Vladimir Putin chaired the 39th meeting
of the Russian Pobeda (Victory) Organising Committee
in the Grand Kremlin Palace.
April
20, 2017
14:30
The Kremlin,
Moscow
Meeting of the Russian Pobeda (Victory) Organising Committee.
The main item on the meeting’s agenda was developing
humanitarian cooperation with other countries at government
and public level in the aim of promoting objective
information about Russia’s history and present, including its role
in the victory over Nazism.
* * *
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,
Today, we are holding this meeting of the Russian Pobeda
(Victory) Organising Committee to discuss ways to develop our international
cooperation and make fuller use of our humanitarian ties’ tremendous
potential in our work together with others who are on the same
page with us and think along the same lines as we do.
Work to preserve and defend the historical truth about World
War II and the traditions and spirit of alliance
in the fight against Nazism plays a great role here. In our
view, this is above all a moral and human concept, a moral
and human duty to the generation of victors, to those
who fell for their motherland, and to those who revived
and developed the country after the Great Patriotic War. This
historical truth cements society and provides a spiritual foundation
and basic values for development and for giving people
of various generations the sense of being part
of a truly united nation.
At the same time, we pursue open discussion of even
the most controversial aspects of history, not only from
the World War II period, but from other eras too. We take the view
that no matter how difficult and contradictory history may be, it is there
not to make us quarrel, but to warn us against mistakes and help
us to strengthen our good neighbourly ties.
Sadly, there are other approaches to history too, of course,
which attempt to turn it into a political and ideological weapon.
We see the risks that arise from a cynical approach
to the past. We see how falsification and manipulation
of historical facts create division between countries and peoples,
draw new dividing lines and create supposed enemies.
The line that same countries now follow, and which elevates
Nazism to heroic status and justifies the Nazis’ accomplices, is
particularly dangerous. Not only does it insult the memory
of the victims of Nazi crimes, but it feeds nationalist,
xenophobic and radical forces.
I want to emphasise too that historical revision opens
the road to a revision of the very foundations
of the modern world order and the erosion
of the key principles of international law and security
that took shape following World War II. We have said before what great risks
this could have for everyone today.
Colleagues, we must stand up for an objective approach
to history and pursue consistent and steady work
on patriotic education, support public initiatives such as search
movements or historical reconstructions, develop ties with compatriots
abroad, look after the memorials here at home and abroad,
and respond firmly to all acts of vandalism.
I think it particularly important to ensure broad access
to archival materials, facilitate their publication and give people
the possibility of turning to the original sources. This is
an effective means of combating all kinds of inventions
and myths.
We need to publish and store these archival and other
materials on modern and good quality internet resources with
interactive capability and enable convenient search for needed
information. We need to focus on young people above all in this
work and offer and promote these resources with the help
of social networks.
Let me add that we are always open to honest and professional discussions
on historical themes and joint research on even the most
sensitive issues, at all levels what’s more, from large-scale
intergovernmental programmes to bilateral contacts between regions, twin
cities, universities, museums, scholars and researchers.
Common historical dates, including those that recall our brotherhood
in battle and our cooperation during World War II are a good
occasion for organising international conferences, round tables
and exhibitions. This year marks the 75th anniversary
of the legendary Normandie-Nieman regiment.
We have less than three weeks to go before May 9. I am
sure that streets in Russia and abroad will once again fill with
crowds of people willing to join the ranks
of the Immortal Regiment. This deeply symbolic and touching
event took place in 50 countries last year. This is the best proof
of international cooperation’s colossal potential and of how
a commitment to historical truth and our common memory brings
people closer and unites them, and strengthens the mutual trust
so greatly needed in Europe and around the world today.
The Foreign Ministry has overseen the drafting
of a report and plan for comprehensive measures
in the areas I have mentioned in humanitarian
and international cooperation. We will discuss this document today.
Please, you have the floor, Mr Karasin.
Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin: Mr President, colleagues,
At this time of new challenges in global affairs,
promoting objective information about our country and its past
and present and responding to attempts to falsify history
are undoubted priorities for the Foreign Ministry
and the other agencies engaged in international activity. We are
pursuing this work in accordance with the new draft of Russia’s
Foreign Policy Concept that you approved in November 2016. Today, these
efforts are particularly important.
Over recent years, history has become a target
for the large-scale information campaign unleashed against our
country and aiming to contain it and weaken its authority
on the international stage.
Constant attempts to revise the results of World War II
as enshrined in the UN Charter and other international
legal documents are of particular concern, as are attempts
to paint with the same brush Nazi Germany, the aggressor
country, and the Soviet Union, whose people bore the brunt
of the war and who freed Europe from the fascist plague,
thereby ensuring the continent’s peaceful development for decades
to come. We continue to give utmost attention to responding
to this hostile line. We consistently advance the argument, including
in key international forums, that it was the united anti-Nazi
coalition’s efforts that not only vanquished Nazism but also created
the post-war world order and its institutions, including the United
Nations Organisation, and gave the human rights protection system its
current shape.
We constantly remind our partners of the enduring significance
of the Nuremburg tribunal’s decisions that stated in clear
and unambiguous terms who was on the side of good
and who was on the side of evil.
It was at our proposal that the UN General Assembly passes
every year a resolution on combating glorification of Nazism,
neo-Nazism and other practices that cause escalation of modern forms
of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
To expand and support this base, the Foreign Ministry
works in concerted fashion in multilateral formats and during
bilateral contacts with our partners abroad.
A new resolution was adopted at the plenary session
of the 71st session of the UN General
Assembly in New York last December. 136 countries voted for this
document. Only two delegations voted against it: the USA and Ukraine.
