The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Indo-Russian ties will go beyond strategic issues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Indo-Russian ties will go beyond strategic issues

Ananth Krishnan

Envoy foresees closer cultural and educational contacts

— Photo: S.S. Kumar

Stanislav Simakov.

CHENNAI: The coming months will see diversification of India’s relationship with Russia beyond strategic and nuclear issues, leading to closer cultural and educational contacts between the countries, Stanislav Simakov, vice-consul, Consulate General of Russia, and director, Russian Centre of Science and Culture, said here on Monday.

The two countries would discuss plans to mark 2008 as the year of ‘Russia in India’ during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s current visit, in an effort to facilitate greater cultural interaction. Russia’s five consulates in the country would organise cultural and educational events to celebrate the occasion.

The Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Chennai, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last month, would host Russian dance troupes, scientific symposia, film festivals, painting exhibitions, interactions with Russian chess masters at its Chess Club and the visit of Russian ships to the Chennai port.

Improvement in ties

Mr. Simakov said there had been considerable improvement in relations between the two countries in the last five years. “In the first few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, our relations with India, as well as with several other countries, were cold,” he said.

“We were more occupied then with dealing with our own internal problems. But, in the last couple of years, the situation is changing. The direction of activities has been towards greater co-operation.”

One example was education. Russian universities were seeking out Indian students, besides entering into agreements with Indian universities for technical and cultural cooperation.

MoUs in education

Anna University had signed deals with three leading Russian technical colleges, and the University of Madras recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Moscow State University to enable Russian students to study Tamil.

“We are seeing more Indian students go to Russia for technical specialisations in fields like biotechnology, bioengineering, chemistry,” Mr. Simakov said. “There is also huge interest in South Indian cinema and dance in Russia, and we have students from Russia who have come all the way to Chennai for that.”

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