On June 23, 2026, the III St. Petersburg Forum "Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Overcoming the Challenges of Extremism" was held at the Russia — My Story exhibition complex in St. Petersburg.
The Forum brought together representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, government authorities, the scientific and educational community, public and religious organizations. The discussion focused on the prevention of extremism and terrorism, strengthening interethnic and interfaith harmony, preserving traditional spiritual and moral values and developing civic unity.
The forum was organized by the City Committee on Legality, Law and Order and Security, the St. Petersburg Diocese, the A. I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, the Center for Scientific and Analytical Information of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, religious and public organizations. The event was supported by the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, relevant committees of the State Duma, the World Russian People's Council, the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media, the administration of the Governor of St. Petersburg, the Legislative Assembly of the city, St. Petersburg State University and RANEPA.
The plenary session was led by Archpriest Alexander Pelin, Chairman of the Department for Church Relations with Society of the St. Petersburg Diocese. He stressed that countering extremism and terrorism is impossible without consolidating society based on traditional spiritual and moral values.
Valery Fadeev, Chairman of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, Igor Barinov, Head of the FADN, Alexander Beglov, Governor of St. Petersburg, and Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of the Leningrad Region, greeted the forum participants.
The greeting of Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga was read out by Bishop Veniamin of Kronstadt. The appeal noted that one of the reasons for the spread of extremism is a spiritual and moral vacuum, and the best defense against such threats is a return to solid moral foundations, the experience of dialogue between religions and cultures, as well as awareness of the unity of the human race.
Vitaly Milonov, Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, also delivered a welcoming speech.
During the plenary session, the participants discussed the role of traditional values, religious and cultural traditions in strengthening social harmony. Sergey Smirnov, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Orthodox Russia social movement, spoke about the work to unite the healthy forces of Russian society around the values of faith, family and culture. According to the organizers of the forum, he presented awards to scientists and public figures, as well as volunteer soldiers who returned from the front line.
Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media, noted that keeping the topic of terrorism prevention on the agenda of the church-public dialogue is a requirement of the times. According to him, in modern conditions, it is especially important to counter attempts to divide Russian society with unity and cohesion based on traditional values.
Representatives of the scientific and expert community made presentations at the forum. Alexander Polunov, Head of the Department of Management in the Field of Interethnic and Interfaith Relations at Lomonosov Moscow State University, dedicated his presentation to the role of the ethno-confessional unity of the peoples of Russia in countering extremist tendencies. The scientific director of VTsIOM, Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Joseph Diskin, spoke about the need to strengthen public morality based on religious, historical and ethnocultural traditions. Oleg Agapov, Director of the Research Institute of Social Philosophy at Kazan Innovation University, reviewed the issues of Russia's humanitarian, spiritual and civilizational sovereignty.
The participants paid special attention to the scientific and educational aspects of preventing extremism. Alexander Prilutsky, Head of the Department of History of Religions and Theology at the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, noted that in recent years society has developed a deeper understanding of the threats of extremism and the need to comprehensively counter it. An employee of the Center for the Prevention of Extremism in the field of Education and Youth Environment of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A. I. Herzen's Alexey Bogachev spoke about the psychological aspects of examining materials of a supposedly extremist nature and stressed the importance of additional professional training for specialists in this field.
As a result of the forum, a resolution was adopted outlining concrete steps to develop interagency cooperation, improve preventive work and establish cybergramacy schools in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. The document will be sent to the State Duma and relevant federal executive authorities.
The forum also included an awards ceremony for public, scientific, educational, government and religious organizations during the spiritual and patriotic campaign "Faith, Unity, Russia". The participants were presented with copies of battle banners made with the support of the charity foundation "Under the Protection of the Queen of Heaven" and sent to the area of the special military operation.
The work of the forum continued in thematic sections devoted to countering extremist ideology in the scientific community, preventing extremism among young people, improving scientific methods of examination and identification of extremist threats, as well as issues of extremism in politics, economics and religion in the modern world agenda.