The legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of language policy and international law

Anisimov Igor' Olegovich ORCID: 0000-0002-6575-6381 PhD in Law Candidate of Legal Sciences, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of International Relations and International Law, Associate Professor of the Department of International Law, Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia 119992, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Ostozhenka, 53/2, str.1, of. 453 i-anisimov@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Gulyaeva Elena Evgen'evna ORCID: 0000-0001-8376-7212 PhD in Law Associate Professor, Department of International Law, Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia 119034, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Ostozhenka, 53/2, str.1, of. 423 gulya-eva@yandex.ru

Introduction

For Russia, as a multinational state, the issue of protecting and preserving the languages of small and indigenous peoples has always played an important role. The problems of legal protection of languages were actively dealt with by the Soviet ^{[4] [5] [7]}, and then Russian legal scholars ^{[1] [3] [6]}. In light of the unfair exclusion of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe (CoE) on March 16, 2022, this issue becomes particularly relevant. In this article, the authors have attempted a comprehensive analysis of the language policy of the Russian Federation in accordance with the regulatory framework and international legal norms. The authors systematized international legal acts with the participation of the Russian Federation, taking into account the current foreign policy situation (meaning Russia's denunciation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950 in connection with its exclusion from the Council of Europe), as well as regulatory legal acts (NPA) aimed at protecting and preserving the languages of Russia.

Modern language policy of the Russian Federation

and international law

December 30, 2021 President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing the Year of Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia in 2022. According to the document, the Year of Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia is held "in order to popularize folk art, preserve cultural traditions, historical and cultural monuments, ethnocultural diversity, cultural identity of all peoples and ethnic communities of the Russian Federation" (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation "On holding the Year of Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia in the Russian Federation", No. 745 of 30 December 2021).

Even when the Monitoring Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was preparing in 2020 a regular report on the fulfillment by the Russian Federation of the obligations assumed upon accession to the Council of Europe, the issue of Russia's ratification of the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages (European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages: adopted on November 5, 1992, ETS No. 148 (Charter) // URL: http://www.coe.int/ru/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/rms/090000168007c098 (accessed: 03/29/2022)).

Here it is necessary to make a remark that the European Charter was opened for signature on November 5, 1992 and entered into force on March 1, 1998. To date, the following 25 States have ratified it: Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom The kingdom. Eight States have signed the Charter. Six States committed themselves to ratification upon joining the Council of Europe, but did not do so (Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation and North Macedonia (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).

The Russian Federation signed the Charter on May 10, 2001. However, it has not been ratified by Russia, despite PACE Resolution No. 1896 (2012) "On the fulfillment of obligations by the Russian Federation", which demanded the immediate ratification of the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages.

At the same time, the European Charter for Regional Languages or Languages of National Minorities is considered as the only legally binding international treaty that provides protection and promotes the traditionally used regional and minority languages.

At the same time, Russia is making efforts to improve the state language policy and domestic law in this area, which largely exceed the requirements of the Charter. The European Charter prescribes the adoption of urgent measures for the preservation and development of languages on the verge of extinction. However, an encyclopedic dictionary is already being published in Russia, the Red Book of the Languages of the Peoples of Russia, which is an analogue of the UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages. Of course, it is premature to talk about a system of periodic monitoring and analysis of the balance of the state language of the Russian Federation and the languages of the peoples of Russia, however, a data bank containing information on the dynamics of the functioning of the Russian language is already being formed.

Paying special attention to the problem of developing the most optimal and effective model of language policy in the Russian Federation in order to preserve and develop minority and endangered languages, the President of the Russian Federation created the Foundation for the Preservation and Study of the Native Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation. According to UNESCO, 136 languages of Russia are in danger. Of these, 22 are in critical condition, 29 are in serious danger, 49 are threatened with extinction (The number of languages of the peoples of Russia that are threatened with extinction is named. // URL: https://www.moya-planeta.ru/news/view/nazvano_chislo_yazykov_narodov_rossii_kotorym_grozit_ischeznovenie_34097 (accessed: 03/29/2022)). Taking into account the rather difficult situation that has developed at the moment in Russia regarding the preservation and development of minority and endangered languages, it was decided to hold events of the International Year of Indigenous Languages in 2019. The basis for this was the decision of the United Nations to declare 2019. The International Year of Indigenous Languages in order to support, promote and revitalize indigenous languages.

