There Is No Peace in Sight. “Am Afraid that More Difficult Times are Coming”. A Russian Viewpoint
Wed 4:25 pm +01:00, 12 Apr 2023
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I cannot guess the dates when the “old peace” will return and when the colonial leadership of the golden billion will end. I am not even sure that we will live to see that new world.
I am afraid that even more difficult times are coming because the so-called golden billion will fight to the end and by all means to maintain his hegemony. This is how Yevgeny Primakov, one of the youngest and most forward-looking Russian politicians of today, answered the question of “Novosti” about the time when he expects the return of “the world to the old way”.
Primakov “the younger” is today the head of Rosotrudnichestvo, the Russian Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, compatriots abroad and international humanitarian cooperation. He came to Belgrade with the occasion of marking the anniversary of the Russian House in the Serbian metropolis. As before, he was happy to speak for Večernje Novosti.
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Dragan Vujicic (DV): How do you see the chances of peace in Moscow today?
Yevgeni Primakov (YP): First of all, I would like to see the peace coming into effect immediately, and I don’t know anyone in the leadership of Russia who is in favor of war. At the beginning of the Special Military Operation, our president stated its goals: among others, the denazification of Ukraine for the sake of peace. And that is why our troops are fighting for peace today. Unfortunately, the chances of peace reigning soon are not too high. Our victory on the battlefield will increase the chances.
DV: Has the world fundamentally changed in these over 400 days of war?
YP: First, I wouldn’t say that these 400 days changed the world. That change happened earlier. We warned the West for at least 16 years about what was happening and about the change in the entire logic of international relations. We told “the West” and the USA to read and understand the words of our president. Vladmir Vladmirovich clearly pointed out that the constant expansion of NATO is a danger to Russia’s national security, and in Munich he described Russia’s interests in the field of security to everyone.
DV: And what happened then?
YP: The Americans simply declared that speech to be the most aggressive and dangerous rhetoric up to that point. Years later, in December 2021, Russia proposed a set of conditions for our coexistence in relations with the Western powers. Among other things, they talked about legally binding guarantees between the two sides and the withdrawal of NATO weapons from our borders. The West told us No – on all counts!
DV: The war started in February 2022.
YP: Even after December 2021, Russia continued to behave in accordance with fundamental Christian and so-called European values and up to this day Russia adheres to the most valuable ones. Unfortunately, there is no more Europe in Europe today. Until Europe recovers, we have nothing to discuss with them because it is a matter of value system and irreconcilable differences.
DV: What is the difference between the “Western” rules-based International Order and the International Law order that Moscow is in favor of?
YP: As for the “order of rules”, it essentially means that there is a group of countries that decides on all key matters in international relations, and when they need it, they change the same rules. To say more than a theory, Great Britain, USA and Germany now claim to support the territorial integrity of all countries, but not for Serbia, Libya or Iraq. For example, the head of UNESCO, an organization whose international obligation is the preservation of cultural heritage and language, came to Ukraine. But this organization shows no interest in Russian language and in Russian cultural heritage in Ukraine.
DV: President Putin and SI spoke about the reform of the UN and its bodies in February 2002, right before the conflict?
YP: I am not an expert in international law, but from a civilizational point of view, in the context of an international conflict, we need to emphasize the need for UN reform. So far, there are no real conditions. Finally, Russia also wants new members to be admitted to the SC, but not those of the West, but we think it is necessary to include large countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, which Washington does not want at all. To be clear, the UN is a bad and dysfunctional institution, but for now we have no replacement.
DV: French President Macron has just presented himself again in Beijing as a peacemaker. How credible is he for Moscow?
YP: I remember Macron’s performance at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum when he quoted Dostoyevsky to us and when we all got excited thinking that he knows and loves Russian culture and the Russian soul. In St. Petersburg, he said that we should build new relationships and new friendships. And when he returned to Paris, he explained how it is necessary to “suppress” Russia and how he is the one to lead the matter!
DV: So, he is not a man for a peace mediator?
YP: I will be careful here. In Moscow, Macron as a politician is not considered by many managers to be a reliable partner. They see him as some kind of pop politician or pop figure.
DV: Russia is once again the target of terrorists and it seems that it is not doing so well. The murder of Daria Dugin and journalist Vladlen Tatarski?
YP: Russia protects its citizens and a huge effort is being made in that direction, one that is not public. Our intelligence services have prevented numerous tentative of terrorist attacks. A year ago, for example, the FSB prevented attempts to attack journalists Vladimir Soloviev and Margarita Simonyan. But we cannot have 100 percent guarantees that the terrorists will not be successful somewhere. Those who are attacking the Russian people today are the same as us, they share or have shared language and culture with us. What is worst is that part of the political opposition and part of their followers have gone into extremism. We really do not have 100 percent security guarantees for everyone, but still our services quickly locate and arrest those responsible.
DV: We harbored illusions that Nazism is dead?
YP: The events in Ukraine show that it is not without reason that we in Russia take care and preserve the memory of the Second World War. It is not only our historical memory, but this “memory” refers to the Russian identity and the present time. The nazis are at war in Ukraine – they must all be destroyed!
DV: Kiev Pechar monastery?
YP: We should not reduce this to the Russian people, but we must talk about the entire Orthodox world. To forgive or not, that is a question of Christianity. But I am afraid of things that have an eschatological dimension. These are huge efforts to start a religious war in Ukraine, as if this has not happened so far. We recently watched in Kiev a terrible scene when a girl from the church choir is praying to God on her knees, and around her are supposedly demons playing some kind of demonic game. That frolicking sounded like witches’ dances from Middle Age Europe.
DV: About de-dollarization of the world?
YP: There are more and more countries that realize the real role of the dollar as a world currency, and they insist now on trading with each other in their currencies. This is the strongest medicine and tool against the dominance of the golden billion.
DV: Russian and Ukrainian offensives are coming. What’s next?
YP: I know about that as much as you people from Novosti, I only know about it what I see on the news or in the newspaper.
DV: The British brag that they are training “Ukrainian partisans” or rather terrorists, while at the same time pretending to have Churchill’s “wisdom”?
YP: I would not go into the innermost diplomatic spheres. But Russia has many centuries of experience with the British and their political elites – we still remember the great tensions with them in the 19th century in Asia. And when it comes to Churchill, we did not forget that as soon as the Second World War ended, even while we were alleged allies, this Englishman asked the Americans for atomic strikes in the cities and facilities of Russia. It was called the “Antitankbl” operation (unimaginable, unthinkable). No one in Russia has any illusions about the Englishman.