49 countries abstained. It is particularly important and valuable that
the number of UN member states acting as co-authors
of the document, increased to 55.
We are also making active use of the potential
of the Council of Europe and the OSCE. We are
developing cooperation with our partners and like-minded thinkers
in the CIS, CSTO, EAEU, SCO and the BRICS group, including
through adopting joint statements and organising events to mark
important dates in the history of World War II.
We organise thematic exhibitions, photo shows, film showings,
and round tables with participation by representatives
of Russian and foreign NGOs on the sidelines
of various international forums. We believe that acting against
falsification of history is an important uniting factor
in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
This subject has been discussed regularly at meetings
of the CIS charter bodies. The CIS Interstate Humanitarian
Cooperation Fund plays a particular role in this work. The big
projects it is helping to carry out include the annual international
forum of the victors, The Great Victory Achieved
by Unity. Last year, the forum took place in Minsk.
On April 28 this year, the forum will take place in Astana.
We are pleased to see the growing interest
in the Victory from our compatriots abroad. Members
of Russian-speaking communities actively take part in campaigns such
as the St George Ribbon campaign, take part in search
and memorial work, and seek to spread objective information
to the general public in their countries of residence
on the war years’ events.
The Immortal Regiment event is also spreading to more
and more countries. Last year, it took place in more than 50
countries. It is pleasing to see that in a number
of countries, including Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Serbia, the United
States and France, people from these countries have joined
the processions of our compatriots abroad.
Every year, as part of the Victory Day celebrations,
members of the Russian communities abroad organise concerts,
conferences and photo exhibitions. In our neighbouring countries,
children from Russian-language schools, students at the branches
of our universities and Slavic universities, and Great Patriotic
War veterans take part in these events.
In today’s situation, interregional cooperation plays a big
part in maintaining trust, including cooperation between twin cities. Over
the last 2–2.5 years, ties between twin cities have not diminished
at all, but have actually grown stronger in many ways. We will do
everything we can to encourage and intensify this kind
of cooperation, which helps to cement sympathetic feelings towards
our country.
Work on military memorials is an important part
of preserving the historical memory and enables us
to maintain mutual understanding, including with countries with which our
relations have their difficult or controversial moments.
To work in fullest measure to preserve
and immortalise the memory of the Russian and Soviet
soldiers who fell defending their homeland abroad, the Foreign Ministry
makes an ongoing effort to expand and bolster the bilateral
legal base in this area.
Bilateral commissions of historians play a particular role
in a depoliticised and comprehensive discussion of history,
including its most difficult chapters. In particular,
the Russian-Austrian, Russian-German, and Russian-Lithuanian
commissions have been working for many years now at the Russian
Academy of Sciences Institute for World History, as well
as the International Association of the Institutes
of History of the CIS Countries. These commissions organise
conferences, round tables, work to publish important archival documents
and publish joint books and articles. Their members include heads
of archives, research centres and universities, and prominent
historians.
Cooperation between archives is developing productively. Rosarkhiv
(federal archival service) has concluded agreements with colleagues in 55
countries and is successfully pursuing dialogue with
the International Council on Archives. We welcome and support
the activity of NGOs such as the Russian Historical
Society, the Russian Military Historical Society, the Historical
Perspective Foundation, the Institute for Democracy
and Cooperation in Paris, and the Historical Memory
Foundation.
The Historical Perspective Foundation is carrying out particularly
fruitful and effective work, based on its broad contacts abroad
and authoritative expert potential, and also with support from
the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation in Paris,
implementing information publishing programmes at international forums.
Rossotrudnichestvo and its offices abroad, our cultural
and science centres, also play a big part in spreading objective
information on our country to the public in countries
abroad. They organise comprehensive events that put their main focus
on issues such as preserving historical memory and preventing
attempts to distort the history of World War II.
Veterans’ organisations traditionally make a big contribution
to promoting historical truth and patriotic education among young
people.
It would be difficult to overestimate the role the mass
media play in getting Russia’s position across to the general
public abroad. We think it important to continue making active use
of traditional media’s potential and also making best use
of modern information and communications technology, including
the instruments of digital diplomacy.
Russian museums’ exhibitions organised abroad continue to play
an important part in spreading information about Russia.
The Central Museum of the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War is
particularly active in international exchanges between museums.
I note too the cooperation between educational and youth
organisations, including programmes to promote Russian culture,
and joint projects between search, archaeological, military historical,
cultural and patriotic groups, with young people abroad taking part.
Mr President, we continue to operate on the premise that
preserving historical memory about the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War
and forestalling attempts to revise its outcome is an important
factor in consolidating Russian society, including
for the purposes of effectively pursuing our country’s ambitious
goals. The goal-oriented and planned-out activities conducted
by federal and regional authorities, scientific and expert
circles, and non-governmental organisations, have made it possible
to preserve the enduring importance of our Victory
and to communicate to the European and international
public an objective assessment of WWII events
and the importance of the outcomes for all
of humankind. We will not allow anyone to desecrate historic events
which are sacred to our people. This is important to our country, its
current and future generations. This is important to international
public opinion as well.
In pursuance of the resolution adopted by the 37th meeting
of the Pobeda (Victory) Committee held in April 2016
and your instruction, a working group was formed to prepare
a report on current activities in this area. The group
includes representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Defence
Ministry, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry
of Education, the Ministry of Communications, the Federal
Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots
Living Abroad, and International Cultural Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo),
the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a number
of Russian regions and public organisations.
The group put together a report which will be presented today.
