What should public diplomacy be like? How can the historical experience of Russia and the Arab-Muslim world in maintaining and comprehensively developing positive relations between different peoples and confessions help in the new realities? These and many other issues were raised within the framework of the plenary session ‘Public Dialogue: Russia – the East. Mutually Beneficial Partnership’. Members of the Strategic Vision Group ‘Russia – Islamic World’ took an active part in the discussion, which was held on the platform of the International Economic Summit ‘Russia – Islamic World: KazanSummit 2021’.
According to one of the session’s moderators, Sami Kleib, a well-known writer and publicist, a TV journalist, such meetings are extremely important because they make it possible not only summarize the results, but also outline new facets for cooperation and develop mutually beneficial projects. ‘We have a lot to learn from you. When I came to Kazan, I was amazed not only by beauty of the nature. Peaceful coexistence between different cultures and religions is what truly impressed me. There are a number of problems in my native Lebanon, which may have emerged due to misunderstanding of faith. You have the rulers who regulate relationships in any sphere, this is why your republic is moving forward’, Kleiba noted.
Evgeny Primakov Junior, Head of the Federal Agency of Rossotrudnichestvo, joined the discussion in an online format. In his video message, he noted that Kazan had been successfully implementing the dialogue between Russia and the Islamic world. ‘I would like to say special words of gratitude for this to Rustam Minnikhanov and Mintimer Shaimiev, the initiator of this process’, he stressed. According to him, the main objective of such meetings is an informal effective dialogue between politicians, leaders of public opinion and businessmen, especially now, when international dialogue is complicated by many circumstances, including new restrictions.
It is noteworthy that Muslim countries have become the target of harsh attacks by the Western world over the last ten years, which is trying to deprive the East of its independence. ‘But we should not forget about the fact that the East has already become a new pole, the centre in a multi-polar world. And an important role in the new order is played by Russia, the continent of adequacy and responsibility. Here, cultures are not just closely intertwined and have coexisted peacefully for centuries. In Russia, plurality of cultures has created a civilization that has historically shared its achievements, extended a hand of help and friendship and defended world peace. The Muslim world has been an integral part of our civilization. As far as the dialogue between Russia and the East is concerned, we should understand that we must be a bridge that connects and establishes mutually beneficial and harmonious ties’, Primakov concluded. According to the diplomat, such work cannot be limited to official contacts only.
According to Farit Mukhametshin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Chairman of the Strategic Vision Group, the role of public diplomacy in world politics is gaining particular importance in our times. ‘Today, at the time of dramatic transformation of not only the entire system of international relations, but the entire global world order, the key issue of human development becomes the question of responsibility. The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that this responsibility extends not only, and perhaps not so much, to political elites, but to all active forces of society and every citizen of every country in the world’, Mukhametshin noted.
Under these circumstances, it is no longer just political elites and the states they represent that become crucial elements of international life, but also living elements of civil societies. It is the reason why the very idea of people-to-people diplomacy takes on a special resonance.
‘Diplomacy, as a specific field of activity, has never been a ‘people’s’ affair. For centuries, it has been up to a small circle of professionals. And it is worth recognizing that a certain insularity of diplomatic relations has allowed reaching compromises and resolving painful conflicts in the conditions when societies were ready to be driven by their emotions, demanding quick and radical action from their governments without any regard for consequences. There are a great number of such examples and there is no need to cite them’, the speaker reminded. But the world is changing, international relations are becoming denser, objectives are becoming more complicated, and challenges and threats are becoming more formidable. Farit Mukhametshin believes that the only consequence of this is democratization of international relations, something that Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov has referred to in his recent speeches and articles.
‘Recent years, when the whole world witnessed the so-called ‘twitter’ diplomacy, have shown how important it is to establish rules and maintain certain ethics of relations in the conditions of democratization of the world order. The well-known maxim that freedom means first of all responsibility is taking on a new meaning today’, the Deputy Chairman of the Group added.
Speaking about the relations between Russia and the East, Mukhametshin said that Eastern societies as a whole are gaining a new significance. ‘Quite a lot is said today about consolidation of the role of Eastern countries in world politics, about the shift of the key centres of world economy and finance to Asia. The consolidation of the East is not just the consolidation of Asian and African states; it is, above all, the consolidation of African-Asian societies. Turning to the traditional roots of their cultural traditions, they are trying to respond to new challenging and threats facing humanity. It is the Eastern countries that are now becoming sources of new ideas, concepts and values’, the speaker is convinced.
