Uncultural heritage: Russia accuses UNESCO of politicization and Russophobia

Russia hopes to normalize relations with the UNESCO secretariat after the change of its leadership, Alexander Alimov, head of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia. According to him, the current director general of the organization, Audrey Azoulay, interferes with the normal cooperation of the structure with Russia. Moscow regularly criticizes the organization for covering up the deaths of Russian journalists in its zone of detention and the destruction of Russian and Soviet cultural heritage in Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian Federation does not intend to withdraw from UNESCO and is interested in further cooperation.

UNESCO's attitude towards Russia

The election of a new UNESCO Director General is due to take place this autumn. Since 2017, this post has been held by Frenchwoman Audrey Azoulay. Russia does not intend to withdraw from the organization, while Moscow hopes that a change in the leadership of UNESCO will be able to influence the normalization of dialogue with this structure.

— The current CEO is completing his term of office. A new CEO will be elected in October. We hope that this will be a factor that will contribute to the normalization of cooperation with the secretariat," Alexander Alimov, head of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia. — The current Director General is doing a lot to interfere with the normal course of cooperation between the Russian Federation and UNESCO. It doesn't make her look good, it doesn't make her an adequate leader of an international organization. She violates her prerogatives and even refuses them in some ways.

In 2024, in the report "The safety of journalists and the problem of impunity in 2022-2023," UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay did not mention Russian media workers who died or were injured in the performance of their duty in the free zone. For the first time, the organization's main report on the issue of ensuring the safety of journalists and impunity for crimes against them was not approved, but only taken into account. Meanwhile, military commanders Semyon Eremin, Valery Kozhin, Nikita Tsitsagi became victims of targeted attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces last year, Alexei Ivliev and Evgeny Poddubny were seriously injured. Last June, Vladimir Putin noted that at least 30 Russian journalists had died in the war zone in Ukraine.

In March of this year, it became known about the death of Izvestia journalist Alexander Fedorchak, as well as the operator of the Zvezda TV channel, Andrei Panov, and the driver of the film crew, Alexander Sirkeli. Although the UNESCO Director General condemned the murder of Russian journalists, it was done only after urgent appeals from the Russian Foreign Ministry. At the same time, the organization refrained from criticizing the Ukrainian Armed Forces when a Channel One film crew was attacked in February in the Sudzhansky district of the Kursk region. Then the cameraman Yuri Sholmov was injured. In addition, UNESCO has not responded in any way to the death of Izvestia correspondent Alexander Martemyanov.

The struggle against cultural and historical heritage also continues in Ukraine. Since the beginning of its history, the demolition and desecration of monuments to Russian and Soviet figures in politics, education and culture, as well as heroes of the Great Patriotic War, have become frequent. Thus, the Ukrainian authorities dismantled the monument to Empress Catherine II in Odessa, the Monument of Friendship of the peoples of Russia and Ukraine in Kiev, the monument to Mikhail Lomonosov in Dnipro (formerly Dnepropetrovsk), as well as more than 30 monuments to Alexander Pushkin in different Ukrainian cities. In December, in connection with the threat of the demolition of the Pushkin monument in the center of Odessa, the UN Human Rights Council sent an appeal addressed to Audrey Azoulay. There was no response.

Prospects for cooperation between Russia and UNESCO

UNESCO suffers from all the shortcomings that the system of international organizations is burdened with today, Alexander Alimov is sure.

—The disadvantages are obvious — the politicization and Ukrainization of the agenda, the privatization of Western secretariats, the dominance of representatives of Western countries at the head of these organizations, the refusal of employees and officials to follow the principles of Article 100 of the UN Charter, which states that an official must be neutral and impartial," the Russian diplomat noted. — We see Russophobia in the behavior of the current Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, and her views on what our country's cooperation with UNESCO should look like. But we are working in such a situation.

The diplomat added that Russia is not going to withdraw from UNESCO. Despite all the "political burdens", the Russian Federation and the organization have a solid and constructive agenda, he stressed.

Russia maintains cooperation with UNESCO within the framework of the World Heritage Committee. So, in July, a session of this committee will be held to include the Shulgan-Tash cave in Bashkiria in the list of such sites of the next natural site of the Russian Federation. Currently, there are 33 objects from Russia in it, 12 of them are natural, the rest are cultural. In addition, cooperation in the field of science continues. The Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev Prize, sponsored by the Russian Federation, remains the largest UNESCO prize fund.

The Russian Foreign Ministry recognizes that this international organization, like many others, is now dominated by Western countries opposed to Russia.

— We understand that there are still Western lobbies in UNESCO and other international organizations that are able to mobilize the results of the vote against us and are confident of their impunity. Attempts to color the agenda against us on any topic, to Ukrainize it, to politicize sectoral, profile dialogues, even if they relate to issues of science, education, and sports, which UNESCO also oversees — all this will continue, — said Alexander Alimov.

Normalization of relations between the Russian Federation and UNESCO is possible if the organization recognizes the ideals for which it was created, former UN Deputy Secretary General Sergei Ordzhonikidze believes.

— I think we will work to ensure that the new leadership listens to the opinion of the Russian Federation. Such a large and powerful country like Russia, with such a large amount of historical and cultural heritage, which UNESCO actually does, is, of course, very important for this organization," he told Izvestia.

It is worth noting, however, that not only Moscow has claims against the organization. So, in May, Nicaragua officially withdrew from UNESCO. The reason was the award to the opposition newspaper La Prensa. The country's authorities believe that the publication supports violence, as well as promotes the policy of US interference in the affairs of the state. Also in February, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed a decree re-evaluating Washington's participation in UNESCO's activities, and in May proposed suspending most of the US contributions to the organization.