Culture and power: Council for Culture under the Chairman of the state Duma considered draft Principles of the state cultural policy

Fundamentals of Russian state cultural policy and cultural heritage of Crimea were in the focus of the regular meeting of the Council for Culture under the Chairman of the State Duma, which was held on April 9, 2014.

Opening the meeting, Sergei Naryshkin said that the Year of Culture in Russia is gaining momentum, and 2015 is proposed to declare the Year of Literature.

Speaking about the forthcoming discussion of the draft Principles of the state cultural policy, Sergei Naryshkin suggested the State Duma as the first platform for public discussion. 

Advisor to President, Vladimir Tolstoy said that the first draft was prepared and the working group led by the head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Ivanov, collects comments and suggestions; then the document will be proposed to the President and, if approved, will be submitted to a broad public discussion.

Special Presidential Representative for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi stressed that the document should reflect the multi-ethnic character of Russian culture, its economic stratification and aesthetic diversity. He also drew attention to the fact that culture is not only a source of formation of moral values, but also a tool for development.

President of the Russian Book Union Sergei Stepashin proposed to give the national program of reading support the status of the state program and to free publishing from VAT; CEO of the publishing house "Exmo" Oleg Novikov offered to create a cultural map of Russian regions, which would give an idea of the infrastructure - theaters, cinemas and concert halls, libraries, their equipment and the outcome. For his part, he promised within two to three months to prepare a map of reading availability in the regions.

During the discussion about the cultural heritage of Crimea, director of the Institute of Archaeology of RAS Nikolai Makarov called for speedy transfer of cultural objects in the Crimea under the Russian jurisdiction. In particular, it is necessary to prevent illegal archaeological excavations. He also called to preserve cultural monuments of Crimea in their current boundaries.

Chairman of the Standing Committee for Culture of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Svetlana Savchenko told about the work of Crimean authorities to preserve the cultural and historical heritage and requested to take the necessary measures for the protection of archaeological sites that can be found during the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait.