On January 13, 2023 (Friday), the Institute of Russian Studies (Chief Sang-Yong Pyo) held an annual seminar, “A Year in War: Prospects for 2023 Russia,” as part of the publication of the annual report, Russia Report. The Russia Report Seminar is a regular academic event held every January by the Russian Institute, and this seminar was specially organized in line with the event of the Rus-Ukrainian War.

The academic seminar, which began with an opening address by Director Pyo Sang-yong of the Russian Institute and a congratulatory speech by Professor Emeritus Lee In-ho of Seoul National University, consisted of two sessions. The first meeting, which was moderated by Seong-hoon Je, professor of Russian language at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, was held in three areas: domestic politics (research professor Yeon Dam-rin, Hanshin University), economy (researcher Ji-won Park, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency), and foreign relations (Joo-yeon Lee, academic research professor, Hanyang University). I had time to look at Russia in a year. The second meeting was moderated by HK Professor Song Joon-seo, and extensive discussions were held on military security (Kim Gyu-chul, lecturer at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies), Korea-Russia relations (Professor Byun Hyeon-seop, Keimyung University), and social culture (HK Research Professor Ra seung-do).

After each presentation, about 50 participants shared their opinions, pointing out notable phenomena in Russia in the past year when a major event called war occurred, and had a meaningful time forecasting the year 2023. Manuscripts presented at this seminar will be published as a book at the end of February and distributed online.