Welcome reception for the delegation of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russian foundationon organized on the premises of the Rectory

Prof. Stanko Stanic, the Rector of the University of Banja Luka, and Prof. Valerija Saula, the Vice-rector for International Cooperation welcomed Ms Tatyana Irinarhova, the representative of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russian foundation from Moscow, and a Russian writer and professor of the State University, Mr. Alexei Varlamov. The welcome reception was attended by Prof. Mladenko Sadzak, the Dean of the Faculty of Philology, to which the aforementioned institution from Moscow donated 300 valuable books in the fields of Russian history, philosophy, the Russian language, theology, the arts and literature.



The Russian foundation named after the famous Russian writer and the Nobel Prize winner and one of the most renown dissidents from the Soviet era, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, is responsible for preserving cultural values of the Russian emigration and for helping the institutions studying the Russian culture abroad. Starting from 1995, the Foundation has been implementing the support programmes for the libraries in Russia and abroad, which implies the donation of the valuable books regarding the aforementioned fields.

Expressing gratitude to the guests for their visit and their significant donation to the Faculty of Philology, Rector Stanic said that this donation would prompt the further development of the study programme of the Russian Language and Literature. Stressing the fact that the Russian language in the Republic of Srpska is studied most profoundly exactly at the Faculty of Philology in Banja Luka , the Rector informed the guests that there were more and more young people who opt to study the Russian language, hence the Faculty of Philology requested the line Ministry and the Institute of Pedagogy to incorporate this language into the curricula of primary and secondary schools.



Ms. Tatyana Irinarhova, the representative of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russian foundation, thanked the hosts for their hospitality, expressing her content that this donation would help students in their studies of the Russian language. She reminded that the institution she represented had been previously known for having excellent cooperation with the departments of the Slavic languages in Serbia, FRY Macedonia and Croatia, and that this visit established the cooperation with the Republic of Srpska.

Mr. Alexei Varlamov, one of the most acclaimed contemporary Russian writers, and also one of the winners of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn award, said that he was very happy for having a chance to acquaint our students with the contemporary Russian literature and contemporary Russia, and thus contribute to the strengthening of the fraternal relations between the Slavic peoples.

Pointing out that the University of Banja Luka has a good cooperation with Russia and its institutions of higher education and culture, the Vice-rector, Prof. Saula, reminded the present of the fact that the University of Banja Luka had a good cooperation with the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which regularly presents study and scholarship programmes in Russia to our students, that there were organized study trips to Russia, and that our students had a chance to attend the lectures of famous guests from Russia such as Mr. Leonid Ivashov, the president of the Academy of Geopolitics at the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and Mr. Leonid Reshetnik, the director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Research.



Noting that the visit to the University and the donations created another aspect of the cooperation between the University of Banja Luka and institutions of higher education and culture in Russia, Rector Stanic said that the arrival of Professor Varlamova made the first step towards establishing the formal cooperation with the Moscow State University.

Upon completion of the meeting, the guests from Russia visited the National and University Library of the Republic of Srpska, and afterwards, in the Centre for Russian language and culture, they attended the programme prepared and performed by the students of the Faculty of Philology, University of Banja Luka, in cooperation with the Alexander Nevsky choir.

The audience had the opportunity to enjoy the great vocal performances and recitals of the poems by Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin, whose birthday is celebrated in Russia as the Day of the Russian language and culture. The performances also included the fragments of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn's oeuvre, which had been translated by 14 students (members of the translation workshops) of the Russian language and Literature, the Faculty of Philology, the University of Banja Luka.