In the Fundamentals of the Legislation of the Russian Federation on Culture, the term "cultural values" is considered as a set of a number of components, in particular: moral and aesthetic ideals; norms and patterns of behavior; languages, dialects and dialects; national traditions and customs; arts and crafts; folklore; works of culture and art; results of scientific research of cultural activities; territories, buildings and objects of historical and cultural significance and others ^[8].

In this regard, the main objectives of the state cultural policy are outlined:formation of a harmoniously developed personality, strengthening of civic identity, ensuring the unity of the Russian nation and Russian society, preserving the unity of cultural and linguistic space through priority humanitarian development.

Language policy within the UN and the Council of Europe

According to the Declaration of Principles of International Cultural Cooperation of 1966 (Declaration of Principles of International Cultural Cooperation of 1966, adopted on November 4, 1966 by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization at its fourteenth session // https://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/declarations/culture.shtml (date of appeal: 03/29/2022)) "cultural cooperation is the right and duty of all peoples and countries, therefore, they should share knowledge and experience with each other." States should be aware that international cultural cooperation, regardless of whether it is carried out on a bilateral or multilateral basis, inevitably contributes to the cause of peace, the development of peaceful and friendly relations between States.

In the UN Declaration on Principles of International Law of 1970 (The UN Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation between States in Accordance with the UN Charter, approved by the General Assembly resolution of October 24, 1970 // URL: https://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/declarations/culture.shtml (date of appeal 29.03.2022)) it is emphasized that each state has the right to determine national policy in cultural areas independently determine their cultural development without outside interference.

To properly understand the content of the articles of the UN Charter, it must be borne in mind that "friendly relations between nations" means "friendly relations between states". This is due to the fact that the polysemous word "nation" in the English–language name of the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples, paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the UN Charter was translated into Russian as "nation", although it would be more appropriate to "state", since the UN is an international organization whose members are states. Just like "United Nations" (the name of the United Nations in English), in fact, in literal translation into Russian, it is not "United Nations", but "United States Organization" or "United States".

These provisions of the Charter were further developed in the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, according to which "all peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of this right they freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development" (UNGA Resolution 1514 (XV), adopted on December 14, 1960 // International law in documents: Studies. Manual / Comp.: N.T. Blatova, G.M. Melkov. - M.: 2003. P.17.).

According to the UN Charter, its goal is to develop friendly relations between nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples. Thus, the subject of the right to self-determination is the people. This is also indicated in its advisory opinion on Western Sahara by the International Court of Justice (International Court of Jusrice. Reports, 1975. P. 31.). This statutory provision of paragraph 2 of Article 1 (due to an incorrect translation of the English polysemous word "nation" as "nation", although in this case it is rather used in the sense of "state") must be understood as follows: one of the goals of the UN is the development of friendly relations between states and peoples who do not have an independent statehood. However, neither the UN Charter nor other documents contain any explanations about what should be understood by the term "peoples" ^[7].

Returning to the nations, we note that the rights of people who make up a particular nation are protected by the norms on the protection of national minorities, in particular, Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966: "In those countries where ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities are not allowed to the right to enjoy one's culture, to profess one's religion and to perform its rites, as well as to use one's native language, together with other members of the same group, may be denied" (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 2200 A (XXI) of December 16, 1966 // International Law in the documents: Studies. Manual / Comp.: N.T. Blatova, G.M. Melkov. - M.: 2003. P. 126.).

A national minority is understood as a separate group of persons existing among the population of a particular State and having stable ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics that differ significantly from the characteristics of the rest of the population. Only citizens of a given State can be recognized as a national minority, and at the same time a subjective criterion must be taken into account – the desire of the group to preserve its characteristics.

