Jayatilleka briefs Chair of Int’l Affairs Committee of Federation Council, Russian Parliament

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka on Thursday (15 November) made his first visit to the Russian Parliament, starting from its highest international relations authority – Dr. Constantin I. Kosachev, Ambassador and Chair of Committee for International Affairs at the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Federal Assembly – the official name of the Russian Parliament. 

The Ambassador briefed the Chairman on current political developments in Sri Lanka, conveyed the latest official communication which the Government sent through the Foreign Ministry, and underscored the importance of these events in the context of Sri Lanka’s role in the so-called Indo-Pacific region today.

The meeting encompassed a warm and fruitful exchange of views on the relations between Russia and BRICS member countries, and generally, on Russia’s part in the dynamics of contemporary global affairs.

Dr. ConstantinKosachev, one of the best known names in Russian international politics, was with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs overseeing Russian relations with Northern Europe; in late 1990s, he was the disciple and aide to the historical Russian Foreign Minister, later Prime Minister and Academician EvgenyPrimakov.  Dr. Kosachev was elected to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament, in 1999-2003, then again in 2003-2007 and 2007-2011 and served as Chair of the Duma Committee for International Affairs for the latter two terms. Senator and member of the Upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament since 2014, Dr. Kosachev was appointed Chair of the Federation Council Committee for International Affairs. 

Ambassador Jayatilleka mentioned that he had had the privilege to meet future Prime MinisterEvgenyPrimakov personally in his student years in 1976. He praised Dr. Primakov for brilliantly conceptualising Russia’s national interest in the changing world at the cusp of the 20th and 21st centuries. In response to the Ambassador’s request, ChairmanKosachev promised to send a book of selected articles by EvgenyPrimakov, translated into English.