Bakanova Marina Vladimirovna

The story of Marina Bakanova is an example of how personal charisma, a scientific approach and an active civic position turn into an effective tool of public diplomacy. The victory in the “Leaders of Public Diplomacy” competition was a logical result of many years of systematic work in the international information space.

The key project with which Marina Bakanova became a laureate of the competition was the author’s blog on the platform of the Russian International Affairs Council. The blog was launched in March 2022, during a period when Russia faced unprecedented external information pressure. From the very beginning, it was conceived as a long-term, essentially unlimited, platform for a professional and balanced conversation about international processes.

The goal of the project is not just commenting on the world agenda. Marina Bakanova's blog works to develop public diplomacy in the information field, to update the interaction of classical and public diplomacy, to build the principles of public diplomacy on a scientific basis. Special attention is paid to the formation of a single information space for public diplomacy with the participation of a foreign pool of Russians, strengthening the integral and indivisible “Russian space” and the contribution of public diplomacy to the formation of a multipolar world.

The blog's topics cover the countries of Central and South Asia, the Near and Middle East, China and issues of their relations with Russia.

As of December 2025, the blog published 55 materials with an audience of more than 50 thousand readers. The project is regularly included in the top RIAC blogs, and its author has repeatedly become a blogger of the month. Among the readers are representatives of the diplomatic, political science and oriental studies community in Russia and abroad.

Marina Bakanova also runs the Telegram channel “Russia, Pakistan and everything, everything, everything...” and is the author of the popular scientific electronic magazine “East for Everyone.”

To be a leader, according to Marina Bakanova, means to be able to lead, to offer new horizons, to unite people with ideas and their implementation, to be responsible for the result and be able to turn challenges into points of growth.

Priorities include expanding interaction with classical diplomacy, the practical use of public diplomacy in the work of diplomatic missions, developing international information exchange and the formation of a comprehensive “Russian space.”

Links and contacts

RIAC author’s blog - https://russiancouncil.ru/blogs/marina-bakanova/

Telegram channel - https://t.me/russiapakistan

East for Everyone Magazine - https://pakistan.rs.gov.ru/activity/vostok-dlya-vseh/

Phone: +92-332-869-18-94

E-mail: mari-ina@mail.ru