Address by H.E.Mr.Gleb A.Ivashentsov,

Ambassador of the Russian Federation,

at the Sejong Institute

(Seoul, September 18, 2008)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

I am glad to be with you today at the Sejong Institute. It is the third time I address audience here. Your invitation testifies the interest in my country. This is encouraging. Russia and Korea are close neighbors. We should better know each other.

A lot has happened in Russia within last year. On May 7^th D.Medvedev, who got 70 percent of votes at the election, took the oath as the new President of Russia, and on May 8^th V.Putin headed the new Government.

The results of the Parliamentary as well as the Presidential elections reconfirmed the Russian people's support to the priorities of strategic development of our country which are promotion of the innovation economy, freedom of enterprise, enhancement of pluralistic multi-party democracy, freedom of speech, protection of human rights and observance of the primacy of law.

Russia has come back to the world arena as a strong state, a state capable of defending itself and worth to be regarded. Without Russia and despite Russia not a single international problem of any significance can be solved.

As President Medvedev of Russia noted at St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June, "Russia is a global player today. Understanding our responsibility for the fate of the world, we wish to participate in forming new rules of the game, not because of the notorious "imperial ambitions" but because we have the appropriate opportunities and resources here".

Last year we reached the 8,1% GNP growth which is the largest figure in seven years. According to the international experts' evaluations, in 2007 Russia surpassed such G8 countries as Italy and France in GNP volume based on parity purchasing power, thus entering the world's seven largest economies.

Within last eight years the accumulated volume of foreign investments has grown not by just a few percent, but seven-fold. I have to remind you that in the previous period the net capital outflow from Russia totaled to US$ 10-15-20 or even 25 billion a year. In 2007 Russia has experienced an all-time peak total capital inflow of US$ 82.3 billion.

Our trade volume with foreign countries grew more than five times. More than six million of our citizens travel abroad every year.

Large-scale projects in energy, transport infrastructure, machinery production and housing have been launched. The work on the long-term, up to 2020, national development program is under completion. Structural reforms in aircraft and shipbuilding industries are undertaken. Considerable investments are drawn into automobile and railway machinery production.

Our children will not have to pay for our obligations as our national foreign debt has come down to 3% of GNP, which is considered one of the lowest in the world.

Significant financial reserves have been accumulated which protect the country from external crisis threats and guarantee our social obligations in the future. Russia's financial position is being strengthened as our gold and currency reserves have surpassed the mark of half a trillion US$.

Macroeconomic stability and financial self-sufficiency of the country are generally ensured. As a result of that in last two years Russia has been witnessing a real investment and consumption boom.

Last year we also broke a 25-year record in birth rate growth – the largest number of children in 15 years were born.

***

With her internal consolidation Russia once again is turning into an influential and independent factor in the world politics and economics. But it seems that a mighty and self-confident Russia is just not to the liking of some people in the West.

They were happy with the Russia of 1990-s not for her democratic character but for her preparedness to allow others to step on her toes. But now when Russia has come up, when she is continuously promoting her interests, appeals “to contain Russia” in the old “Cold War” style are heard from podiums of different conferences as well as from Western media.

***

What is being ignored in all those discussions of new power balances and a revived Cold War, is the reason why international relations have fundamentally changed since the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

The Cold War which ended twenty years back, was an ideological struggle. It involved power confrontation, the Warsaw Pact vs. NATO, the presumed Soviet military threat to Western Europe and of course the nuclear confrontation.

One could assume that the West had interests to defend as Marxist-Leninist ideology said the capitalism was in its final stages, the class war between workers and imperialism approaching its culmination crisis, and Communism on the march toward inevitable victory. Allegedly in the late 1940-s and 1950-s when the NATO was formed, the United States and its allies were defending the new democratic postwar order in Western Europe.

But today’s Russia is not an ideological power. It has no doctrine to sell. Its preoccupations are prosperity and peace. It has no wish to subvert and rule the United States or Europe.

Anyhow the message we often get from the West sounds as follows: “we expect you to behave like Western democrats but we are going to treat you like you are still the Soviet Union. The Cold war is over for you but not for us”.

