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| A celebration for Russia Day takes place at Red Square in Moscow in this undated photo. / Courtesy of Russian Embassy |
The following is a contribution from the Russian Embassy in Seoul. ― ED.
Russia Day celebrated annually on June 12 since 1992 is a national holiday and an official public holiday in the Russian Federation.
Holiday's history
The history of the holiday goes back to June 12, 1990, when the 1st Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR, part of the former Soviet Union) adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. On June 11, 1992, the newly established Supreme Council (parliament) of the Russian Federation published a decree designating June 12 as a public holiday. Since 2001, Russia Day has been celebrated with fireworks in Moscow and in other cities around the country. The Russian flag and a two-headed eagle, the state symbols of the Russian Federation, are the most common symbols of Russia Day.
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| A double-headed eagle in the Russian coat of arms / Courtesy of Russian Embassy |
Although this holiday is relatively young, every year it gets a deeper meaning for all Russians. It marks not only fundamental changes in our country in modern history, but also the centuries-old path of our motherland and the common destiny of its people. Russia is a country, which remembers the past and is proud of its achievements, creativity, cultural traditions, and contribution to the progress of the human civilization.
Russia has faced quite a number of turning points. However, the Russian people's will, strength and patience helped us to define our own path of political and economic transformations, to get through the hardships, unite the society, preserve our own values, secure Russian sovereignty and pave the way for further progress.
Russia in the world
Being an influential and responsible member of the international community, Russia does not seek to impose its will to anyone. Russia is interested in a stable and sustainable system of international relations, based on the universally recognized norms and principles of the international law. We call for ensuring collective security based on the principles of indivisibility, peaceful settlement of conflicts by political and diplomatic means on the basis of international law and central role of the U.N. We stress inadmissibility of use of armed force in order to resolve international problems, unacceptability of military interventions and unilateral sanctions, attempts to revise the results of the World War II. Russia's foreign policy priorities include strengthening trust, countering global threats, promoting cooperation in the economy and trade, education, culture, science and technology as well as facilitating people-to-people contacts.
We are convinced that problems in the modern world can be solved effectively only through serious and fair cooperation between states and their associations. We believe that the most important task is to pool efforts not against far-fetched but real threats, with terrorism being the major one. Our approaches are shared by the majority of nations, including members of the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as our partners in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In other words, Russia stands for the resolution of all issues in an equal and respectful manner. We will go our part of the way toward every nation that wants to build relations with us based on reciprocal recognition of interests and search for mutually acceptable compromises.
Our priority is to create a good neighborhood atmosphere near our borders. In this regard, Russia attributes great importance to further deepening cooperation within the EEU. We see great prospects in combining the Eurasian integration and the China's One Belt One Road initiative. Consecutive harmonization of the two projects objectively serves the interests of promotion President Vladimir Putin's initiative on establishing a Greater Eurasian Partnership, which will include the EEU, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the ASEAN, and, in perspective, other partners. This project is aimed at creating a common economic space in Eurasia based on integrating national development strategies and multilateral economic projects in order to achieve a new level of interconnectedness, elaborate optimal trade standards, solve large-scale technological problems, and establish effective production chains. At the same time, we do not impose strict criteria, which are in the interests of any one country, suggesting instead that conditions for cooperation benefiting everyone should be jointly elaborated. Implementation of this project, based on the logic of "integration of integrations," could be the basis for a renewed continental security architecture and economic cooperation.
We aim to make an active contribution to joint efforts for strengthening stability, addressing new challenges and threats, providing economic development and prosperity for the benefit of all the Asia-Pacific region countries.
Russia and Korea
There is no historical or political problem between Russia and Korea, which can hamper building of truly good-neighborly and mutually beneficial bilateral relations in the 21st century, based on common long-term interests and a high level of mutual trust. Sept. 30, 2020 will mark a significant milestone for diplomatic relations between Russia and Korea ― the 30th anniversary of their establishment. However, the history of friendship and cooperation between the two states is not limited to three decades. The first Russia-Korean Friendship and Commerce Treaty was signed as early as in 1884.
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| Russian Ambassador to Korea Andrey Kulik poses before the Russian and Korean flags at the embassy in this photo taken in December 2019. / Courtesy of Russian Embassy |
In recent years, the dynamic of the bilateral trade has been positive, and its total volume approached to $25 billion. Our common goal is to increase it to $30 billion. In 2019, the Republic of Korea remained the second largest (after China) trade partner of our country in the Asia-Pacific Region, annually buying 2.25 million tons of Russian gas.
Russia is ready for joint work with Korean partners in fulfilling the Plan of the realization of "Nine Bridges" concept, which outlines the promising projects to be realized in such fields as railway, seaports, energy, gas, arctic navigation, shipbuilding, agriculture, fishing, industrial clusters, ecology, education and healthcare. We hope that South Korean investors will actively participate in joint programs in the areas of priority socioeconomic development in the Russian Far East and free port of Vladivostok.
Russia takes active steps to push ahead the project of connecting the Korean Peninsula railroads with the Trans-Siberian Railway. Of course, the possibility of its implementation depends on situation on the Korean Peninsula. But we are firmly convinced that we can achieve progress in this direction by joint efforts. And then trains ― first container, and afterwards, possibly, passenger ― can depart from South Korea to Vladivostok, Moscow, St. Petersburg and further to other cities in Europe.
Good opportunities are opening in humanitarian sphere. Considerable contribution for cultural and people exchanges is been made by the Russia-Korea Dialogue Forum, the Russian Cultural and Educational center "Pushkin House" and other public and non-profit organization of the two countries.
According to the Joint Statement adopted at Moscow summit on June 22, 2018 between President Putin and President Moon Jae-in who was on a state visit to Russia, the two sides agreed to organize the Year of Mutual Exchanges in 2020. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 the opening ceremony of the Year was postponed. We hope to conduct it after the epidemic situation is stabilized. Another venue ― the Russian Seasons International Festival on the Korean Peninsula, which is scheduled for 2021, will introduce a rich and diverse culture and arts of Russia.
Bilateral tourism is another area with a considerable development potential. Recently launched Travel Russia project offers popular tourist routes to Koreans, which introduce to them the natural beauty of vast expanses of Russia from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, including the unique nature reserves of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Baikal Lake, Altai Mountains, the Black Sea coast or in Crimea Peninsula now connected with Mainland Russia by the new Crimean bridge. Train trips from Vladivostok to Moscow are very popular among foreigners who want to know the diversity of Russia.
We are confident that friendship between people of Russia and Korea will form the basis for strengthening bilateral ties in all spheres and contribute to the future development of a strong Russia-Korea partnership.
