularization of Russian language, promotion and development of the unique cultural heritage of Russia, with humanities playing a key role in it.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for supervision of the foundation’s work, decision making and fund management.

The founders of “Russkiy Mir” foundation on the part of the Russian Federation are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Education and Science.