According to the Chairman of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe, Vesna Crnych-Grotic, "... The Charter is the only such document in the world that is aimed at protecting and promoting the country's traditional regional and minority languages. The authors of the Charter text believed that the best way to support a regional language or the language of a national minority as a living language is to promote its everyday use in private and public life. The Charter goes further than the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, article 14 of which prohibits discrimination based on language or association with a national minority: The Charter creates a direct obligation for States to encourage the use of these languages in public life, especially in the fields of education, mass media, culture and governance."

It should be noted that in accordance with the Declaration of Principles of International Cultural Cooperation of 1966, international cooperation should prevent manifestations of hostility in relations and expression of opinions, promote the presentation and dissemination of reliable information. In addition, according to the declaration, "peace should be based on the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind," and all cultures are "part of the common heritage of mankind."

The legal status of persons belonging to minorities is based on article 14 of the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which prohibits discrimination, in particular, on the basis of race, skin color, language, religion, national origin, membership of national minorities. The general prohibition of discrimination is also contained in Protocol No. 12 to the Convention (not ratified by Russia).

The concept of minorities was developed with the adoption of October 1 , 1990 . PACE Recommendation No. 1134 (1990) "Minority Rights", which stated that minorities make a significant contribution to the cultural diversity of the member States of the Council of Europe (Rights of Minorities: Recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe No. 1134 (1990) // URL: http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML 2 HTML-en.asp?fileid=15168&lang=en (accessed 03.03.2022)).

The document enshrined the "minimum principles of minority rights", including the right of minority representatives to access to court and to protection, in particular in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the prohibition of discrimination, the right of minority representatives to freely maintain contacts with citizens of other States having a common origin with them. Also, this document established the principle of "special measures", the essence of which is as follows: the special situation of a minority justifies the use of so-called "positive discrimination" measures aimed at supporting it (paragraph 10.3).

Additional legal provisions were provided for national (paragraph 11) and linguistic (paragraph 12) minorities. Thus, national minorities have the right to be recognized as such by the States in which they live; they have the right to preserve and develop their culture, preserve educational, religious and cultural institutions; they should have the right to participate effectively in the process of making and implementing decisions on issues important for the preservation and development of their identity.

The law of the Council of Europe interprets the concept of "national and linguistic minorities". In accordance with the definition contained in paragraph 11 of the Recommendation, national minorities are separate or distinct groups of people, well defined and educated on the territory of a State, whose members are citizens of that State and who have certain religious, linguistic, cultural or other characteristics that distinguish them from the majority of the country's population.

The definition of national minorities was clarified in PACE Recommendation No. 1201 (1993) (Additional protocol on the rights of minorities to the European Convention on Human Rights: Recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe No. 1201 (1993) // URL: http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML 2 HTML-en.asp?fileid=15235&lang=en (accessed: 03/29/2022)) containing a draft Additional Protocol on minority rights to the European Convention on Human Rights (1950). According to this definition, a national minority is a group of people who:

• they live within the territory of this state and are its citizens;
• maintain long-term, stable and ongoing ties with the specified state;
• demonstrate distinctive ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics;
• they have a sufficient number, although smaller than the rest of the population of the state or any of its regions;
• They are interested in preserving unity with each other, which forms their common identity, including culture, traditions, religion or language.

As the Venice Commission noted, it is now generally recognized that the listed criteria cover both objective features (for example, common language, traditions, cultural heritage, religion) and subjective (the desire to preserve the features of one's own identity) (Report of the Venice Commission on Non-Citizens and Minority Rights. Adopted 15 - 16 December 2006. CDL-AD (2007) 001 // URL: http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-MIN (2006)002-e. (accessed: 03/29/2022)).

The concept of "national minority" in the documents of the Council of Europe, as follows from the definition, covers ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities (in the PACE Recommendation No. 1177 (1992), you can also find a reference to "ethnic and cultural" minorities (Rights of Minorities: PACE Recommendation No. 1177 (1992) // URL: http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML 2 HTML-EN.asp?fileid=15211&lang=en. (date of appeal: 03/29/2022)) and largely repeats the signs of minorities proposed by Italian Professor F. Capotorti (Special Rapporteur of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 1979).

