Discussion in the State Duma on prospects of cooperation between Russia and the West

On April 8, 2016, IE RAS Director Al.A. Gromyko and leading scientific associate V.P. Zhiravel participated in parliamentary hearings of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee on: «Russia – the West: what will prevail – the logics of confrontation or the logics of cooperation». The event was attended by State Duma deputies, Federation Council members, Russian diplomats, representatives of academic institutes, professors and students of Moscow and regional universities.

Al.А. Gromyko delivered a speech on dynamics of the balance of confrontation and cooperation between Russia and the western countries over the last 25 years. Based on a broader historical perspective the speaker demonstrated that the Russian foreign policy both in the 20^th century and earlier was pursuing the principal goal of finding such a balance in Europe and the world that would favor the internal development of our state.

Chairman of the International Affairs Committee А.К. Pushkov, marking the regress in relations between Russia and the West, outlined that our country had been always standing for the principles of equality, demonstrating readiness to cooperate on a broad range of problems. He underlined that «Russia cannot support the inadequate western approach and will not accept its hegemony» – the global agenda should favor all the parties involved, and such progress is subject to rotation of the western leaders and growing interest of the western political elite in normalizing the relations with Russia, backed by the political necessity to do so.

Deputy Foreign Minister А.Y. Meshkov stated that the West is not prepared to view Russia as an equal partner. Europe and USA are now going through «bifurcation of the political elite conscience in relation to Russia»: some support confrontation, others opt for cooperation. Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia V.V. Zhirinovsky outlined that the confrontation logics dominates the relations between Russia and the West today, which reflects, in his opinion, the current fundamentals. Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma А.L. Romanovich stressed that «Russia is facing the concrete block of misunderstanding on the part of the West», which, in his opinion, calls for strengthening propaganda and anti-propaganda institutions in Russia. Colonel General L.G. Ivashev stated that the new world order framework is determined thanks to such organizations as SCO, ЕАEC, BRICS. Director of the Institute of USA and Canada V.N. Garbuzov marked the current Russian-American relations as the worst after the Cold War end and outlined the possibility of selective cooperation between the two states.

The Parliamentary library prepared a special dossier for the hearings, including the article of Al.A. Gromyko «Russia, USA, Smaller Europe (EU): Competition for Leadership in the Polycentric World».

Further information can be obtained by following the links below:

http://www.duma.gov.ru/news/273/1618857/