These are not just words but deeds. Our partners in the West promised us not to enlarge the NATO after the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty Organization but contrary to that they brought it straight to our borders by incorporating to the NATO not only the states of the East and Central Europe but also the Baltic States which were formerly the part of the Soviet Union. They spoke to us about partnership in energy but built new pipelines to bypass our territory.

They expected that we would keep mum when the West was fanning up anti-Russian sentiments in Ukraine and other CIS countries which were the part of the Russian State when America itself did not have a statehood. They approached us for assistance to combat terrorism but condemned our actions against Chechen terrorists and gave political asylum to persons who publicly demand the violent overthrow of the Government of Russia. They abrogated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and are now engaged in deploying American anti-missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.

There seem to be two main reasons for the neo-conservatives in the West trying to start a new Cold War. First, the one-polar world has failed to materialize. Second, the West is losing its monopoly on the processes of globalization. The old West controls just ten percent of the world population and 35-40 percent of the world GNP. And it is known by all that both these indicators are falling rapidly.

In addition to Russia such new non-Western centers of global economic and political power like China, India, Brazil etc. have got bigger say in the world affairs.

A revolution in the sphere of energy has also taken place. When just ten years back, in mid-1990-s, the bigger share of the world resources belonged to the Western companies and to the states of the Western orientation, today most of them are controlled by the states and the companies of the producing countries which have gained much more independence.

These developments were viewed by neo-conservatives as a threat to the West, its values and life-style. Hence a kind of a counter-offensive by the old West to regain its past economic and political dominance. To mobilize the forces for such a counter-offensive they needed a sound enemy.

Terrorism was not sufficient. Therefore the liberal democratic model was presented as the main casualty, the old Western democracies being more and more overtaken by so called authoritarian and semi-authoritarian states.

“The authoritarian capitalism” has come up as an ideological incarnation of a new “enemy” and the new crusade has been started to promote democracy.

The neo-conservative “champions of democracy” want to make everyone democratic “like them” which in the end means as they want them to do. The ideology is meant to be generous, but it is a generosity devoted to the control of energy resources, raw materials, trade and finance.

The sharpest attacks are directed against Russia, as it has become the symbol of the changes negatively affecting the interests of the West.

The country which a decade ago was treated by the West just as a subordinate in international politics, has reestablished itself as an influential independent actor in world affairs. The country which was considered to become not more than a component of the Western energy system, has now taken its resources under its own tight control. The country which in 1990-s depended on foreign loans, has accumulated tremendous financial might due to the oil incomes and a wise economic policy.

***

The anti-Russian propaganda offensive has taken its most aggressive shape during the present crisis in Transcaucasia produced by Georgia’s foolhardy and perfidious attack on South Ossetia and the Russian peacekeepers stationed there.

Incidentally, there is no longer dispute as to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s responsibility for launching the attack in a rather mistaken belief that Georgia’s pending NATO candidacy would either deter Russia's retaliation, or force the United States and NATO support his adventure. He was wrong on both counts.

Anyway, the planners of this campaign clearly wanted to make sure that, whatever the outcome, Russia would be blamed for worsening the situation. The West then mounted a propaganda attack against Russia, with the American news media leading the way.

The news coverage has been far from fair and balanced, especially during the first days of the crisis. Tskhinval was in smoking ruins and thousands of people were fleeing - before any Russian troops arrived. Yet Russia was already being accused of aggression; news reports were often an embarrassing recitation of the Georgian leader's deceptive statements.

It is still not quite clear whether the West was aware of Saakashvili's plans to invade South Ossetia, and this is a serious matter. What is clear is that Western assistance in training Georgian troops and shipping large supplies of arms had been pushing the region toward war rather than peace.

If this military misadventure was a surprise for the Georgian leader's foreign patrons, so much the worse. It looks like a classic wag-the-dog story.

Saakashvili had been lavished with praise for being a staunch American ally and a real democrat - and for helping out in Iraq. Now America's friend has wrought disorder, and all of us - the Europeans and, most important, the region's innocent civilians - must pick up the pieces.

Russia has taken steps for political settlement of the crisis. Thanks to talks between President Medvedev and President Sarkozy of France who presently presides in the EU as well, a set of conditions has been worked out to prevent the renewal of military action.