The term "national minority" in the documents of the Council of Europe, therefore, is not identical in content to a similar term used in UN documents ^{[9, p. 184.]}. There are differences in approaches to establishing criteria for belonging to minorities. In the definition formulated by PACE, there is no such feature as a non-dominant position, thereby the scope of European acts on minority autonomy is wider than the scope of UN documents. At the same time, the Council of Europe recognizes as legally significant the criterion of the duration of relations of minority representatives with the State (migrant communities are thus excluded from the concept of national minorities).

Two international treaties have made a significant contribution to the formation of European standards of national minorities: the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages of 1992 (The European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages: adopted on November 5, 1992, ETS No. 148 // URL: http://www.coe.int/ru/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/rms/090000168007c098 (accessed: 03/29/2022)) and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of 1995. (Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: adopted on February 1, 1995. ETS No. 157 // URL: https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016800cl316 (accessed: 03/29/2022)).

The Charter defines a "regional or minority language" as a language that is traditionally used on the territory of a State by residents of that State (but not migrants), representing a group numerically smaller than the rest of the population of the State. Article 1 of the Charter recognizes that a regional language may be associated with a particular geographical area, where it acts as a means of communication for a certain part of the population, and this circumstance serves as "the basis for taking various measures for protection and development." Such measures are regulated, in particular, in Articles 8-13 of the Charter. According to Article 10, if the number of residents using regional or minority languages in a certain territory or administrative district justifies the adoption of special measures, then the participating States must ensure the use of such languages by regional or local authorities, the possibility of submitting oral or written statements in these languages and receiving responses to them, the publication of official documents on to encourage the use of these languages during debates in representative authorities, as well as the use of traditional toponyms to designate geographical objects within such territories. In addition, among the obligations of States are to ensure the availability of education in regional or minority languages "within the territory where such languages are used", "without prejudice to the teaching of the State language(s)" (Article 8), to ensure the conduct of legal proceedings in regional or minority languages in judicial districts with a significant number of residents, using such languages (v. 9) and a number of others.

The Charter in Article 1 defines:

"(a) "Regional or minority languages" means languages that:

(i) Are traditionally used in a given territory of a State by the inhabitants of that State, representing a group numerically smaller than the rest of the population of the State; and

ii) differ from the official language(s) of that State;

They do not include any dialects of the official language(s) of this State, nor the languages of migrants;

(b) "Territory in which a regional or minority language is used" means a geographical area in which the said language is the means of communication of a part of the population, which is the basis for taking various measures for protection and development provided for in this Charter;

(c) "Non-territorial languages" means languages used by the inhabitants of a State that differ from the language or languages of the rest of the population of the State, but which, despite their traditional use in the territory of the State, cannot be associated with any particular area of it."

The provisions of the Charter, as it follows from Article 2, do not apply to dialects. This, according to experts, has a very convincing justification. Despite the fact that dialects are widely spread both in the Russian Federation and in other states, their relationship with languages has not yet been sufficiently determined among linguists, which does not allow us to speak about the consolidation of their legal status.

Article 3 of the Framework Convention proclaims that belonging to a national minority is the result of the free expression of the will of a person who "has the right to freely choose whether or not to be considered as such, and this choice or the exercise of the rights associated with this choice should in no way infringe on this person." The Framework Convention requires States that have ratified it to take "appropriate measures to promote, in all areas of economic, social, political and cultural life, full and effective equality between persons belonging to a national minority and persons belonging to the majority of the population." In this regard, the parties should "take into account the special situation of persons belonging to national minorities" (Article 4, paragraph 2); "encourage the creation of favorable conditions that allow persons belonging to national minorities to maintain and develop their culture, as well as preserve the basic elements of their identity, namely: religion, language, traditions and cultural heritage" (item 1 of Article 5).