It analyses the activities of federal stakeholders,
and summarises a significant amount of information received from
the Russian regions as well as the findings
of dedicated research and opinion polls.
The document reflects the current forms of international
activities with the participation of federal bodies, Russian regions,
cities, media outlets, the academic community, and public
associations.
The analysis contained in the report makes it possible
to draw the following conclusions. First of all,
the interdepartmental work on providing objective information about
the role of our country in defeating Nazism, countering attempts
to revise history, including the outcome of WWII,
to glorify Nazism and to disseminate propaganda
of neo-Nazism should continue in a systemic and coordinated
manner.
The Foreign Ministry drafted a package of measures
to activate this work in international organisations and through
bilateral ties. With due regard to the provisions
of the abovementioned document, we are drafting a concrete
action plan for its implementation together with the relevant
ministries and agencies.
In particular, we see a need for further steps
to maintain and support in decent state burial sites
of Russian and Soviet soldiers abroad, including with the help
of Russian and foreign public organisations. We should continue
drawing up passports for burial sites and publishing information
on them on the internet.
We will make more active use of the resources offered
by people’s diplomacy and continue to deepen ties between
regions, twin cities, and NGOs. The geographical reach
and structure and contents of these contacts requires our
detailed study and also the needed support from the federal
authorities.
We need to further encourage international cooperation between
universities. It is important to encourage joint research projects
and the participation of practical scholars in carrying out
educational work.
Next year marks the 100th anniversary
of the end of World War I. In this context,
the Defence Ministry’s work to develop an internet resource
dedicated to Russia’s participation in this major event in world
history is particularly important.
The scale of the tasks before us dictates the need
for close coordination between agencies, constructive cooperation with
non-commercial organisations, and effective information support.
The Foreign Ministry continues its work to preserve
the historical memory of our people’s feat.
Thank you for your attention.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.
Ms Simonyan, you have the floor.
Editor-in-Chief of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency
and Russia Today Television Channel Margarita Simonyan: Good
afternoon,
It is a great honour for us to have this chance
to speak at this meeting and tell you about what our media are
doing and will do to tell the world the truth about
the war, and also how these resources can be used
in the work of practically every one of us here today.
In our work, we make use of research that we try to carry
out ourselves in order not to fall into the trap of biased
research carried out by others with the results decided
in advance. Sometimes, this research produces very unexpected results
and we suddenly see that people in the United States
or Europe see events very differently to the way their media portray
them and have a very different attitude.
We carried out studies on the war, more precisely, on who
people in Britain, France, Germany and the USA think won
in World War II. The figures were no source of joy
or comfort, regrettably. We always carry out these studies together with
big reputable companies in Europe and America, in other words,
they are serious public opinion surveys, not simply a survey conducted
on our site. The results show that 50 percent of respondents
thought the USA won, 22 percent though Britain won, and only 14
percent thought it was the Soviet Union that vanquished Nazism. One
percent named another country, and 13 percent simply did not know.
Of course, the decades of educational programmes designed
to produce just this result, films, the media, political
organisations, and public statements by politicians could not have
led to any other outcome. But this does not mean that there is nothing we
can do about this. This means that we need to be even more active
in our efforts.
We would like to show you more advanced ways of communicating
our truth to the world. Clearly, we are using many conventional ways,
such as documentaries, entire cycles of them, stories, and so
on, but this only works for a certain segment
of the audience. Younger audiences aren’t big fans of such
formats. Viral videos work better in their case.
We made such a viral video in different languages. We will
launch it in time for Victory Day. We expect it to blow
the audience away. Should anyone want to use it, such as the Foreign
Ministry or other departments, we will gladly share it with them. This is
just one example of an educational viral video for younger
people.
(The video plays.)
Such short videos with straightforward messages are posted online
and then take on a life of their own where users share it
with each other, repost on their Facebook and Twitter accounts,
YouTube, and such videos end up reaching audiences that are completely
different from the audiences which we can reach using customary television
approaches.
One other neat thing that we do right in our studio is 3D
reconstruction of the battles and key events of WWII
and the Great Patriotic War, which our audiences have come
to think of as World War II.
(The video plays.)
This takes place right in the newsroom and certainly
attracts sophisticated audiences. This is something that combines television,
cinema and documentaries.
In this way, we are reproducing WWII history – which,
for obvious reasons, very few people in our audience remember –
in a more straightforward format.
The 360-degree format is the last such state-of-the-art format
that I would like to share with you. To put it bluntly, we are
among the world leaders in media producing videos of this
format – we even shot one in outer space.
We use it to tell WWII stories in a more modern
and stylish way. Of course, it's better to wear special glasses
to watch them, or watch them on an iPad, but I think
those who are familiar with the 360-degree format know that you can turn
the screen around and see everything that’s going on behind
the back and on the sides.
This is a digital 360-degree Victory Day video.
(The video plays.)
If I may, I’d like to spend a moment talking about
the ways modern formats can change the structure
and the understanding of how it works at educational
institutions. This year, we launched a project dedicated
to the 100th anniversary of the October
Revolution. This is an innovative format for delivering information
to the audience.
An online space is being created on Twitter where all
the participants of those events have their own accounts. Once you
start following them, you get completely immersed in that atmosphere. You
can’t get this kind of immersion from watching a movie,
or reading a book. It’s a totally different experience. We
received tremendous feedback and plan to come up with a similar
project next year. It takes a while to accomplish, and it's hard
work, but it must be done for the next anniversary
of the Victory.