To implement Medvedev-Sarkozy plan of August 12^th it is first of all necessary to complete the return of the Georgian Armed Forces to barracks, to formalize the guarantees of non-use of force against Abkhazia and South Ossetia and to deploy in security zones around those two republics international presences the number of which would be sufficient to substitute the Russian peace-keeping forces deployed there at present. Through that we have managed to achieve the only possible consequence of actions viz. first, the international community takes steps to prevent new provocations against Tskhinval and Sukhum and after that only, our peace-keepers would leave the Georgian territory. That has no relation to the presence of our Armed Forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by the request of their leadership. N.Sarkozy has recognized that as an objective reality.

It is principally important that the status of the European Union as a guarantor of the non-use of force principle has been fixed in the document. At the meeting in Moscow on September 8^th N.Sarkozy handed over to the Russian side his letter addressed to M.Saakashvili with the demand to confirm that Georgia would not use force against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as the answer of the Georgian President with the confirmation of the above obligation. J.M.Barrosu and J.Solana confirmed these obligations on paper on behalf of the EU.

According to the agreement fixed in the new Medvedev-Sarkozy document of September 8ⁿ, the Russian peace-keepers within seven days left five observation points on the Poti-Senaki line under the above guarantees of non-use of force. The Russian peace-keepers will also leave the security zone around South Ossetia and Abkhazia within 10 days after the deployment in those zones of "international mechanisms" including not less than 200 observers of the EU. It means that those representatives of the EU will be added to the OSCE and EU observers in the security zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia respectively.

International discussions are to start in Geneva on October 15^th on ways to ensure security and stability in the region, on the treatment of refugees and displaced persons and any other issues raised with the consent of both sides.

I would repeat once again. Russia has no wish to subvert and rule the United States or Europe. My country doesn’t recruit smaller Western states to a pro-Russian military bloc, it doesn’t try to build its military bases on the European Union’s on US periphery and it doesn’t finance political parties in the NATO which aim to undermine the existing governments.

As for our neighbouring post-Soviet states we want a peaceful partnership with them as we have common roots, common present and common future. But we will not allow potential NATO candidates to bite us by our ankles.

Our choice is clear – we are a reliable partner for all of the international community in solving global problems. And we are interested in mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields such as security, trade, economic and investment cooperation, science, energy, promotion of high technology and climate change prevention. All that corresponds to our strategic goals. And for reaching our national objectives we need peaceful, positive international agenda. That is what we will be striving for.

***

Let us now turn to Russia's course in the region where the interests of our two countries directly meet viz Northeast Asia. The economic consolidation of Russia allows us today to take up the long-pending task of the integrated development of the Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, the area of which is seven million square km or 41 percent of the territory of Russia.

To work over the resources of that vast area we would welcome investments from interested countries of the region on a balanced basis. But we consider that the set tasks should be accomplished first of all by our own efforts.

Inspite of all difficulties in uplifting of the Asian areas of our country we will neither part with the sovereignty over those resources nor share it with others. This is the main condition of our cooperation with foreign partners in developing of our resources on the basis of the Russian law.

The aims are great but their achievement will bring an even greater output. We believe that potentially the uplift of the Russian Asia's vast territories and utilization of its natural and other resources could bring an outcome which may be comparable or even greater than those of the development of the American West a hundred years back. The process will inevitably exert major influence on all civilizational processes in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

In no other region are our internal and external interests so interconnected as in Northeast Asia. For it is necessary to guarantee external security for the economic development of Siberia and the Russian Far East. And by Russia's view such guarantees could be best provided by developing positive relations with her neighbors.

In that we have already achieved a lot. Our strategic partnership with China has been considerably enhanced by the year of Russia in China held in 2006 and the year of China in Russia in 2007. Russia’s interaction with China has become today a key to global stability. This cooperation serves the interests of our peoples and we will strengthen it in any way regardless of whether some like it or not.

Russia's relations with Japan in recent years have been characterized by an intensive political dialogue at different levels. Tо the DPRK Russia is linked with the Treaty of Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation.

