29 June 2026 saw the opening ceremony of educational program Modern Methodology of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language in a Multicultural School. The five-day face-to-face course for teachers of Atyrau Oblast, Rupublic of Kazakhstan, was developed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Astrakhan Oblast and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan at Education Development Institute ‘Platforma’ with the support from Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
The opening ceremony of the program was attended by Nikolay Gorban, CPC-R General Director, Pavel Pautov, Vice Governor - Head of Astrakhan Region Governor Administration, Inessa Gorina, Deputy Chairperson of Astrakhan Oblast Government, Vitaly Schepin, Minister of Industry, Trade and Energy of Astrakhan Oblast, Maria Shalak, Minister of Education and Science of Astrakhan Oblast, Vladimir Golovkov, Minister of Inernational Relations of Astrakhan Oblast, Kanat Khassenov, General Consul of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Astrakhan Oblast, Oleg Kolomin, Representative of Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation in Astrakhan Oblast.
Advanced professional training program Modern Methodology of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language in a Multicultural School will be held in Astrakhan Oblast from 29 June through 3 July, 2026. 21 teachers of Russian language from Atyrau Oblast schools will attend a 36 academic-hour course of lectures, will study video materials, attend offsite excursions and will get their knowledge tested at practical workshops.
The intent of the program is for personnel of educational institutions to develop multicultural competence, the ability to appreciate students’ bilinguality and draw on their native (Kazakh) language and culture, the skills of creating a psychologically comfortable language environment.
The location for the program was selected due to the historic role that Astrakhan played as a city at the crossroads of Caspian Sea region culture, the city that for centuries was the residence for Russian, Kazakh, Tatar, Nogai and other traditions. It is a hub of unique cultural resources that are applied in the program as tutorial materials for the course of Russian as a Foreign Language. They include the legacy of Kazakh composer Kurmangazy Sagyrbayev (the key to multi-cultural communication), creative writing of Astrakhan poet Velimir Khlebnikov (the key to word-formation), folk images of Boris Kustodiev, the native of Astrakhan (the key to cultural linguistics and visualization).
This important project in terms of cross-cultural communication and dialog between the two countries aimed at Russian language promotion in the Republic of Kazakhstan and Kazakh literature promotion in the Russian Federation was funded by Caspian Pipeline Consortium based on resolution of CPC-R Board of Directors and CPC-K General Shareholders Meeting at the initiative of CPC-R government shareholder Transneft.
The popularity of the Russian language in the Republic of Kazakhstan was noted in May 2026 at the meeting of V. Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and K. Tokaev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
- It is important that the Russian language is widely used in Kazakhstan. And its use in various spheres of life gets support from the leaders of the Republic. The new Constitution passed on March 15 at the Referendum that was held at the initiative of Kassym Jomart Tokayev validated the status of the Russian language as an official language, - stressed V. Putin and noted that it was K. Tokayev who put forward the initiative of creating the International Russian Language Organization.
The project is now ongoing in promoting Kazakh literature in Russia and Russian literature in Kazakhstan. By late summer the books will be handed over to 480 state and municipal libraries in the Russian regions crossed by CPC pipeline and to 208 school libraries in Atyrau Oblast of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
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CPC Pipeline System is one of the major projects in energy sector in the CIS. The length of the Tengiz – Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,511 km. This route transports over two-thirds of all Kazakhstan export oil, and crude from Russian oil fields, including those in the Caspian Region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM) that enable safe tanker loading at a significant distance offshore.
CPC Shareholders: Russian Federation – 24 %, CPC Company (LLC) – 7%, KazMunayGas JSC – 19%, Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%, Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company – 15%, Lukoil International GmbH – 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company – 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited – 7.5%, BG Overseas Holdings Limited – 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. S.ar.l. – 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.