KOLOBOVA: RUSSIA AND SRPSKA JOIN FORCES IN DEFENDING THEIR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 12 /SRNA/ - The Russian Federation has always been, and will remain, a friend of the Serb people in their joint struggle to defend their national independence, Professor Svetlana Anatolyevna Kolobova said.

Kolobova, who delivered a lecture at the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Republika Srpska titled The Russian World – Global Challenges and Ways to Overcome Them, stressed that particular attention was being paid to the study of the Serbian and Russian languages.

"We analyse geopolitical processes affecting all the peoples living in the Balkans and adhere to very clear positions aimed at preserving a multipolar world in which every nation and religion would have the right to freely practise its faith, while also showing understanding for others," she said.

Kolobova stressed that the academic community in the Russian Federation paid particular attention to efforts to preserve the national identity of the Serb people, especially in the face of challenges posed by contemporary geopolitical processes originating in Western European countries.

"Today, as the Russian Federation is going through very difficult and challenging times, we clearly understand the tremendous efforts being made by the Serb people, both the academic community and government representatives, to preserve their national identity," Kolobova said.

She stressed that Russia attached particular importance to dialogue between the Church and the state under contemporary geopolitical conditions.

"We are honoured that the Balkan Centre in Nizhny Novgorod is headed by a priest whose activities give students the opportunity to understand the full scope of geopolitical processes taking place in the Balkans," Kolobova said.

President of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Republika Srpska Dragoljub Mirjanić said that today's lecture was the result of successful cooperation between ANURS and the Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University named after N.A. Dobrolyubov, where the late academician Oleg Alekseyevich Kolobov, Professor Svetlana Kolobova's husband, had worked.

The ANURS insignia were presented to Professor Kolobova on behalf of the late Professor Oleg Kolobov, who was elected a foreign member of ANURS in 2021 and passed away in March this year.

Svetlana Anatolyevna Kolobova, Doctor of Political Science, is a professor and dean of the Higher School of International Relations and World Politics at the Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University named after N.A. Dobrolyubov.