The partnership with the Republic of Korea bears an independent value to my country. Within last three decades South Korea turned from a poor developing country into an industrial and trade power of a world scale which is striving to establish itself as a strong foreign policy actor of its own right.

Russia and the Republic of Korea have common interest in eliminating the war threat in Northeast Asia. The main source of that threat is the more than half-century old military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula presently aggravated by the nuclear issue.

That issue is of a direct concern for Russia as the DPRK conducted the nuclear test on October 9^th, 2006 at a site which is located in the close proximity of our borders at a distance of just 177 kilometers, which is less than the distance to the DMZ between North and South Korea. We do not like such a situation. We need neither nuclear and missile tests at our border, nor a saber rattling by anyone. Therefore my country actively participates in the Six-Party talks on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.

We believe that all work on settlement of that issue should be done in the context of providing security guarantees to all countries of the region viz. the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, Japan etc. It is very important to avoid any actions that could lead to new tensions around Korea and the situation coming out of control.

Russia is prepared to make her contribution to the inter-Korean normalization as well, for by our and not only our, understanding, the settlement of the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula and the inter-Korean normalization are two wheels of the same cart which is the only vehicle that could bring us to our common destination of the system of peace and security in Northeast Asia.

Therefore Russia has always been in favor of the moves by two Korean states aimed at peaceful unification through their own efforts.

By Russian view it is mutual trust and confidence which is the most needed for building bridges between Pyongyang and Seoul. And what, if not common work on long-term mutually beneficial joint economic projects, could be the best way to build that mutual trust and confidence?

We believe that settlement of the nuclear issue of Korea as well as the normalization of the DPRK's relations with the key regional powers will be greatly facilitated by the practical implementation of the large-scale tripartite partnership projects of Russia and North and South Korea, such as the international railway corridor "Europe-Korea" and the programs of creating in Northeast Asia an integrated electric power grid as well as a net of pipelines connected with the regions of the Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East.

Linking the Transkorean and Transsiberian railways is of special significance. The Russian side has been continuously initiating progress in that direction.

During the April visit to Moscow by the DPRK railway minister an agreement on cooperation was signed between the DPRK Ministry of Railway and the Russian Railways on the pilot project of reconstruction of the Transkorean Railway on a 52 km long stretch from Hasan station on the Russia-DPRK border to the port of Rajin and on building a container terminal at that port which will be opened to the ships of third countries including the Republic of Korea.

It is estimated that on the initial stage of the realization of Rajin-Hasan project from 55 to 80 thousand twenty-feet containers could be drawn to the Transsiberian railway which is equal to 10-15 percent of the existing container traffic between South Korea and Europe.

***

The developments on the Korean Peninsula will to much extent determine the future of not only Northeast Asia but the whole of the Asia Pacific Area and the world processes. I would like to single out two major moments.

On one hand the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula could create a precedent for settling similar problems in other regions of the world and could become thereby an important contribution to the strengthening of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation regime.

On the other hand the Six-Party talks represent a case of a multilateral decision making on a hottest international issue which is utterly important in the present world conditions. It is on such basis only and not by one-sided forceful reactions that we could today stabilize the disbalanced system of international relations and help its deideologization and demilitarization.

The settlement on the Korean Peninsula could become a major step to establishment of a comprehensive system of collective security in the Asian Pacific Area where a number of multilateral structures of authority have been already formed such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), "Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia" etc. Russia actively participates in all these forums.

I would like to single out the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The SCO which came into existence some years back as a regional antiterrorist and economic cooperation structure comprising Russia, China and four Central Asian States, is becoming today an important international organization of the broadest political capacity. The SCO's activities draw a tremendous interest form other countries and regions including Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia which regularly send their top level observers to the SCO summits.

***

The Russian-Korean relationship provides today a good example of active partnership in different spheres. There is practically no such field of human activities in which our two countries do not interact. In addition to cooperation on land and sea cooperation in space has now started. In April the first Korean cosmonaut Yi Soe-young trained in the Russia Star City has made a successful space flight by a Russian spaceship and in coming December , the Russian-Korean boost rocket KSLV-1, capable of taking up to 100 kg cargo to the orbit, will be launched at the Korea National Space Center at the Oaenaru island in the South Cholla province, which is being built with Russia's assistance.

