The SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA is privileged to have formalised a strong academic association with the Gorky Institute of World Literature (Institut mirovoj literatury im. A. M. Gor'kogo) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow -- ties that had been established informally with our university even before the SRG's founding in 1998.  The Institute has collaborated, first with individual professors and more recently on the basis of mutual agreements with the SRG, on a number of significant publications, especially concerning the writings and correspondence of Leo Tolstoy.  For a description (and photos) of the May 2001 signing, see our Russian Happenings page.
   We are particularly fortunate to have worked with such an eminent scholar as Dr Lidia Gromova-Opul'skaja (1925-2003), former Head of Classical Literature at the Institute, Professor of Philology at Moscow State University and a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as an Honorary Member of the SRG.  Her close collaboration on a number of SRG projects continues the relationship begun in 1995, when she prepared (and wrote an Introduction to) Leo Tolstoy's correspondence with the Doukhobor leader Peter Verigin, who guided his flock during their first decades on Canadian soil; under the editorship of Andrew Donskov, a Russian-only version was published by Bulanin in St-Petersburg, followed the same year by a bilingual (Russian-English) edition (trans. John Woodsworth) published by Legas in Ottawa.  In February 1996 Dr Gromova was one of the keynote speakers at a conference held at the University of Ottawa on Lev Tolstoy and the concept of brotherhood (the Proceedings were published the same year by Legas).  In 1999, in addition to participating in the Doukhobor Centenary Conference, she also gave a lecture at the university on "Pushkin and Russian literature".
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The SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP has benefited in several ways from its collaboration with the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) (IRLI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St-Petersburg, not only in the field of Russian Studies but in Polish Studies as well.  In 1999 the Institute co-published, along with the SRG, the volume entitled Adam Jerzy Czartoryski: Letters to Vilna / Listy do Wilna 1805, under the editorship of SRG member Richard Sokoloski, and with a Foreword by Sergej Nikolaev of IRLI.  Professors Nikolaev and Sokoloski will also be collaborating on the publication of a collection of letters (in Polish) by Andrzej Lubieniecki the Younger to Krzysztof Radziwill, which will be accompanied by an English translation.
   In May 2001 Robert Major, on behalf of the University of Ottawa and the SRG, signed an agreement on scholarly co-operation with the IRLI in St-Petersburg (for description & photos, please see our Russian Happenings page).
   We are especially grateful for the collaboration of such a prominent scholar as Dr Galina Galagan, a Senior Researcher with the Instititute and Associate Editor of the prestigious journal Russkaja Literatura.  Dr Galagan has paid a number of visits to the University of Ottawa, and in 2000 was appointed an Honorary Member of the Slavic Research Group.  For the past several years Dr Galagan has been part of a three-member scholarly panel (together with Lidia Gromova and Andrew Donskov), preparing a volume on Tolstoy's concept of 'Unity of People', to be published by the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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A delegation from the SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP visited the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in Moscow in May 2001 and signed an agreement on academic co-operation (for description & photos, please see our Russian Happenings page).  MGIMO is an educational centre for training in foreign languages and cultures, aimed at Russian diplomats and other Russian citizens representing their country abroad in business, sports, the arts etc.  It comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
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The collaboration between the University of Ottawa (the SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP and, formerly, the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures) and the State L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Moscow goes back a number of years.  The Museum has been kind enough not only to supply us with many archival documents relating to Tolstoy, but also to compile these materials for publication.  They have been our co-publisher for several volumes: Sergej Tolstoy and the Doukhobors: a journey to Canada, L.N. Tolstoj i F.A. Zheltov: Perepiska [Leo Tolstoy and Fedor Zheltov: Correspondence], and L.N. Tolstoj i S.A. Tolstaja: Perepiska s N.N. Strakhovym / The Tolstoys' correspondence with N.N. Strakhov.
   A formal agreement on scholarly co-operation was signed in Moscow in May 2001 (for description & photos, please see our Russian Happenings page).
   We are especially grateful for the significant contribution made by Tat'jana Nikiforova, a researcher with the Museum, and Natalija Kalinina, Head of the Museum's Manuscript Division.
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The SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP is also grateful for its longstanding relationship with the other major Tolstoy Museum in Russia, the one located at Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's ancestral estate (Muzej-usad'ba L.N. Tolstogo "Jasnaja Poljana").  The Museum's Senior Researcher, Galina Alekseeva, has paid several visits to the University of Ottawa: in October 1999 she was an invited participant at our Doukhobor Centenary Conference; three years earlier she had contributed to the OPEN FORUM at a conference here on Lev Tolstoy and the concept of brotherhood -- the Proceedings, under the same title, were published by Legas in 1996, ed. Andrew Donskov and John Woodsworth.  Our research on the Doukhobors has also been enthusiastically supported by the Museum's director, Vladimir Tolstoy (great-great-grandson of Leo Tolstoy), who contributed a Foreword to the first volume of our Canada-Russia series (a joint project with Carleton University).
   An SRG delegation visited Yasnaya Polyana in May 2001 and signed a memorandum on scholarly co-operation with the Tolstoy Museum there (for description & photos, please see our Russian Happenings page).
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The SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP is grateful for the assistance it has received from the Russian Embassy in Canada in co-sponsoring a number of events both at the university and, on occasion, at the Embassy itself.  These include the Ambassador's Annual Book Awards to students in Russian Studies at the University of Ottawa, a Pushkin Exhibit at the University early in 2000, and its collaboration with the SRG in other events celebrating the bicentenary of Pushkin's birth in 1999 (see Russian Happenings page for details).  A particular acknowledgement is due Ambassador Vitalij Churkin, former Deputy Ambassador Mikhail Lysenko as well as to former First Secretary & Cultural Attaché Valerij Nazarenko.
   One might also mention the Russian Consulate-General (Le Consulat général de la Fédération de Russie) in Montréal, which recently celebrated its centenary year, as well as the Russian Consulate-General in Toronto.
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The SLAVIC RESEARCH GROUP is in the process of developing ties with the Russian Association for Canadian Studies (Rossijskoe obshchestvo izuchenija Kanady [ROIK]), which acts as a focal point for the study of Canada in Russia.  It was constituted as a non-governmental organisation in September 1992, largely due to the efforts of prominent internationalist L. A. Bagramov, on the basis of the former Soviet Association for Canadian Studies created in 1989. 
   ROIK aims to promote study, teaching, research and publication on Canadian themes, facilitate the development of Russian-Canadian relations, circulate information about Canadian current events and contemporary and historical achievements, and contribute to the activities of the International Council for Canadian Studies in Ottawa, with which it maintains close ties.
   In addition to its Moscow headquarters, ROIK has two regional branches -- one in St-Petersburg and the other in Tatarstan. 
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