'We have long-standing reciprocal ties with French counterparts'
A Pushkin Institute that will teach the Russian language to anyone wishing to learn it opened on Nov. 15 on the compound of the Russian Spiritual and Cultural Center, which is located on Branly Embankment next to the Eiffel Tower.
The Institute’s staff will make use of the newest methods of teaching as it braces itself for the task of popularizing Russian culture in France and in Europe in general.
"We have long-standing reciprocal ties with French counterparts but, without a doubt, the opening of the Pushkin Institute in Paris means a new step forward towards the strengthening of positions of the Russian language and culture in France," said Margarita Rusetskaya, the rector of the Moscow-based Alexander Pushkin State Institute of the Russian Language.
Participants in a major Franco-Russian conference devoted to the role Russian is playing in education and science attended the gala opening ceremony.
"Russia is the largest European country and the Russian language is essential for the continent’s economic development, considering the rate of mutual compatibility of (European) economies," said the French writer Dimitri de Kochko who heads the France-Urals Association.
"It’s quite obvious the Russian language isn’t ceding its positions in France and, on the contrary, is consolidating them," he said.
Source: TASS