Russkiy Mir Foundation

Russkiy Mir Foundation is a Russian soft power initiative created by decree by Vladimir Putin in 2007, as a government-funded organisation aimed at promoting the Russian language, and "forming the Russian World as a global project",co-operating with the Russian Orthodox Church in promoting values that challenge the Western cultural tradition. The Foundation was modeled after similar culture promotion agencies, such as British Council and Goethe Institute.

On December 9 2008 an agreement between the Russkiy Mir Foundation and the Leiden University was signed for the establisment of a centre in Leiden. On June 29 2010, the Russkiy Mir Foundation opened a Russian Center at the University of Groningen. It is the Foundation’s first center in the Netherlands. Despite the fact that the Foundation’s network of Russian Centers includes over 50 facilities in several dozen countries, the Russian Center in Holland has received a special status. For the first time in the Foundation’s history in working with educational institutes, the center is implementing a special interdisciplinary model. “The Russian Center in Groningen is not just another Russian language and culture center,” said European representative of the Foundation Archpriest Antony Ilin. “This is an interdisciplinary center of Russian studies, which will receive the status of an academic department of Groningen University and will have an academic council consisting not only of Russian specialists but also representatives of other departments. The status of an academic department brings the opportunity to defend theses, including doctoral dissertations, at the Russian Center. This is the first time that we have done this. In the future additional centers of this type will be opened, particularly in Western European countries.” Archpriest Ilin also noted that the Groningen area, home of the headquarters of Gasunie, a key partner of Gazprom, has close ties to Russia. Marcel Kramer, head of Gasunie (which also provided financial support for the creation of the center), said that the company together with the Russian Center will allow the Groningen area play an important role in the celebration of the Year of Russia in Holland, which will take place in 2013. Based on the priorities of bilateral Russia-Holland relations, the center in Groningen will have the opportunity to become a leading regional institution in the development of joint innovation projects. The university has a wealth of experience in carrying out joint Russia-Holland research and also has a school of Slavic Languages and Culture. Vasily Istratov, deputy executive director of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, noted that the University of Groningen has a good tradition of studying Russia and the Russian language. Over first three years of its existence, the Russkiy Mir Foundation has opened Russian Centers in Europe, the Americas and Asia. These unique cultural and educational facilities aim to popularize the history and culture of Russian and promote study of the Russian language. The centers have all the necessary conditions for the study of the Russian language and familiarization with Russian culture.