In PACE Resolution No. 1866 (2012) (An additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights on national minorities: PACE Resolution No. 1866 (2012) // URL: http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?fileid=18074 (date of appeal: 03/29/2022)) five principles were formulated – "minimum standards for national minorities and their members":

• the right of every person to freely express their belonging to a national minority;
• political rights (in particular, freedom of association, the right to form political parties, participation in elections, representation in government bodies at the national and regional levels);
• cultural rights, including the right to cultural autonomy and the preservation of national identity;
• the right to make decisions on various forms of autonomy in accordance with European practices, as well as national or regional traditions;
• the right to freely use the language of minorities in private and public life, especially in relations with administrative bodies and in the conduct of legal proceedings in the territories of traditional residence of national minorities, or where such minorities make up a significant part of the regional or local population.

It is important to emphasize that the terms "indigenous peoples" (English indigenous peoples, indigenous and tribal peoples, marginalized populations, Spanish pueblos ind?genas, pueblos originarios, pueblos tribales) and "local communities/communities/population" (English indigenous, local communities, Spanish comunidades campesinas) require more careful study by specialists in the field of international law, since in the legal literature one can also find the use of the terms "ethnic minorities" (English ethnic minorities; minority ethnic group, indigenous and other marginalized populations, Spanish minor?as) and "first aborigines" (first nations, English first nations), which introduces additional confusion in the legal understanding ^{[2] [11]}.

At the same time, the line between "minorities" and "peoples" is very conditional and mobile, and those groups that yesterday were considered as ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities, today may well put forward demands based on the right to self-determination.

It is also common that international law has not developed a conventional definition of national minorities, and the criteria for their identification have not been established. The final decision on which groups to consider as national minorities, whether to recognize their collective rights and what specific measures to apply to protect the rights of persons forming minorities belongs to the sphere of the internal constitutional legislation of States.

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is the only legally binding international treaty that provides guarantees of protection and promotes the traditionally used regional and minority languages. In order to maintain regional and minority languages, it is necessary that they be used in all spheres of private and public life. Based on the principle of "encouragement through use", the Charter legally obliges the signatory States to guarantee and develop the effective use of regional and minority languages in education, justice, administrative and public services, as well as in the media, during cultural events and cultural institutions, in business and public life and in cross-border cooperation. The implementation of the Charter is monitored by an independent Committee of Experts.

Legal bases of the language policy of the Russian Federation

The legal basis of the state language policy of the Russian Federation is the Constitution of Russia, generally recognized principles and norms of international law, federal laws and laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

As a member of the UN and a number of regional international organizations, Russia has ratified:

1. The UN Charter of 1945;

2.    Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948;

3. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, including its Protocols 1, 4 and 7 (in March 2022, Russia initiated the procedure for denouncing this international legal act);

4. UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education 1960;

5. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966;

6. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966;

7. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1966;

8. Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989;

9. UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, 1992;

10. Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, 1995;

11. European Social Charter (revised) 1996

At the same time , the following international treaties remain not ratified by the Russian Federation:

1. European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages 1992;
2. Convention on Ensuring the Rights of Persons Belonging to National Minorities, 1994;
3. UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003;
4. UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions 2005;
5. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007;

Regional international treaties (not all of them have been ratified by Russia) include:

1. Hague Recommendations on the Rights of National Minorities to Education 1996;

2. The Oslo Recommendations on the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities of 1998;

3. Lund Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in public and political life, 1999;

4. Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe "On teaching languages of neighboring States in border regions" 2005;

5. CIS Model Law on Languages 2004;

6. The CIS Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1995;

7. Policy Recommendations of the European Commission of the Council of Europe against Racism and Intolerance 2015

All these documents regulate the issues of language and language policy of states in one way or another. Despite the abundance of international legal treaties, including ratified ones, it should be noted that the primacy of law belongs to the national legislation of each State party. These documents are declarative/advisory in nature, but failure to comply with their norms and requirements is directly related to the reputational risks of the participating state on the world stage.

Of particular concern to language activists and sociolinguists is the fact that the Russian Federation has not ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This is due to the fact that the Charter focuses not only on the preservation and maintenance of regional and minority languages, but also on their development, which is especially valuable in preserving linguistic and cultural diversity. The Charter regulates the use of regional or minority languages in such areas as governance, economy, culture, education, media and interstate cooperation.

