On September 11, 2025, as part of the XI St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum, a panel discussion titled “Civilizational Dialogue Between Russia and the West” was held at the Gatchina State Museum-Reserve.
The event opened the thematic track “Traditional Values as the Foundation of Cultural Dialogue,” organized by the Russian Historical Society and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation with the support of the History of the Fatherland Foundation, on the platform of the XI St. Petersburg International United Cultures Forum.
The discussion was moderated by Konstantin Mogilevsky, Co-Chair of the Russian Historical Society and Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. In his opening remarks, he noted:
It is highly symbolic that we have gathered to discuss this topic here, at Gatchina Palace. It was Emperor Paul I’s favorite palace, and he was inspired by German culture. And it was this very palace that was destroyed by the Nazi German occupiers during the Great Patriotic War.
The ‘Russia–Europe’ civilizational dialogue is currently more strained than at any time in the past 80 years. This tension is felt keenly here in Russia’s northwest. It has coincided with the tenure of Governor Alexander Y. Drozdenko. We are contributing to preparations for the Leningrad Region’s centenary and see today’s meeting as an important element of this work, to popularize the region’s heritage and to discuss the country’s pressing issues in the context of the region’s development.
Governor of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko greeted the participants:
At some point, Europeans, in substituting values, also reshaped their very consciousness. Today many European politicians do not live by the interests of their voters, their people. There is a huge gap between what people need and what politicians promote. Half of them already live not in the real world but a virtual one and look at the reaction of the virtual world rather than the real world, and sometimes they need external approval more than the approval of their own citizens. And that is the most frightening thing. This always happens when you begin to substitute values, when you turn away from traditional values, including Christianity, without understanding what you will put in their place.
Answering the moderator’s question about a multipolar world and Russia’s place in it, Yevgeny Primakov, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, noted that the venue—Gatchina—is “a symbol of the ‘import’ of the Russian spirit and Russian culture into Russia”.
“For a long time we have defined ourselves through our relations with the West. Just as the West in many ways defines itself in relation to Russia and to the East. This is a long-standing tradition, written about by our great thinkers, such as Danilevsky. Today, however, we are at a very interesting point, redefining ourselves in a different way. … We are, in fact, a Eurasian power. Parting with Eurocentrism is hard. I don't think it should be a parting. I see it as a new equilibrium.
In turn, Mikhail Lipkin, Director of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, responded to a question about whether the anti-Hitler coalition was a marriage of convenience or an alliance based on shared values:
“Initially, the coalition formed as a situational alliance." But later, in the course of the struggle against Nazi Germany, everything changed. If we look at how the troops felt when they met on the Elbe, or what happened on May 9 on Red Square, when American servicemen were applauded, we can see it clearly. There was a sense of a common victory and of building a common future, such as the United Nations, which was created together. Of course, there were intrigues at the top, but at the level of deputies, leaders, officers, and soldiers this spirit existed. In this lay the great authority of the Soviet Union and the Soviet people.
Continuing the theme of the Second World War, Konstantin Mogilevsky recalled that France split along ideological lines during those years. After the Nazi occupation, its citizens were divided between supporters of General Pétain, who renounced sovereignty, and the partisans of “Fighting France” under Charles de Gaulle, who continued to fight for the country’s independence.
As his descendant Pierre de Gaulle, Chair and Founder of the Pierre de Gaulle Foundation “For Peace and Friendship Between Nations” noted, much separates General de Gaulle from the current French leadership:
“For today’s France the typical mode of communication is hyper-PR, the use of simplistic language, manipulation." One can draw parallels with Joseph Goebbels, who, one might say, invented PR. Unfortunately, there are some leaders in Europe who are distinguished by their ignorance of their own issues.
They want to turn the whole of Europe into an economic space operating under Anglo-Saxon rules.
This point was developed by Karin Kneissl, Head of the Geopolitical Observatory for Key Issues of Russia at St Petersburg State University, who stressed that Russophobic ideas have become widespread among European elites:
“As for the current situation: in Europe the political class, and, unfortunately, many other strata of society, feeds on Russophobia, which greatly surprised me." I was, to be honest, genuinely shocked, especially in 2018, when various accusations were leveled against me.
Arnaud Frilley, Director of the S. V. Rachmaninoff Conservatory in Paris, noted that Russia is a strong country with a rich culture and with resources and mineral wealth, hence why Western states may adopt Russophobic positions:
It is, after all, easier to wage a fight against a strong state than against one that has nothing.
Asked whether she notices a difference between European and Russian culture, Mikhailovsky Theatre prima ballerina Prisca Zeisel replied that in Russia one senses a deeper respect and love for one’s own culture. Care for cultural heritage, she said, is a distinctive trait that sets us apart from contemporary Europe.
At the end of the discussion, the participants discussed whether a dialogue of cultures between Russia and the West is possible. The main guarantee of such cooperation must be people who genuinely care about cultural heritage.