“The Other Ukraine” and “United Russia” gathered European representatives in Sochi for an open discussion.”

Normalization of Russia’s political dialogue with European countries, the role of Russian culture in restraining the degradation of Europe’s socio-cultural space, and the prospects for granting territorial autonomy to national minorities as part of a settlement of the Ukrainian crisis — these topics formed the basis of the conversation between Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev and the European participants of the Second International Symposium “BRICS – Europe.”

Medvedev noted that for the second year in a row, the international movement “The Other Ukraine” has been actively involved in organizing this new dialogue platform, drawing on the experience of presenting peace initiatives by the Chairman of the movement’s Council, Viktor Medvedchuk, in the European Parliament, the French Senate, and the German Bundestag.

Among the Members of the European Parliament present at the meeting were Fernand Kartheiser (Luxembourg), Ivan David (Czech Republic), Petar Volgin (Bulgaria), Rada Laikova (Bulgaria), Diana Jovanovic Sosoake (Greece), and Ľuboš Blaha (Slovakia).

At the level of national parliaments, participants included László Toroczkai (Hungary), Kostadin Kostadinov (Bulgaria), Angel Georgiev (Bulgaria), Ivan Petkov (Bulgaria), Ján Mažgút (Slovakia), David Lindtner — adviser to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Dragan Stanojević and Bojan Torbica (Serbia), as well as Panagiotis Doumas — adviser to the Greek political party “Niki.”

The honorary guest of the meeting was Pierre de Gaulle, grandson of the legendary French president Charles de Gaulle.

The European politicians declared their readiness to continue contacts and exchange views, emphasizing that only an open dialogue, free from political clichés, can ensure lasting stability in Europe and the world.

Earlier, Viktor Medvedchuk noted that anti-Russian hysteria in Europe is slowing the advent of peace in Ukraine.