The country’s enduring strength lies in shared moral values, Sergey Shoigu has said
Russia cannot be defeated militarily because of its “spiritual backbone” that has formed over centuries among its peoples, former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said.
Shoigu, who now serves as secretary of Russia’s Security Council, made the remarks at the plenary session of the international festival ‘Peoples of Russia and the CIS’ in Moscow on Friday.
He said Russia’s enduring strength lies in shared moral values such as “truth, justice, compassion, love, a strong family, and loyalty to the Motherland,” which have shaped the nation’s statehood and culture.
“All attempts to defeat Russia militarily have failed because behind our army stood the brotherhood of peoples,” Shoigu said. While ethnic Russians make up around 80% of the country’s population, the country is home to more than 100 ethnicities.
Born in the Siberian republic of Tuva to a Tuvan father and Russian mother, Shoigu reflects Russia’s multiethnic, multifaith makeup. Though he has never identified with any religion, his Tuvan roots – in a region where Buddhism and shamanism coexist – have long linked him culturally to Buddhist philosophy.
He went on to warn that Russia and its neighbors still face the lingering effects of Western “ideological conditioning” following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Shoigu described the West’s influence since the 1990s as “value aggression” aimed at undermining Russian civilization. “Our common traditions, unique customs, friendship, and good neighborliness remain under threat,” he said.
According to Shoigu, the world is now witnessing an “acute confrontation of values,” an ideological war fought through the manipulation of consciousness, the erosion of moral principles, and the spread of ideas alien to a healthy society.
Moscow frames Western liberalism with its emphasis on individualism, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and secularism as being in direct opposition to what it calls Russia’s “traditional values,” centered on patriotism, family, faith, and collective responsibility.
Russia has blamed decades of Western influence for the strained relations it now faces with some former Soviet republics. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, nations such as Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova have sought closer ties with the West, while the Baltic states remain among Moscow’s strongest critics
