A D D R E S S
by His Excellency Mr. Leonid P. Moiseev,
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Commonwealth of Australia,
at the Ceremony of laying the wreath on the tomb
of Alexey Dmitrievich Putiata, First Russian Imperial Consul to Mebourne

(Monday, 7 October 2002, 11.30 a.m)

     I would like, first of all, to take this opportunity to thank you for coming on this beautiful day to take part in the ceremony in honour of the First Russian Imperial Consul to Melbourne - Mr. Alexey Dmitrievich Putiata. I am happy to inform you, that today's ceremony is part of a worldwide campaign to commemorate Russian diplomatic and consular representatives abroad in connection with the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

     I am deeply honored to be here today to lay a wreath on Mr. Putiata's tomb. This memorial was erected in 1994 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mr.Putiata's passing away. It is one of the few memorials, perhaps the only one in Australia, to a Russian official representative to this country. It is yet another proof that people of Melbourne are proud of their history. I want today, on behalf of the Russian Government, express deep appreciation to those, who contributed to the construction of this beautiful monument.

     It is a good occasion today for both Russians and Australians to reflect in pride and humble gratitude on the work and life of Alexey Dmitrievich Putiata here in Melbourne, yet short, but at the same time very significant - as he was the first official Russian representative here, and it is well known, that to be a pioneer is always a hundred times more difficult than to be the second and the third. And because of that Mr.A.D.Putiata will always be remembered in Australia.

     He was appointed as first Russian Imperial consul in Melbourne on 14 July 1893 by the Highest Decree of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire. Mr.Putiata, who had the rank of College counsellor, arrived in Australia at the beginning of January 1894. Having settled in Melbourne, Alexey Dmitrievich was received by the Governor of Victoria, Lord Houpton, and advised him, that appointment of consul to Melbourne reflected the desire of the Russian Imperial Government to get further acquainted with commercial, economic, political and social development of the young, and yet flourishing state.

     A.D.Putiata was born on 13 January 1855 in Smolenskaya district of Russia. In 1877 he had graduated "cum magna lauda" in philology from the University division of the Tsarevitch Nikolai Lyceum. After that for a long time he worked at the Russian Ministry of Education. Alexey Dmitrievich began his diplomatic career in 1885 as Second secretary in the Russian Mission in Bucharest, and then as diplomatic agent in Odessa. He died in Melbourne on 16 December 1894.

     The floral tribute that I have placed to his tomb is not only in commemoration of our first consul A.D.Putiata. In broader sense it commemorates Russian presence in Australia, and particularly in Melbourne, for more than a hundred years. During this period, by any measure, the contribution made by Russians in terms of human and intellectual resources to the development of Australia, was immense. One only needs to reflect for a moment, that approximately 200,000 people of Russian origin came to Australia, and that the first Australian born Nobel Prize winner - Mr.Alexander Prokhorov - was a Russian, that the first Miss Universe from Australia was a Russian girl from China. This is yet another proof of the multicultural composition of the Australian society.

     I would like to point out, that this year - the 2002 - is remarkable for both of our nations. This year in October we are celebrating the Sixtieth Anniversary of the establishment of the Australian-Russian diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations between our countries were established in October 1942. Appointed in the first diplomatic exchange were Mr. Andrei P. Vlasov as Minister for the USSR to Australia and the Hon. William Slater, His Majesty's Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary for the Commonwealth of Australia to the USSR. Since then 23 heads of Australian mission in Moscow and 20 heads of Russian mission in Canberra have been changed.

     Our official relations go back to the period of the blodiest war in the history of mankind - World War II, when Russian and Australian soldiers fought side by side against common enemy. One can say that our relations are based on the principles of the front-line comradeship.

     Of course, Russian-Australian exchanges started much earlier - at the beginning of the XIX century. To the best of my knowledge, the first registered contact took place in June 1807, when Russian sloop "Neva", commanded by L.A.Hagemeister, came to Port Jackson.

     In the middle of the XIX century Russia was among the first countries to realise growing role of Australia, then part of the British Empire, in Asia-Pacific region. At first, Russia was represented on the Fifth Continent by honorary consuls in Sydney and Melbourne, but in January 1894 Alexei Putiata, the First Russian Consul, began his work in Melbourne.

     Of course, these are only few small facts in the long history of our relations. It is impossible to mention every single episode in this short speech.

     At present, Russia-Australia relations are expanding and diversifying. We have a very active political dialogue on a broad spectrum of issues of global character relating to strategic stability, combat against international terrorism. It is important to notice, that positions of Russia and Australia are similar, both countries are actively co-ordinating their actions on the international arena.

     Our foreign ministers met twice in 2002 - in February the Hon A.Downer, MP, paid an official visit to Moscow, in July he met Igor Ivanov in Brunei during the ARF meeting. The most recent contact was in September - during UN General Assembly in New York.

     Both Russians and Australians are engaged in nation-building, using our diligence and patience. Now, at the beginning of the XXI century, we tend to overcome our lack of knowledge about each other, about our cultures, our peoples, our sense of future direction, as well as our struggles of the past and present. With the memory of Alexey Dmitrievich Putiata and his compatriots here in Australia a century ago, we are now ready to scale new heights. Let us do so together in the spirit of friendship, and enthusiasm, and hope.