The Story of Rossotrudnichestvo: 90 years of people’s diplomacy

This year Rossotrudnichestvo celebrates its 90th anniversary. The organization started off as All-Union Society for Cultural Relations in 1925, continued from 1958 as Union of Soviet Friendship Societies and Cultural Ties with Foreign Countries, as RusInterCentre in 1994 and in 2008 became a Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo).

All-Union Society for Cultural Relations (AUSCR)
All-Union Society for Cultural Relations (AUSCR) was created in April 1925. It was a difficult period for a newly emerged state that did not have international recognition and contacts with other countries. There was a need to tell the world about a completely new political system, to provide objective information that could dispel the myths that have arisen around the young Soviet power and provide support to foreign scientific and cultural intelligentsia.
The AUSCR aimed at "the establishment and development of scientific and cultural ties between institutions, NGOs and cultural figures of the USSR and abroad".
Olga Kameneva, sister of Leo Trotsky and wife of the first head of the Soviet state Leo Kamenev, had become the chair of the organization. Prior to that, she led the Commission to Foreign Aid (CFA), which was created just over a year after the formation of the Soviet Union and became the prototype of the AUSCR.
Departments of science and technology, literature, studentship and language were present in the new organization. The latter was aimed at promotion of learning foreign languages.
Such prominent figures as the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, writer Mikhail Sholokhov, director Sergei Eisenstein contributed to the work of AUSCR in the field of development of foreign relations.
On the part of foreign countries, physicists Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, writers Romain Rolland, Theodore Dreiser and Herbert Wells advocated for establishing friendly relations with the Soviet authorities.
At the invitation of AUSCR, various delegations of foreign companies, as well as notable figures of science and culture like the French physicist Paul Langevin and writer Romain Rolland, Indian composer and public figure Rabindranath Tagore, Danish writer Martin Andersen Nexo, and many others visited the USSR.
AUSCR sent delegations and representatives of Soviet science and culture to foreign countries to participate in congresses and conferences; theatre troupes, music and dance ensembles; organized exchanges of literature and museum exhibits, etc. It was the AUSCR that initiated the first trips of Soviet citizens abroad.
Even during the war AUSCR continued to work actively with the friendship societies in different countries. These organizations participated in the resistance movement, which was established in German-occupied territories. All-Union Society seeked to unite prominent figures of the world of culture in the fight against Nazism. For example, the famous writer Erenst Hemingway wrote in July 1941: "I am one hundred per cent associate myself with the Soviet Union in its armed resistance to fascist aggression."
Together with foreign friendship societies AUSCR raised awareness by distributing materials, which voiced the deeds of the Soviet people in the struggle against the invaders and the atrocities of the Nazis in the occupied territories.
The AUSCR contributed towards the improvement of supply routes for medicines and equipment meant for the hospitals of the Soviet Union and other assistance, which was acquired at the expense of citizens of countries that sympathized with the Soviet Union.
All-Union Society seeked to unite prominent figures of the world of culture in the fight against Nazism. For example, the famous writer Erenst Hemingway wrote in July 1941: "I am one hundred per cent associate myself with the Soviet Union in its armed resistance to fascist aggression." AUSCR maintained close ties with German leaders, who emigrated from Germany after the Nazis came to power. Physicist Albert Einstein, writer and brother of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann, writer Lion Feuchtwanger and playwright Bertolt Brecht were among them. Books of the writers were published in the Soviet Union.
Art was a kind of weapon against Nazi Germany, as it raised the fighting spirit of the combatants. In 1941, one of the musical masterpieces of the XX century, the famous seventh, or the "Leningrad" Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovic was created in besieged Leningrad. This piece was heard in many countries due to the AUSCR, which was able to pass on a copy of the symphony to England, the United States and other countries through its channels.
As soon as the war was drawing to a close, the activities of legal societies of friendship with the Soviet Union revived in the countries liberated from the Nazi occupation. New organizations, which established contacts with AUSCR, were formed. In many countries, the genuine interest for the Soviet Union and its culture.
Societies of Friendship with the Soviet Union were being actively created. Only in 1945 the Society of friendship with Albania, the Society of cultural cooperation with Yugoslavia, the Austro-Soviet society, Russian Institute in the Netherlands, the company "Norway - the USSR", Romanian Society of friendly relations with the Soviet Union, the company "Switzerland - the USSR" and "Madagascar - Soviet Union" were established. The purpose of such societies was the establishment of an increasing number of direct contacts between people from different countries.
By 1957, the National Association for Friendship with the Soviet Union worked in 47 countries.

