Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers to questions during a meeting with young activists in Belarus, Brest, November 22, 2024

Question: Who or what prompted you to choose a diplomatic career?

Sergey Lavrov: This was a chance I got by chance, if you excuse me for this kind of wordiness. It happened that MGIMO held its enrolment exams one month earlier compared to all other universities. I loved physics, and my mother told me that I knew everything a high school graduate had to know about physics, so she challenged me to try and enter MGIMO. Trying did not create any risks, considering that I graduated with a silver medal, meaning that I was an A-plus student in almost every discipline. So there were two exams, one on July 1 and the other on July 3, 1967. After that I went to my school to get my documents, and there was all this fuss there. But I thought: What do I have to worry about, if I already got accepted. This is to say that it all happened by chance.

Question: I would like to have your opinion on the following matter. What should I do to preserve peace and strengthen national security as a good citizen and a person who cares about where my country is headed?

Sergey Lavrov: There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every person contributes in his or her own way to ensuring that people can live decent lives. A uniform approach would never work here, just as on the international stage where the United States has been trying to cling to its rapidly dwindling hegemony. By the same token, you cannot have a situation when all people are the same and behave in the same manner. Society is polycentric in nature, and new principles shape global system in today’s world.

Everyone has their own way of living, be it in terms of economics, social affairs, culture, religion and language, as well as many other defining factors for a nation. Every nation has something in it that brings people together. After all, we all are citizens of our country. Any normal person wants his or her country to succeed, live happily and achieve wellbeing. If you want your country to succeed, that means that you want all of us to succeed, which is totally natural for any human.

If you are taking part in student construction teams, while also engaging in patriotic activities, you are already making a major contribution to building new sites. By participating in these student construction projects, you get to feel what it means to serve your Motherland.

I have taken part in these student construction projects four times. In fact, I spent my vacations this way for several years in a row, so I know what I am talking about. This makes people stronger. We have been to Khakassia, Tuva, near Vladivostok and in Yakutia.

By the way, buildings stand on pillars in Yakutia. And one of them was designed to serve as a liquor plant. This included pouring concrete, and assembling many stories of formwork, laying bricks – all the expensive stuff, while students had to do concrete in the basement. You had to crawl down there, carrying concrete around. Let me share a funny story with you which happened not that long ago. Someone sent me a plate hanging on this liquor plant these days. It shows the date the building opened and then reads: Today’s Foreign Minister took part in building it.

This goes to say that everyone has their own role to play. You can understand what people are worth by looking them in the eyes, by their gaze. You want your country to exist, right? “We will not have to worry about anything as long as the country can live its life,” as the saying goes. This is the way it will be.

Sergey Lavrov (speaks after Maxim Ryzhenkov): This is a John F. Kennedy quote. He said: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

Question: What initiatives are currently being undertaken by Russia and Belarus to address the distortion of history beyond our national borders, aimed at international audiences?

Sergey Lavrov: Allow me to elaborate. Domestically, such efforts are crucial for preserving memory and educating younger generations on the significance of monuments like the Brest Fortress. It's essential for them to be aware of the history and heroism of those who ensured our nations' survival and ultimate victory.

We have established a Commission of Historians with Belarus, as well as with several other nations, to focus on this matter. This commission provides advice on the content of school textbooks. However, the foundation must begin with our own population and youth. This is imperative.

Attempts to distort history commenced quite some time ago. Since 2005, for nearly two decades, we, in collaboration with Belarus and several other former Soviet republics, as well as neighbouring countries like the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, several dozen countries overall, have annually introduced a resolution at the UN General Assembly. This resolution calls for the prevention of the glorification of Nazism, the disregard for history, its rewriting, and the demolition of monuments – a trend that has gained traction in the Baltic States, Poland, and some other countries. This resolution is always vigorously debated. We refrain from naming any specific nations. Instead, it serves as a reminder against forgetting the history of the Second World War, its outcomes, and the attempts to rewrite these outcomes, blur the lines between victors and vanquished, aggressors and liberators of Europe. These principles are clearly articulated in the resolution. As the saying goes, "the truth will out," which is why all EU countries oppose it, having recently voted against it after previously abstaining. During more favourable periods, we inquired what objections they had.

