Uldis Šmits on Russia and Western values

In Russia the idea that the country has its own civilising mission is gaining ground, Uldis Šmits writes in the daily Latvijas Avize: "This mission is directed against the detrimental influence of the West. The best-known representative of this trend is Moscow Mayor Yury Luzkhov. He is certainly no gifted theoretician, but in his speeches and writings he always adopts an easily understandable, simple division between 'we' and 'the West' against which the people must be mobilised. In other words: for the 'Russian world', as it is increasingly described both by official sources and by the Orthodox Church in Russia, this means that the universal values introduced by the West are not acceptable. It is overlooked that Russian culture owes much to precisely these values, and many prominent personalities in Russia have defended these values despite all threats - and continue to do so."

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