Letter from the Russian Ambassador to Ireland Yuriy Filatov
to the Editor of “The Irish Times”

 

Dear Editor,

The David McWilliams’ story “Ireland Should Host the Biggest 21^st Century Summit” (“The Irish Times”, April 17, 2021) raises quite a number of interesting issues of the Russia-West relationship in general. In many ways it looks like a compendium of myths and anecdotes about Russia, including, of course, that of the so-called “Potemkin Villages”. The core concept seems to be that “underdeveloped” Russia has always looked up to the West, begging to be admitted to the world of “chosen” or “civilized” nations, “accepted as an equal”. Careful look at history does not leave room for such assessment.

For example, at the beginning of the 20th century, Russia ranked fifth in the world in terms of production and economy growth rates, following the USA, Germany, Great Britain and France. At the same time, Russia, unlike other countries, did not have colonies, which were a source of resources and additional sales markets. From 1861 to 1913, steel output in Russia increased by 2.2 thousand times, coal production - by 694 times, machinery – by 44 times. During that period, industrial production in Russia grew by 5.7% annually. Russia ranked second in global wheat production, fourth in steel production, and fifth in pig iron output. Population of the Russian Empire outnumbered population of major industrialized countries. Before the World War I, it had the fastest growth rate in Europe. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, 130 million people lived in Russia. For comparison, there were 76 million in the USA, 56 million in Germany, 38 million in France (excluding colonies), 32 million in Great Britain (excluding colonies). Despite major catastrophes like Revolution of 1917, Civil war and two World Wars the Soviet Union kept leading positions in industry, science and humanitarian area, evidenced by the first manned space flight, the 60^th anniversary of which we have just marked. The most recent example is the development of the first and one of the most effective COVID-19 vaccines - Sputnik V.

Nevertheless, the McWilliams’ story may be useful, if only to show that confrontational view of Russia – when it finds its way to the decision making process – leads to strategic miscalculations. The basic and most dangerous is a mistake currently played up in the West – a notion that Russia somehow is a threat and should be “contained”. If history teaches us anything, it is that such policy is a fundamentally flawed one. It deliberately fails to recognize the reality – Russia is not threatening anyone and has consistently promoted an idea of international cooperation, based on mutual respect and shared interest.

As to the McWilliams’ reference to possible “biggest 21^st century summit” between Russia and US, it would be premature to speculate on that, since the issue is being carefully analyzed in Moscow with the aim to determine the validity of such a summit, given the altogether inconsistent and contradictory, even confrontational actions and statements by the US administration.

Kind regards,

Yuriy Filatov,

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ireland

184-186 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 14