The Federation Council discussed issues of promoting Russian traditional values

Politicians and cultural masters discussed issues of promoting Russian traditional values ​​at the Federation Council on Thursday. If we want to become world leaders, we must become moral leaders, Alexey Pushkov, head of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy, explained to the participants of the round table “Global Scramble for Values ​​and Information Policy: External and Internal Aspects.” And stop being ashamed, the director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Elizaveta Likhacheva, developed his thought. But there is no need to be afraid of censorship, State Duma deputy Nikolai Burlyaev convinced. And only director Nikita Mikhalkov said little, but instead showed something.

Alexey Pushkov set the tone for the discussion, telling how important it is to understand the role of values ​​in the development of society. According to him, they play a key role in shaping national identity and determining in which direction the country will move. But there should be no gap between internal and external values, the senator insisted: if Russia stands for a fair international peace, then it must build a fair social peace within the country. In the Soviet Union there was such a gap, and it ruined it, Mr. Pushkov said: “We helped socialism all over the world, but we ourselves degraded inside, lost the principles that we tried to preach abroad.” This is now ruining the United States, the senator is sure: they declare humanitarian principles, but in practice they do not support them, and this causes serious damage to the country’s reputation. For example, the American position on the tragedy in the Gaza Strip “hits the United States more than Israel,” Alexey Pushkov gave a specific example. “Now they will send presidential candidate Trump to prison, and then we will talk about human rights,” he anticipated.

Nikita Mikhalkov did not say much, but simply showed those present one of the episodes of his “Besogon” program, in which he talked about the systematic squeezing out of crosses from Russian symbols (they were even removed from the Russian coat of arms on the official Kremlin website, the director was indignant) and about how children are killed by abortion at the expense of Russian taxpayers, because termination of pregnancy is a free procedure within the framework of compulsory medical insurance. The filmmaker’s live performance did not go well: the sharp sound from the microphone was disturbing. “Enemies!” – those around immediately began to whisper. Having finally mastered the equipment, Mr. Mikhalkov called for an uncompromising fight against the legacy of the first President Boris Yeltsin and against LGBT people. “The time has come to decide. You won’t be able to climb up the tree without skinning your butt,” he warned sternly.

The director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Elizaveta Likhacheva, stated the need to get rid of “a false sense of embarrassment and endless shame.” We must act based on the paradigm “Russia has no friends, but only interests,” she instructed. In particular, this should be done when it comes to displaced values ​​(cultural values ​​exported to the USSR after the Second World War from the territory of Germany and its allies.— “Kommersant”), Mrs. Likhacheva insisted. Russia, she reminded, is still pretending that these values ​​do not exist, they are not legitimized and are not part of the museum fund, but we must finally stop being ashamed of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, declare that they exist, and display them in the museum.

But we are finally living with a legally formalized concept of values, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, in turn, rejoiced. Just a couple of years ago, no one could formulate what it was, but now it has become part of the development strategy, she stated. Because progress without values ​​is regression, the diplomat explained. Now, according to her, we need to define the concept of “soft power,” about which no one really understands whether we have it or not: is it the most effective system for achieving set goals or a set of values? “And this is both, we just need to combine it,” says Mrs. Zakharova.

Finally, actor, director and State Duma deputy from “A Just Russia – For Truth” Nikolai Burlyaev said that it is impossible to live without ideology and urged not to be afraid of censorship. “I will be the first against political censorship,” he assured. “Because we have all suffered: me, and all my friends, and forerunners, and Tarkovsky, and Shukshin, and Nikita Sergeevich, and Bondarchuk. I am against total political censorship, which is often stupid. But I am for public control!” As for ideology, it has already been partly adopted by the presidential decree on the foundations of state cultural policy, the deputy is convinced. The problem is that in many departments it is still being sabotaged: Mr. Burlyaev himself observes among officials “latent Russophobia and disregard for their roots” – otherwise why were the anti-Christian opera “Tannhäuser” and the anti-Christian historical film “Matilda” supported by the state? “The salvation of Russia is the salvation of the world. We all now have a task in this global battle for values ​​not to die ourselves, and to present to this maddened world a new civilizational model of a reasonable state,” Nikolai Burlyaev summed up with hope for the best.

Anastasia Kornya