March 14, 2022 Round table on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and South Africa

On March 14, 2022, the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted a round table organized by the Center for Southern African Studies dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Africa. The round table was attended by Russian and African scholars, employees of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in South Africa, and South African scholars and veterans of the struggle against apartheid and the solidarity movement.

The issues of almost three centuries of history of relations between our countries, the first diplomatic contacts in the 19th century, the participation of Russian volunteers in the Boer War of 1899-1902, Russian emigration to South Africa, assistance from the USSR to the national liberation movement, the first Soviet and Russian-South African diplomatic contacts at the turn of the 1990s, the impact of perestroika and the collapse of the USSR on the development of our relations, modern cooperation between our countries, in particular within the BRICS framework, and other issues.

Chair of the Centre Ph.D. A.A. Tokarev and an employee of the Center Ph.D. V.A. Sidorov led the event. Welcoming speeches were addressed by the Deputy Director of the Institute, Corresponding Member of the RAS L.L. Fituni, and Deputy Director of the African Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation A.I. Stolyarov.

The reports were made by a fellow of the Center Ph.D. B.M. Gorelik (On the Prehistory of Russian-South African Diplomatic Relations. First Russian Consul in South Africa), Ph.D. in Economics and Ph.D. in History of Arts. Yu.S. Skubko (People's diplomacy in action. South African pilot in the Ryazan Military History Museum) and Ph.D. A.A. Arkhangelskaya (The role of BRICS in bilateral relations between Russia and South Africa). Reports were also heard from other employees of the Institute and former employees of the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, who supported the national liberation movements - Doctor of History, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, retired A.Yu. Urnova (The initial stage of relations. Memoirs of a contemporary) and Doctor of Historical Sciences, prof. V.G. Shubin (30 years of diplomatic ties and 60 years of cooperation).

Of the other speakers, it should be noted Africanists, Director of the Center for African Studies of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.B. Davidson (At the origins of Russian-South African relations. Memoirs of a contemporary), Doctor of History, professor of Higher School of Economics I.I. Filatova (Restructuring and establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and South Africa) and head of the Department of Constitutional and International Law of the University of Management "TISBI" (Kazan), Doctor of Law, prof. A.B. Mezyaeva (International legal aspects of relations between Russia and South Africa).

The Counsellor-Envoy of the Russian Embassy in South Africa V.O. Yakovlev and former employee of the first staff of the Russian Embassy in South Africa V.V. Lebedev. The speeches of the former Minister of Trade and Industry of South Africa (2009-2019) Dr. Rob Davis, and a member of the Russian Club in Cape Town E. Komarova-Togar aroused great interest.

In total, more than 30 people took part in the round table.