Message from Vladimir P.Mikhaylov,Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Sri Lanka(June 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you – representatives of every community, faith, profession and age, citizens of friendly state.
Today the Russian Federation celebrates its National Day. During many centuries of its history the Russian nation passed various stages: from ancient clan community to feudal and then bourgeois state, great empire, three revolutions, civil war, totalitarian regime and Soviet style society.
By the late 1980s, people had begun to doubt the Communist Party ability to carry out meaningful socioeconomic reforms. So-called "Perestroyka" (Transformation) was started. The idea to adopt the Declaration on the State Sovereignty was born in the Democratic Russia movement, in which proponents of evolutionary market reform and strong statehood based on Russia's national interests started opposing the Communist monopoly on power.
On June 12, 1990 the Parliament of the Russian Federation voted for the Declaration on the State Sovereignty, paving the way for the development towards modern democratic and free market system based on the respect for human rights and freedoms, command of the law, constitutional federalism and national sovereignty.
Since that time the Russian Federation achieved significant success in consolidating its economy, perfecting political and governance system, strengthening defence capability, developing culture, science and sports. Thanks to that its international influence grew up and nowadays it plays active and valuable role in the world arena.
Russia is a strong advocate of a stable system of international relations based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation as well as the norms of international law. Such a system aims at ensuring reliable and equal security for every member of the international community in the political, military, economic, information, humanitarian and other areas and employs multilateral diplomacy as its main tool.
Russia views fighting international terrorism as one of its most important tasks and calls for elaboration of further measures aimed at consolidation of the global anti-terrorism coalition under the UN aegis with the participation of regional organizations without resorting to double standards and on the basis of universal anti-terrorism conventions and decisions of the UN Security Council.
Dear friends, I am especially glad today that we celebrate the Russia Day in Sri Lanka liberated from terrorism. This victory has been achieved by Sri Lanka people under the leadership of their President and government, by sacrifices of their armed forces. But it would have been more difficult without international support. And I am proud that Russia was actively engaged in this support to the legitimate democratically elected government in its struggle against terrorism. The Russian Embassy in Colombo did its best in providing Moscow with objective information on the developments in Sri Lanka. Russia welcomed Sri Lanka government forces restoring control over the entire territory of the country and freeing civilians. It was said in the Statement of the Russian MFA that "Moscow wishes the government and people of friendly Sri Lanka success in rapidly overcoming the consequences of the conflict and in achieving economic and social progress based on consensus among and respect for the rights of all the ethnic and religious groups inhabiting it. Russia reiterates its readiness to strengthen further its cooperation with Sri Lanka both in a bilateral format and in regional and international organizations on counterterrorism and on other themes of mutual concern".
Later President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev in the telephone conversation with President Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed his hope that actions by the government of Sri Lanka would help maintain its sovereignty, guarantee its territorial integrity, put an end to extremism and contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of the nation. The two leaders noted the close cooperation between Russia and Sri Lanka in international affairs and reiterated their readiness to cooperate more fully, discussed a plan to extend Russian-Sri Lankan contacts at various levels. President Rajapaksa thanked the Russian President for the considerable assistance given to Sri Lanka in the fight to eradicate terrorism from the country. He also expressed his gratitude to President Medvedev for the support that Russia had extended to Sri Lanka in the UN Security Council, where attempts were made to obstruct the humanitarian operation to free the Tamil civilian hostages from the LTTE, and also for the support given to Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council. It is only natural that gratitude for this support has been expressed also by political parties, public organizations and many rank-and-file people.
I have no doubt that with peace to prevail in Sri Lanka traditional friendly relations between our two nations will develop even more successfully: more Russian tourists will come to this beautiful island, more joint economic projects will be started, more young people from Sri Lanka will study in Russian universities, more cultural, sports and humanitarian contacts will take place. And be sure that the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka will be doing its best in this regard.
Finally, I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to all those who have sent congratulations for the Russian National Day and expressed warm feelings towards my country. -Sri Lanka Guardian
 It gives me grea...){kind=link}
Russia, we love you.
Post a Comment