The Russian-Korean trade volume has been increasing steadily. In 2007 it approached the mark of USD 15 billion thus growing 1,5 times in a single year and we expect it to come up to USD 20 billion in 2008. This is surely much less than Korean trade with some other countries, but it is the growth tendency not the nominal figures themselves that counts.

We believe that realization of joint investment projects particularly in energy, as well as in petrochemical and automobile industries will lead to a much bigger growth in bilateral trade.

There are examples of large scale investments by Korean companies in Russia in recent two-three years.

In the heart of Moscow one can see a brand new Lotte department store. One and a half year ago LG Electronics opened a factory in the Ruza district of the Moscow oblast. Not only has LG electronics already started production, but Samsung Electronics started building a factory in the Kaluga Oblast last September.

And the Lotte confectionary is building a factory in Kaluga. The Shin-chang construction company is actively building apartment houses in the Kaluga Oblast.

Hyundai Motors has decided to start building a car plant of theirs in St.-Petersburg. About 15 Korean auto-parts companies plan to build their plants not far from the Hyundai Motors site.

All the above projects are located however in the European Russia. It is in the interests of both Russia and the Republic of Korea that more such projects are started in the regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East.

There are good opportunities for Korean companies in the Russian Far East like the Primorski Krai, the Khabarovski Krai, the Amurskaya Oblast, Kamchatka and Magadan. I would like especially single out the potential of the Sakha-Yakutia Republic which is rich in coal, oil, natural gas, diamonds, ferrous and uranium ores etc.

A special attention in the Russian-Korean economic ties is given to joint work in the energy sector. South Korean companies have received contracts worth billions dollars for production of equipment needed for energy projects in Russia and modern oil and liquefied gas tankers.

"Sakhalin Energy" company developing the natural gas deposits on Sakhalin and the "Kogas" concluded an agreement on supply to the ROK of 1,5 million tons of liquefied natural gas from Sakhalin for the period of 20 years starting from 2008.

In accordance with the Inter-Governmental Agreement on cooperation in gas industry a feasibility report is under preparation on laying a gas pipeline from the Russian Far East to the Republic of Korea.

It is however unreasonable to view Russia only as a supplier of raw materials to the Korean market. Russia does export to Korea a good list of high-tech goods as well. For example about sixty percent of civilian helicopters now being used in the Republic of Korea were made in Russia. Russian companies provide more then one third of the ROK's needs in fuel for nuclear power houses.

There is a weighty number of commercial agreements already concluded or under negotiation on joint science-research and experimental projects, including those for space exploration or aimed at production of high-tech goods in the Republic of Korea under Russian licenses.

The former lack of information on culture and arts of two countries caused by their long separation from each other is today actively replenished by Russian and Korean sides. Quite a number of books on the Republic of Korea have been published in Russia. There is a good demand for South Korean films. On other hand the South Korean public enjoys regular performances of the best Russian musical and ballet groups.

The Russian Nights festival of the Russian culture presented in September 2006 in Seoul became a major event of the Russian-Korean cultural exchanges. A similar festival of the Korean culture was held in Moscow last August. It is a matter of joy that the Russian and Korean Youth show a good interest for such festivals. The young generation of both countries should better know each other to escape the prejudices and to overcome the negative cliches of the past.

Russian-Korean cooperation is comprehensive and ever enhancing in all spheres. It has become an influential factor in Northeast Asia and beyond.

I am confident that the Russian-Korean summit which is to take place in Moscow in the near future will bring a new impetus to the mutually beneficial cooperation and partnership of our two countries.

Dear friends,

I hope that my address will help you better understand Russia and feel closer to her. The goals of the Russian foreign policy are clear and simple. These are to create favorable external conditions for safe and comfortable life of the people of Russia. The absolute majority of other states wish exactly the same for their peoples.

We have no intention to use force to take anything from anyone. We do not put our eyes on other's properties. We are a self-sufficient country. But we are not going to isolate ourselves from the outside world either.

Russia is following an independent, pragmatic and responsible policy. She is a reliable and faithful partner in international affairs.