Professor from Altai State University Yury Chernyshov acted as an expert at the international summer school on Russian studies in Armenia

From August 15 to 21 in the city of Tsaghkadzor (Armenia) a youth scientific and educational summer school "Actual Issues of Russian Studies in Armenia" was held. This event was conceived as "the first of its kind full-fledged training course in Russian studies abroad." The best students of Humanities from Armenia and Russia were selected by competition to participate in the School.

It was organized by the Center for Public Diplomacy together with the Department of Political Science of the Russian-Armenian University with the assistance of the Foundation for the Support of Public Diplomacy named after. A.M. Gorchakov, Rossotrudnichestvo and the House of Russian Books in Yerevan.

At the opening of the School, the organizers emphasized that the problem of developing Russian studies as an academic discipline "remains a topical area for Armenia and other post-Soviet countries, since an objective look at the social, cultural and political realities in the Russian Federation can serve to strengthen mutual understanding between societies and states." This task has acquired particular urgency in connection with the recent changes in the international situation, including in the Transcaucasus.

Official greetings were delivered by Minister Counselor of the Russian Embassy, Charge d'Affaires of Russia in Armenia Maxim Seleznev, Rector of the Russian-Armenian University Professor Armen Darbinyan, Deputy Head of the Rossotrudnichestvo office in Armenia Victoria Deripasko, Deputy Executive Director of the Gorchakov Foundation Victoria Karslieva and others. Then, meetings began in various areas: specially invited experts introduced the audience to modern developments in the Russian language and Russian literature, history, demography, the media sphere, economics, diplomacy, international relations, law, religious studies, and geography.

Along with leading experts from Armenia (Beniamin Mailyan, Lilit Meliksetyan, Grant Mikaelyan, Arshak Sargsyan) there were many speakers from Moscow (Oleg Buklemishev, Vladimir Karasik, Igor Kuznetsov, Mikhail Kucherov, Maria Mchedlova, Igor Okunev, Dmitry Suslov and others), who represented the Higher School of Economics, The Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Moscow State University, The Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund , Peoples' Friendship University of Russia and other scientific and educational organizations. From the Russian regions, the experts were professors Maya Astvatsaturova (Pyatigorsk State University) and Yuri Chernyshov (AltSU).

Assessing the level of the School, Yuri Chernyshov noted:

“Both in terms of content and organization, the School, in my opinion, was held at a very high level. It was interesting to listen to the opinions of other experts, and the speeches of young participants in the discussions, who showed excellent erudition, the ability to answer the most difficult questions. My lecture was devoted to the specifics of the historical development of Russia, Russia's place in the world and the most discussed issues of Russian history. Of course, it was difficult to cover all this within an hour and a half, but, according to the organizers, "it turned out well - exactly as intended."

Professor Chernyshov expresses his gratitude to the teachers of the Russian-Armenian University, the leaders of the organizing committee Norayr Dunamalyan, Hovhannes Sargsyan and other members of the organizing committee for their hard work and demonstrating the best traditions of Caucasian hospitality. There were exciting business games, competitions, informal communication, and excursions. In particular, the School participants visited the Orbeli House Museum in Tsaghkadzor, the Kecharis Monastery and some other sights of this country, which has a very ancient and rich culture.

At the final meeting, the final interdisciplinary projects of the participants were presented, certificates were awarded. Summing up the results, the general opinion of the speakers was that the School contributed to the development of mutual understanding between the peoples of Russia and Armenia, laid a new direction for further cooperation between our countries in the fields of education and science.