Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Tanya Alekseyeva as part of the New Year Tree of Wishes campaign, Moscow, February 13, 2023

Question: My teenage peers and I, who are thinking about our life paths, would like to know why you became a diplomat.

Sergey Lavrov: It happened by chance. I enjoyed physics and mathematics. We had a class teacher at school, Sergey Kuznetsov. We adored him. He went on hikes with us, sang songs. Apparently, through our class teacher, I got interested in the disciplines he taught: physics and mathematics. I wanted to go to the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) or the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). I was studying for it.

Exams there started on August 1. My pals who wanted to go to MGIMO University asked whether I would like to try [to get in] with them. Exams at MGIMO started a month earlier, on the first of July. I had a silver medal. Therefore, it was necessary to take two exams, on July 1 and 3. I passed them and got in. Then, a few days later, we got together with our new classmates to help build the Ostankino television centre. We had such a good group that I decided not to tempt fate and stay on this path. I never regretted it at all.

Of course, physics and mathematics are incredibly interesting disciplines. Now the importance of these sciences is growing immeasurably. Especially in the context of achieving technological sovereignty, not depending on countries that for centuries have abused their position in the international arena and lived at the expense of others.

Diplomacy is also important. This is a huge world that you discover for yourself; you see how people live in various countries. You start to respect their traditions. Because if you want to be respected, you must respect others. This is another truth that our Western colleagues cannot grasp in any way. They constantly demand to be treated, by and large, like the colonialists, the masters.

This job is very interesting. I do not regret it at all. Moreover, in today’s diplomacy, one way or another, one comes across almost every sphere of human activity: industry, agriculture, science. There is even the term “scientific diplomacy,” which we are actively promoting.

Question: I know you write poetry. How did you write your first poem?

Sergey Lavrov: I mentioned our year at the institute. It was the first year at MGIMO University when we worked on the construction of the Ostankino Television Tower even before our studies began. Then every vacation we went to Siberia or to the Far East: Khakassia, Tuva, Yakutia and Primorye.

I was a member of my university’s student construction party, and we worked in the vicinity of the village of Postoyanny. I wrote a poem about it. I do not know if it was my very first, but certainly one of the first. It went something like this:

I saw a city of future days,

A city in Sayany mist.

You will forever be remembered,

Postoyanny, the city of good people.

There were other verses. We liked the young people who had come there for several years to work under contract. We, students, who spent two months in the same area, building structures as part of the reclamation programme, had close contacts with them.  

I have great respect for the Siberians, their character and spirit. This is what our whole country needs now: firmness of spirit and confidence in our country and people.

Question: What advice could you give to young people, who are beginning to make life plans?

Sergey Lavrov: Choose a pursuit you love. A pursuit that will truly captivate you and that you would live by. This is the most important thing.

Finding a job just to earn a living is also a choice that some people make. But I prefer those with a burning passion in some field, who want to fully develop their potential in their favourite  subject. I will not give any advice here.

Each person feels their calling and chooses a place to apply their talents and abilities.

Question: What qualities do you think a true patriot should have? 

Sergey Lavrov: They must love their country. Although “must” is not the right word in this context.

A normal person, born in Russia, does love it. They do not separate themselves from it. By and large, a normal person born in any other country should feel the same way.

Homeland is a concept that your mind automatically creates when you are born, grow up, study, learn history, experience nature, and interact with the wonderful people around you. When you see the scale of a country like Russia, fantastic nature, almost any climatic zones, distances, it is amazing.

Many foreigners, who were not born here and who saw Russia for the first time as adults, literally admire the fact that a single common civilisation has been established in such a vast area (1/9 of the entire landmass). This is a huge achievement of our predecessors, those who created our country, expanded its lands, explored its wealth and left us this wonderful country and wonderful people as a legacy.

Patriotism is naturally instilled in every person, who was born in Russia and feels a part of this country.

Question: In connection with the difficult situation in the world, will books by foreign writers be published in Russia?

Sergey Lavrov: Of course they will! We do not want to be like the inquisitors, who burned books. In history, they were burned by the inquisitors in the Middle Ages and by the Nazis, who destroyed works of world culture. The same is being done by neo-Nazis, those who burn the holy book of Muslims, the Koran, in Scandinavian countries.

Neo-Nazis also run the show in Ukraine. They seize books in Russian from libraries and burn tonnes of books by Russian classics. This is not our philosophy. This is the philosophy of those who want to cancel everything except themselves, who want to destroy everything Russian once and for all, as they loudly claim, to humiliate Russia, to defeat it, to make sure that Russia cannot recover economically for many decades.

They seriously argue that Russia is too big and should be divided into several smaller and more controllable entities. These are the people who want to cancel the culture of all things Russian.

In his remarks at a recent meeting with Russian university students, President of Russia Vladimir Putin addressed this topic, saying that we would never fence ourselves off from works of world culture, from classics, composers, writers, poets, playwrights and actors. This characterises our mission, our openness to the whole world.

Those who understand their weakness, who are afraid of an honest competition in the economy, the military-technical field, sports or culture, fence themselves off and ban journalists and media outlets that tell the truth. Our Western colleagues do not want to see the truth in their media space. They need an information environment that will be deafeningly silent in response to the grave crimes committed by Western leaders, just like with the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. Convincing testimonies were published, but not a single Western journalist, not even those who claim to be objective, commented on these murderous facts.

We are not surprised by the West’s desire to paint a picture of the world and present it solely to its advantage. But we, our children, and our grandchildren will be enriched by the entire treasury of world culture.

We will be richer than any other country that seeks to protect its citizens from the truth and honest reporting of historical events.