Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the opening of the founding congress of the International Russophile Movement, Moscow, March 14, 2023
14 March 2023 14:14
466-14-03-2023
Ladies and gentlemen, friends,
I'm delighted to have the opportunity to address the participants of the International Russophile Movement at its first - I'm not even sure if it's a congress or a general meeting - convention. The Russian word for it would probably be a congress or an assembly.
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Please allow me to carry out an honourable mission and read out the address by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
"Friends,
Please accept my heartfelt greetings on the occasion of the opening of the first congress of the International Russophile Movement.
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Your emerging public movement is based on the old traditions of friendship and mutual respect that connect Russians with other peoples. These wonderful traditions have been preserved even during the most drastic historical changes. They are alive today, despite the fact that many countries are deliberately stirring up anti-Russian hysteria, our compatriots and their sympathisers are oppressed, and restrictions and bans are introduced on the works of the great Russian classical authors that belong to the treasury of world culture.
Participants in the congress are united by their sincere love of Russia and its history and culture, by an interest in everything related to Russia. We very much value your strong resolve to counteract the Russophobic campaign and develop dialogue and mutually beneficial cultural cooperation.
There is no doubt that your forum will proceed in a constructive, creative atmosphere and will jump-start promising joint projects and initiatives, aimed at strengthening friendship, trust and mutual assistance.
I would like to sincerely thank the hosts of the congress for their efforts. I wish the participants every success and all the best.
Vladimir Putin."
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I would like you to pay special attention to the part of the presidential message where he says that, without a doubt, the new International Russophile Movement will work in a constructive manner and lead to the launch of promising joint projects to strengthen friendship, trust and mutual understanding. This is the meaning of our civilisation. This is our way to establish rapport with the best traditions of the Western civilisation and, of course, with the great civilisations of the East and the South. We never form friendships in order to oppose other people.
Look, with a fierce hybrid war underway, we are not forcing anyone to take sides. The countries of the Global South, the Global Majority, are in a position to draw their own conclusions.
We are all adults here. Let's not try to be condescending, like our Western colleagues are when they publicly demand everyone, including countries representing great ancient civilisations, follow their orders. Here lies the difference between us and what the Western civilisation, which is obsessed with its greatness and exceptionality, is degenerating into. It is now fighting for dear life and doing whatever it takes as it tries to cling to its global dominance that is slipping away. This passion and aspiration for hegemony permeated the history of the West for many centuries.
Clearly, it is now difficult to recognise the new reality and the objective course of history, but this will have to be done. The objective course of history reflects where the vast majority of the world's population, which is not part of the golden billion, stands. But as we will see during today's event, there are many people from that part of the world who are perfectly aware of the harmful nature of the path along which the current leaders of the Western world, who built it to suit their needs, are trying to push humanity.
We are all aware - and this is being publicly proclaimed - that the US (let's face it, Anglo-Saxons) has taken the reins of power into its own hands and minces no words in telling Europe to forget about strategic autonomy. No strategic autonomy. All of you, they are letting them know, will do as we say. Given this, a vast number of Europeans who are steeped in the traditions of the classics of our common vast continent are not willing to give up the achievements of our common culture and history, or the fight for the rights that the people of our planet, including our common vast Eurasian continent, really need.
No matter where you live or work (in Europe, Africa, Asia or Latin America), we are all united by a feeling of sympathy for our common history and the Russian traditions embodied in the culture and the language of Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Anna Akhmatova and Anton Chekhov.
Your coming to Moscow in such a tense time deserves the deepest respect. Today, this is really an act of courage. This is exactly how the Western leaders view this event - as a challenge to their hegemony, the world order that they are trying to keep unilateral, and their values that they are crudely enforcing in the daily life of their countries and societies. In certain situations, they even deny families the right to bring up their own children.
