Russian and Chinese experts compare notes on Afghanistan
Short version
On July 30, 2021, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) co-hosted a webinar titled “Situation in Central Asia and Afghanistan: Russia’s and China’s approaches”.
Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Sun Zhuangzhi, Director of the CASS Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, delivered opening remarks, substantially analyzing the inner dynamics in Afghanistan and assessing the potential repercussions for regional players, especially Russia and China.
Full version
On July 30, 2021, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) co-hosted a webinar titled “Situation in Central Asia and Afghanistan: Russia’s and China’s approaches”.
Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Sun Zhuangzhi, Director of the CASS Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, delivered opening remarks, substantially analyzing the inner dynamics in Afghanistan and assessing the potential repercussions for regional players, especially Russia and China.
Andrey Kazantsev, Chief Research Fellow of the Institute for International Studies at MGIMO University and Leading Research Fellow and Professor at the Higher School of Economics, Li Yonghui, Leading Research Fellow of the CASS Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, Ivan Safranchuk, Head of the Center for the Eurasian Studies of the Institute for International Studies at MGIMO University, and Wang Xiaoquan, Secretary General of the All-China Association for the Study of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, spoke at the event. Ksenia Kuzmina, RIAC Deputy Director of Programs, moderated the discussion.
The experts expressed their views on what is to be done in the current circumstances by the international community, Moscow and Beijing. They also suggested scenarios of the further development of the situation in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Russian and Chinese participants highlighted the importance of discussing the Afghanistan problems with other international partners and of using multilateral mechanisms, mainly the SCO – Afghanistan contact group, more systemically.