On June 10, 2020, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Iranian Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), with the support of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Russia, held an online closed roundtable on the bilateral agenda in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.
Opening remarks were made by Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour, IPIS President.
On June 10, 2020, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Iranian Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), with the support of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Russia, held an online closed roundtable on the bilateral agenda in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.
Opening remarks were made by Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour, IPIS President.
The discussion was divided into two sessions, focusing on Russian-Iranian bilateral cooperation during the global pandemic and the development of the situation in the region: Syria, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf.
The speakers of the first session included: Kayhan Barzegar, Director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies (Iran); Vasily Kuznetsov, Director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, RIAC expert; Mehdi Sanaei, Senior Advisor to the Foreign Minister of Iran, former Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Iran in the Russian Federation; and Ivan Timofeev, RIAC Director of Programs. The session was moderated by Saeed Khatibzadeh, Vice President for Research, IPIS. Experts discussed the impact of the pandemic on Russian-Iranian relations and international affairs, the challenges and opportunities for bilateral cooperation, the regional security architecture, the increasing securitization of both the regional and international agendas, as well as the U.S. sanctions and countermeasures.
The second session was devoted to the situation in Afghanistan, Syria and the Persian Gulf. The speakers included: Gholamali Khoshroo, former Representative of Iran to the United Nations; Mikhail Konarovsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia, Leading Research Fellow, Center for East Asian and SCO Studies at MGIMO University, RIAC Member; Dr. Hassan Ahmadian, Professor, University of Tehran; Alexey Khlebnikov, RIAC Expert; Saideh Lotfian, Professor, University of Tehran; and Ruslan Mamedov, RIAC Program Manager. The discussion was moderated by Julia Rocknifard, Assistant Professor in the School of Politics, History and International Relations at the University of Nottingham (Malaysia). Experts discussed scenarios and prospects for the development of conflicts, as well as presented their ideas for promoting cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour, IPIS President, summarized the key points of the discussion and emphasized the need to strengthen institutional ties and further develop Russian-Iranian expert dialog.
