Reflections on Russian civilization

Abstract

Russian scientists (academicians Smirnov A.V., Tishkov V.A.) defend the idea that Russia is not a monoreligious country, that the Russian people are multinational. Representatives of the former Soviet republics, now sovereign states, live on the territory of the current Russian Federation. As a result of the civilizational role of Russia, they have in many re­spects become Russians, regardless of their ethnicity (Ukrainian, Belarusian, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Moldovan, Uzbek, etc.). The European civilizational project is local, it does not have a universal status – like any other local civilizational project. Similarly, European values cannot be considered universal. Exactly the same point of view is held by Chinese politicians and scientists. In China, they constantly emphasize the specifics of their civilization and the attributes associated with it. Currently, the country has launched a broad campaign to promote the “basic socialist values”, they are subordinated to the common goal – to transform China into a rich, democratic, civilizational, harmonious socialist state. This goal should be achieved by 2049 – the 100^th anniversary of the found­ing of the Peopleʼs Republic of China.