PICHUGIN: COOPERATION WITH HISTORICAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE OF INESTIMABLE IMPORTANCE

ISTOČNA ILIDŽA, NOVEMBER 13 /SRNA/ – Minister-Counsellor of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in BiH Yuri Pichugin says that cooperation between Russian historians and the Institute of Historical Sciences of the University of Istočno Sarajevo is of inestimable importance, noting that over the past three years they have jointly organised three scientific conferences on important topics, including the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Pichugin added that the Fourth International Scientific Conference, "Russia and the Balkans during the Great Eastern Crisis", which opened in Istočna Ilidža this evening, is organised jointly by the Institute of Historical Sciences of the University of Istočno Sarajevo and the Russian Historical Society.

"We are very grateful to Minister /for Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education of Republika Srpska/ Draga Mastilović, who founded and directs this Institute and initiated cooperation with the Russian Historical Society in 2023. It was then that the first branch of the Russian Historical Society in the Balkans was opened. We started in Republika Srpska and then moved on to Serbia and neighbouring countries," Pichugin told press in Istočna Ilidža.

He added that over the past three years they have organised conferences dedicated to highly important topics, such as combating attempts to rewrite the history of the Second World War, joint historiography on the fight against fascism, and the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

"This is a major achievement, because such a large number of distinguished Russian scholars had never visited the Balkans in the previous 20 years. This was made possible only through the joint efforts of the Institute of Historical Sciences and the Russian Historical Society," Pichugin said.

Chairman of the Steering Board of the Russian Historical Society Ruslan Gagkuyev said that cooperation between historians from the Russian Federation and Republika Srpska was highly productive, fruitful and efficient.

"Our cooperation in the field of history is extensive and of inestimable importance. We have managed to organise numerous events and scientific conferences and work on publishing various academic works. Today, we held a working meeting with representatives of the Institute of Historical Sciences and discussed plans for next year," Gagkuyev said.

Nikita Gusev, Scientific Secretary of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, expressed satisfaction with the continuation of cooperation with the Institute of Historical Sciences, describing Minister Mastilović as its driving force and leading figure.

"This cooperation is now taking on quite new forms and dimensions," Gusev added.

Following the formal ceremony marking the patron saint's day of the Institute of Historical Sciences, dedicated to Saint King Milutin, a photography exhibition entitled "Herzegovina and Bosnia in 1867", prepared by Ksenia V. Melchakova, was also opened at the Republika Srpska Government’s Administrative Centre in Istočno Sarajevo.