There is no doubt that the hybrid war that had been prepared for a long time and has now been unleashed against Russia is aimed (and this is stated openly) at demonising our country in the eyes of the world and accusing it of many "mortal sins." Russia is accused of a serious famine in many poorer countries, which was caused by the West's egoistic neocolonialist purchases of the available food on the market at the beginning of the pandemic. Russia is also being blamed for the situation in the European energy markets, notably for the troubles experienced primarily by European societies from the more than triple increase in electricity and gas prices.
During her visit to Washington the other day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sincerely thanked US President Joe Biden: "Indeed, you helped us enormously when we wanted to get rid of the Russian fossil fuel dependency..." Her "thank you" should be viewed against the backdrop of the over three times increase in expenses for energy needs.
Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol said that energy will be expensive for a long time. This will seriously affect the competitive ability of the EU and Europe in general.
I am not saying this to gloat. I want all of us to understand Russophile values that have long been preached by Russophiles National Movement Chair Nikolay Malinov in Bulgaria, and supported by our philosophers and public figures, such as Konstantin Malofeyev, Alexander Dugin and many others. I do not want to offend anyone.
This is what these values are all about - we are not urging anyone to make a "holy war" against the West, crusaders or anyone else. This war is being imposed on us. The successors of crusaders and other conquerors have decided that Russia is an obstacle to their global domination. This has nothing to do with reality. We are not trying to prevent any country from pursuing their lawful interests. But when NATO announces its desire to subordinate the entire world and rule the whole show even in Asia, I believe the feeling of justice that is inherent in the Russian people and the majority of all world civilisations, must express its weighty word.
I consider this initiative by Nikolay Malinov and his friends, all those who came here today to support this undertaking, as part of this striving for justice.
I'm not going to go deep into cases of what is literally Neanderthal Russophobia, which multiply daily in the West, including in the United States, NATO countries, the EU, Australia and New Zealand. Overall, by creating bloc-based entities such as AUKUS and moving NATO military infrastructure towards Asia, the Anglo-Saxon world is making a serious bid for confrontation that will last many years. I don't see the great Asian civilisations up and comply as, unfortunately, the EU did, and obediently do as told by Washington and its Anglo-Saxon colleagues.
I want to draw your attention to the radical difference between our movement and the banners under which the West is gathering all other countries, by and large demanding from any country on any continent to do as told with regard to sanctions on Russia, or even in their communication with the Russian Federation. Signing a manifesto read out by Nikolay Malinov, coming here and proclaiming our plan to advance the goals laid down in this manifesto is an act of courage. The goals are to promote cooperation, interaction and friendship. This has always been a hallmark of the Russian, Chinese, Indian and Arab civilisations. This has always underlied social movements in Latin America and Africa. Everyone is interested in being friends or just being good neighbours and implementing joint, mutually beneficial projects. The position where, just because you love Russia or speak Russian in public places, you are bound to be ostracised is absolutely not who we are and does not represent our values and methods.
Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we will learn about the assessments of this event. Without a doubt, as was the case with the most recent events in Moldova and Georgia, someone will say that this is another case of "Moscow scheming," an intrigue designed to win people over with promises and bribery. Undoubtedly, this kind of campaign will be launched against our movement.
It is all the more important for us to keep our integrity and remain committed to the best international traditions of friendship between peoples. These are not empty words today. Perhaps they were not empty words when the Soviet Union put forward such slogans either. However today, more than ever, treating people of our planet as persons and counteracting diktat in all its varieties has become as relevant as ever. What we are seeing is not neo-Nazism. It is unadulterated Nazism that is engulfing a growing number of European countries. We are seeing history and monuments being destroyed before our eyes, sacred monuments that pay tribute not only to the soldiers who represented the Soviet peoples of multiple ethnicities, but also to our allies who fought alongside us in that Great War, such as the French, Czechs, Slovaks and many other peoples.
So, I am sincerely glad that the International Russophile Movement was born. You have a great emblem, which means that we will proceed to develop high technologies together and not forget about culture and other fine things. Not forget about peace. We will keep thinking about it.
Once again, good luck to you.
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