Students of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language at Penza State University became winners of the VI International Olympiad in Russian as a Foreign Language, which was held on 14 June in Croatia in a distance format. The scientific event was organised by the Croatian Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature.

In the presence of a committee of teachers of Russian as a foreign language, headed by Irena Mikulatso, Doctor of Philology, Professor, President of the Association, students defended their projects, recited poems by heart and answered questions from the committee members. Students of educational organisations from Russia, Croatia, Poland, China, Vietnam, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Montenegro, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Ecuador, Mozambique, Peru, Mongolia, Slovakia, Montenegro, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, South Ossetia took part in the Olympiad.

"The Russian Olympiad is held with the aim of forming and strengthening the interest of students in the profound study of the Russian language and Russian culture. Participation in the Olympiad is a motivation to actively study Russian language for the purpose of communication", - Irena Mikulatso stressed in her welcoming address to the participants of the Olympiad.

According to the results of the VI International Olympiad in Russian as a Foreign Language, the places were distributed as follows.

Advanced level of Russian language proficiency (С1):

- 1st place - Nariman Babakhanov, student of group 23ИПУ1, project topic - ‘My favourite book “Letters about Good and Beautiful” by D. S. Likhachev’.

- 2nd place - Hami Batul, student of group 24ИФРМ1, project topic - ‘Russian traditions. Maslenitsa (Pancake Day)’.

Scientific supervisor - candidate of philological sciences, acting head of the department of Russian as a Foreign Language Olga Barabash.

Intermediate level of Russian language proficiency (B1-B2):

- 1st place - Wang Zibing, student of group 22ИЛК1, project topic - ‘The city I live in’.

- 3rd place - Lin Bingxuan, student of group 22ИЛК1, project topic - ‘My favourite film’.

Scientific supervisor - assistant of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language Anna Khabibulina.