Thomas Pickering, Ambassador of the United States to Russia , spoke in Moscow University Touro at the Third Commencement Exercises on October 23, 1996 when the class of 1996 received their Bachelor of Science in Business & Management.

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, students and professors, graduates and parents. It is an honor and a pleasure to be with you tonight, to help celebrate the third graduation exercise of Moscow University Touro.

As I look into the audience and see the bright, expectant faces of tonightґs graduates, I am struck by the basic similarities of our circumstances. This is a statement I could not have made so easily even twelve months ago.

First of all, both you and I are about to depart the relatively warm confines of lives familiar and well-known to embark upon journeys of exploration and discovery. Each of you, the 24 members of the 1996 graduating class of the University, will begin new, professional careers, many of you with large Russian and foreign businesses.

I am also about to leave the world I have known well these many years. As I prepare to take my leave from the diplomatic service, I am faced with the same questions with which I know all of you are now struggling: where do I go? What is my next step? Uncertainty is a constant fact: we can no more eradicate it from our lives than we can turn iron ore into gold or prevent the sun from rising in the East. But we are very fortunate, you and I, that the unknown world into which we are about to enter is a world much safer than when I first arrived in Russia or you first enrolled in the University.

Why is this so? Consider the events which have taken place just this past year. First and foremost, perhaps, were the presidential elections held last summer in Russia. Russian citizens turned out in droves in the two sets of elections, in order to exercise their constitutional right to participate in free and fair elections.

Each of the 24 graduates here tonight, every last one of you, is the future of Russia. Whether you work for a large manufacturing business, start your own computer software company, or run for election to the Duma, each one of you holds in your hands the future of Russia.

To hold the future of your country in your hands is a huge responsibility to be thrust upon you, but it is important to remember that with huge responsibilities come huger rewards.

Your rewards shall be the continuation of democracy in Russia, and that is the most priceless gift, the most precious legacy, that you will pass on to your own children when they, in turn, graduate from their own universities.

In closing, it is important that you all know that each of you has achieved a milestone event today, and that each of you deserves congratulations on your achievement. You have done well, and you should be proud.

Thank you, God bless you, and goodnight.

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