MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In October, Putin said that Russia had a thousand-year-long experience of different ethnic and religious groups living peacefully side by side. He said there were still debates going on about how many minority ethnic groups Russia was home to, with estimates ranging between 93 and 169.
"As for Russia's indigenous people and small ethnic groups, we have recently discussed the issue at the Council for Interethnic Relations. Of course, the issue is very important for such country as Russia," Putin said at the meeting with the members of the Human Rights Council.
The issue is very relevant despite the fact that several problems related to the sphere of languages and culture of indigenous peoples have been solved on a residual principle, the president added.
