Academic Diplomacy in Russia’s Relations with Pacific Asia

The majority of existing studies usually consider mainly strategic, geopolitical, or economic aspects of Russia’s turn to the East. Humanitarian contacts and public diplomacy, including academic diplomacy, remain on the periphery of research on the Asian vector of Russian foreign policy. Despite significant achievements in educational cooperation with non-Western countries during the Soviet period, after the end of the bipolar period, Russia turned to European academic diplomacy. To some extent, it helped Russia move forward in educational and research cooperation with the EU. However, it did not help remove all the obstacles on Russia’s way to internationalize its education and science. Alongside interaction with Asia, which became home to many world class universities by the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, cooperation with Asia significantly lagged behind Russia’s then cooperation with Europe. Nevertheless, as the current situation demonstrates, a more proactive Russian academic and educational diplomacy in Asia is essential for successful economic cooperation and a comprehensive Russian presence in Asia.