Speech by Maria Zakharova at the Global Conference on Multipolarity, 29 April 2023

Dear colleagues,

Dear friends,

You have already listened to the speech of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which he outlined the main prospects for building a multipolar world, the irreversibility and the objective reasons for this process. I would like to emphasise that for the first time the new Russian Foreign Policy Concept systematically sets out the principles of a more just and multipolar world order and aims to facilitate its implementation. I believe that in the long run such provisions will be included in the conceptual strategic documents of other states as well. This depends, among other things, on the participants in our forum - influential political scientists and thinkers.

For my part, I would like to address the communicative and informational aspect and partly the values and meaning of this process. We live in a world where media and communications have today not only a key role, but also a crucial role in certain areas of life. Please note that we are in different cities, countries, continents and time zones and, at the same time, we are communicating almost in real time. All this has become possible not only because of technology (by the way, I would like to emphasise that we communicate on a national platform, not on a western equivalent), but also because of the willingness of people from all walks of life around the world to communicate.
There is not and cannot be a single information management centre, as some Western elites aspire to. Under the present conditions, only polyphony and a compromise between many voices is possible. And, as in our "polylogue" with you, everyone's voice can and must be heard.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with this objectively fair approach. We are well aware that political elites in the US and Europe use information and communication technologies not for the noble purpose of bringing objective information to a wide audience, but for provocation, propaganda and sometimes even indoctrination. And this without taking into account the norms and traditions of different countries and societies.

Multipolarity based on the true sovereignty of peoples and civilisational diversity will not only help to resolve political conflicts, build a just order for all and every participant in international relations, confront attempts to establish diktat and hegemony, but also create a truly democratic society, free from interference in the internal affairs of independent states, both politically and ideologically.

Among dozens of speakers participating in the current event, it is unlikely to find a significant number who would support the agenda promoted by neoliberal circles in the West through the "tamed" media: changing gender norms, reverse LGBT discrimination, deliberate involvement of children and adolescents in queer culture. Moreover, as studies show, people in the US, Canada, the Netherlands and other countries in the collective West are far from happy that their public figures and elected officials have chosen this topic for their civic and political activity. Of course, we cannot and will not support or even accept this. As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted at the last meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, "the difference between traditional values and so-called neoliberal values is that they are unique in each case, as they derive from the tradition of a specific society, its culture and historical experience. That is why they cannot be imposed on anyone - it is enough to respect them and to treat with care what each people chose over the centuries. This is how we understand traditional values and we are convinced that the majority of humanity shares and accepts this approach.

Dear colleagues,

I ask all participants in the current polylogue to assume that such events have an important synergetic function in building a multipolar system of international relations.

Have you noticed the importance attached by Washington to the two "democracy summits" in 2021 and 2023? However, in reality, these summits had nothing to do with democracy. We cannot exclude that all the theses delivered by the world leaders invited by the Americans were previously approved in the US. And the media effect of these events was, to be honest, extremely modest. In any case, the Americans tried to draw general attention to their initiative, but people feel the artificiality and exhaustion of this pseudo-democracy. The idea was clear: to show that the whole world, or at least a large part of it, supports the approaches dictated by the US. This is the kind of "synergy" that Washington was trying to achieve. Of course, their initial plan was doomed to failure. That's why, I think, in the media landscape, even in the West, the second "summit" received much more moderate coverage than the first. The trend is clear.

Now, notice how our initiative contrasts with this background: truly international, not imposed from above, born in the political circles of many countries around the world. I would like to thank our Chinese comrades and our friends from Brazil for their conceptual work and their boldness in promoting it on the international scene.

In conclusion, dear colleagues, I would like to express my gratitude for your attention and emphasize that we are ready to continue supporting such projects. I am convinced that many interesting speeches are still to come and we are looking forward to the final collection of reports after the Marathon.

I wish all the best to the participants and listeners.