With the exception of the Council of Europe, Russia's participation in the Charter is all the more impossible. At the same time, Russia has an extensive regulatory framework in this area. Thus, the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of regulation of language rights is based on a set of constitutional norms, as well as federal and regional regulatory legal acts, in particular:

1. Constitution of the Russian Federation of December 12 , 1993
2. Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 53-FZ of June 1, 2005 "On the State Language of the Russian Federation";
3. Federal Law No. 273-FZ of December 29, 2012 "On Education in the Russian Federation";
4. Law No. 1807-1 of October 25, 1991 "On the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation";     
5. Law "Fundamentals of the Legislation of the Russian Federation on Culture" dated October 9, 1992 No. 3612-1;
6. Russian Russian Federation Government Resolution No. 714 of November 23, 2006 "On the Procedure for Approving the Norms of the Modern Russian Literary Language when It is Used as the State Language of the Russian Federation, the Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation";
7. Constitutions (Charters) of the subjects of the Russian Federation, laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation on languages and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

Let us dwell in more detail on the fundamental provisions of some of the above acts. Part 2 of Article 26 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Constitution of the Russian Federation of December 12, 1993 (as amended on March 14, 2020) // Rossiyskaya Gazeta, No. 144, 04.07.2020) establishes that "everyone has the right to use their native language, to freely choose a language communication, education, training and creativity". At the same time, Part 2 of Article 29 contains a provision on the prevention of propaganda or agitation that may provoke social, racial, national or religious hatred and enmity. Moreover, propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic superiority is prohibited.

Confirmation of the importance of preserving regional languages is the right of the subjects of the Russian Federation to establish their state languages. In state authorities, local self-government bodies, state institutions of the republics, such languages are used along with the state language of the Russian Federation (Part 2 of Article 68). It is also established that the Russian Federation guarantees all its peoples the right to preserve their native language, create conditions for its study and development (Part 3. Article 68).

It should be noted that the protection and preservation of languages in Russia takes place within the framework of the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. Thus, Article 69 of the Constitution of Russia establishes that "the Russian Federation guarantees rights in accordance with the generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation" (Part 1). Moreover, Russia undertakes to protect the cultural identity of all peoples and ethnic communities, guarantees the preservation of ethno-cultural and linguistic diversity (part 2.).

In the Law "On the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation" No. 1807-1 (The Law of the Russian Federation "On the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation" No. 1807-1 of December 25, 1991 (as amended on June 11, 2021) // Vedomosti of the Congress of the National Assembly of the RSFSR and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, No. 50, 12.12.91, Articles 1740, 1741, 1742) confirmed the right of the republics to establish their own languages (Part 2 of Article 3). Moreover, the subjects of the Russian Federation have the right to adopt laws and other regulations on the protection of the rights of citizens to freely choose the language of communication, education, training and creativity (part 3 of Article 3).

In order to protect and preserve the languages of local communities, it was established that "in the area of compact population living without their own national-state and national-territorial formations or living outside them, along with the Russian language and the state languages of the republics, the language of the population of this area can be used in official spheres of communication" (Part 4 of Article 3). In paragraph 5 of this article, it is determined that Russia recognizes the equal rights of all languages of its peoples to their preservation and development. All languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation are supported by the state. This provision is specified in Article 4 of the law under consideration, which contains three types of guarantees for the protection of languages:

- social protection, which provides for the implementation of a scientifically sound language policy aimed at the preservation, development and study of all languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation on its territory;

- economic protection, which involves targeted budgetary and other financial support for state and scientific programs for the preservation and development of the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, and the implementation of a preferential tax policy for these purposes;

 - legal protection of languages involves ensuring the responsibility of legal entities and individuals for violating the legislation of the Russian Federation on the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation.

Article 6 of the Law in question establishes the competence of the Russian Federation in the field of protection, study and use of the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation.In particular, the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation in the person of the supreme state authorities of the Republic in the field of protection and use of the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation is subject to:

- establishment of general principles of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the languages of its peoples;

- ensuring the functioning of the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation;

- assistance in the development of the state languages of the republics;

- creation of conditions for the preservation and development of languages of small peoples and ethnic groups that do not have their own national-state and national-territorial entities or live outside them;

- promoting the study of the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation outside its borders.

