Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for more patriotic education for his country's youth in order to protect them from foreign influences in what he views as a global ideological battle.
"There is a tough battle in the world for hearts and minds, for ideological and informational influence," Putin said at a government meeting on Thursday, cautioning against "artificial conflicts" stirred by foreign states, including among different ethnicities.
"We need constant, systematic work that would defend the country, our youth, from these risks, that would serve to fortify civic solidarity and harmony between nationalities."
Putin lamented the "process of destruction of the so-called traditional spiritual and moral values" in the world which he said give rise to neo-Nazi views, and said there should be new legislation to prevent the "rebirth" of such views.
Russia should think about bettering its "state programme of patriotic education," Putin said.
In an ongoing standoff with the West over Ukraine, the Kremlin is pursuing an increasingly isolationist cultural policy.
Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky echoed Putin's call, suggesting on Thursday that there should not be too much foreign language instruction and that yoga taught at community centres should be dropped in favour of Russian cooking classes.
"We increasingly learn foreign languages now, which is of course all right, but it should not be to the detriment of learning Russian language, our literature, and our common history," said Medinsky.
"It is better to support not hatha yoga and feng shui but master-classes in traditional technologies for children: from national martial arts to national cooking," said Medinsky.
He went on to criticise the "outmoded" policies of tolerance and multiculturalism which "utterly failed" in Europe.
"We think that in Russia one needs not to tolerate a neighbour who is isolated in a separate neighbourhood," he said.
Medinsky is at the forefront of Russia's new culture policy currently in final stages which stresses that "Russia is not Europe" and needs to protect itself from depravities of Europe. Critics have said that adopting the document would be de-facto installing a state ideology like in the Soviet Union and squash any sort of free cultural debate.
