Welcome Address by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia D.E. Lubinsky at the Opening of the Round Table “The Time of Yu.A. Kvitsinsky: On the 90th Anniversary of an Outstanding Diplomat and Germanist,” September 28, 2026
Dear colleagues and friends!
I sincerely thank the leadership of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences and all the organizers of today’s event for the invitation. I will not conceal that I responded to it not merely with pleasure, but, as they say, at the call of my heart. After the first meeting in this hall in the spring on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of V.M. Falin, I thought that events of this kind could become not just a worthy occasion to pay tribute to our glorious predecessors, but also a kind of representative discussion format of our own, within which, through the prism of historical experience, one can try to look both at the future of our relations with Germany and at Berlin’s aspirations, which are manifesting themselves today with complete clarity, to position itself in the new geopolitical and European realities. The theme of today’s round table certainly lends itself to this.
For most of those sitting in this hall, Yuli Alexandrovich Kvitsinsky is not simply a prominent diplomat and Germanist. He is a figure who, without exaggeration, is iconic. For some, he was an integral part of their professional biography, which one recalls with particular warmth; for others, he was a mentor. Some learned from his books, while others were fortunate enough to work under his direct supervision. One way or another, Yu.A. Kvitsinsky left a vivid mark on the hearts of many of us. His name has entered the history of Russian diplomacy without exaggeration.
A man of versatile gifts, he rose from translator to First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and served as Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany and to Norway. A brilliant Germanist, a recognized master of multilateral diplomacy and a skilled negotiator, he was one of the “architects” of an entire era in international relations, a co-author of the international legal settlement of its key problem at that stage — the “German question” — from the preparation of the Four-Power Agreement on West Berlin in 1971 to the signing of the “2+4” Treaty and a whole package of Soviet-German agreements that supplemented it, which laid the foundation (seemingly unshakable at the time) for our relations with the Federal Republic of Germany for several decades.
Foreign partners and colleagues saw in Yuli Alexandrovich a man demanding of himself, faithful to his principles, incorruptible, and at the same time modest in life. Yu.A. Kvitsinsky’s rich career went far beyond the walls of the building on Smolenskaya Square, which was dear and close to him. In the “time of troubles” of the 1990s, he served as an adviser to the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and was elected as a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 4th and 5th convocations, where he was First Deputy Chairman of its Committee on International Affairs. He actively participated in the public and political life of the country and engaged in scholarly and journalistic activities.
Yuli Alexandrovich was distinguished by a deep knowledge of geopolitical realities, broad erudition, unconventional thinking, and outstanding analytical qualities. All of this, combined with brilliant professional intuition and natural intelligence, allowed him to assess soberly — without illusions or credulity — Germany’s true intentions toward our country. It is precisely these principles that the current generation of Germanists must evidently be guided by today.
In his book “Russia-Germany: Memories of the Future,” published more than 20 years ago, he calls for vigilance in relations with the Germans: “Germany adapted to a strong Russia and sometimes acted in concert with it; it attacked and plundered a weak Russia. There is no reason to believe that it will be otherwise in the future.” Time confirms the prescience of the outstanding Germanist. As a most experienced diplomat, he was aware that relying in “big” politics exclusively on legally formalized agreements is, at the very least, shortsighted: “Every treaty is a description of the balance of forces between the parties at the moment of its conclusion.”
Yuli Alexandrovich also rightly wrote that “Germany readily renounces contractual obligations or sabotages their fulfillment if it seems advantageous, if it can expect that the other side will not be able to insist on their fulfillment.” He warned that unconditional trust in opponents’ commitment to the letter and spirit of agreements could become a serious miscalculation.
Today we see where the current German rulers are leading their country — or, more precisely, where they are frantically pushing it. First of all, the militarization of Germany’s economy and socio-political life is in full swing. To justify these revanchist aspirations, mythical stories about the “Russian threat,” ubiquitous spies, and supposedly endless hybrid operations by Moscow are again being instilled in the minds of ordinary Germans. The theme of historical responsibility for the crimes of Nazism against the peoples of the USSR (as well as reconciliation over the graves) is not merely ignored by the German authorities but is consistently being erased from the memory of the new generation of burghers. Another blow to the remnants of bilateral ties that generations of Russian diplomats and their German colleagues had built up with such difficulty over many years was the closure, on a far-fetched and provocative pretext, of Russia’s last Consulate General in the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, and the corresponding decision regarding the Russian House in Berlin. In doing so, Germany’s ruling elite is crossing out entire chapters of its own post-war history, without giving the slightest thought to the consequences.
At the same time, blatant violations of the document fundamental to the statehood of modern Germany — the 1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany — are again being hushed up or arbitrarily interpreted. Contrary to the prohibitive nature of paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the aforementioned Treaty, since October 2024 a regional NATO naval headquarters has been operating in the East German city of Rostock on the basis of the German Navy, where, alongside German military personnel, Danes, Britons, Italians, and servicemen from other NATO states serve.
I cannot fail to mention one more thing. Recently, discussions about the technical possibility for German specialists to create their own nuclear weapons in a very short time have noticeably intensified. These “leaks” are not groundless — practice shows that “there is no smoke without fire.” Today, research with a direct nuclear-weapons orientation is actively being conducted at key academic centers in Germany. These are confirmed facts. Given Germany’s rich militaristic past and the exorbitant ambitions of its ruling elite, which has set out to “once again” (the Chancellor emphasizes this word for a reason) turn the Bundeswehr into “the strongest army in Europe,” such nuclear aspirations give rise to a certain degree of alarm. And not only on our part.
The systemic problem of modern Europe, in my view, lies in the obvious degradation of its political class. Even against this generally rather sad backdrop, the Germans today stand out seriously for the degree of inadequacy of their own political leadership, whether in Berlin or in the soft Brussels chairs. The failure of the attempt to be elected to the UN Security Council is clear confirmation of how all this is perceived in the world.
Here life itself again brings us back to the legacy of Yu.A. Kvitsinsky, who wrote: “in fundamental and at the same time sensitive matters with Germany, one must always keep one’s ear to the ground, get to the bottom of the meaning of its intentions, and judge not by words but by practical actions.” And our task on the German track is to build our foreign policy line prudently, balancedly, and cool-headedly so as to neutralize any direct threat to Russia. Without deviating one iota from his “testaments.” That is what we are guided by in our practical work.
MFA of Russia
