A History of Soviet and Russian Friendship Societies in Europe - Dr Pia Koivunen

In her illustrated talk, Dr Pia Koivunen provides a general overview of Soviet and Russian “friendship societies” over the last 100 years in different European countries, including the United Kingdom, and will explore their similarities and differences.

The history of the friendship societies in the different European countries to some extent necessarily reflected the ups and downs of each country's relations with the USSR and then with the Russian Federation. Against this background, Dr Koivunen will show how friendship societies changed and developed throughout the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, which may give us an interesting new perspective on Soviet/Russian relations with European countries throughout the period.

Dr Pia Koivunen is a Senior Lecturer in European and World History at the University of Turku in Finland. 

Since 2022 Dr Koivunen has been the chair of the Finnish Association for Russian and East European Studies. She is the editor of the Lähihistoria journal (Contemporary History) and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Slavonic Library at the Finnish National Library. Dr Koivunen has also been a visiting scholar at the Aarhus University in Denmark, the University of Cheltenham in the UK and the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg.