This chapter is devoted to the history of international studies in Russia. International studies in Russia was highly influenced by the political situation in the country and the international context. Soviet authorities recognized the importance of international studies at a late stage. While in the West, World War I stimulated researchers’ interests in international relations, Soviet scholars started to study international relations during World War II. Soviet researchers were supposed to strengthen Soviet foreign policy, providing information, analysis, and recommendations to Soviet officials. They were highly politicized and influenced by communist ideology. Staying away from the theoretical debates of Western scholars, IR theories were perceived as an element of Western ideology and an integral part of bourgeois philosophy. The development of international studies was strongly influenced by scholars from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) andthe Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). IMEMO and MGIMO had differentpriorities. IMEMO was mainly concerned with major developments in theoretical research, particular paradigms, and theories. MGIMO’s objective was to train diplomats and to ensure that they could implement IR theories and concepts. IMEMO emphasized theoretical issues and MGIMO with the empirical aspects of international studies. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to an overhaul in international studies. Researchers spread around Russia, relocating to different universities from Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. They also lost their ideological basis. Russian IR scholars were able to join international academic debates, but they still preserved a specific research agenda determined by Russian national interests and theoretical preferences.