In the Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On Education in the Russian Federation" No. 273-FZ (Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" No. 273-FZ of 2012 (as amended on 01.03.2022) // The Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, No. 53 (Part I), 31.12.2012, Article 7598) education in the state language of the Russian Federation is guaranteed, as well as the choice of the language of instruction and upbringing within the possibilities provided by the education system (Part 1 of Article 14). It is established that citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to receive preschool, primary general and basic general education in their native language from among the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation (Part 4 of Article 14).

It should be noted that languages are protected as cultural values. So, for example, under cultural values, the definition of which is given in the Law "Fundamentals of the Legislation of the Russian Federation on Culture" No. 3612-I (The Law of the Russian Federation "Fundamentals of the Legislation of the Russian Federation on Culture" No. 3612-I of October 9, 1992 (as amended on 30.04.2021) // Rossiyskaya Gazeta, No. 248, 11/17/1992), moral and aesthetic ideals, norms and patterns of behavior, languages, dialects and dialects, national traditions and customs, historical toponyms, folklore, arts and crafts, works of culture and art, results and methods of scientific research of cultural activities having historical and cultural significance buildings, structures, objects and technologies, historically and culturally unique territories and objects (Article 3). Thus, languages belong to cultural values and enjoy similar protection on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Of particular interest is the provision that the Russian Federation guarantees the right to cultural and national autonomy to all ethnic communities living compactly outside their national-state formations or not having their own statehood (Article 21). At the same time, cultural-national autonomy is understood as the right of ethnic communities to freely realize their cultural identity through the creation of national cultural centers, national societies and communities based on the will of the population or on the initiative of individual citizens.

In order to realize their cultural and national autonomy, national cultural centers, national societies and communities have been granted the right:

- develop and submit proposals to the relevant state authorities and management bodies on the preservation and development of national culture;

- to hold festivals, exhibitions and other similar events;

- to promote the organization of national local lore, the protection of national historical and cultural monuments, the creation of ethnographic and other museums;

- to create national clubs, studios and art collectives, to organize libraries, clubs and studios for the study of the national language, all-Russian, regional and other associations.

Thus, the national legislation of the Russian Federation provides for effective and comprehensive protection of both the State language and the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, there are a number of problems in this area that need to be addressed separately. In particular, as noted by E.V. Golovko, S.V. Sokolovsky and A.B. Shluinsky ^[6], one of the shortcomings of the existing system of legal regulation of language relations in the Russian Federation is the terminological discrepancy in the formulation of legal norms in the legislation of the federal and regional levels, where the terms "state language", "title language", "official language", "language of interethnic communication and official record keeping", "majority language", "regional language", "languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation", which in various legislative acts have different definitions and interpretations. There is no differentiation between the concepts of "state language" and "native language" in federal and republican legislations, and the concept of "native language" can mean both the native language itself and the ethnic language. The state educational standards do not sufficiently define the procedure for studying the official languages of the republics within the Russian Federation. The inaccuracy of legal definitions generates disagreements and errors in law enforcement practice.

As A.A. Suleymanov notes, "today it should be recognized that due to globalization and migration processes, the language situation in the Russian Federation has changed, the structure and status of language communities have also changed, which makes the task of monitoring the modern language situation relevant" ^[10].

Thus, the problem of language protection and preservation is of considerable scientific interest.

Conclusions

Thus, the urgent task of the legislative bodies is to clearly distinguish the statuses of language communities, the competence of the federal level and the level of the subjects of the federation, as well as the clarification of terminology in the field of language policy.

The State should create conditions for the preservation, maintenance and development of minority languages. The main means of achieving an optimal balance between language groups from the point of view of linguistic security is a well-developed system of legislation that gives a clear idea of the rules for the use of languages.

It is important to understand that the Russian historical experience and modern practice of preserving the languages of national minorities, as well as the legal mechanism for the protection of languages provided for by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and regulatory legal acts, in many ways surpasses the mechanism provided for by the European Charter.