The Russian language comes first. Saint Petersburg International Philological Forum will be held in May 2026

Sergey Kravtsov, Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, chaired a
meeting of the Government Commission on the Russian Language. The discussion
focused on the preparation of unified textbooks on literature and the Russian
language, the organization of the first St. Petersburg International Philological
Forum, and the approval of unified dictionaries.
“We are holding the first meeting of the Government Commission on the Russian
Language this year with its renewed membership. The agenda includes important
issues concerning education and other spheres. Following the instruction of the
President of Russia, we are developing state textbooks on the Russian language
and literature. This is currently one of our key tasks. We have also agreed to hold
the first International Philological Forum in St. Petersburg. And extensive work is
underway to create unified normative dictionaries of the Russian language,” noted
Sergey Kravtsov.
Elena Yampolskaya, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, stated that
textbook authors rely on the requests and wishes of teachers in their work. She
added that a special expert commission on teaching Russian language and literature
has been established under the Presidential Council for the Implementation of State
Policy in the Sphere of Supporting the Russian Language and the Languages of the
Peoples of Russia, which meets regularly.
“Textbooks for grades 10-11 are 90% ready. Simultaneously, we are preparing
textbooks for vocational colleges. In early April, we will submit them for approval
and further procedures. The textbook for the 5th grade is also in a very advanced
stage of readiness. Work is concurrently underway on textbooks for primary
school,” she said.
The commission's meeting also discussed the holding of the first St. PetersburgInternational Philological Forum in May 2026 Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St.
Petersburg State University, reported on the program of the upcoming event. The
Forum is expected to address issues related to the preservation and development of
the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation, language
policy, and innovations in teaching Russian. The event will be attended by
linguists, philologists, teachers, and educators from abroad.
Another item on the meeting's agenda was the inclusion of dictionaries submitted
to the Government Commission on the Russian Language in the list of normative
dictionaries, reference books, and grammar books that codify the norms of the
modern Russian literary language when it is used as the state language of the
Russian Federation.
Currently, the dictionaries of synonyms, antonyms, toponyms, paronyms, and
abbreviations are in their final stages of development.