Panel Discussion 5. Ukrainian Crisis and Future of Eurasian Security
The Ukraine crisis has been ongoing for the past 10 years, evolving from a local tension into a severe international military conflict. For the past 8 years Kyiv, Washington, Paris, and Berlin have thwarted endeavors of a peaceful resolution. In an effort to protect Donbass and ensure peace and stability at its borders, Russia launched in 2022 a special military operation. The West decided to use Ukraine to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia. Under these slogans Ukraine is being pumped up with arms and equipment, money, intelligence and "soldiers of fortune". The United States and NATO are using the entire arsenal of "hybrid warfare" against Russia – measures of economic and political pressure, information campaigns, cyberattacks, sabotage and actions in the "gray zone". The conflict is skillfully used to increase military tension in Europe – the crumbling Alliance has been consolidated, and the military-industrial complex is receiving unprecedented orders. The prospects for ending the crisis are not clear yet. The Ukrainian crisis has become the most significant factor in the current military risks in Eurasia.
Moderator – Feodor Voitolovsky, Director, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO); Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Evgeny Buzhinsky, Chairman, PIR Center Executive Board; Professor, Institute for Advanced Strategic Studies, HSE University
Olga Oliker, Program Director for Europe and Central Asia, International Crisis Group, Belgium (online)
Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief, Russia in Global Affairs
Thomas Greminger, Executive Director, Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP); former Secretary General OSCE (2017-2020), Switzerland (online)
Konstantin Bogdanov, Head of Sector for Strategic Analysis and Forecasting, Center for International Security, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO)
Panel Discussion 6. Is Culture Uniting or Dividing Nations?
We tend to believe that culture is the space where political contradictions lose their significance. However, over the last two years, numerous restrictions on cultural exchanges have joined the political and economic sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia. In fact, we are talking about an attempt to cancel Russian culture in the West, but it is simply impossible to cancel Russian culture, which has given birth to a vast array of world-class talents. The use of culture as a tool to promote political interests contradicts the very principles of international cultural cooperation as an independent sphere of human activity. Obviously, despite political maneuvers, the enhancement of international cooperation while preserving cultural identities can and should become a factor leading to the unification of nations.
Moderator – Mikhail Shvydkoy, Russia’s Special Presidential Representative for International Cultural Cooperation
Feng Litao, Minister-Counsellor for Culture, Embassy of China in the Russian Federation; Director, Chinese Cultural Center in Moscow
Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General, State Hermitage Museum; Dean, Faculty of Asian and African Studies, Saint-Petersburg State University; Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Rodrigo De Lima Baena Soares, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Russian Federation
Jyoti Malhotra, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune Group, India
Fyodor Sosnov, Executive Director, Federal Fund for Social and Economic Support to National Cinematography (Cinema Fund)
Dmitry Pristanskov, Film producer, co-founder of the film company "Monumental Vision"
Vladimir Grigoryev, Director of the Department of the Government Support of Periodical Press and Book Industry, Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation