Students play games during a Chinese language culture festival in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 24, 2011. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)

MOSCOW, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese language exam is likely to be introduced in Russian schools from 2018, according to a national-level education body in Russia.

"There is a plan to introduce the Chinese language test to the Basic State Exam in 2018 and to the Unified State Exam in 2020," Oxana Reshetnikova, Director of the Russian Federal Institute for Pedagogical Measurements, was quoted as saying by the local Moskva news agency on Tuesday.

Russia's Basic State Exam is a series of obligatory examinations for ninth grade students and the Unified State Exam for 11th grade students necessary to qualify for university education.

Takers of the two exams currently have a choice of English, German, French and Spanish as part of the exam's foreign language component.

The Chinese language is now taught in 123 educational institutions in 34 regions in Russia, with the total number of student learners exceeding 17,000, of which around 5,000 are in eighth to 11th grades, according to Russia's education watchdog.