Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a meeting with descendants of Russian emigrants and the presentation of Russian passports, Moscow, October 26, 2022

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

It gives me particular pleasure to carry out this honourable mission on behalf of President Vladimir Putin and to present you with Russian Federation passports.

It’s been a long time since we discussed this opportunity in May 2021 at the Solzhenitsyn House for the Russian Diaspora with Vladimir Moskvin and Natalya Solzhenitsyna, as well as some representatives of compatriots, descendants and emigrants of the first wave. It was gratifying that President Vladimir Putin enthusiastically supported this proposal. This initiative has been crowned with success.

I hope that this morale-boosting and uplifting initiative will be expanded to a major part of the processes happening to our Motherland in the modern world. Our Russian communities (I don't like the word diaspora as it implies being scattered, while community implies commonality) continue to be active in different countries. You, the descendants of the first wave of emigration, represent families that have made a huge contribution to the development of the Russian state. Among your great ancestors are state figures, public figures, military leaders, representatives of the cultural elite of the Russian Empire and the Russian Federation. You have preserved their traditions and culture, and helped promote the Russian language and cultural values in the countries where you and your ancestors have lived. I consider this the greatest confirmation of the best qualities of our people.

Many memoirs of those who were forced to leave our country have been published. I would like to quote one of the major representatives of Russian emigrants, Nikolai Lermontov, who was related to the great Russian poet: “Living abroad, we somehow perceived everything that concerned our Motherland with particular sharpness, and any glorification of Russia filled us with pride. The glory of our Motherland seemed to warm us.” Beautiful words. They were spoken and written from the bottom of his heart. The glory of those families and times, which you continue to carry – in the same way as the descendants of your predecessors, the first wave emigrants, did – also helps our Motherland to feel more confident in the modern world.

You are continuing the effort of your fathers, great-grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers with dignity. I know that many of you are engaged in public activities, including charitable, educational and philanthropic projects. Most of these initiatives are aimed at promoting Russian culture in all its dimensions. You also maintain contacts with the organisations of compatriots who recently relocated to other countries. We try in every possible way to recognise your representatives’ and other compatriots’ efforts to develop public projects that are useful and important to our Motherland – many have been acknowledged with state awards of the Russian Federation.

Today, it is especially gratifying that young descendants of Russian emigrants of the first wave are becoming Russian citizens. This touchingly and clearly shows the connectivity of times and the continuity of generations.

We will never forget the heroism and military efforts of many generations of our people, subjects of the Russian Empire, then citizens of the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation, who helped our country become the mighty power in which we live today. We have never baulked at the challenges that our historical destiny put before us.

The Civil War was certainly one of the most brutal trials. Nevertheless, the national reconciliation, which, as we can now safely say, has been reached in recent decades, reflects the best qualities of our people: the capacity to forgive and the awareness of each and every one being part of a single whole.

I would like to thank Vladimir Moskvin once again for what he is doing. Let's hope that Natalya Solzhenitsyna will fully recover from Covid-19.

I would like to congratulate you from the bottom of my heart and say that you can always count on the support of the Foreign Ministry in all your endeavours to promote the interests of Russia and Russian citizens.