Russia, belonging to both the West and the East, to the Christian and the Muslim worlds, plays an important role in this process of shifting centres, because for Russia, conversation with the East is always not only an external, but also an internal dialogue and an act of self-discovery. Farit Mukhametshin believes that the object of this dialogue must be the issues of common identification of challenges and threats, common understanding of development goals and search for mutually consistent and respectful approaches to their achievement. ‘We need to develop the common language and common understanding of what is happening to us and the whole world, as well as, no less importantly, common understanding of the enormous responsibility for the world fate, which rests on the shoulders of those people who conduct this dialogue’, Mukhametshin stressed.
The Senator concluded his speech by recalling numerous initiatives of the Strategic Vision Group in this direction, which help to affirm Russia’s identity as a state of not only the West, but also of the East and create an extremely important space for fruitful cooperation between different segments of Russian and Eastern civil societies.
In his turn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Russia to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Ramazan Abdulatipov drew attention of the audience to the fact that Russia had always been considered to be an Eastern country. ‘We must not lose our roots. Remember the history: all Prophets came to people from the East. A lot of people believe that Russia is a bridge between the two civilizations. But this is not true – our country is not a bridge, but a historical integrator between the East and the West’, the Permanent Representative is convinced. This is the basis on which we should establish our relations with Eastern Muslim states.
In his speech, Abdulatipov paid special attention to the fact that the Muslim civilization had left behind a rich heritage. For instance, the ruler of Andalusia, when he was a Muslim, had more books in his library than all the libraries in Europe. The House of Wisdom in Baghdad is also worth mentioning. ‘It is the East that stands at the origin of many sciences. But the colonization of the East by the West has turned us into a backward, supposedly savage people. Look at the museums in European cities. Whose civilizations are exhibited? Most of them are from the East’, the expert addressed the audience.
As far as the dialogue is concerned, before it can take place, we need to understand what model of dialogue we are talking about. According to Ramazan Abdulatipov, there are several systems of dialogue: pre-revolutionary, Soviet, liberal or Prospective Russian model of interaction. The state policy should be conducted in accordance with the chosen direction.
Concluding his speech, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation reminded the Russian and foreign participants of the panel session that President of Russia Vladimir Putin had always been reverent about Islam and the East. ‘Have a look at Palestine: for 70 years the West has been doing everything not to solve the issue of Palestine. Look at Syria. It is a unique country – great Prophets were walking on its hills. This was the most stable and the most beautiful country in the world. There was a time when we recommended sending out scholars there because Islam was moderate in Syria. Today Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation are the main defenders of Muslims. It is Russia that is the best mediator in existing conflicts’, Abdulatipov concluded.
Rasul Botashev, Member of the Committee of the State Duma on International Affairs, supported the general direction of the discussion and expressed his opinion that Eastern countries should be the priority for Russia. He noted that in the Middle East and Africa there were a great number of medics and other specialists who had received their education in Russia. In addition to it, Russian technologies are emerging in this region. Therefore, in the deputy’s opinion, more effort should be spent on establishing economic and political ties with this part of the world rather than with Western countries.
He also noted that around 15% of the Russian population was Muslims. This is more than 20 million people, and not every Muslim country has such a large number of people who practise Islam. This is why the Islamic world as a part of the East is a strategic direction for Russia, the speaker believes.
Ali Dari Ali Al Fayed, Counselor to the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, noted in his speech that Russia had been demonstrating a consistent position on the consolidation of ties with the Islamic world. According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov pursue a policy of ‘strengthening the hearts of Muslims’ both in Russia and the Islamic world. ‘The dialogue built with Muslim countries helps establish relations in all spheres of activity and overlaps with Russia’s long history of relations with this part of the world’, Ali Al Fayed noted.
Vasily Kuznetsov, Head of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, drew a parallel between, on the one hand, the ancient Roman and Greek civilizations, and, on the other hand, the modern West and East. In his opinion, the West, like Ancient Rome, is a homogenizing culture and differs from the East, which, like Ancient Greek, has maintained diversity in its territory of influence, preferring compromise over conflict. The speaker highlighted that it did not mean that one approach was better than the other one.
‘Today when we speak about the transformation of the world political system, the world order, we are actually talking about moving away from the homogenizing culture that dominated the world for 500 years. And apparently we are returning to the East. And in this respect, on the one hand, there are great opportunities, but, on the other hand, there are great dangers because this return to the East still requires finding a new basis for social dialogue and for coexistence. It requires development of new rules of the game’, Vasily Kuznetsov believes.
Ilmira Gafiyatullina