Стр. 26 - V

Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
Author : O. Lebedeva
Deputy Dean, School of International Relations, Moscow State Institute (University) of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Science (Sociology)
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY is today understood as the communica-
tion of the governmental and nongovernmental players of a coun-
try with foreign public in order to indirectly influence public
opinion and foreign policy decisions in a foreign state.
Public diplomacy has been adopted on a wide scale in modern Rus-
sia as well, due to the opening of the country's borders and the de-
velopment of civil society in it. An increasing role is given in
international affairs to "soft power" policies when a nation uses its
cultural, historical, and political values rather than its military or
economic power to attain its objectives.
Public diplomacy in Russia is mainly exercised by ordinary people
who care about what is happening in their country and by promi-
nent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
In the mid-20s, the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations with some European countries,
China, Mexico, and Japan, and in 1933 with the United States; in 1934, it became a member of
the League of Nations. Having thus become an equal entity in international relations, the country
began to build up official cultural contacts with the outside world.
Boosting cultural contacts with foreign countries has justly been one of the top items on Russia's
agenda after these ties were mostly severed due to radical social and political changes in the coun-
try in the late 80s and early 90s.
When the war was over, the Soviet Union had to adjust its foreign policy, including its system of
cultural relations, to the requirements of the postwar Yalta-Potsdam world order.
In September 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev closed down Roszarubezhtsentr, replacing it
with the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living
Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). Rossotrudnichestvo
has offices in 73 countries. From March 2012 to 2015, it was headed by Konstantin Kosachev,
who was superseded by Lyubov Glebova.
The Russian Association for International Cooperation (RAMS) is one of the main partners of
Rossotrudnichestvo. Today, Rossotrudnichestvo is organizing what is going to be called the Russ-
ian Union of Friendship Societies (RSOD). It is also working to reopen Moscow's House of
Friendship with Peoples of Foreign Countries.
RUSSIA'S PUBLIC DIPLOMACY is acquiring special importance because of current political,
economic and social globalization.
Research and assessment is one of the main parts of RIAC's work. The council assesses and
forecasts international risks and opportunities in the interests of Russian diplomacy, companies,
The History of Public Diplomacy in Russia