Russian Oriental science has suffered a heavy loss - on February 25, 2016, Mikhail Leontievich Titarenko, a prominent Russian orientalist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist, State Prize winner, died.

The life of Mikhail Leontyevich is the history of becoming a scientist, researcher, diplomat and administrator. He was born on April 27, 1934 in the Bryansk region in the family of a peasant M. L. Titarenko-a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Beijing and Fudan Universities of the People's Republic of China. For a number of years, Mikhail Leontievich served in the diplomatic service at the Consulate General of the USSR in Shanghai (1961-1962) and the Embassy of the USSR in Beijing (1963-1965). In 1965, he was invited as a research assistant to the Central Committee of the CPSU, where he worked for twenty years, becoming one of the leading experts on China and the Far East in the highest governing bodies of the USSR.

In November 1965, M. L. Titarenko received the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, having defended his dissertation on the topic "Ancient Chinese school of Morists and their teaching". In 1979, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

In 1985, M. L. Titarenko became director of the Institute of the Far East of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now IDV RAS), having established himself as an excellent organizer of the creative scientific process. Under his leadership, IDV RAS became a multidisciplinary center for scientific research on a wide range of theoretical and practical problems in the development of the Russian and foreign Far East. The Institute actually became his own brainchild. The path of development of the Institute was not easy, but M. L. Titarenko was able to lead the IDV along the turbulent channel of the difficult 1990s and no easier 2000s. As a result, the Institute retained a unique staff and was able to support people in social terms in these difficult times for researchers. Over the years, under the leadership of

M. L. Titarenko IDV RAS has gained a well-deserved recognition in Russia, the near and far abroad as a major scientific center in the field of integrated studies of China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, the problems of the Asia-Pacific region and the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

In May 1997, M. L. Titarenko was elected a corresponding member, and in May 2003-a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was an honorary professor at a number of Chinese and foreign academies and institutes, and an honored worker of the Russian Diplomatic Service.

Mikhail Leontievich took an active part in the activities of the Society of Soviet-Chinese Friendship (now the Society of Russian-Chinese Friendship), becoming Chairman of its Central Board. At the same time, he was a member of the Executive Council of the Russian-Chinese Committee for Friendship, Peace and Development of the XXI Century, a member of the Presidium of the Organization of Solidarity and Cooperation of the Peoples of Asia and Africa. Mikhail Leontievich was a holder of a number of Soviet and Russian government awards and awards of foreign countries.

Mikhail Leontyevich's research activities were broad and diverse. His creative baggage includes more than 400 research papers on the most important problems of Chinese history and culture. He has shown himself to be one of the largest researchers in Russia and abroad of Chinese philosophy and spiritual culture, international and inter-civilizational relations in Asia, problems of the new Eurasianism and relations between the Russian Federation and its Far Eastern neighbors. His philosophical works in methodological terms make it possible not only to systematize and analyze the main schools and trends of traditional Chinese thought, but also to trace its key canons, project them on the current political and social realities of China, Western countries and Russia. He was the head of the largest encyclopedia project "Spiritual Culture of China". His methods for predicting China's development, which stand the test of time and fully correlate with the trends in the Chinese economy in recent years, seem to be relevant.

Mikhail Titarenko paid close attention to the development of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership, issues of stability and joint development of the two countries, and cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China in the Asia-Pacific integration field. He developed the concept of a new Eurasianism, which analyzes important aspects of international relations in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, mainly from the point of view of ensuring Russia's national interests.

M. L. Titarenko paid considerable attention to the regional context of trilateral cooperation between Russia, India, and China, which began to take shape at the beginning of the XXI century. The Institute of the Far East, headed by him, initiated a scientific dialogue between scientists from Russia, India and China, and developed the conceptual framework for trilateral cooperation. The conclusions, generalizations, and proposals of the Institute of International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences were used by the three countries ' leaders both in the process of bilateral and trilateral negotiations and in the preparation of final documents on trilateral cooperation.

The Directorate, the entire staff of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the editorial board of the magazine "Vostok (Oriens)" express their condolences to the staff of the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the family and friends of Mikhail Leontievich Titarenko.

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