Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday addressed the inaugural assembly of the “International Russophile Movement,” whose attendees had come to Moscow from several different countries to discuss the launching of “promising joint projects to strengthen friendship, trust and mutual understanding. This is the meaning of our civilization,” he said. “This is our way to establish rapport with the best traditions of Western civilization and, of course, with the great civilizations of the East and the South.”
Lavrov began by reading a short message from President Vladimir Putin who noted that this emerging public movement is based “on the old traditions of friendship and mutual respect that connect Russians with other peoples.” He expressed that even in the current situation when “many countries are deliberately stirring up anti-Russian hysteria,” and when restrictions are placed on the great Russian Classical authors “that belong to the treasury of world culture,” these “wonderful traditions have been preserved” and “participants in the congress are united by their sincere love of Russia and its history and culture.”
Lavrov minced no words in describing the situation that all lovers of Russian culture must contend with. He denounced “our Western colleagues … when they publicly demand everyone, including countries representing great ancient civilizations, follow their orders…. We never form friendships to oppose other people,” he said. And, he added, in the context of the fierce hybrid war underway against Russia, “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.”