What response did we get? Even the reporters and publications
that hate us, pick at us and refer to us as Kremlin
propaganda, have signed up to retweet this project. I’m talking about
the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. There were good
publications in major media outlets as well. Most importantly,
the project has brought aboard historians from all over the world,
and is used by Oxford and Columbia universities, to name
a few. If you look at the official accounts of such
Russophobes as Carl Bildt, even he responded positively to this
project, as did some British and Italian MPs and many others.
There is no doubt that the project dedicated to World War II
will have an even greater response and, perhaps, in conjunction with
the Ministry of Education – I’m happy to see
the Minister here. We propose using it for ourselves as all
of this information can be made available to larger audiences
in the form of a game.
Several standard, more customary formats are being released by our
media for the 70th anniversary of Victory. We
launched the Victors project where 70 veterans, in a variety
of videos, shared their memories of the horrors of war they
had experienced first-hand. We have received a lot of feedback.
Here’s just a few small examples from the worldwide audience.
Stunningly, most viewers admitted that it was the first time they
were hearing about the atrocities that we told them about. That audience
is not even remotely familiar with the things that all of us have
known from childhood.
I would like to bring to your attention (perhaps this
would be useful for the Foreign Ministry, as well as other
agencies) what we have done ahead of the 70th anniversary
of Victory. This is updated annually and is available
at 9may.rt.com. The quality of all this allows it to be
used on the air and of course can be downloaded free
of charge.
It includes everything: screensavers, wartime posters, letters, photos,
a digital copy of the Victory Parade, documentary films
and video footage. In short, it is hard to think
of something about the war that is not there. We propose that you use
all of this in your work, if necessary, at embassies,
Rossotrudnichestvo [Federal Agency for the Commonwealth
of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International
Humanitarian Cooperation] offices and possibly some other centres.
The St George Ribbon campaign is well known to everyone. It was
born at the RIA Novosti news agency and is now making
the rounds of the world. Our Sputnik agency is a merger
of Voice of Russia and RIA Novosti’s international resources,
including radio broadcasting, press centres and online media outlets
in over 30 countries. They use volunteers and they, their relatives
and friends distribute them. We send thousands of these ribbons there
and they hand them out all over the world.
Another project is the dissemination of photos from that war
to a great number of media outlets in the world. You
see, even The New York Times, a newspaper that is so unfriendly
toward Russia, publishes them with pleasure because when you distribute
something somebody is bound to use it.
Sputnik is running a very nice and touching project. We find
veterans in these countries. Thanks to Sputnik, we have had several
moving stories of people finding each other after such a long
time – people who lost each other, that is, people who ended up outside
Russia, our former fellow citizens, sad as this may sound, and people
who remained in Russia. There is a case of a woman veteran
from Abkhazia: her relatives read this story on Sputnik’s website
and found each other.
Our other project, Russia Beyond the Headlines, targets
audiences in countries and in languages in which they are
published, finding people who had something to do with our war, who
admired or wrote something about it, and gives their stories there.
Because even Pablo Neruda’s poetry glorifying Stalingrad has not been read
by everybody even in its native language; not everyone knows about
this and maybe nobody would have seen it anywhere else. There are
a lot of such examples.
We operate about 10 multimedia portals related to the Great
Patriotic War. If someone needs their addresses for official use,
I will gladly share them with the relevant departments after
the meeting. Also, your spokespersons can contact us, and we will
share these addresses with them, so that this vast content could be used
by more than just us.
With regard to the target audience, Russia Today’s audience
with more than 700 million viewers is our audience. The IBS survey
indicates that every week we are being watched by 70 million viewers
in 38 countries, on YouTube, I’m sure you heard about it. Soon, we
will reach 5 billion views.
Sputnik primarily works with our compatriots living abroad. We consider
all former Soviet Union citizens our compatriots, and we focus our efforts
on working with them.
I showed you our top results in recent years. These results
cannot be maintained at this level day in and day out, but
regardless these Sputniks are firmly positioned in the top ten
in their respective countries. These are the best results that we
managed to achieve during the year.
Strange as it may seem, the more we give out our – let's
call it patriotic – content, the wider the response
and the greater the audience. We will be happy to continue
to do this in the future. If we can be of any use, we are
happy to have this opportunity to share this information.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.
Mr Kosolapov, please go ahead.
Mayor of Volgograd Andrei Kosolapov: Mr President, colleagues, thank
you for inviting me to this meeting of the Russian Pobeda
(Victory) Organising Committee.
The words ”Victory“ and ”Stalingrad“ are inseparable.
Stalingrad was the starting point for the triumphant march
of our troops to victory in the Great Patriotic War
and liberating Europe from Nazism.
Any attempts to rewrite history to suit the fleeting
political interests are dangerous. You become fully cognizant of that fact
when you stand beside the Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd.
The Red Army lost more than 1 million soldiers and officers
in the Battle of Stalingrad alone. The city was reduced to rubble
and experienced a humanitarian disaster. Before the war,
the civilian population of Stalingrad was over 500,000 people,
and on February 2, 1943 it was only 32,000.
The land of Stalingrad is another symbol of peace
for the entire world. This is where friendship between Soviet
Stalingrad and British Coventry was born. In 1944 they became
the world’s first twin cities, giving rise to a movement that
became worldwide after World War II. During the 73 years our city has acquired
a unique experience in international activity, in particular
public diplomacy.
Today, Volgograd has sister city relationships with 45 cities. This is
the biggest number after Moscow and St Petersburg. We see Volgograd’s
mission as the pioneer of the sister city movement above
all in upholding and promoting the historical truth about
the Great Patriotic War abroad.
