Legal forum in Petersburg Memory, textbooks and law

Jun 24

Alena Germanova's complete report from the fourteenth St. Petersburg International Legal Forum covers historical-memory discussions, textbook presentations and legal cooperation. Konstantin Chuychenko gives his interpretation of foreign support for the 1905 revolution and state weakness; Margarita Simonyan claims global historical amnesia. The report says new Donbas and Novorossiya history books were presented and that new state social-studies textbooks will be used from September 1; Vladimir Medinsky criticizes old definitions and Sergey Kravtsov describes the new grade coverage and lower prices. Dmitry Medvedev opens the plenary with an argument for equal sovereignty under international law; the report identifies Vietnam as guest partner and shows its justice minister. It briefly describes prosecutorial cooperation meetings. Alexander Gutsan says an Istanbul court rejected Russia's Tarabya-villa ownership claim in May and that an appeal is being prepared. A navigation-sanctions session includes Bart Soens calling tanker detentions and maritime-drone attacks illegal and suggesting naval escorts. A final section describes bureaucracy facing charities and planned regional offices of a child-protection foundation. Historical, sovereignty and legality claims remain the speakers' positions; textbook use, an appeal and foundation expansion are future actions in this report.

At a legal-forum session on sanctions and freedom of navigation, Channel One describes restrictions on Russian trade and shows a tanker detention. Bart Soens calls ship detentions and unmanned-surface-vessel attacks illegal state piracy and says naval escorts should be considered alongside diplomacy. These are his legal judgments and recommendation; no escort deployment or adjudicated illegality is established.