{"id":86643,"date":"2019-03-21T16:27:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T23:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=86643"},"modified":"2019-03-21T16:27:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T23:27:14","slug":"russia-as-a-regional-security-provider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/03\/21\/russia-as-a-regional-security-provider\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia as a regional security provider"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author- Lucy Stronach, Research Assistant (Intern) at INSSSL<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

\u2018Russian Interest in the Indian Ocean\u2019 was the\noverarching theme at the latest Round Table Discussion held at the Institute of\nNational Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL) on March 19th, 2019. Guest\nspeaker, Ms. Ksenia Kuzmina, Program Manager for South Asia and Asia Pacific\nfor the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), spoke in detail on this\ntopic, with attendees from academic and military fields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Issuing<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Kuzmina opened her insightful and in-depth\npiece by stating that Russia does not <\/em>have an imaginary role in the\nIndian Ocean region and has serious interests despite often being disregarded\nas a major player. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Russia\u2019s primary interests is to promote\nthe zone of peace in the Indian Ocean, as any threats that influence this area\ncould easily reverberate all the way to the Russian homeland. Ms. Kuzmina\ndiscussed that strategic rivalries and conflict in the area are against Moscow\u2019s\ninterests as the Indian Ocean is crucial for Russian trade, security and\ncommunication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Threats to the region include climate change and\nmarine pollution; emerging technology such as artificial intelligence;\ncyber-attacks; piracy; terrorism; and advanced weapons. In order to combat\nthese problems, said Ms. Kuzmina, Russia must forge bonds with smaller states\nand islands in the region, including Sri Lanka. She stated that these nations\nneed to begin promoting their own security and interests rather than following\nmajor players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"attendees<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One way to do this is through Russian\ncooperation, with Ms. Kuzmina stating, Moscow can provide great input to the\nregional security and to some extent serve as the regional security provider…\u201d.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Kuzmina explained that Russia canplay\na significant<\/em> role in providing expertise, sharing knowledge and data, training\nstates, and sharing personnel and business. This process of interconnectedness\nhelps states bolster their security and protect themselves from threats which\nin turn protects Russia from issues encroaching on their territory through\nAsia.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stated that these new and emerging threats\nrequire closer cooperation from all involved including regional and global\npowers, and Moscow can assist in developing dialogue and forging successful\nmultilateral relations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ms. Kuzmina, peace and respect are\nRussia\u2019s foremost desires in the Indian Ocean, promoted through positive\ninterstate relations. However, to achieve this ambitious task, states must\nacknowledge and accept this on all levels, from academia, business, the\ngovernment, and education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Kuzmina\u2019s discussion was concluded by\nquestions from attendees before stating that developing cooperation is a\ntwo-way process that demands initiative from both sides of the party. Russia\nhas something to give, and hence Sri Lanka need only ask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Round Table Discussion was closed by Director\nGeneral of INSSSL, Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, who shared his wishes to continue\npositive dialogue and further close discussions with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author- Lucy Stronach, Research Assistant (Intern) at INSSSL \u2018Russian Interest in the Indian Ocean\u2019 was the overarching theme at the latest Round Table Discussion held at the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL) on March 19th, 2019. Guest speaker, Ms. Ksenia Kuzmina, Program Manager for South Asia and Asia Pacific for the Russian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}