Speech by Maria Zakharova at the European Conference on Multipolarity, September 4th 2023

Speech by Maria Zakharova at the European Conference on Multipolarity, September 4th 2023

Dear colleagues, dear friends,

First of all, I would like to congratulate the authors of the idea of organising the 1st Global Conference on Multipolarism, which took place in marathon mode online in April this year, on the success of this very important initiative. Indeed, already at the beginning of that unprecedented 17-hour forum in April, the need for such a discussion platform became clear. And its continuation in the format of regional conferences seems only natural.

In my opinion, the special value of today's meeting, which brought together the brightest representatives of contemporary political thought in Europe, lies in the umpteenth demonstration that the European intellectual vanguard, the intellectual elite, shares the global majority's conviction in a multipolar world order without alternatives. This conviction sounded like a refrain in the interventions of the European section of the April online marathon.

The polycentric world is increasingly becoming an objective reality. The second Russia-Africa summit, which brought together representatives of almost all African Union countries in St. Petersburg in July of this year, and the recent BRICS summit in South Africa, which confirmed the accuracy of the characterisation given to this association by Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, who called the BRICS "a kind of cooperative 'network' cast over the old 'North-South' and 'West-East' demarcation lines", were new proof of this. The outcomes of the Johannesburg meeting clearly showed the attractiveness of this format of equitable multilateral interaction for countries tired of the global hegemony claims of the infamous 'golden billion'.

For example, the SCO and the EAEU, which could be used as a basis for building the Greater Eurasian Partnership that the Russian President talks about, belong to the same new type of organisations that offer participants the opportunity to join forces to solve common problems without imposing 'universal standards' or attempting to introduce some sort of 'rules-based order'.

In the current circumstances, finding an answer to the question of what place Europe will occupy in the renewed system of international coordinates is undoubtedly of paramount importance, first and foremost, of course, for the Europeans themselves. In this context, an important idea that can be deduced from the reports of the speakers at the first global conference on multipolarism is that the future of Europe as one of the centres of the multipolar world lies not in continuing to adhere to the line of blind vassal obedience to Washington's dictates, without restraint in promoting Russophobic hysteria, but in combining the undoubtedly valuable long-term experience of regional integration with the principles of respect for the sovereign equality of states and their national interests, including in the sphere of international relations.

I have no doubt that today's conference will be another important step in the process of theoretically elaborating the reforms so necessary for Europe, which would give the countries of the region the opportunity to take their rightful place in the changing system of international relations. I hope that the reflections expressed here will be listened to and accepted by the political elites of European countries, not to subject to repression those who dare to confess sympathies for Russia, as happened to one of the speakers at the first conference, Lorenzo Pacini, a professor at the de’ Medici University in Florence, who lost his job due to his participation in the aforementioned forum. I hope that your discussion, on the contrary, will serve to dampen the tones of those who still cling to the concept of liberalisation-globalisation, which has proven to be destructive.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you for your attention and wish all conference participants fruitful and productive work!

Speech by Maria Zakharova at the European Conference on Multipolarity, September 4th 2023

Dear colleagues, dear friends,

First of all, I would like to congratulate the authors of the idea of organising the 1st Global Conference on Multipolarism, which took place in marathon mode online in April this year, on the success of this very important initiative. Indeed, already at the beginning of that unprecedented 17-hour forum in April, the need for such a discussion platform became clear. And its continuation in the format of regional conferences seems only natural.

In my opinion, the special value of today's meeting, which brought together the brightest representatives of contemporary political thought in Europe, lies in the umpteenth demonstration that the European intellectual vanguard, the intellectual elite, shares the global majority's conviction in a multipolar world order without alternatives. This conviction sounded like a refrain in the interventions of the European section of the April online marathon.

The polycentric world is increasingly becoming an objective reality. The second Russia-Africa summit, which brought together representatives of almost all African Union countries in St. Petersburg in July of this year, and the recent BRICS summit in South Africa, which confirmed the accuracy of the characterisation given to this association by Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, who called the BRICS "a kind of cooperative 'network' cast over the old 'North-South' and 'West-East' demarcation lines", were new proof of this. The outcomes of the Johannesburg meeting clearly showed the attractiveness of this format of equitable multilateral interaction for countries tired of the global hegemony claims of the infamous 'golden billion'.

For example, the SCO and the EAEU, which could be used as a basis for building the Greater Eurasian Partnership that the Russian President talks about, belong to the same new type of organisations that offer participants the opportunity to join forces to solve common problems without imposing 'universal standards' or attempting to introduce some sort of 'rules-based order'.

In the current circumstances, finding an answer to the question of what place Europe will occupy in the renewed system of international coordinates is undoubtedly of paramount importance, first and foremost, of course, for the Europeans themselves. In this context, an important idea that can be deduced from the reports of the speakers at the first global conference on multipolarism is that the future of Europe as one of the centres of the multipolar world lies not in continuing to adhere to the line of blind vassal obedience to Washington's dictates, without restraint in promoting Russophobic hysteria, but in combining the undoubtedly valuable long-term experience of regional integration with the principles of respect for the sovereign equality of states and their national interests, including in the sphere of international relations.

I have no doubt that today's conference will be another important step in the process of theoretically elaborating the reforms so necessary for Europe, which would give the countries of the region the opportunity to take their rightful place in the changing system of international relations. I hope that the reflections expressed here will be listened to and accepted by the political elites of European countries, not to subject to repression those who dare to confess sympathies for Russia, as happened to one of the speakers at the first conference, Lorenzo Pacini, a professor at the de’ Medici University in Florence, who lost his job due to his participation in the aforementioned forum. I hope that your discussion, on the contrary, will serve to dampen the tones of those who still cling to the concept of liberalisation-globalisation, which has proven to be destructive.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you for your attention and wish all conference participants fruitful and productive work!