Primakov Readings – 2024. Day 2

«Primakov Readings–2024».
Highlights of the second day
of the International Forum

Speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

This year we commemorate the 95th anniversary of E.M. Primakov's birth. He left a political, scientific, and diplomatic legacy whose significance cannot be overestimated. His remarkable foresight and diverse experience helped him predict the key trend of global development for decades ahead. In the early 1990s, many thought that the "end of history" had arrived, and that unipolarity would now exist "forever and ever." But it was during this period that E.M. Primakov formulated and actively promoted the concept of multipolarity — absolutely revolutionary at that time.

The current situation on the world stage fully confirms E.M. Primakov's correctness. Before our eyes, the contours of a more just, multipolar, polycentric architecture are taking shape.

Each multipolar era has its own characteristics and is unique in its own way. The current period is no exception. Its fundamental difference lies in the global coverage of the world system – in the presence of non-European, non-Western centers of power and development. These are the favorable consequences of the decolonization process, which began in the middle of the last century with the participation of the Soviet Union.

Panel Discussion 5. Ukrainian Crisis and Future of Eurasian security

The crisis in Ukraine has been ongoing for 10 years, transforming from a local conflict into an acute international military confrontation. For 8 years, Kyiv, Washington, Paris, and Berlin thwarted settlement attempts. Aiming to protect Donbas and ensure peace and stability at its borders, Russia launched a special military operation in 2022. The West decided to use Ukraine to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia. Under these slogans, Ukraine is being pumped with weapons and equipment, money, intelligence, and "soldiers of fortune." The US and NATO are using the entire arsenal of "hybrid warfare" against Russia – measures of economic and political pressure, information campaigns, cyber attacks, sabotage, and actions in the "grey zone."

Every time we try to fit the system of peaceful coexistence into the Euro-Atlantic concept as it was understood in the 90s, we come to a very simple conclusion: Russia should have been included in NATO and the European Union. Then it all would have worked. We would have had a huge space from Lisbon to Vladivostok before us. But this would have distorted the context itself. The Euro-Atlantic security system would have disappeared after that, and a new, Eurasian system, founded on a central axis, would have emerged. It would have been a different security system, including collective security.

If we are talking about Eurasian security in the context of the Ukrainian conflict, but not for its sake, we need to talk about a security belt along Eurasia and what constructions of regional dialogue platforms are needed to stop this kind of excesses that could push external players projecting their policies in the Eurasian space towards a major war.

Konstantin Bogdanov

Head of Sector for Strategic Analysis and Forecasting, Center for International Security, IMEMO

Evgeny Buzhinsky

Chairman, PIR Center Executive Board; Professor, Institute for Advanced Strategic Studies, HSE University

There is no European security system today. A Eurasian security system is yet to be created, but this is not a matter for tomorrow.

It is impossible to control a nuclear conflict. Any direct clash between the US and Russia will end with the use of strategic nuclear weapons. This is an extreme measure that should not be spoken of lightly.

Negotiations will need to be conducted with the Americans. The formula "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine" sounds attractive from a propaganda standpoint. However, given Ukraine's total dependence on the US, it is possible and necessary to negotiate with the Americans.

Panel Discussion 6. Is Culture Uniting or Dividing Nations?

We have grown accustomed to thinking that culture is a space where political contradictions lose their significance. However, over the past two years, numerous restrictions in the field of cultural exchanges have been added to the political and economic sanctions against Russia by Western countries. In fact, this is an attempt to cancel Russian culture in the West, but it is impossible to cancel Russian culture, which has produced an endless constellation of world-class talents. Using culture as a tool to promote political interests contradicts the very principles of international cultural cooperation as an independent sphere of human activity.

Culture is above politics.

There is no cancellation of Russian culture. There is simply a cancellation of culture. It's a very tempting thing: to take and cancel what you don't like. However, at the moment when they start to cancel something, culture rises to the top.

Belonging to world culture is not just a philosophical thing, it's a recipe for salvation. With your own culture, you can do whatever you want, but with the world culture, you can't. It is impossible to cancel Russian culture, not because it is so good, but because it has become part of the world culture.

Mikhail Piotrovsky

Director General, State Hermitage Museum; Dean, Faculty of Asian and African Studies, Saint-Petersburg State University; Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Jyoti Malhotra

Editor-in-Chief

Culture is united by one concept - the ability to exchange ideas.

Some cultural aspects have a political tinge. If we want to change people's behavior, is it politics or culture or both.

Should we really be deprived of the opportunity to develop and mutually enrich each other's culture due to political differences? Where is this dividing line that we cannot cross to exchange opinions and ideas.