Apart from the official meeting at the MID, the Czech delegation also met with foremost Russian experts on international relations, namely Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of „Russia in Global Affairs“ journal, Andrey Kortunov, director of Russian International Affairs Council, Dmitry Danilov, director of European Security Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as Ivan Konovalov and Konstantin Blokhin of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. The topics of consultations focused on the policy planning within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the issues of global trends and issues, the role of the USA after the presidential elections, the role of China, EU-Russia relations and the situation in the MENA region.