Sergei Kiriyenko told young people about freedom – Kommersant

Sovereignty guarantees freedom of choice and the right to make decisions, but its presence should not lead to the rejection of any foreign practices. This was stated on Thursday by First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko at a meeting with participants in the Territory of Meanings forum, answering a question about the rejection of the Bologna education system.

“It seems to me that the issue of relying on one’s education system, culture, media and industry cannot and should not be an instrument of limitation,” Mr. Kiriyenko pointed out. “This is, on the contrary, a question about freedom. What is sovereignty? For me, this is freedom of choice, from dependence, from the fact that something is being imposed on me. According to the Kremlin spokesman, it is also important to avoid the “downside”, that is, the rejection of everything foreign: “Russia’s big breakthroughs have happened many times when we saw the best in the world, took it away and rebuilt it.”

Answering other questions, Sergei Kiriyenko advised not to choose the presidential administration to start a career (for starters, it’s better to try something “closer to the people”) and suggested that the development plan for the youth “Movement of the First” after 2030 would no longer depend on Kremlin officials and from him personally: “No one will answer you what will happen in 2029 or 2030: firstly, it will depend on you, and secondly, it will depend on what is changing and happening in the world. I think such things do not need to be described in detail as a plan: there must be a direction, there must be a landmark, and everything else must be done together.

Questions from the forum participants were preceded by a lecture by Mr. Kiriyenko on ten of his own management principles. Among them are the need to “recognize that the problem is mine”, as well as the theses “everything can be controlled”, “any problem contains a solution” and “trend is more important than state”. In addition, the first deputy head of the presidential administration is convinced that “difficulties should be rejoiced”, and “the one who gives up two seconds later wins.” This list is summed up by the postulate “the ideas and will of people can change the world”. “Today is a time of tectonic change, and any time of change is a time of opportunity. How you use them is up to you. But in fact, today in the world space Russia is really a country of opportunities,” Sergei Kiriyenko told the audience.

Grigory Leiba