PRESS RELEASE of the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka September 3, 2026 The Embassy paid attention to some paragraphs of the article “Civilizational dialogue proving a remote possibility as realpolitik rages” by L.Ockersz. We would like to provide an adequate response. References to the alleged «defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan» are completely inappropriate. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan was completed in February 1989 in an orderly manner. H.E. Mr. Levan Dzhagaryan, Ambassador of Russia to Sri Lanka and Maldives, worked in the USSR Embassy in Kabul and was an eye-witness to those events. The orderly withdrawal of Soviet army contrasts sharply with the disgraceful escape of NATO troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 while abandoning expensive equipment following a humiliating defeat from the Taliban. Soviet experts established vital infrastructure: hospitals, schools, roads and industrial facilities. In contrast, NATO constructed nothing but destroyed the social, industrial and logistic infrastructure depriving Afghan people of access to it.