On July 9, the online program Hablemos con Rusia, a project for introducing Latin American youth to modern Russia, started. The program is designed for two days and is aimed at a productive dialogue between representatives of the Russian expert community and leaders of the new generation of Latin America.

Traditionally, the program is supported by the Latin American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Alexey Kapustin, Head of the Department of Regional Problems, spoke on Russia's foreign policy in Latin America. Evgenia Makhmutova, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications of the Financial University, became the speaker of the session "Latin America in the New World Order: a view from Russia". During the first day of the program, the speakers touched on a wide range of topics, ranging from economics and energy to education, tourism, and humanitarian projects.

The program of the second day of Hablemos con Rusia included a lecture on the political regionalism of Russia. Oksana Erokhina, political scientist, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications of the Financial University, told about the peculiarities of the political and territorial organization of the Russian Federation. During the session, the participants discussed federalism in Russia, relations between the center and the regions, and the evolution of the administrative division of the country. The participants were interested in national issues in Russia, including the problems of indigenous and small-numbered peoples.

In the second part, we introduced the audience to two Russian regions – Tambov and Tomsk, talked about the possibilities of education and life in these cities. The speakers of the session were Elena Zueva, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of TSU named after G.R. Derzhavin, and Sergey Khudyakov, Director of the Department of International Relations and Migration Accounting of TSU named after G.R. Derzhavin, as well as Michelle Yanga-Martinez, head of the Social Networks Department of Tomsk State University in Spanish, leader of the Latin American community of Tomsk, Candidate of Political Sciences.

The program was also attended by graduates of Hablemos con Rusia – listeners of the first online programs and a face-to-face session at the Youth Festival in Sochi. Thus, the community of graduates of the Spanish-speaking program already includes more than 100 international students from Latin America.

Representatives of the expert community have made a significant contribution to building a productive dialogue between Russia and Latin America. At the end of the discussion, the participants of the Hablemos con Rusia program expressed gratitude to Creative Diplomacy for the opportunity to discuss Russian foreign policy with Russian experts. Work on joint projects will continue!