This unique phenomenon in the life of the Russian provinces became possible thanks to the “Meeting Russia Reunion” project, which brought together young political scientists, diplomats, journalists and activists from Europe and the United States.
The “Meeting Russia” project was launched 4 years ago and its next stage took place in Russia. The purpose of this was to establish a constructive and mutually beneficial dialogue with representatives of the young intellectual and political elite of the West.
The organizer and inspirer of the Meeting Russia project is the Creative Diplomacy Center for Support and Development of Public Initiatives, which specializes in public diplomacy. The event is being held with the assistance of the AM Gorchakov Foundation for Public Diplomacy Support, and in the city of Ulyanovsk – also with the participation of the Ulyanovsk-Cultural Capital Foundation.
Natalya Burlinova, head of the Creative Diplomacy Center, noted that the Meeting Russia project allows promising foreign experts in the field of international relations, business, science and journalism to communicate directly with leading Russian experts and government officials.
Speaking about state power, Natalya Burlinova concluded that in the conditions of modern geopolitics, the strength and authority of state institutions depends not so much on traditional types of weapons, but also on the ability to negotiate with potential opponents and look for friends in the international arena. Public diplomacy, in this case, is a national narrative and a kind of instrument of influence. This opinion, in particular, is shared by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, as well as the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov. Based on their many years of experience, they reasonably believe that modern public diplomacy is the main weapon of the state, and in terms of its impact, it is comparable to nuclear weapons, since it quite often acts as a decisive means of normalizing international and interfaith relations.
Traditional diplomacy has always acted as a decisive argument in geopolitics, but recently it has acquired particular importance due to the “phenomenon of redundancy.” When there are a lot of proposals for diplomatic pressure, the demand for it sharply decreases. In these conditions, public diplomacy turns out to be extremely in demand than official channels of communication at the highest level of states. Thus, the “Meeting Russia Reunion” project, implemented in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk, created great privileges in the form of the increased authority of Lenin’s Motherland, which within two days became an international discussion platform and a center of public diplomacy. This was unambiguously confirmed by all the participants of the event, among whom there were many foreign guests, such as, for example, Energy Calculations Analyst at Boston Energy Trading and Marketing Farol L. Charles (USA), Member of the Executive Board of the European Youth Press Patricia Senge (Germany) , Carolina Muti (Italy), Research Fellow at Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome, Samantha Burkhead (USA), News Editor at The Moscow Times, and many others.
The leading speakers of the Meeting Russia Reunion event in Ulyanovsk were Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrei Kortunov and Program Director of the Russian International Affairs Council Ivan Timofeev.