Senators and experts discussed the lessons of history and today’s global challenges.
Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin presided over the discussion. Other participants included Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, First Deputy Chairs of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Andrey Denisov and Sergei Kislyak, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security Vladimir Chizhov, Member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Alexander Karelin, as well as representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Russian Defence Ministry, academics and experts.
The keynote address was delivered by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin.
Grigory Karasin noted that this year marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations.
“The significance of these landmark events cannot be overstated. They are closely connected and stem from the same roots. The defeat of Nazism, to which our country made a decisive contribution, laid the foundation for a new and universally understood architecture of international relations designed to prevent future global tragedies,” Grigory Karasin said.
The senator stressed that in recent years, several states have sought to distort the essence of the United Nations, undermine international law and replace it with the so-called rules-based order, which the West constantly adapts to serve its own interests.
“Western countries are attempting to ignore the principle of multipolarity by promoting their national approaches and effectively asserting their own exceptionalism, while preserving mechanisms of dominance through neo-colonial methods of control. In these circumstances, the objective of reforming the UN and adapting it to new international realities is becoming ever more urgent,” Grigory Karasin underlined.
According to Konstantin Kosachev, when the UN was founded, it brought together fifty sovereign states, but following the Cold War a new phenomenon emerged – that of groups of states or blocs. “While Russia moved away from bloc thinking, our opponents, on the contrary, expanded and reinforced it. Over time it became clear that the common expression ‘ending bloc confrontation’ was understood quite differently. We meant that there would be no blocs, while our opponents meant that there would be no confrontation because only one bloc would remain – with no one left to oppose it. And that is precisely what happened,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
In this context, the senator emphasised that UN reform has become a priority issue.
“For this reform to be effective and meaningful, it is first necessary to eliminate the gaps and inconsistencies that were built into the UN Charter itself,” he noted.
“As long as two powerful military-political and military-economic blocs – NATO and the European Union – continue to exist and to violate the UN Charter’s principle of equality by assuming the right to interpret its provisions as they see fit, we will continue to face problems in international relations and be unable to respond effectively to new global challenges,” Konstantin Kosachev stated.
During the discussion, participants reviewed the historical record of the United Nations and exchanged views and proposals on the Organisation’s future strategy in the context of ongoing global transformation.