4 September 2018
September 3rd, Robert Legvold, a famous American foreign policy expert from Columbia University specialized in the international relations of the post-Soviet states, gave a talk on the current state of US-Russian relations to MGIMO master students.
The guest was introduced to the audience by the University’s Vice-Rector for Graduate and International Programs Andrey Baykov, who gave the students a brief overview of the professor’s many achievements during his outstanding career.
In his lecture, Robert Legvold described Russia’s role in international relations today and how it affects the US. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, American experts have downplayed Russia’s role on the world arena. While Russia does not have the same clout now as the Soviet Union had during the Cold War, Russia retains some key attributes, which determine its place in world politics today. The country has nuclear weapons, the power of veto at the United Nations Security Council; it plays an important role in the global WMD non-proliferation regime and in the fight against terrorism and holds large reserves of natural resources that EU countries depend upon. The Russian Arctic also appears as a promising asset for the future. Professor Legvold remarked that Russia is one the most discussed countries in American newspapers and that the United States benefits from the confrontational image applied to Russia.
In order to ensure stability on the global arena, a multilateral dialogue is required, with the participation of the United States, Russia and China, as the lines of geopolitical rivalry should not coincide with zones, which are prone to conflicts.
— See the MGIMO web-site for more photos and russian version