Union of Soviet Friendship Societies and Cultural Ties with Foreign Countries
The beginning of the Cold War, emergence of the new political objectives demanded a new format of the AUSCR. In 1958, it was transformed into the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies (USFS). Soviet social and political activist Nina Popova became the first chairman of the newly formed body.
AUSCR incorporated all of the societies, associations, friendship committees, republican societies on the cultural ties with foreign countries, various thematic sessions existing at the time. The objectives of the organisation now included not only the development of external contacts, but also acquaintance of the Soviet citizens with the history and culture of other countries. Establishment of regional branches of friendship societies contributed to this process. In addition, another hallmark of the organizations that were part of the USFS was a wide scale of their activities.
USFS as AUSCR functioned in a tense international context generated by the confrontation of the political systems created of the Soviet Union and the United States. During the exacerbation of relations between the Soviet Union and the West, when political and economic relations were virtually ceased, activities of the friendship societies in those countries served as a binding thread, which upheld the bilateral contact both at a high level and among ordinary citizens. The authority and significance of the emerging friendship societies were underpinned by the fact that these organizations were headed by prominent figures of culture, science and other fields.
Thus, the Society of Friendship with Bulgaria was headed by an academician, aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev, Association for Friendship with Italy - by famous Soviet film director Sergei Gerasimov, one with Cuba – by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, with Vietnam – cosmonaut German Titov.
The USFS and friendship societies used different approaches to implementing humanitarian projects. Exchanges of delegations and tourist groups, pooling of experience in relation to scientific and cultural achievements, holding exhibitions, festivals, special days dedicated to science and culture of the USSR, exchanging mass friendly correspondence between groups and individuals.
Friendship Societies united 25,000 enterprises, collective and state farms, educational, scientific and cultural institutions. Over 50 million people participated in the activities of the USFS. Each year, republican society alone held about 25 thousand events dedicated to foreign countries.
By 1975, the USSF included 63 of friendship societies with individual countries, which contributed to the development of international cooperation. Soviet cultural centres, the House of Soviet Science and Culture were created in 1970s-80s. They have become places of concentration of information on cultural, scientific and social life of the Soviet Union.
At that time, centres were created mostly unilaterally. Retaliatory moves on the part of foreign countries in Moscow included openings of cinema theatres named after the capital cities twinned with the Soviet towns, such as cinema "Prague", "Warsaw" and others.
In the same period of a heightened arms race between the USSR and the USA, the USFS was leading an active social life aimed at the dissemination of ideas of easing international tension and maintaining peace. This approach persisted as a part of the official foreign policy of the country following Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to power.
In the 1980s, the USFS continued its activities in the sphere of humanitarian affairs, including those aimed at the dissemination of the Russian language and culture abroad. According to the official statistics, Russian language courses were organized with the support of the USFS in that period. Courses were held in more than 90 countries, where about 600 thousand foreigners received their language training.
USFS sent abroad around 10,000 exhibitions a year, distributed over 450 periodic publications to about 7,000 foreign subscribers. In the 1980s, cultural centres of several foreign countries were opened in Moscow.

Russian Association for International Cooperation (RAIC) and Russian Center for International Scientific and Cultural Cooperation (RusInterCentre)
With the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, USFS among other organizations underwent a transformation. It was turned into a Russian Association for International Organization (RAIC) in April 1992. Also, a Russian Agency for International Cooperation and Development (RAICD) was created in order to strengthen informational, cultural and scientific relations between Russia and other states through the system of representative offices and centers of science and culture based in foreign states. Later, following the government decree of April 8, 1994, functions of the RAICD were transferred to the Russian Center for International Scientific and Cultural Cooperation under the Government of the Russian Federation (RusInterCentre). For the first time in the history of the system AUSCR-USFS-RAICD-RusInterCentre the organisation entered the structure of state agencies. The Hero of the Soviet Union cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova headed the newly created body.
Largely due to the authority and the effective work of Valentina Tereshkova, who lead the organization at that time, RusInterCentre continued to operate stably, preserving the connections it had built over the years. During that period, centers were opened in the USA, France, Belgium, Slovakia, Vietnam and other countries. A key focus has remained the cultural and awareness-building work. The Russian Centre of Science and Culture organized festivals, exhibitions, evening schools and workshops. Also, Russian regions were provided with assistance in developing partnerships with other countries with support of the RusInterCentre.
Between 2004 and 2008, first centers in the CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) were opened. First practices of bilateral years were introduced in the same period. They were held with the support of the RusInterCentre and considerably expanded the circle of friends and partners of our country.

Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo)
Expansion of a structure that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union such as the CIS necessitated fresh approaches to building a new format of international relations, not only with foreign countries, but also with Russia's closest neighbours. There was a need to create a special federal body, which would have full authority in the development of Russian cultural ties with foreign countries in general, and with the CIS countries in particular. In order to achieve this objective, a Presidential Decree №1315 of September 6, 2008 was issued. It created the Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo).
The main objectives of Rossotrudnichestvo include implementing projects aimed at strengthening international relations in the humanitarian sphere, as well as promoting of a positive image of Russia abroad.
At the present stage Rossotrudnichestvo carries out its activities in the following areas: support and promotion of the Russian language in the world, promotion of Russian science, culture and education abroad, working with compatriots, implementation of projects in the field of international development assistance and public diplomacy.
Modern Russia has a huge potential for expansion of humanitarian contacts as well as for promotion of its culture and rich historical heritage abroad. Today, as many years ago, the need of formulating an objective vision of our country, debunking the myths about it and further expanding of the circle of friends on both diplomatic level and among ordinary citizens, remain highly significant. Given the long successful history of the system AUSCR-USFS-RAICD-RusInterCentre-Rossotrudnichestvo, its experience, the Agency is currently involved in the implementation of state policy in this area.