A conference dedicated to the late Lithuanian philosopher and politician will focus on possible and desirable future transformation of Russia.
“Leonidas Donskis would be appalled by the Russia we see today,” says Professor Robert van Voren of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. “For him there was never a doubt about the criminality of the Putin regime, although at the time when he passed away the idea of a full-scale war of aggression in Ukraine and sentences of up to 25 years for political opponents would have seemed outlandish.”
“Leonidas Donskis had a lot of Russian friends, who were part of the ‘other Russia’, most of whom have either left the country or are now languishing in prison,” he adds. “I have no doubt he would have been a very active discussant during the upcoming Donskis conference.”
On September 21, The Sixth Leonid Donskis Memorial Conference will take place at the Vaidila Theatre in Vilnius, organised by his former colleague and friend, van Voren, who heads the Andrei Sakharov Research Center for Democratic Development at Vytautas Magnus University.
This year’s conference, which will be held in English and is as always with free admission, focuses on the fate of Russia: “Will Russia Survive 2024?”
According to the conference organisers, Russia is at a crossroads. “Over the past two decades, a country that may have been a fading democracy, but was still on the road to European integration, has been transformed into a neo-totalitarian state, terrorizing its population and pursuing the most aggressive policy towards its neighbours,” they say in the press release.
What steps need to be taken to stop Russia threatening its neighbours? Is it possible for Russia to return to the international civilised world? How can the people of the Russian Federation be helped to build a democratically governed state (or states) that operates in accordance with international law? How can we ensure that those responsible for crimes in Ukraine and other countries under attack are brought to justice? Experts will be looking for answers to these questions on September 21.
“Will Russia Survive 2024?” will bring together diplomats, security experts, public figures, journalists and human rights activists from the United States, Finland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Lithuania, Cyprus, Denmark, Ukraine and Russia. The full programme is available here.
“The title of this year’s conference is a provocative one, and we chose that on purpose. To us it is clear that dealing with Russia nowadays is not an issue of containment. Enough is enough – it is time that the criminal regime in the country comes to an end and that the future Russia ceases to be a menace to the neighbours and the rest of the world,” says van Voren.
The organisers stress that, unlike previous conferences, this one will not be webcast and will be live. Interested parties are invited to register here.
After the conference, participants will be invited to a concert dedicated to the memory of Leonidas Donskis, featuring Lithuanian cellist Justas Kulikauskas and Dutch Russian expert and concert pianist Sara Crombach.
