Putin calls for abolishing "sovietology" as subject at U.S. institutions

Vladimir Putin believes that "it will take a long time to completely get rid of differences and stereotype views of Russia and the USA in regard to each other." The president of Russia stated this in his speech before the students of Columbia University.

"For many years the American school of 'Sovietology' and the Russian school of 'American studies', of "study of U.S. imperialism", as they liked to say in our country, were hostages to frontline politics - when our countries at times became allies, and at times brought the world literally to the line which can be followed by a nuclear disaster," he said. Naturally, in these conditions science was excessively politicized, the president noted. "It engaged not so much in studying the unique character and diversity of American or Russian civilization as in seeking weak points in our political systems," he said.

According to him, science "was an instrument for dealing the maximally possible number of blows at doing all kind of harm to each other." "Regrettably, such approaches' momentum is very strong," Putin believes.

In this connection he called for abolishing such a subject as "Sovietology". "The U.S.S.R. is already non-existent but Sovietology still exists," he noted. In his opinion, "knowledge of each other must be based on fundamental knowledge, in this case alone will it help us understand each other." As the president of Russia said, "today our countries, as never before, prize many common values." The president pointed to the necessity of "new and well-thought-out forms of interaction with each other with a view to breaking this inertia of thinking," as he noted, "not only in the sphere of security and the struggle against terrorism but on the whole - in the economy, politics, culture and the humanitarian sphere."