MOSCOW, November 6. /TASS/. Moscow is ready to discuss controversial issues with other countries, but it will protect its culture and traditions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a Wednesday conference titled "Freedom of the Media and Safety of Journalists in the Russian Federation and in the OSCE region: Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Age."
"We are confident that permissiveness in any area of human activity has never resulted in anything good. Perhaps, journalists should responsibly formulate some professional approaches of their own," he pointed out. "They probably can’t be the same for the whole world, or for every media community, given the things that I mentioned."
Lavrov noted that various countries had their own approaches to those who are considered terrorists, sect members as well as sex education for children. He also pointed to the need for a dialogue on disputed issues.
If everyone stubbornly clings to one's own ideology, nothing good will come of it, Russia’s top diplomat went on to say. "We need to seek a middle ground with the obligatory, unconditional observance of those civilizational, cultural, historical traditions and values, which exist in every society," he said. "We will protect our culture, our traditions, by law if needed."