HSE Scholars Expand Arabian Studies

Felix Azhimov, Nikita Anisimov, Abdulrahman Sulaiman O. Alahmed, Vitaly Naumkin, Hamoud Salim Abdullah Al Tuwayah, Denis Volkov and Evgeny Kudrov

© HSE University

HSE University hosted a presentation of the Centre for South Arabian Studies, established under the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies at the Faculty of Humanities. The centre’s work aims to enhance the study of languages and cultures while fostering closer collaboration with scholars and universities in the Arabian Peninsula. The presentation was attended by HSE Rector Nikita Anisimov and diplomats from Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

HSE Rector Nikita Anisimov emphasised that the establishment of the Centre for South Arabian Studies is a significant event that brings together the achievements of Russian scholarship and research conducted by Middle Eastern scholars. ‘I am confident that the work of the centre will make us friends,’ he told the diplomats of Arabian states. ‘The key to any endeavour is people, and here we have true professionals.’ He also expressed gratitude to the centre’s head, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vitaly Naumkin, and the faculty leadership for strengthening ties between Russia and the region’s countries.

Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Felix Azhimov noted that the centre, which began research last year, has already achieved significant progress. Denis Volkov, Director of the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies (IOCS), stated that the centre was established in 2024 within IOCS, which offers instruction in over 50 Eastern languages (both modern and ancient) and runs more than 20 educational programmes. Specialists of the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies study the entire region from the Middle East to the Far East, and the institute itself is one of Russia’s leading centres for Asian studies. He highlighted that the Centre for South Arabian Studies, like IOCS as a whole, adheres to international research excellence standards, with its scholars regularly publishing monographs with leading global publishers and articles in major international academic journals. ‘I invite scholars from Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to join our research activities and collaborate on articles and monographs of such a level,’ Denis Volkov concluded.

Denis Volkov, Felix Azhimov, Nikita Anisimov, Vitaly Naumkin

Russian chargé d'affaires in Yemen Evgeny Kudrov thanked HSE University for opening the centre. He noted that, with a relative lull in Yemen’s prolonged civil conflict, bilateral relations have entered a new phase and are developing dynamically. The Yemeni Prime Minister has visited Russia, along with other high-ranking officials.

Yemen’s Ambassador to Russia Ahmed Salem Al-Wahishi expressed hope that the presence of young Russian diplomats and experts with a deep understanding of Yemen’s issues will accelerate the restoration of bilateral relations. In his view, a final resolution of the Yemeni conflict would enable the Russian Embassy in Aden to resume full operations and ensure its security.

Head of the Centre for South Arabian Studies Vitaly Naumkin, delivering a speech in Arabic, expressed gratitude to the university administration for their attention to South Arabian studies. He stressed that, for the first time in decades, this crucial field of humanities research in Russia has received full institutional support within the HSE Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies. Thanks to the centre’s creation, leading experts from Russia and abroad, as well as early-career scholars—including students, postgraduates, and doctoral candidates at HSE—are now involved in research. He thanked the ambassadors of the Arabian Peninsula states for their keen interest in the centre’s work and expressed hope for further collaboration with universities and research institutions in these countries, both academically and practically. Vitaly Naumkin also announced that he would be donating unique artefacts from his personal museum-archive of South Arabian culture to the centre.

Finally, Leonid Kogan, Deputy Director of the HSE Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, gave a brief account of the latest expedition to Socotra, an island in the Indian Ocean’s Gulf of Aden. Socotra is renowned for its unique natural environment and language, whose written form was only recently developed with significant contributions from Russian specialists, including researchers from the newly established centre.

The presentation was also attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Russia, Abdulrahman Sulaiman O. Alahmed; the Ambassador of Oman, Hamood bin Salim bin Abdullah Altowaiya; and the First Secretary of the UAE Embassy, Sana Alhaj Abdulla Khalifa Almehairbi.