Russia was a unique empire – Parliamentary newspaper
This year marks three hundred years since the adoption by Peter the Great of the titles of Emperor of All Russia and Father of the Fatherland and the proclamation of Russia as an empire. Although, in fact, our country had an imperial experience before these events. From that moment on, the Russian state began to strengthen its position in the circle of European powers and to influence the fate of the whole world. Participants of the discussion “Two centuries of the Russian Empire” on the unique experience of a powerful multinational state, which took place on November 12 at Moscow State University.
Architect of Greater Europe
This anniversary is an important event that will help strengthen our historical memory. Victor Sadovnichy… According to him, two centuries of the history of the Russian Empire were marked by undoubted and globally recognized achievements in culture, education and science. “And this determines the degree of maturity and vitality of any society,” – it was he.
Chairman of the Russian Historical Society Sergey Naryshkin in his powerful kingdom, that the established imperial experience was already in Moscow at the beginning of the 18th century. He called the Vienna Congress of 1814-1815 one of the pinnacles of Russian imperial diplomacy. According to him, Russia not only asserted its unconditional leadership there, but also extended its hand to the defeated France in order to jointly establish a long and lasting peace in Europe.
“Sadly, they do not want to remember,” Naryshkin remarked.
Multinational issue
Sergei Naryshkin also pointed out that the colonies were the leading empires in Europe, that is, they sought to spread their influence around the world to profit from this. “In Russia, however, it was impossible to separate the metropolis from the colony. The security of the center depended on the well-being of the periphery, ”he said.
From the same position, Acting A. Dean of the Faculty of Public Administration of Moscow State University, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma for International Affairs Vyacheslav Nikonov: “Russia had purely political, not economic motives. On the contrary, the center invested in the development of the outskirts, the metropolis pumped itself out for the sake of the “colonies”, which, in fact, continued in Soviet times. “
In Russia there was no national domination either, and the most difficult state duties, including serfdom, for the most part guided the Russians, Nikonov. “The domination was with the nobility, and it was multinational. You will not find such a multinational elite in any country in the world, ”the deputy is sure.
He cited as an example the results of the population census in 1897, in which only 53 percent of hereditary nobles named Russian as their native language. Moreover, Nikonov added, Russia has always been tolerant in matters of faith.
An alternative to fragmentation
The idea that the cause of the Russian Empire was in some sense continued by the Soviet Union was also picked up by the first deputy chairman of the State Duma for CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots. Konstantin Zatulin: “I believe that the Soviet Union belonged to the type of empire. That was how they perceived us. Red Empire “.
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A similar message is embedded in their statement by the State Duma on the three hundredth anniversary of the development of the Russian Empire, which was adopted at the plenary synthesis on November 11. “And the former Soviet Union, the current Russian Federation, whoever, whenever and however denied it, replaced the Russian Empire and inherited in his own way in organizing the historical existence of the Russian and all other united peoples,” the document says.
It is also agreed that the empire, as the highest type of state of its time, “became an alternative to specific and national fragmentation in a vast area from the Baltic and the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean.”