Volgograd does a good job representing Russian cities
at international organisations. Our city is a vice president
and a member of 10 international interregional organisations,
including Mayors for Peace, United Cities and Local Governments,
Sister Cities International and the International Association
of Peace Messenger Cities.
Organising and holding international forums is an important
area of our work. The Dialogue on the Volga international
public diplomacy forum, which annually brings together representatives
of Volgograd’s sister cities and partners, heads
of international associations and unions, scholars, journalists
and public figures, has become a good tradition. The idea
of this forum arose not through an administrative order but
on the sidelines of people-to-people diplomacy meetings.
Last year’s forum, with a theme of Peace and Mutual
Understanding in the 21stCentury, brought together over
200 participants from 12 countries in Volgograd. Such forums are effective
mechanisms for maintaining relations between peoples during difficult
periods.
The Dialogue on the Volga forum brought forth
the idea of an exhibition project called From Stalingrad
to Prague, which tells the real history of the victory over
Nazism. Volgograd presented documentary materials from the world’s leading
museums in several European cities in English, German, Czech
and Slovak.
In 2015 and 2016, the exhibition was shown
in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg. That was done
with personal support from Czech MEP Jiri Mastalka. Two weeks ago
the exhibition opened in the capital of Slovakia,
Bratislava.
Volgograd’s promising international projects, of course, are related
to the youth. Together with the Japanese sister city
of Hiroshima it annually hosts the youth conferences, For a Peaceful
Future.
New ideas are developed at this venue, through which we, together
with our Japanese colleagues, raise awareness among foreign youth
of the truth about World War II, which some of our neighbours
want to forget.
We carry out different types of activity, and I could talk
about them for a long time. But Volgograd has an objective,
which we are moving steadily towards – to become a centre,
a large, universally recognised platform for the development
of public diplomacy.
Two years ago, we opened a resource centre for public diplomacy
at Volgograd State University. We managed to do this thanks
to the support of the Foreign Minister
and the Volgograd Region Governor.
Colleagues, in 2018, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary
of victory in the Battle of Stalingrad. Pursuant
to the corresponding Presidential Executive Order, the Volgograd
Region has launched preparations for an event that is significant
for the entire country and the world. The city
developed a festive programme, and the federal plan for all
activities is being coordinated.
Of course, we plan to time many international projects
to coincide with this memorable date. In particular, we plan
to expand the Dialogue on the Volga forum by inviting
a much wider number of cities participating in the global
sister city movement.
We plan to hold an international peace forum, The Birth
of the Sister City Movement as a Humanitarian Outcome
of the Stalingrad Victory, in September 2018 in Volgograd.
We are ready and eager to host this peace forum annually
in Volgograd.
Mr President, colleagues,
Volgograd has good, globally significant experience in developing
the sister city movement and public diplomacy. We have a great
desire to develop this further and make Volgograd the true
centre of Russia’s public diplomacy.
We also count on your support in order to attract
to Volgograd official delegations, international and interregional
forums, projects and cultural events. We are ready to become
a resource centre, a locomotive of the sister city movement
for Russian cities.
Volgograd is actively working toward this goal in the Russian
Cities Union. The International Relations project office was established
within the Union’s framework with our participation. The Russian
Cities Union has 91 member cities, including four Hero Cities and 17
Cities of Military Glory.
My city mayor colleagues think that sister city relations have
acquired special importance now as one of the few surviving
tools of preserving international contacts at the time –
suffice it to say that contacts between sister cities in Russia
and other countries not only were not severed
in the problem-laden period 2014–2016 but ever became closer
in many respects.
Cities hold thousands of joint events in Russia
and abroad. Memorial celebrations connected with the Soviet people’s
Victory in the Great Patriotic War remain the priority
in the activities of Union member cities.
Young people and the creative class make up a majority
of foreign participants of such events. Active work is underway
in international organisations. The most active cities have between
10 and 45 partner cities and maintain real friendly ties with all
of them.
We are convinced that we must build up and extend this form
of cooperation, as it promotes practical confidence building
in contacts with foreigners, sympathy toward our country and access
to accurate information about Russia.
We proposed to Russia’s Pobeda (Victory) Organising Committee
a comprehensive approach to supporting cities’ international
activism. Cities certainly need legal and methodological support from
authorised federal authorities. We also deem it necessary to hold more
nationwide forums on public diplomacy and Russian cities’ international
cooperation.
All too often, we need organisational support in our work with
compatriots abroad as we hold events. We also believe it’s necessary
to provide training to municipal officials on matters
of promoting international humanitarian cooperation.
We think now is the right time to hold competitions
for relevant grants for municipalities. We would like to see
the media cover public diplomacy more extensively and with greater
interest. On behalf of all my colleagues, Russian city mayors,
I would like to express my hope that the Pobeda (Victory)
Committee will support us in these matters.
I would like to say in conclusion: It is said that if
the Great Victory had a heart, Stalingrad would be that heart. Today,
Volgograd has all the prerequisites and enormous potential
to become the heart of Russian public diplomacy.
Thank you for your attention.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
Mr Rogozin please.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin: Mr
President,
Allow me to brief you on the implementation of your
instruction. At the previous, 38thcommittee meeting
on September 7, 2016, a coordination council of veterans
organisations was created at the Victory Committee. It included
the leaders of the 40 largest veteran associations, but
in addition to war veterans and participants in combat
operations, the council was also joined by veterans associations
of the nuclear, space, oil, gas, energy, transport and defence
industries.
The council will meet as necessary in the form
of an ongoing conference under the first deputy chairman
of the Victory Organising Committee. There are no plans
to address issues related to veterans’ socioeconomic situation there.
