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On January 19, 2024, an Expert Seminar "International Humanitarian Cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia" organized by the Center for Euro-Asian Studies of the Institute for International Studies of MGIMO University with a group of experts from Uzbekistan was held online.

At the event Stanislav Pritchin, Senior Researcher of the Sector for Central Asia of the Center for post-Soviet Studies of IMEMO, Cand. of Science (History), made a presentation "Prospects for Cooperation between Russia and the countries of Central Asian at the Expert Level". 

Experts from the two countries, noting their strengths, discussed both the vulnerabilities and the potential of Russian humanitarian policy, presenting visions from Uzbekistan and Russia. Special attention was paid to the problem of education: tens of thousands of citizens of Uzbekistan study in Russian universities, but their influence in the information sphere and in government bodies is less noticeable than that of graduates of universities of Western countries. The question about the activities of associations of Russian universities graduates working in Uzbekistan provoked a discussion: the assessment of these associations by one of the participants as a "fifth column" caused opposing opinions of the majority of experts.

The experts noted the activity of Western centers of "soft power" in Uzbekistan, at the same time, the opinion was voiced that the Russian concept of "humanitarian cooperation", fixed in the Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, is fundamentally different from "soft power" and is maximally loyal to the sovereignty of Uzbekistan and other countries.