West Falsifies History to 'Sow Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Religious Discord', Sergey Lavrov Says

The collective West is continuing to misrepresent historical events in order to weaken the Union State of Russia and Belarus and "sow inter-ethnic and inter-religious discord," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in his speech addressing the participants of the Russian-Belarusian Forum of Historians’ first meeting, which took place on June 2-3.

"The collective West is continuing with its attempts to cynically falsify history. Textbooks are rewritten, facts are distorted, and monuments are demolished," he stressed. "Their goal is clear for everyone to see and it is to sow inter-ethnic and inter-religious discord, to foment language chauvinism and to pit our fraternal peoples against each other in order to prevent the Union State from getting stronger."

Lavrov outlined that restoring the truth about past events is the one and only way to tackle the reinterpretation and falsehoods connected to the past.

"The only way to overcome this is to recreate the objective picture of the past. It is no coincidence that historians are called memory keepers," he stated. "I think it would be appropriate to recall the words of Vasily Klyuchevsky who once famously said that a nation that has no memory of its past has no future."

The minister said that the common history of the two countries is "priceless," adding that researchers need to attain an "in-depth understanding."

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The minister expressed confidence that the forum participants would be able to "enrich historical science with new knowledge" via disputes and discussions.

According to the minister, Russia and Belarus should consider combining efforts in the future to write a monograph on the history of the Union State.

"In the future, we should think about pooling our efforts to compile a monograph on the history of the Union State, especially as we completed a similar project earlier," he said. "I'm talking about a large-scale and extended effort by the academies of sciences of Russia and Belarus to draft a multi-volume historical and documentary publication titled 'The Country on Fire.'"

The value of historical study for the uplifting and patriotic education of the younger generation cannot be overstated, Lavrov stressed. In order to maintain the continuity of generations, the sides have to provide the historical truth for them in an undistorted manner.

To this end, the minister expressed hope that the forum's conclusions would be incorporated into the educational process and to help strengthen bilateral education collaboration.

"The idea of harmonizing education programs, to jointly draft history textbooks and guidelines for teachers, and to develop common approaches to improving history education is quite promising," the Russian top diplomat outlined.

Among the forum's speakers were Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and chairman of the Russian Historical Society, Valery Falkov, Russia’s minister of science and higher education, and Dmitry Mezentsev, state secretary of the Union State.