Putin says Russophile movement counters Western efforts to isolate Russia

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the International Russophile Movement contributes significantly to counter Western efforts to isolate Moscow.

“The Russophile movement makes a significant contribution to counteracting the attempts of the collective West to achieve international isolation of Russia, helps to disseminate objective and reliable information about our country abroad, and expose anti-Russian fabrications and propaganda myths,” Putin said in an address published by the Kremlin, which was also read by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the initiative's second congress in Moscow.

Sharing that the event brought together hundreds of delegates from more than 130 countries, Putin said the variety of participants shows the movement’s development and growth.

“Your noble activities contribute to the preservation and strengthening of the good traditions of friendship and mutual respect that bind Russians with other nations, the unity of the Russian world, the popularization of the achievements of our national culture and the expansion of our humanitarian presence on the world stage,” he added.

For his part, Lavrov said attempts by Western countries to ban cooperation with Russia do not stop anyone, and the policy of isolating Moscow has suffered a "complete collapse."

"The wider world community is sincerely interested in unbiased, comprehensive, honest assessments of the causes of the current geopolitical tension, and does not accept the streams of disinformation and lies that are churned out by the mass media controlled by the collective West, at least the vast majority of them," he said.

He said Russia has many friends everywhere, including in the US and Europe, adding: "And all of them not only show interest in us, but also share the values we promote, common to all world religions and civilizations."

According to him, Russia offers its partners relations on an equal and mutually beneficial basis as a "constructive alternative" to the policies of the West, which it said is trying to promote this through "international development institutions under its control."

The first congress of the International Russophile Movement took place in Moscow in March 2023.