Abstract
<jats:p>A retrospective examination of the experience of Russian-Indian communications is significant in the context of contemporary global developments, particularly given the growing role of the “Global South” and the “Asian pivot” in Russia’s geopolitical strategy. This article presents the first comprehensive historiographical perspec-tive on the history of Russian-Indian communications, beginning with the eighteenth century, which has be-come the subject of special analysis in the works of Russian Indian scholars. The eighteenth century marked the transition from sporadic communications to regular sociocultural interactions in the history of relations be-tween the young Russian Empire and one of the enigmatic countries of the East. Contemporary Russian histo-riography on the topic of “Russia-India” is represented by historiography relating to the post-Soviet period, chronologically spanning the 1990s to the first half of the 2020s. The historiographical process is interpreted within the framework of a conceptualist paradigm, rooted in the assessment of the theoretical and empirical resources of researchers on the problem under study, as well as the results of their scientific research related to substantiating the phenomenon of ethno cultural diffusion. A distinctive feature of contemporary historiograph-ical discourse in relation to the understanding of Russian-Indian communications is identified: their systemic interpretation, manifested in the use of elements of both single-factor and multi-factor analysis of events. Tradi-tional methods of historiographical research are employed: interdisciplinary, periodization, retrospective and prospective analysis, problem-chronological, and comparative.</jats:p>