Russia considers creation of Ministry of Happiness

Leading Russian lawmaker Valentina Matviyenko has voiced her belief that Russia should consider establishing a Ministry of Happiness.

Ms Matviyenko, who serves as Chairman of the upper chamber of Russia’s parliament and was Governor of St Petersburg from 2003 to 2011, proposed the idea last week during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, which announced earlier this year that it would be establishing a Ministry of Happiness.

“The idea is that you have to make each person happy, to build happy schools, to provide services to the population in order to make each person happy,” she told Russian news agencies TASS and Interfax.

According to Interfax, Ms Matviyenko had quoted the UAE’s prime minister Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum as saying that “each happy person can then make happiness out of unhappiness, and that a happy person will not strive to become a terrorist”, with the Russian politician going on to state that “such a ministry would be very useful for Russia”.

Source: Radio Free Europe