WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) Presenting Russian culture in the United States as a means of manipulation is absurd, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov wrote in an op-ed.
"The amount of Russophobia in the US media has been unprecedented in recent years. While anti-Russian rhetoric is employed for internal political struggles in the United States, from time to time this propaganda campaign reaches absurd levels, spilling over into areas that have little to do with politics," Antonov said in a piece published by The Washington Times on Tuesday. "An example, a recent article by Graham Bowley in The New York Times implies a Russophobic theory based on totally unrelated facts. Russian culture is portrayed as a powerful tool of the Kremlin to manipulate US public opinion and burnish the image of Russia."
Antonov explained that in his article Bowley referenced Fort Ross State Historic Park in California, which was restored by the state and receiving budgetary support, "as a part of some Russian operation with a sinister motive."
"His allegations have been substantiated by zero evidence. Like most people, we do not understand these speculations," the envoy said. "Russian culture and science, that found their way to the US shores through exchanges or immigration, couldn't help but have an impact on America's development. But was it a negative impact? Or have there been many positive influences on the US as a result of Russian cultural exchanges, ranging from musical masterpieces, ballet, art and scientific breakthroughs. We suggest taking a more factual look at the issue. "
Antonov stressed that a lack of mutual trust and respect is a dead end road, and that even during the Cold War, politicians realized that it was vital to develop cultural, educational and scientific contacts between the two countries.
In 1958, the USSR and the United States signed the Lacy-Zarubin Agreement that provided for exchanges in science, technology, agriculture, medicine, healthcare, radio and television, cinema, sports, tourism, culture and art exhibitions.
"The Agreement was signed, to a great extent, due to President Dwight Eisenhower's desire to promote people-to-people contacts between our two countries which he considered as a 'one fine, progressive step toward peace in the world,'" the envoy noted. "The US leadership understood that developing cooperation with the Soviet Union in culture, education, science and technology would bring benefits to all Americans. Cultural ties became one of the most notable results of bilateral diplomacy in those years."
"Since the end of the 1950s, the US audience got to know such prominent groups as the Igor Moiseyev Folk Dance Ensemble, as well as the Bolshoi and Kirov (now - Mariinsky) ballets," he added. "The American impresario Sol Hurok, who had also introduced Feodor Chaliapin, Anna Pavlova and Isadora Duncan to the US public, played a major role here. Thanks to their performances, our faraway and mysterious country became closer and more understandable to the American public."
Antonov pointed out, however, that Russian culture came to the United States long before the Lacy-Zarubin Agreement, including with the works of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anton Chekhov, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
The Ambassador pointed out that Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture is played annually at Independence Day festivities across the United States, and that Irving Berlin, who wrote God Bless America, was born in Russia.
The Envoy also pointed out that it was a Russian composer who wrote the music to everyone's holiday favorite "The Nutcracker".
"Does anyone really see in that or any other ballet, brought by the Bolshoi theater over half a century ago, some ideological motive similar to what Mr. Bowley insinuates?," Antonov wondered. "According to the logic of the article, all Russian culture should be banned, since it diverts attention from the never-ending flow of disinformation about Russia. Hopefully, the American people will not place a taboo on books by Russian authors or music by Russian composers. If American orchestras stop playing masterpieces by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Dmitri Shostakovich, their repertoire will become significantly poorer."
Antonov continued to say that there are many more Russian cultural and scientific contributions that Bowley did not take into account such as that Russian scientist Vladimir Zvorykin laid the foundation for color television in the United States and that the helicopter industry is based largely on Igor Sikorsky's prototypes.
The Ambassador stressed that the people of both Russia and the United States should be able to get to know each other's cultures to form their own stereotype-free perceptions of each other.
"The mutual isolation that has gripped Russia-US politics and economic issues should not now be extended to our cultural relations as well," Antonov concluded. "It is important to stop seeking political expediency and consider both countries' long-term interests. Everyone benefits from greater cultural understanding between our two nations, now and far into the future."
Relations between the United States and Russia have been at what officials from both nations called the lowest point since the Cold War. Washington introduced multiple rounds of sanctions against Moscow, calling Russia one of the United States' adversaries, which Moscow has criticized. Moreover, the United States has accused Russia of meddling in other states' domestic affairs, which Moscow has denied.
Bilateral tensions further heightened as the United States decided to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, prompting a collapse of the deal, earlier this year.