At their first meeting, which took place in November, members
of the Coordination Council tasked themselves with bringing
the veteran movement’s agenda up to date, making it interesting also
to young people.
The general opinion is that today it is necessary to focus
on one major issue: The formats and channels of information
that are used by veterans and young people do not coincide most
of the time. This issue was partly addressed by Margarita
Simonyan in her presentation.
Furthermore, there is a need to develop forms of work that
envisage joint activity by veterans and young people and make
broad use of modern information technology. Taking into account
the Russian Military Historical Society’s extensive experience
in this regard, there are also plans to involve it in this
effort.
In addition to promoting military and patriotic values,
there are plans to participate in sharing professional experience
and work traditions and conducting information and educational
activity to promote the achievements of Russian and Soviet
science and industry. The Ask a Veteran motto has become
a general motto summing up these initiatives.
The veteran community is also becoming involved in implementing
the state programme Patriotic Education of Russian Citizens
for 2016–2020. To this end, we facilitate the community’s
contacts with interested federal executive agencies, inviting Cabinet members,
if necessary.
The Coordination Council is designed to expand
the participation of veterans of combat operations, military
service and labour in promoting patriotic values among citizens,
promoting the broad public recognition of their services.
In keeping with your instructions, Mr President, this work is conducted
by the Victory Organising Committee together with
the Presidential Commission for Veterans Affairs.
In this connection, I propose that the next meeting
of the Victory Committee be devoted to state policy with regard
to veterans in the broadest possible sense
of the word, including their social support and their
involvement in social activities. I ask you to endorse this proposal.
Thank
you.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
Colleagues, who would like to add something? Please go ahead.
President of the European Council on Tolerance
and Reconciliation Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor: Mr President, modern
philosophers have noted that intellectual values have what is known
as a cumulative effect. That is, knowledge is not only accumulated,
but is transmitted from generation to generation. In contrast,
ethical values, especially those related to relations between people, do
not accumulate, but must be cultivated by each generation.
As we get further away in time from World War II
and the victory of the Soviet Union in it, we can
fully observe this contradictory process. We strongly support the current
international agenda of the Victory Committee, as many have
forgotten that it was the Red Army's victory that saved the lives
of tens of millions of people in dozens of countries
around the world. We see from the report prepared by Margarita
Simonyan that only 10 percent of the people in Europe recognise
the role of the Red Army. How can we cultivate these ethical
values in younger generations, and the recognition by other
people of the right to life, friendship, freedom of choice,
etc. without having to do so through more catastrophes?
As a public figure and President of the European
Jewish Congress, I meet with many prisoners of the Holocaust. Do
you know what film about the war many of them consider the best?
The Fate of a Man based on a story by Sholokhov,
followed by Schindler's List. I am glad to report that today
the Russian-made film Paradise made it onto that list as well. It was
shown on Russian television on Saturday.
This is a huge international project, which, no doubt, is addressed
not only to Russian, but international audiences as well. It is
in this film that Andrei Konchalovsky offers an answer
to the question about how the loss of moral
and ethical values destroys a highly educated, intelligent
and advanced nation and neighbouring nations as well.
Art and culture are important in promoting this cause. However,
recognising universally accepted international definitions – firstly,
criminal collaboration with regimes condemned by international tribunals
and international courts, the inadmissibility of glorifying such
movements and, of course, anti-Semitism – will do much to help
eliminate confusion among young people and adults alike. Seventy years
have passed since the world was liberated from the Holocaust, but
there is still no universally recognised international definition
of anti-Semitism.
On behalf of the 42 Jewish communities of Europe
and the Russian Jewish community, I would like to thank
you, Mr President, the Presidential Executive Office, the Government,
primarily, the Foreign Ministry, for persevering in your work
on these issues and I request to include
in the minutes the item on finalising the approval
by the Russian Federation of the working definition
of anti-Semitism in at least the OSCE format, which was
already supported by 50 countries. Of course, we support adopting
such definitions with regard to Christianophobia and Islamophobia
as well. This is only fair.
Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you for your proposal.
You have the floor please.
Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Ural Federal
District Igor Kholmanskikh: Mr President, colleagues, I would like
to add a few words to what my colleagues have said.
It is hard to overestimate the importance
of international humanitarian cooperation for the formation
of an objective idea of Russian history, particularly our role
in the Victory over Nazism. This is part and parcel
of improving our country’s reputation abroad and its prestige with ordinary
people, to which any sanctions, lies and calumny recede.
The truth is our weapon, and we should not blush as we use it.
International cultural and humanitarian contacts and public
diplomacy are developing apace. This is evident, in particular,
in the regions of the Ural Federal District. Municipal offices,
cultural agencies and non-governmental companies are growing ever more
active in this field. Educational establishments, mainly universities, are
doing serious work in international relations. The development
of international humanitarian ties is an objective process, yet it
should not be left unattended: It requires close, constant coordination.
As we know, the Urals lie on the border between
Europe and Asia, and maintain close contacts with an extremely
broad range of countries. However, what really matters is not contacts
as such but their effect and focus on Russia’s national
interests. This goal requires consistency, regular activities, and being
true to one’s pledges. It is essential not to disperse efforts and resources
though we observe such trends sometimes.
More than that, the international agenda is changing dynamically,
life poses new tasks, and federal programme documents on foreign
political guidelines are updated regularly. It is therefore all the more
important to promptly inform regional and municipal office heads
about it.
I am confident that it is within gubernatorial responsibilities
to address this challenge. And on the whole, we should
increase regional authorities’ attention to international humanitarian
cooperation. Among other things, it will allow us to take closer stock
of territorial specifics and experience gathered by territories.
