Both Russia and China need to more actively promote understanding of each other, including updating decades-old impressions, according to the head of a leading Russian language institute.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, executive director of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, told Xinhua the upcoming "Year of Chinese Language" would broaden the exchanges and deepen the friendship between the two peoples.

The Russkiy Mir Foundation, established in June 2007 under a decree by then President Vladimir Putin, aims to promote the Russian language and support Russian language teaching programs abroad.

The foundation is a joint project of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Education and Science and supported by both public and private funds.

"We were very glad to make due contributions to the 'Year of Russian Language' in China," said Nikonov, referring to the institute's role in last year's event, including its opening and closing ceremonies.

The foundation also organized dozens of Russian language contests, launched language training programs in China and provided Russian language textbooks. It also runs a Chinese version of its official website and has designed a special course for Chinese who are learning Russian.

In addition, the foundation has set up Russian language and culture centers in Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai International Studies University and several other Chinese colleges, where students can access Russian books, movies and databases as well as take part in artistic activities like singing and dancing.

Russia-China interaction could be traced back to the era before Peter I, known as Peter the Great, Nikonov said. The two countries exchanged letters then, but it took them 80 years to decode these letters due to the lack of translators. As the Chinese-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation expands, there is now a growing demand for learning each other's language.

"We welcome the 'Year of Chinese Language' in Russia and consider it an issue of great significance," said Nikonov.

China is constantly in the spotlight, he said. "Not only Russian businessmen have paid attention to China, but also Russian intellectuals have shown a great interest in Chinese politics, philosophy, culture and practical arts."

Nikonov said a nation's soft power was not determined by its political and economic power alone but also depended on cultural events staged by organizations such as the Russkiy Mir Foundation and Confucius Institutes.

Nikonov urged increased attention to the translation of literary works, saying classics and modern works should be translated as much as possible.

He said he once searched a couple of bookstores in Beijing hoping to find the Russian versions of a few Chinese books, but ended up with three books of this kind in a large-scale bookstore. To his regret, two of them were so poorly translated that it was almost impossible to understand. Likewise Chinese books are rarely available in Russia.

"We can't carry out cultural exchanges if we don't know each other's language," said Nikonov.

The Russkiy Mir Foundation is keen to participate in events held within the framework of the "Year of Chinese Language" in Russia to help Russians better understand China and have more people become interested in learning Chinese language and culture, he said.