Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko’s talking points at “Digital Barbecue” on 13 October 2011
Dear friends,
I’m happy to welcome you at our Embassy. To my best knowledge, this is the first time such a meeting of social media activists and experts takes place in this house since in was built in 1852 (by the way, the year when Ada Lovelace, Britain’s and world’s first computer programmer, died). As we have followed your responses to our invitation, we saw that at least some of you accepted it out of curiosity, which compels me to answer the inevitable questions – why now and why here? The answer to the first question is obvious.
Internet and its user-generated content has become a force to reckon with. It has empowered consumers and a new rising class of internet entrepreneurs, given new opportunities to emerging musicians and filmmakers, opened new horizons for socializing and fostering international links. The political impact of social media is perhaps more difficult to fathom. While they have been very visible for the last few years, still there is no consensus on whether they are a real game changer or just a “flavour enhancer” for the same political “menu”. Maybe we will see more discussion on this during the forthcoming London Conference on cybercrime, but one thing is clear. A common understanding on how to interact positively with this slice of civil society, engage with them, make right conclusions from the online trends can only arise from thoughtful analysis of the social media landscape and I believe that the expertise of those gathered here can make a significant contribution to this common task. Regarding the second question – why it is the Russian Embassy which has hosted such an event – I should say that we are not the first London embassy to engage with the online community. In particular, our Dutch colleagues, present here, have done a good job at this year’s Social Media Week. Our Embassy, as you may know, has actively embraced social media over the last couple of years, too.
Apart from Twitter accounts (those of the Embassy and my personal microblog) and a YouTube channel, our website offers 8 interactive features – mostly for our consulate visitors. We have used the internet to fully eliminate queues there, and use feedback on our forum and Twitter to find out what information offered by us is most sought after by our online audience. Possibly the DDoS attack that hit our website a day before Prime Minister Cameron’s visit to Russia was a kind of appreciation of our work. It is not just about our Embassy. In Russia, e-government is being introduced, and it has already visibly reduced bureaucracy for citizens. It also has huge potential to reduce corruption, a priority task for the Government. In fact, transparency measures have proved to be an efficient tool for citizens’ control over government expenses. As for e-democracy, this year has seen a heated public discussion on a specially created website of a number of important draft laws. Let me also remind you that Russia is one of very few countries where local social networks and search engines are winning a fair competition with the well-known American majors. It proves the strength of the Russian internet industry and brilliant potential of our IT specialists. We are not afraid of competition and freedom of information. Except for a fixed list of criminal, terrorist and racist publications, Russia has not blocked internet content. We believe in freedom of information and are optimistic about engagement. But we also understand that we are still at the beginning of a long road. We want to hear from those who have advanced further than we have, find out about their best practices, and not to repeat their mistakes. We are here to learn and hope that you will also find something to learn from us. I would like to thank our friends from Portland Communications for their help in preparing this event and give the floor to our moderator Mark Flanagan, who needs no introduction after his successful work as the head of Strategic Communications at Downing Street.
To say that the 9th of May is a very special day in Russia would be a gross understatement. It is about life and humanity’s true mission on Earth. For it is not as much about Victory, which was granted by God to the people that were on the right side of history, as about its price, the sacrifices that made it possible. As is said in the Bible, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John, 15:13).
Russia and the United States are the most advanced states in terms of nuclear energy use. We have put an end to the Cold War and the arms race, including the nuclear one. Today, our coun- tries have taken a common stand for the strengthening of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and have intensified their cooperation in combating nuclear terrorism.
Russia expressed its full support for the proposal to hold a nuclear security summit (NSS) put forward by President Obama in 2009. The first summit took place in 2010 in Washington. We reaffirm our political commitments stated in its communique. Russia has signed and ratified the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its amendment, as well as the Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, adopted by the international community at Russia's initiative. We call on other states that have not yet done so to expedite the completion of the necessary internal procedures for accession to these key international instruments.
I am glad to welcome you at the London presentation of the Ulyanovsk Region. We are continuing the series of meetings with heads of leading Russian regions under the aegis of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce initiated last autumn by the Russian Embassy. We have already covered the Republic of Sakha and the Saratov Region.
It seems that the latest Chatham House report on Russia cries out for comments by our Press Office. The authors, unfortunately, displayed an utterly biased attitude towards the subject and abysmal lack of intellectual honesty, leaving an impression that Russian politics is done in London. For the sake of comparison, the report “Engaging with Russia” to the Trilateral Commission in July 2006, represented a genuine attempt at honest analysis.
We have already entered the era of truly globalized world with porous and transparent national borders, encouraging more cultural, economic and social exchanges between people. That is further enhanced by Internet networks, encompassing nowadays the whole planet. All this creates a new type of space for unrestricted transnational intercourse.
We have a very special occasion today. We are here to mark and discuss the forthcoming publication in English of the diaries of Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky, prominent Russian diplomat, who was representing the interests of the Soviet Union in the United Kingdom during the extremely challenging and difficult period of the World War Two.
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