Karin Kneissl Explained to the Participants of the Znanie.Pervye Marathon that the Sanctions against Russia Did Not Work

Head of the G.O.R.K.I. Center. Karin Kneissl, head of the G.O.R.K.I. Center at St. Petersburg State University, spoke at the Znanie.Pervye educational marathon, which takes place from March 2 to 6 at the Sirius World Youth Festival. She chose the topic "Sanctions as a symbol of failure" for her lecture. Young people, participants of the marathon from different countries, were interested in what impact sanctions have on the economy of the countries that impose them, as well as the legal consequences of sanctions after the end of the SMO.

The head of the Center spoke for the marathon participants in the Moscow Pavilion and spoke about the reasons for the sanctions war against Russia and its consequences for the West. Karin Kneissl explained how measures aimed at weakening the Russian economy turned into problems for those who undertook them.

"For the last 40-50 years we have often encountered sanctions in international relations, and practice has shown that these are symbols rather than true diplomacy, they are not real policy, they are something that should make a state behave in a certain way, change its behavior," – stated Karin Kneissl.

She recalled that to date about 17,000 sanctions have been imposed on Russia. In her opinion, this is an unprecedented number. At the same time, she noted that Russia is coping with this pressure.  

"Everyone who comes to the country sees that its economy continues to work, things are much better in society than it is shown in the Western media. It's not surprising that quite a few Europeans now want to move to Russia. And, in my opinion, Russia may well take advantage of this, create conditions for the relocation of such families, among whom there are many qualified specialists who have lost their jobs because of the problems that have arisen in the automotive, chemical industries of European countries," says the head of the G.O.R.K.I. at St. Petersburg State University.

In addition, she added that many countries support only part of the sanctions imposed against Russia. For example, South Korea continues dialog with Russia in education and scientific research.

At the same time, the expert drew the audience's attention to the fact that, according to international relations and the UN Charter, there is only one body that has the right to impose sanctions in terms of legal procedures - the UN Security Council. In this case, the decision on sanctions against Russia was made by the United States and 42 other countries, that is, we are talking about unilateral sanctions.

"In fact, in many EU interior ministries, the law does not work at all today. To my deep regret, real law and freedom are leaving EU countries. The sanctions imposed against Russia hit the countries that impose them the hardest", added Karin Kneissl.

Marathon participants asked what the legal consequences of imposing sanctions on Russia could be after the completion of the SMO.

"I think after the military phase is over, there will be a legal phase. I think there will be lawsuits regarding Nord Stream, freezing of Central Bank assets - too much has been said and done. This will be a new page that everyone will have to read", - commented the head of the Center G.O.R.K.I. at St. Petersburg State University.

The Russian Znanie Society is the general partner of the educational program of the World Youth Festival. The educational marathon Znanie.Pervye is one of the main events of this program. The most striking presentations of lecturers can be seen on the 24-hour media channel https://russia.znanierussia.ru/tv/Znanie.TV.

An open dialog of young people with Karin Kneissl took place at the marathon within the track "Multinational Unity", which is dedicated to national diversity, folk traditions, the right of every nation to identity and sovereignty.

Also on March 3, the second day of the marathon, among the lecturers of the thematic track "Multinational Unity" are Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT TV channel and Rossiya Segodnya media group, Fabio Mastrangelo, chief conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra "Russian Philharmonic", and many other prominent people.

Educational marathon takes place in Sirius from March 2 to 6 and covers six sites of the World Youth City: WYF International Airport, Yamal, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Belgorod, and Moscow pavilions. The tracks of the educational marathon are consonant with the meanings of the Festival: “Responsibility for the fate of the world”, “Multinational unity”, “A world of opportunity for everyone”, “Saving the family for future generations” and “We stand together with Russia”.

In addition to the Znanie.Pervye Marathon, as part of the educational program of the World Youth Festival, the Russian Znanie Society organized the intellectual tournament Znanie.Game with the participation of scholars from different countries and Znanie.Cinema Lectorium, where viewers can watch legendary Russian and foreign films and discuss them in the company of famous actors and directors. For the Festival participants a multimedia exhibition of the National Photo Contest Znanie.Russia will work, where they will be able to see the main achievements of Russia in the XXI century and immerse themselves in their atmosphere with the help of augmented reality technology.

The World Youth Festival shall become a platform for open dialog between young people from Russia and other countries. After the completion of the events on the Sirius Federal Territory, Russian Znanie Society will continue the educational line of the World Youth Festival from March 9 to 17 within the framework of the regional program WYF 2024, which will cover all federal districts of our country.

The World Youth Festival takes place to promote international youth cooperation. 20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteering, charity, sports, business, media, etc., including 10,000 foreign participants, will take part in the WYF 2024. For the first time in the history of the festival movement, teenagers from 14 to 17 years old had the opportunity to join the event, including 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad. 5,000 volunteers from all regions of Russia, including 228 residents of the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions be involved in the organization and delivery of the Festival. The organizer of the World Youth Festival is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), the operator of the WYF-2024 is the Directorate of the World Youth Festival.

The first federal education marathon was held in May 2021 and became a symbol of the reboot of the Russian Znanie Society. More than 850 lecturers shared their experience during the marathon.

The Russian Znanie Society traces its history back to the Soviet public organization founded in 1947 on the initiative of representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia as the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge (since 1963 — the All-Union Znanie Society, since 1991— the Znanie of Russia Society). Members of the Society were engaged in popularizing science and lecturing on the achievements of the Soviet economy and industry. In 2016, Znanie of Russia was transformed into the Russian Znanie Society. On April 21, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to restart the Russian Znanie Society on a modern digital platform in his address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.