‘In Search of the New World Order// Russia’s “Go East”, “Pax China” and European Destiny’

This was the topic of a presentation by Professor Alexey Maslov, Head of the HSE School of Asian Studies, his first talk as part of the Russia and Global Shift of Power public lecture organized in Valletta, Malta, by IDEAT foundation in cooperation with Russian Centre of Science and Culture on Malta.

The joint project was implemented at the initiative of Aaron Farrugia, executive director of Malta Freeport and member of the Administrative Council of the Malta Labour Party. He was head of the delegation of political, public, academic, and business representatives from Malta, which visited the HSE in September 2014 as part of the New Generation cooperation programme. Speakers at the event also included Andrey Chuprygin, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Civilizational Development of the East, who spoke on ‘Under the Shadow of Ukraine’, and Mikhail Karpov, Associate Professor at this department, who spoke on ‘Further Development of Political and Economic Cooperation Between Russia and China’.

The lecture attracted over 130 guests, including representatives of Maltese political and public circles, members of the Maltese parliament from both parties, lecturers and students of the University of Malta, staff of the Russian Embassy on Malta, as well as Russian residents of Malta and students of the Malta Crown Russian school.

Aaron Farrugia in his opening address said that the public lecture and roundtable discussion were organized as part of the Malta Labour Party’s programme aimed at getting Maltese politicians, businesspeople, and public figures familiar with the positions of leading European universities on topical issues of modern politics and economics.

The guests noted that it was their first opportunity to discuss the most pressing and relevant problems of international relations, such as the changing political situation in Europe due to the crisis in Ukraine, the new level and areas of Russian-Chinese cooperation, and escalation of hostilities in the Middle East with representatives of the Russian academic community, and to get to know their position as regards to the current international situation.

The participants expressed a great deal of interest in how Russian academics, many of whom are experts in Asian and Middle Eastern studies, evaluate events in the Middle East, as well as how the strengthening of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership may influence economic and political relations with the European Union, which Malta is part of.