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On October 1–3, 2025, the 7th International Forum "Russia and Ibero-America in a Turbulent World: From Common Challenges to Joint Solutions" was held in St. Petersburg.

October 1:

Irina Prokhorenko, Doctor of Political Sciences and Head of the Department of International Political Problems at the IMEMO, presented her report "Spain: Development Discourses at a New Stage of Globalization" as part of the Section "Iberian Countries in an Era of Turbulence (Part 2)" in her paper. She presented the results of a study of government, public, and academic discourses in today's Spain on issues of national development in the context of the dynamics of European integration at a new stage of globalization. She identified and analyzed the range of issues discussed, the priority topics of discussion, the composition and activity of their participants; and assessed and forecast the degree of politicization of the ongoing debates in terms of political and ideological cleavages in Spanish society, as well as the benchmarks and targets for development in the European Union.

Researcher at the Center for Development and Modernization Problems, IMEMO, Ph.D. Alexandra Arabajyan spoke at the section “Left-wing radical and insurgent movements in Ibero-America: from formation to modern times” with a report “The Organization of Latin American Solidarity as part of the internationalist policy of Cuba in the 1960s.” The report, based on the principle of historicism and the historical-genetic method, examines the creation of the Organization of Latin American Solidarity (OLAS). Using materials from Russian (RGANI, AVP RF) and Cuban (archive of the Center for Che Guevara Studies, archive of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs) archives, the context and prerequisites for the creation of OLAS were studied - the period of activation of Cuban foreign policy in a revolutionary direction based on the principle of proletarian internationalism, as well as the holding of the first OLAS conference (Havana, 1967). Cuba by the second half of the 60s. showed an increased interest in expanding influence on the countries of the Third World, helping national liberation movements and creating a revolutionary proletarian detachment that could operate in different regions for the victory of the revolution. This radical foreign policy vector was at odds with the concept of peaceful coexistence adhered to by the USSR, which influenced the communist parties of Latin America. Soviet policy in the region also received a negative assessment from Cuba. The creation of OLAS occurred at the end of the Solidarity Conference of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America in January 1966 in Havana. Cuba tried to subordinate the preparatory committees that organized the OLAS conference to its own revolutionary foreign policy line. At the conference itself, this trend continued and resulted in the adoption of two resolutions, which received secret status and were not made public, since they contained elements of condemnation of the policies of socialist countries and communist parties in Latin America. The report details the content of these resolutions and the discussions around them that took place at the Conference. Subsequently, OLAS did not receive proper development, since revolutionary Cuba’s bet on creating several partisan centers did not materialize.

Maria Shpak, Junior Research Fellow at the Center for Development and Modernization Problems at the IMEMO, presented a paper titled "'Smoke Instead of Fire?' The Transformation of Javier Miley's Public Narrative after the 2023 Elections in Argentina" at the "Political Institutions and Processes in Latin America in the First Quarter of the 21st Century" Section. She examined the characteristics and key vectors of Javier Miley's narrative transformation in the digital media space since coming to power, as well as his strategies for adapting to the challenges of the country's domestic political and socioeconomic development.

October 2:

Leading Research Fellow at the Department of International Political Problems at the IMEMO, PhD in Economics In her report "BRICS+ in the Context of the Arctic Front of Hybrid Warfare" at the roundtable "BRICS Countries, International Organizations, and the New World Order," Ekaterina Labetskaya reviewed the results of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro and the Virtual September BRICS Summit during Brazil's rotating presidency, the meeting of the Russian and US presidents in Anchorage, Alaska, and the 12th Xiangshan Security Forum in Beijing. She identified new trends in contemporary hybrid warfare, with collective international structures becoming its primary actors, and BRICS+ will be no exception. She also specifically addressed the current crisis surrounding Venezuela and assessed the steps taken by the Russian Federation and China.

Forum Objectives:

To understand the new realities of Latin American and Spanish political and socioeconomic processes; To analyze new challenges and opportunities in Russian-Latin American relations in the current political and economic environment; A discussion of Russian and Latin American approaches to shaping a multipolar world, interregional cooperation, and addressing international security issues; A study of the interactions between Latin American countries and extra-regional and extra-hemispheric actors in international relations today; An assessment of the current state of humanitarian, educational, and scientific-technical cooperation between Russia and Latin America, as well as the prospects for Russian-Latin American cooperation in other regions of the world.

The Forum is the most representative event in Russia dedicated to the socio-political and economic processes of Latin America, its history and culture. Holding it in St. Petersburg with the participation of famous politicians, scientists, journalists from Ibero-American countries and Russia invariably attracts the attention of the media, which confirms the status of St. Petersburg University as one of the leading centers of Ibero-American studies in Russia.

Organizers: St. Petersburg State University and the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Program of the event (in Russian)