Cultural interaction between Russia and India: historical experience and current state

At the highest level of interstate relations, cultural relations between Russia and India are considered not only as one of the strategic areas of cooperation, but also as its basis, which is manifested in the mutual awareness of the common fundamental values of the peoples of Russia and India. The cultural policy of the two states is characterized by similar tasks: the preservation of cultural heritage, national culture and language in the context of cultural integration and globalization, the protection of cultural values, and the search for effective forms of cultural interaction. The evidence of the stability, effectiveness and relevance of this format of interaction, even in an unfavorable political environment, is its temporal continuity, presented in this work in the context of the historical experience of the formation of cultural ties between Russia and India in different periods of time, starting from the 15th century. The aim of this article is to typologize this experience up to the present time. The theoretical focus was on such subject areas as interstate cultural cooperation, cultural exchanges, and cultural diplomacy. The sources were Russian and Indian official documents, as well as relevant research works. The authors used the ideographic (descriptive-narrative), comparative-historical, and retrospective methods, as well as the periodization method in the study. The novelty of the research consists in the generalization of ideas about the mechanisms of international cultural cooperation, the practices of cultural exchanges and cultural diplomacy, the interaction of national cultures on the example of Russian-Indian relations. The actual significance of studying this issue is enhanced by its organic connection with the prospects of improving the status of national cultures, expanding the possibilities of their inclusion in the context of world culture, and with the prospects of social development in general. The analysis of documents, research works, and the level of interstate relations between Russia and India allows us to conclude that it is the cultural sphere with its stable semantic codes that underlies Russian-Indian political and economic relations. The results of the study of the development of cultural interaction can be used for a further investigation of the interaction of cultures, in the activities of organizations, institutions, departments, diplomatic services dealing with interstate cultural cooperation, for the development of research-based programs for the exchange of cultural values and their use in the activities of cultural institutions in different countries.