Irina Ivanova
The mountain wind is cold and harsh even in summer, and even more so in steep and impregnable rocks, such as on the St. Gotthard Pass near the Devil's Bridge. But our journalists, as you know, are not looking for easy ways and decide to follow in the footsteps of Suvorov and his army.
True, unlike the fall of 1799, today adventurers climbed rocks on convenient metal brackets, and they were met not by militant French, but by hospitable Swiss on a piece of Russian land. At the monument "Valiant Companions of the Generalissimo Field Marshal Count Suvorov Rymniksky, Prince of Italy, who died in crossing the Alps," Russian and Swiss hymns sounded, and participants in the Russian Press Congress solemnly laid flowers at the 12-meter stone cross. By the way, obtaining permission to create a monument was not an easy task, because on the territory of the confederation there is a law prohibiting the glorification of foreign troops. Largely thanks to our compatriots - Prince Golitsyn and academician Vasily Engelhart, his appearance became possible. In October 1893, a piece of rock in the Alps became the sovereign territory of Russia. Locals donated a plot of land for the construction of a monument to Russian soldiers, which contributed to the emergence of a new state in Europe - an independent Swiss Confederation.
However, the benevolent attitude towards the Russians in Switzerland was preserved not only because of the exploits of our soldiers. No wonder this year this country was chosen for the congress of representatives of the Russian press abroad. At the forum that opened the XI International Congress, which brought together about 300 publishers, editors and journalists of Russian-language print and electronic media from more than 50 countries, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Hans-Rudolf Merz, delivered a welcoming speech in Russian! It turns out that a love for the Russian language to the president of the country, who is also a finance minister, was instilled, at one time, by a teacher from St. Petersburg. "How can I not be interested in Russian culture if the great Russian philosophers and writers lived and worked in my country - Bakunin and Herzen, Gogol and Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Tolstoy, Bunin and Nabokov," said Mr. Merz. He was supported by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Switzerland Pascal Kushpen: "If your homeland is Russian, then you have a very beautiful homeland ...".
"Not on the lake, nor on the mountains, not in the sky, not a single solid line, not a single solid color, not a single identical moment, everywhere there is movement, asymmetry, bizarreness, an endless mixture and variety of shadows and lines, and everything is calm, soft, unity and the need for beauty ... "
This is how Leo Tolstoy wrote about Lucerne in July 1857, and no less lofty feelings were visited by us, journalists from all over the world, who gathered in this city in June this year to discuss pressing problems. The deep blue of the cleanest lake, surrounded by fluffy mountains, "and everything is flooded with delicate, transparent azure of air ..." - the beauty of these places causes delight and admiration.
The inviting party and the organizers of the congress did everything possible to make our short stay in their country pleasant and memorable for a long time. A walk along Lake Lucerne and dinner on a retro steamer Stadt Luzern, a trip to the homeland of the famous Emmental cheese, a reception at the Russian Embassy in Bern, a historical and cultural program in the Alpine Mountains .... In such an atmosphere of beauty, for three days, the problems of the Russian-language media and ways of survival in modern, not particularly favorable conditions were discussed.
At the closing of the congress at the Palace Luzern hotel, a memorial plaque was unveiled in memory of Lev Tolstoy's stay in Switzerland, who stayed in Lucerne and wrote a short story here. On the same day, in the banquet room of the Ambassador Hotel, the Government of Russia was presented with letters of honor to authors and publications "For a great contribution to the preservation of the Russian language and culture, the development of a single world-wide Russian-language information space, the maintenance and strengthening of humanitarian ties with compatriots abroad." The award winners included Alexander Peske, editor-in-chief of Russian Switzerland magazine, Mix-TV broadcasting company (Canada), Crimean Pravda newspaper (Ukraine), Viruprospect newspaper (Estonia), Trend agency (Azerbaijan), newspaper Spectrum (Finland) and the Horizon newspaper (Australia).
The next, twelfth congress, invited the WARP to host Israel. On behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu, Congress spokesperson Dina Lipster spoke to the congress participants: "Every fourth Israeli citizen speaks Russian. Holding such a congress in our country is a great honor for us." Well, as they say, see you soon - next year in Jerusalem.
Special thanks for the hospitality I would like to express to the publisher and chief editor of the magazine "Russian Switzerland" Alexander Peske and editor Marina Karlin www.russianswiss.ch