The choice of priorities is evident here. They follow from
the documents approved by the head of state,
and the vast experience gained by the Foreign Ministry.
A council on the development of international humanitarian
cooperation has been established in our federal district
to coordinate this work. Among council members are regional vice
governors, heads of the Foreign Ministry territorial offices,
university rectors, experts and representatives of non-profit
organisations.
The content of the council’s work is based
on measures it has elaborated to develop international humanitarian
cooperation between the federal district’s regions
and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent
States. All council activities proceed in close contact with
the Foreign Ministry. They are as open and transparent
as possible. This publicity has justified itself. It allows municipal
offices and public organisations to coordinate their plans with
events underway in the regions.
I would like to note that the regions have also
established working groups to develop humanitarian cooperation with other
countries. They coordinate this work at the regional and local
levels.
We pay special attention to the development
and coordination of international cooperation between universities.
This work proceeds jointly with the Rectors’ Council of the Ural
universities, led by the Ural Federal University
and the South Ural State University.
A comprehensive approach to the development
of humanitarian cooperation lends positive results, and allows
for extending and updating development plans
for the regions’ international ties, whose humanitarian aspect has
been prioritised.
The regions in our federal district have shifted
the priorities of their international activities towards the CIS
countries, especially in Central Asia, with its geographic proximity,
and China.
As we see it, the district’s format
for the coordination of international humanitarian contacts is
useful and promising. It allows us to take all interested parties’
opinions into consideration and improve the quality
of international cooperation in this sphere.
Thank you for your attention.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
Please.
Chairman of the Russian National Public Organisation
of Afghanistan War Disabled and Wounded Andrei Chepurnoi: Mr
President, ladies and gentlemen,
The Russian National Society of Afghanistan War Disabled
and Wounded is an active participant in the Victory Organising
Committee and has participated since its foundation in carrying out
your decisions, instructions and guidelines, Mr President.
Last year, our organisation registered the 100,000th patient
completing a rehabilitation course at our centres. It is also
actively engaged in the Fortitude project designed to instil
patriotic values in young people across the vast expanses of our
great Motherland.
However, for three years now, Senator Klintsevich, taking advantage
of his administrative clout, has been trying to destroy our
organisation, seize its property and divide the disabled veterans’
movement. Instead of addressing youth-related issues, promoting patriotic
values and rehabilitation issues, Klintsevich has organised a series
of inspections. Last year alone, we had 67 state audits and other
inspections, which found no significant violations but Klintsevich continues
to insist that these people should be jailed.
You see, instead of bringing veterans together, he sends such
letters to all regions, to all officials and heads
of nongovernmental organisations, where he writes with his own hand that
our national organisation is to blame for everything. That is
the first point.
Secondly, he claims that courts, law enforcement agencies
and the justice system are all corrupt, since they refuse
to jail some people he dislikes. However, at the same time,
for some reason, he praises [Vyacheslav] Volodin and says that thanks
to Volodin’s support, they have taken rehabilitation money from
the disabled and handed it to the organisation that is
headed by Klintsevich himself.
However, the most outrageous thing about this letter, Mr President,
is that Klintsevich points to Volodin as a successor
to the president of the Russian Federation. You see, he
telephones and harasses our organisation members, leaders
and officials, saying that Volodin will soon be president and will
grant Klintsevich enormous powers, and the latter would simply pound
uncooperative elements into the pavement and bury them alive.
Mr President, we have appealed to all agencies. This here is
a petition from our organisation members with numerous signatures, asking
for only one thing: We are ready to fight to the bitter
end, as you have always said. We support your words: the Russian
people do not surrender. We will not surrender but we are asking one thing:
to protect the good name of our organisation
and to defend the honour and dignity
of the people who have suffered while performing their military duty.
People do not understand why mud is being slung at them or why they
are being punished. They simply do not understand this. And they want only
one thing – that our country be united, friendly and strong.
Vladimir Putin: I believe Afghan war veterans cannot be intimidated
by threats of being pounded into the pavement. This is
my first point.
Secondly, only the Russian people – and nobody
else – choose a successor to the president
in the course of democratic elections.
Thirdly, this is the first time I am hearing about conflict
within your community. I will look into it.
Mr Nikiforov, please.
Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov: Mr
President, colleagues,
I would like to make a few remarks not as Minister
of Communications and Mass Media but rather as co-chair
of the Russian-Slovenian Intergovernmental Commission. I believe
we have acquired some very interesting experience in Slovenia related
to disseminating objective historical information and preserving war
burial sites and memorials.
A brief history. January 2010: three monuments to Soviet
soldiers destroyed. February 2010: a Russian chapel damaged. Mr President,
you know this building. You visited it in 2016. It was erected
in memory of prisoners of war: about 300 people killed
on a mountain pass in 1916.
It became obvious that in order to preserve and restore
monuments it is necessary above all to promote strong public aversion
to any falsification of history, any affront to such memorials.
This work was organised together with Russian Ambassador Doku Zavgayev,
and during the past seven years, 74 war memorials in 50 towns
have been restored.
Annual events began to take place with the participation
of local residents, NGOs and veteran organisations. The mayors
of 40 towns participate in these events. A large amount
of information started coming from local communities, which made it
possible to find and restore lost memorials and burial sites.
For example, in 2014, we opened a museum
at the site of a former concentration camp, where Soviet
prisoners of war were held. What is 2014? We remember very well what
the geopolitical situation was like then. This was July 2014. We opened
the museum together with Sergei Lavrov. The ambassadors
of practically all European states were in attendance. Slovenia is
essentially the centre of Europe, an EU country, a NATO
member, and in 2014, we opened such a museum. In 2015,
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended memorial events
at the Russian chapel.