Their response was that Estonians, Lithuanians, and Latvians perceived it as an affront. Although the resolution does not target them specifically, their perception suggests a guilty conscience. They have long since relocated monuments from prominent squares to more obscure locations.

There is a considerable movement within the UN. We have recently introduced a draft resolution to convene a special session in May 2025, commemorating the 80th anniversary of Victory. This draft is expected to be adopted. It represents our shared Victory. The UN will host events under a neutral banner – "80 years since the end of the Second World War." This will offer us an opportunity to clearly express our perspectives.

Within our allied frameworks – the Union State, the CSTO, and the CIS – there will be commemorative events dedicated to the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War. We are planning numerous events within other international organisations. In Vienna, the OSCE is straying from its traditional roots as outlined in its foundational documents and is becoming a tool for Western manipulation, contravening all charters. It is crucial to participate in these endeavours on the international stage.

Just as Hitler in the late 1930s subjugated almost the entire Europe, militarised it, and directed it against the Soviet Union – consider the Anschluss of Austria, the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Munich Agreement, the Siege of Leningrad, and the involvement of Spanish soldiers under the swastika – similarly, various nationalist battalions of the Kiev regime, such as Azov and Aidar, are now fighting under Nazi insignias. They also conduct torchlight processions, although perhaps they have little time for such activities in Ukraine at present. Nevertheless, the ideology and practice of Nazism are institutionalised there. Concurrently, racist laws aimed at eradicating the Russian language in education, the media, culture, and daily life are enforced. Even on the frontlines, the majority of Ukrainians speak Russian. They are orchestrating a linguistic genocide. They threaten to annihilate Russians by any means available.

Now, akin to the 1940s, the Americans have militarised all of Europe, compelling it to finance the Nazi regime. The veneer observed during the era of détente and peaceful coexistence has swiftly vanished. Formerly neutral countries – Finland and Sweden – have rapidly altered their stance. They previously maintained close ties with our border regions, frequently visiting and hosting families across the border. I have visited these regions; it was a tranquil frontier.

Overnight, this façade dissipated. The current President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, whom I have known since his tenure as Foreign Minister, is now among the most fervent Russophobes. They are erecting walls and proclaiming to the world that Russia is poised to attack them. Essentially, they are misguiding their electorate.

During all this time, Russian President Vladimir Putin and all of us continuously attempted to convey to the West that they were "going astray" by supporting this illegitimate Kiev regime and seeking its integration into NATO.  And when, a decade after a state coup in Ukraine, the special military operation was initiated, the Western powers started claiming that had Ukraine been admitted to NATO, Russia would not have attacked. This was their narrative. Now, these "narrative architects" are beginning to realise that it might be prudent to halt and admit what remained of Ukraine into NATO. Others argue that they "cannot stop" and must "finish" Vladimir Putin, as failure to do so would result in him attacking them all. Where is the logic? They once asserted that NATO membership guaranteed protection from attack, and now they suggest we intend to attack everyone. This confrontational logic is being impressed upon the general public, and subsequently, discreet decisions are made to allocate another 10 billion to Ukraine, increase the military budget, and the population is expected to "tighten their belts."

This work is of utmost importance. I encourage active participation in it.

Question: Which historical event, in your view, should be remembered and promoted to fortify the Union State?

Sergey Lavrov: I would advocate for the commemoration of our entire history, including the less joyous episodes. We must embrace every aspect of our past – pride, sorrow, and even shame, as such instances have occurred. I would summarise it succinctly.

All events hold significance to enable the continuation of history, which should remain uninterrupted. Here, we have a shared understanding. We will not allow history to be "dragged out," altered, or forgotten.