Russia's Public Diplomacy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

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2. Introduction

   • Anna A. Velikaya, Greg Simons

   Pages 1-25

3. Russian Public Diplomacy: Historical Aspects

   • Olga Lebedeva

   Pages 27-43

4. Russian Public Diplomacy and Nation Branding

   • Semed A. Semedov, Anastasiya G. Kurbatova

   Pages 45-59

5. Development Diplomacy of the Russian Federation

   • Stanislav L. Tkachenko

   Pages 61-77

6. Russia’s Policy and International Cooperation: The Challenges and Opportunities of Soft Power

   • Natalia Bubnova

   Pages 79-101

7. Russian Digital Diplomacy: A Rising Cyber Soft Power?

   • Natalia Tsvetkova

   Pages 103-117

8. Russian Public Diplomacy Through Higher Education

   • Alexey Fominykh

   Pages 119-132

9. Russian Science Diplomacy

   • Elena Kharitonova, Irina Prokhorenko

   Pages 133-146

10. The Role of Civil Society in Russian Public Diplomacy

    • Elena Stetsko

    Pages 147-166

11. Multiple Facets of Russian Public Diplomacy in International Organizations: A Case Study

    • Maria Chepurina, Evgeny Kuznetsov

    Pages 167-181

12. Russian Business Diplomacy in Southeast Asia

    • Andrey Bykov, Kirill Solntsev

    Pages 183-200

13. The Baltic Sea Region: Cooperation in Human Dimension

    • Daria Akhutina

    Pages 201-217

14. Strategic Communication of Russia in Latin America

    • Evgeny N. Pashentsev

    Pages 219-232

15. Russia’s Public Diplomacy in the Middle East

    • Vladimir Morozov, Greg Simons

    Pages 233-256

16. Conclusion

    • Anna A. Velikaya, Greg Simons

    Pages 257-282

17. Back Matter

    Pages 283-285

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Russian public diplomacy attracts growing attention in the current global climate of tension and competition. However, it is often not understood or is misunderstood. Although some articles and book chapters exist, there are almost no books on Russian public diplomacy neither in Russian, nor in English. This edited collection is an in-depth and broad analysis of Russian public diplomacy in its conceptual understanding and its pragmatic aims and practice. Various aspects of Russian public diplomacy – from cultural to business practices – will interest professors, students and practitioners from various countries. Written by a diverse collection of the most prominent and capable scholars, from academia to international organizations, with a wealth of knowledge and objective experience, this book covers the vital topics and thoroughly analyzes the best practices and mistakes within the broad understanding of public diplomacy conducted by the Russian Federation.

• Russian public diplomacy
• foreign policy
• instruments
• national image
• history
• VOKS
• Cold War
• nation branding
• economic development
• research diplomacy
• Diplomacy-Development-Defense (DDD)
• Official Development Assistance (ODA)
• Washington Consensus
• Commonwealth of Independent States
• Eurasian Economic Union
• technical assistance
• soft power
• public diplomacy
• Syria conflict
• Ukranian crisis

“The book is a useful addition to the library of current writings on ‘soft power,’ especially for adding public diplomacy of an ambitious state case study to the more theoretical scholarly literature.” (Oleksii Poltorakov, Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics & Society, JSPPS, Vol. 6 (2), 2020)

Chosen as one of the 7 Best New Diplomacy Books to Read in 2020 by the Book Authority.

“The book provides a multi-faceted approach to the study of Russian public diplomacy and international engagement. … this volume will achieve its goal of encouraging and enabling readers to think about Russia’s public diplomacy and international engagement in a more rounded and complete way, and thereby help reduce the stereotypes plaguing this corner of the international political arena.” (Victoria, Hudson, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 72 (7), 2020)



“This book is a timely and more than welcome effort to untangle the puzzle of Moscow’s ability to develop several forms of soft power and public diplomacy in various sectors and regions across the world.” (Marlene Laruelle, Associate Director and Research Professor, George Washington University, USA)

“This monograph is of paramount importance in the prevailing fragile international situation… Behind its successes one may feel a lot of strenuous efforts by the grass-roots enthusiasts.” (Igor Khalevinskiy, Chairman, Association of Russian Diplomats, Russia)

“This important book is required reading for anyone wanting to understand Russian foreign policy and diplomacy in the 21st century, both scholars and government officials.” (Shaun Riordan, Director of the European Institute for International Studies and author of Cyberdiplomacy: Managing Security and Governance in Cyberspace)

“Published at a time when the international activities of the Russian Federation are seldom out of Western headlines or social media tweets, this is a very valuable book.” (Nicholas J. Cull, author of Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in a Digital Age)

“This important volume is the first attempt to assess Russian public diplomacy across issues and in various regional settings. With predominant contribution by Russian experts, the book provides a detailed analysis of the country’s interests and various public diplomacy techniques to defend and promote national interests and values in the increasingly post-western world.” (Andrei P. Tsygankov, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, San Francisco State University, USA)

• The Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Foundation, Moscow, Russia

  Anna A. Velikaya

• Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

  Greg Simons

• Department of Communication Sciences, Turiba University, Riga, Latvia

  Greg Simons

Anna Velikaya works at the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Foundation, Russia, and is a member of the Expert Council of Rossotrudnichestvo Federal Agency. She specialised in humanitarian cooperation at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and has co-authored Modern International Relations (2017) and Public Diplomacy of Russia and Foreign Countries (2018). Her research interests include public diplomacy, humanitarian cooperation, nation branding, track II diplomacy and U.S. politics in Central Asia.


Greg Simons is a researcher and Associate Professor at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden and a lecturer at the Department of Communication Sciences at Turiba University, Latvia. He studied at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and has authored or edited over 10 books, 16 book chapters and some 74 articles since 2002.

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