The peace-making loans from the UK are announced Monday by the British Council to coincide with the visit of David Cameron. They represent a remarkable thaw in cultural diplomactic relations. They will mean major Russian exhibitions in Britain, including one on Catherine the Great, coming next year from the Hermitage to the newly expanded National Museum of Scotland.

Low public support has been an issue from time to time. Here in this country we have two offices, and one includes an information center. So we are in public diplomacy. On that one I could also say that sometimes I could wish on more engagement on Ukrainian side.

As Russia tries to undo its reputation as the most unwelcoming tourist destination in Europe, Moscow is investing $3 billion to make the country more enticing to visitors and has set aide $82 million for its 200 nature preserves, some of which are unique natural wonders that have never been open to even the Russian public, much less foreign tourists.

Although the North Korean media shield most of the country’s 24 milliion people from news about the Middle East, word of rebellion seeps through via clandestine radios and word of mouth from people on illicit trading expeditions. It’s because of the fear of revolutionary fervor spreading tthat Kim is anxious to convince Russian leaders that his third son, Kim Jong-eun, is strong enough to be able to rule.

5 Days of War is a new action movie set during the 2008 Georgia-Russia war. The backers of this project seemed to have something in mind along the lines of Hotel Rwanda or The Killing Fields, films that effectively raised awareness and framed a certain narrative of international tragedies that got little attention in the U.S. while they were going on.

Scores of Russian-speaking youth from Israel, North America and the former Soviet Union have gathered in Israel for a two-week international summer camp organized by the Jewish Agency and the Genesis Foundation. “Our primary objective, first and foremost, is to create a meeting point for Russian-speaking Jews from abroad with Russian-speaking youth in Israel,” said Rina Gerber.

Voice of Russia, Russia’s state-funded radio station, is taking a new approach to informing Americans: using American and Russian voices to broadcast international news from American soil. For the first time since its beginnings in 1929, Voice of Russia will broadcast to Americans...