Photo credit: Facebook
The European Russian Forum was held in the European Parliament for the thirteenth time. Traditionally, its leader is Tatyana Zhdanok, leader of the Russian Union of Latvia party, representing Latvia. Every year, participants sort out differences and try to find common ground between Russia and the European Union, the party writes on its Facebook page.
The main issue of this forum, which brought together well-known politicians, diplomats, historians and journalists from several European countries, was the preservation of Russian identity in the European Union. One of the round tables was called The future of Russians in the Baltic Countries: Individual Assimilation or Collective Integration?.
According to the head of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov, the Russians can be called the most numerous divided people in the world. The diplomat recalled that the collapse of the Soviet Union had a catastrophic effect on the Russians. As a result, about twenty-five million ethnic Russians almost at one moment found themselves outside their historical homeland. At the same time, the permanent representative emphasized, no one asked how they desired to deal with the situation. The consequences of this massive tragedy are still present now.
Today, after almost three decades, the struggle for the Soviet geopolitical legacy does not stop. And the main tools borrowed from the arsenal of the Cold War are Russophobic propaganda, slander of the Russian people, revision of its role in world history, Chizhov recalled. He noted that in many countries, a full-scale witch hunt has been launched against the defenders of the rights of the Russian-speaking population, squeezing the Russian language out of all spheres of life is being put into the state policies.
It is unacceptable to strengthen one’s security and build one’s own identity at the expense of other nations, the politician summed up. He called for building the identity of peoples on creation of something new, not on denial and destruction.
Russkiy Mir
