Original Russian-language regulation, 15 pages, issued by a private fund based in Ulan-Ude that runs an annual online contest for children and young people in the "native languages" of the peoples of Russia, with the stated support of regional ministries of culture and education. The document is included because Ukrainian monitoring reports from occupied Mariupol in October 2025 described children being entered for the contest; it allows those reports to be checked against the contest's own rules.
The regulation sets the aims, categories, deadlines, fees and jury arrangements for the eighth edition of "Palette of Cultures", a national online contest in which children submit songs, recitations, dances and artwork in the "native languages" of the peoples of Russia. Its stated aim is "the moral-patriotic and aesthetic upbringing of the rising generation" and "the popularisation and preservation of the linguistic and cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia and the world". Participation is by paid application, with discounts for teachers who enter many pupils. The contest matters for occupied Ukraine because it exemplifies how children there are invited to present their identity as one of the ethno-cultural colours of a Russian palette. The record should be read with care: the 2026 application form lists the DPR and Zaporizhzhia Oblast among the regions from which entries are accepted, and lists Ukrainian among 53 admissible languages of work; a Ukrainian monitoring report of October 2025 stating that Ukrainian was excluded is not supported by the 2026 documents. The regulation names no involvement of the Presidential Administration. It is cited in TOT Insights research on identity and education under occupation with these qualifications.
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Section 1: general
Organiser: the Fund for the Support of Native Languages "Iazyk predkov", with the support of the ministries and departments of culture and education of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Venue: the fund's website and VK page. Timetable: applications open on 8 September, the Day of the Languages of the Peoples of Russia; entries to 22 October; expert assessment 26 October to 2 November; winners published 6 November. Entries may not contain political or religious slogans, advertising or extremist material.
Section 2: aims and tasks
"Moral-patriotic and aesthetic upbringing of the rising generation, popularisation and preservation of the linguistic and cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia and the world"; raising the prestige of native languages among children and young people; support for children's creative work with an ethno-cultural component; strengthening inter-ethnic accord.
Section 3: benefits of participation
An online platform for children "from the national regions of Russia"; a separate jury for each language; incentives for teachers, including every sixth entry from one curator free and a diploma for the "best leader of the year".
Later sections
Nominations and age groups, technical requirements for submissions, fees, assessment criteria, awards and the link to the application form.
Analytical note
The contest frames identity as membership of one of the peoples of a multi-national Russia. For a child in occupied Mariupol or Melitopol that framing offers Ukrainian only as one folk colour among many, inside a Russian civic frame, which is the substitution that the platform's research describes. The regulation itself is not evidence of exclusion, and TOT Insights corrects the October 2025 claim accordingly.