Wives of Russian and German presidents visit a Moscow school

The wives of the Russian and German Presidents, Lyudmila Putin and Christina Rau, on Tuesday visited Moscow School No. 1277 which specialises in the German language. Schoolchildren of the primary classes showed to the guests a small performance in German.

Then their knowledge of the German language was demonstrated by schoolchildren of the senior classes. After that, the Presidents' wives and the schoolchildren talked in German.

During this conversation one of the schoolchildren asked Lyudmila Putin whether it is true that the Russian language is planned to be used as a national idea. The wife of the Russian leader asked the permission to answer this question not in German but in Russian. According to her, the question is not to use the Russian language as a national idea, but to use the Russian language in the territory of Russia as the first state language. In our multiethnic country it is the Russian language which is suitable to be used as a means of communication between all its citizens, said Lyudmila Putin.

At the present time the school is attended by 550 pupils -from the first to the eleventh class. The teaching of the German language begins with the second class. From the fifth class the second language, English, is taught. There is a possibility to study the third language, French, for those who wish.

The school has long-standing traditions of international contacts since 1989 - cooperation and annual exchanges with a high school in Germany. Every year more than thirty pupils from both sides are being exchanged, out of them two or three pupils study in the German high school for two months. During the stay of the German boys and girls in Moscow, the school organizes for them lessons in the Russian language and acquaints them with the history and culture of Moscow.