SYRIAN STUDIES AT THE INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL STUDIES (THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL STUDIES OF RAS)

The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOS RAS), one of the leading research centers in the world with a two-hundred-year history, conducts serious research on the Middle East issues. The Institute carries out fruitful and multilateral activities for the development of Russian Oriental studies, and its fundamental works have won recognition in the international scientific and expert community. The interdisciplinary studies on Arab countries conducted at the Institute are of particular relevance and importance given the military-political and socio-economic turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the fundamental geopolitical changes in the region associated with the so-called Arab Spring. The Syrian Arab Republic is a "hub" of contradictions and an arena of conflict of interests of various political forces; it is here that a serious military confrontation is going on over the past 7 years. In this context the Syrian issue is of particular interest to scientists from the IOS RAS, as evidenced by numerous works devoted to that country. In addition to purely scientific significance, the studies of Russian Orientalists-Arabists are of practical importance also for the development of the strategy of interaction between Russia and the countries of the region.