Russia in UNESCO: The evolution of Russian policy in the organization using an example of news publications of the Russian Commission for UNESCO Affairs
Authors:   Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Bikerniece Anna 
Published: December 2024

Russia historically plays an important role within UNESCO, an organization created to promote education, science and culture globally. Traditionally, the USSR and later Russia cherished the UNESCO principles of cooperation based on “equality, mutual benefit, depolarization, in order to consolidate multipolarity, preserve cultural diversity, and prevent dominance of one of them”. As a result, this principle can be traced through years of Soviet and Russian diplomats’ activities since 1954. In recent years, despite the international pressure, Russia continues to confirm its commitment to the political line. In the period analyzed since February 2021 until February 2023, according to the content analysis of the news reports published by the Russian Commission for UNESCO, there are both changes to the political line and adherence to traditional diplomacy based on principles of mutual respect and benefit in the areas of education, science and culture. Russian representatives began to cover confrontation within UNESCO, criticize politization of the organization, but, despite an increase in negative discourse since February 2022 by almost two times, positive discourse continues to prevail. Key words for the positive discourse were “cooperation”, “mutual respect”, “dialog”, “interaction”, and “constructive”. Key words of the negative discourse were “discrimination”, “politization”, “crisis”, “violation”, “racism”, “russophobia”, and “cancellation”. Even though negative markers became more frequent, they were a response to the attacks of other UNESCO members, and were not initiated by the Russian side. Both before and after February 2022, Russia continued to host a variety of events dedicated to the UNESCO policy. In 2022–2023, however, Russia faced criticism and attempts to cancel Russia and Russian culture within UNESCO. As a result, there were no events organized in Russia under the auspices of the Executive Committee of UNESCO. Still, it did not
become an obstacle in the organization of a number of significant events dedicated to UNESCO policies, for example, the IV International UNESCO Conference Tangible and Intangible Impact of Information and Communication in the Digital Age, the International Forum for the 50th Anniversary of Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The holding of these events shows the evolution of Russia’s exit from isolation within UNESCO, when at first 35 countries took part in the conference on information and communication in June 2022, and more than 50 countries became participants in the international forum in December 2022. The analysis of the news feed of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO results in the following conclusions: (1) Russia has achieved a certain respect from a number of countries against the background of a consistent policy and support for the depoliticization of the organization, (2) Russian representatives did not create negative rhetoric, but sought to constructively and positively follow the UNESCO agenda, (3) Russia has constantly stressed its openness to dialogue with countries that are ready to cooperate with it. As a result, Russia continues to be an active member of UNESCO, developing cooperation with friendly countries in the fields of education, culture and science.