The InteRussia Internship Program in journalism ended in Moscow
2022-10-11 12:31
On October 6-7, participants of the first enrollment of the InteRussia internship – journalists from ASEAN member countries visited the Gorchakov Fund. During the last two days of the program, the attendees met prominent Russian political scientists, international relations and media experts, and scholars.
Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine Fyodor Lukyanov spoke about trends, which had been initially provoked by the pandemic and later by the Special Operation of Russia in Ukraine.
“The Russian military campaign in Ukraine is not the reason of those changes that have been accumulating in the world. All freedoms of the liberal world order – traveling and money, goods and services, ideas and information – were compromised already during the pandemic. Those freedoms were ”turned off" in 2020 just in ten days when countries started closing. The world did not break apart then, it continued to exist and was even interconnected. That is the pandemic became a rehearsal of what we are seeing today, and in the future the fragmentation process will be taking place when every country will be relying on itself and its own resources".
The speaker also mentioned prospects and obstacles for further development of relations between Russia and ASEAN.
“ASEAN brings out only positive emotions in Russia – it is, indeed, a good organization for the Russians. However, when speaking about certain interests and areas of cooperation, they need to be thoroughly developed, they will not emerge by themselves – it is hard bilateral work. Also, you should understand that the more actively Russia interacts with countries of Southeastern Asia, the more the United States will try to interfere, including by introducing new sanctions. I hope that the value of relations with Russia will be better understood by the ASEAN countries in the coming years than before".
An official closing ceremony of this part of internship was held in the morning of October 7 at the Gorchakov Fund. The organizers summarized results of the month-long program, and after that the interns shared their impression from the past events during a friendly dialogue.
Deputy Executive Director of the Gorchakov Fund Victoria Karsliyeva was the first one to welcome and thank the participants and the partners of InteRussia.
“There is a feeling of regret that our time together is coming to an end. I hope that everyone, who visited Russia for the first time, saw it in a new perspective or even discovered it for themselves. Thank you for leaving your everyday life for a whole month to spend it with us. We have achieved a completely new milestone in journalism and will continue working in that direction. I hope that in the future we will continue establishing direct partnership connections with you!”.
InteRussia provides a unique opportunity for professionals to attend lectures and master classes taught by top media agencies, learn first-hand about the Russian agenda, exchange experience with colleagues from various countries and attend public diplomacy events hosted by partners. During four weeks of the intensive training, the participants were able to visit major sociopolitical and technological platforms and meet representatives of the academic and expert community.
This part of the program brings participants from countries of Southeastern Asia – Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. The topic of the internship is “Russia and ASEAN: Achievements, Dilemmas, Challenges”. Partners of the current program are ASEAN Center at MGIMO University and Sputnik Agency.