In 2016, the centennial of the Russian chapel, you
and the President of Slovenia unveiled a unique monument
in Ljubljana that has no equals in the world, a monument
that we erected together with the Russian Military History Society,
a shared monument – to Russian and Soviet soldiers killed
on Slovenian soil during World Wars I and II, which was also
a unique event.
Today we are at a new stage of cooperation. We are
working to create a permanent historical centre
at the Maribor museum for research projects and various
activities.
We are doing all this together with our Slovenian colleagues. We are
setting up a Russian-Slovenian organising committee, and we are
working together.
I considered it important to share this information because
I believe the experience accumulated in Slovenia needs careful
study and possibly dissemination in other countries.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
Mr Vasilyev, please.
State Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Vasilyev: Mr President, colleagues,
First, I would like to thank the previous speakers
for their reports, and say that the State Duma is also taking
part in this process. In particular, we would like to express
our gratitude for the opportunity to learn about our
journalists’ work in Syria. We recommended this exhibition to other
countries’ parliaments.
I believe the first such experience, which we are
implementing, is not devoid of interest just
as the parliamentary dimension in general. We will try
to draft proposals that could be used to great extent, as we see
it.
Mr Chepurnoi, I could not but respond to your report
and say that it was a collective decision in which not only our
colleague Mr Klintsevich but also Mr Sablin and Mr Shamanov took part. It
was a decision that pursued only one goal – the money flows that
went directly to the centre should go through our veterans’ public
organisations and only after that be duly distributed. An attempt was
made to make the matter open and public. Therefore, I think
you were very emotional here but your speech was not very informative.
Andrei Chepurnoi: I merely quoted Mr Klintsevich’s letter.
Vladimir Putin: We will look into the matter. Here is Mr Kiriyenko
[First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive
Office]. I have spoken to him already, and he will look into
this.
Mr Medinsky, please.
Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky: Mr President,
Mr Nikiforov spoke about a wonderful monument in Ljubljana,
which you unveiled. All in all, the Military History Society has
erected ten such monuments abroad, from Serbia to France. We are erecting
three more monuments this year in France, a monument to our
fallen soldiers in Vienna, and so on.
Three years ago, you chaired a meeting of the Victory
Organising Committee at our museum in Prokhorovka Field. You set us
the task then, first, to upgrade the museum and second,
to update its exhibitions for the new young audience Margarita
Simonyan told us about.
Since then, we have not only upgraded the Prokhorovka Field museum
but also changed its exhibition entirely. We have even opened tank testing
grounds at the museum with the Defence Ministry’s help. We are grateful
for the vehicles it granted us.
We have changed the exhibits of the Poklonnaya Gora
Museum, opened a new and modern Museum of the First World
War at Tsarskoye Selo, and established a new and unique
museum in Tula, the Tula Arms Museum, with the Governor’s help.
We are developing a system to attract young people to museums.
We are changing the content of our museums. Take
the Katyn museum: we intend to change its exhibition thoroughly this
year. Everybody knows that it was the site of a tragedy,
and about 4,500 Poles were buried there. There is no mention
in the museum that twice as many Soviet people were buried
there, too. They were also victims of political reprisals, and theirs
was a hard lot. That is why we are making a comprehensive exhibition
dedicated to our soldiers, as well – heroic soldiers, Russian
people who fell victim to reprisals side by side with the Poles,
and there was nothing interethnic in it. Those were hard times.
I would like also to draw your attention to another
thing: Mr Kantor mentioned the film “Paradise”. We are now making
the film “Sobibor” and have almost finished the shooting. It is
about the only successful mass escape from a death camp
in history. It was headed by Soviet Lieutenant Pechersky.
Mr President, you bestowed the Order of Courage on him
posthumously last year. The whole world had an extraordinary response
to it because he received the highest awards from Israel,
the Netherlands and Poland but his own country had not decorated him
at that time. The film is an international project, very
ambitious, with world stars.
Generally, our military patriotic films have been huge box office hits.
True, I have been reproached for such films as “The Battle
for Sevastopol” (photographs of sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko from
The New York Times were shown during its presentation),
“The Battalion” and “Panfilov’s 28 Men”, and their returns show
that they have enjoyed great success with the public.
I would like to ask the Foreign Ministry
and Rossotrudnichestvo [Federal Agency for CIS Issues, Compatriots
Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation] to help
arrange the release of these films translated into foreign
languages – such versions are already available – for our
compatriots abroad and for foreign audiences.
Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, I would like to thank you all
for the efforts you make to reach the goals we set together
in our teamwork.
We will take stock of the results of this discussion
and take your proposals into consideration in the final
documents. I propose to approve the report and the set
of measures proposed by the Foreign Ministry.
We certainly do not need an excessive bureaucratic presence
in the job, but I think the Presidential Executive Office
will monitor all our endeavours, and I ask the presidential
envoys not to abuse the administrative resource but to promote
the implementation of the plans we have discussed today.
I would like to reiterate that I highly regard
the work of the academic community and universities, which
has tremendous importance because objective information based on hard
facts alone can put a reliable barrier in the way of all
kinds of aggressive amateurs and falsifiers of history. That is
quite evident.
I proceed from the assumption that today’s discussion
and joint efforts will provide a good impetus to organising all
our activities in the field of patriotism and from
the point of protecting the truth about historical facts –
the facts that are so sensitive and topical for our nation.
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