Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing a state council on interethnic accord, the Kremlin press service said in a statement on Thursday.
“The Council is a presidential consultative and advisory body aimed at ensuring cooperation between federal, regional and local governments as well as non-governmental, scientific and other organizations on issues related to implementation of the State National Policy of the Russian Federation,” the statement said.
Putin will head the council. The deputy chairman is first deputy chief of the presidential administration Vyacheslav Volodin.
Interethnic issues have been prominent in the headlines in the last year, after a series of murders following clashes between ethnic Russians and members of ethnic minorities, particularly following football matches.
A mass riot of around 5,000 football fans took place in central Moscow on December 11, 2010 following the murder of Yegor Sviridov, a fan of Russia’s Spartak football club, by North Caucasus native Aslan Cherkesov.
In an attempt to soothe both groups, Putin said in an article for the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily: “I think a special structure responsible for issues of national development, interethnic accord and interaction should be established within the system of the federal power bodies.”
Those issues were previously dealt with by Regional Development Ministry.