The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, within his visit to Moscow, visited today the Russian State University "Lomonosov", where, at a solemn ceremony, he received the title "Honorary Professor".

At the renowned Russian university, President Ivanov delivered a lecture to the university professors and students.

As Honorary Professor, President Ivanov delivered a lecture on the historical, spiritual and cultural ties between the two countries and peoples, with scientific references of many authors who have elaborated this topic.

The Macedonian President spoke about the book "The Kingdom of the Slavs" by Mauro Orbini, published in 1601, in Italy, whose attention was drawn by the author Geremia Rousseau, quoted in the paper, for whom Orbini claims in "The Chronicles of Moscovia" of 1227 that: "Russians or Muscovites had the same language as the ancient Macedonians". Geremia argues that ancient Macedonians spoke a Slavic language.

He pointed out that Orbini quoted numerous ancient and medieval authors who demonstrate the specificity of the Macedonian language compared to the Greek.

If there is one place on earth which most clearly reflects the deep spiritual, cultural and linguistic ties between Macedonia and Russia, President Ivanov emphasized, it is Ohrid, the Balkan and Slavic Jerusalem. Prominent scholars, he underlined in the lecture, as Priselkov, Koch, Sparnenski, Popruzhenko, Zaikin, Kartashev ... consider that the Russian Church, since its founding until 1037, was under the jurisdiction of the Ohrid Church. The first prime minister of the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin, Georgi Malenkov, did not hide that he is Macedonian by descend, whose family came to Russia from Ohrid, said President Ivanov.

The modern Macedonian language as official language of the Republic of Macedonia, President Ivanov said, is recognized by almost all countries.

- Bulgaria treats it as a dialect of the Bulgarian. Greece, however, claims that the Macedonian language does not exist, although it has, at least three times before, officially recognized, Presidnet Ivanov said, referring to the already published papers on this issue, which state that in 1920 the Greek Government in official census documents included a column for the Macedonian language, in 1925, when it issued the Abecedar primer intended for the Macedonian minority in Greece and third time in the resolution of the Third UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, held in 1977 in Athens, President Ivanov said.
Inspired by the teaching of the history of the Slavs in which the views of Mikhail Lomonosov were presented on that issue, during his second stay at "Lomonosov", President Ivanov, as he said, deepened his knowledge of what was said, using part of the said authors and their works, mentioned in that lecture. Many of those findings, he added, are reflected in textbooks written for students of political studies at the Skopje Law Faculty. Lomonosov, said President Ivanov, opposed the efforts of Gerhard Friedrich Muller to reduce the significance of the ancient Slavic history. "Would not be the glory of the Russian people condemned if its origin and name are set up a little late and denied is their antiquity, in which other people look honor and glory for themselves," Lomonosov wrote.

- These words exactly remind us of the experience that almost every Macedonian has, the feeling to be subject to denial and appropriation of history, language, culture, tradition. Macedonia, unfortunately, still faces what was happening in Russia during the great Lomonosov time, President Ivanov emphasized.

At the core of the strong bilateral relations, President Ivanov added, are the high level political dialogue at all levels and the common economic interests.

- Here is the principled position of the Russian Federation regarding the use of the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia and the long historical, spiritual and cultural traditions of our peoples, re-discover over these past two decades, President Ivanov said.

During the ceremony, President Ivanov decorated Mr. Evgeny Suhanov, Head of the Civil Law Department at the Moscow State University "Lomonosov", with the Order of Merit and Ms. Elena Veriznikova, leading specialist in Macedonian language in Russia, with the Medal of Merit, for their contribution to the promotion of the Macedonian - Russian relations.

Professor Veriznikova, after receiving the medal, said that 80 years of her life have been dedicated to the Macedonian language, adding that only the Moscow University in 1975 studied the Macedonian language as main subject.

Suhanov expressing his gratitude, noted that the Skopje Law faculty bears the name of Justinian I and, as he stressed, it is not accidental. Justinian I, as he said, was born near Skopje, and is the patron of all lawyers.

At the Moscow "Lomonosov" currently study 40,000 students, the majority of them are at the departments of mathematics and physics, and there are four students studying Macedonian Language and Literature.