Moscow State Institute of International Relations abbreviated as MGIMO University, is an academic institution run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, which is widely considered the most prestigious university in Russia. Henry Kissinger called it the "Harvard of Russia" because it educates a constellation of the political, economic, and intellectual elite.
It was founded by Stalin in 1944 for the purpose of enhancing the education and training of the Soviet diplomatic corps for the new, post-War II global environment.
Since 1992 the University is led by Professor Anatoly Torkunov, who is also a MGIMO graduate, holds two doctoral degrees in History and Political Science and has the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

Below is the link to the article in the main News section, official MGIMO University website and an unofficial translation of the article
https://mgimo.ru/about/news/main/jayatilleka/
Unofficial translation from the Russian language
28.01.2019
Ambassador of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Dayan Jayatilleka at MGIMO
On January 24th the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka visited MGIMO.
The guest was received by the Rector of the University Mr. A. V. Torkunov and the Prorector of graduate and international programs Mr. A. A. Baykov. The Head of the chair of Oriental Studies Mr. D. V. Streltsov was also present at the meeting.
Rector A. V. Torkunov told about the history of research on the Indio – Pacific region and training in foreign languages. Thus, the Sinhalese language was taught at the Department of Indo-Iranian and African languages from 1963 till 1995, today the department carries out the training programs for Hindu, Urdu, Bangla, Persian, Dari, Pashto, Tajik, Amharic, Swahili, and Afrikaans languages. Rector also pointed out that the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Hon. S. V. Lavrov had studied Sinhalese at MGIMO and begun his career as a diplomat in Sri Lanka: he had served as an Attaché of the USSR Embassy in the Republic of Sri Lanka from 1972 till 1976.
Dayan Jayatilleka expressed interest in active academic cooperation with MGIMO as "a key school of foreign policy in Russia, an alma mater of a whole constellation of well-known diplomats, academicians and politicians". The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka mentioned his scientific interests, multiple speeches and publications, focused on topics of the fight against terrorism and extremism, conflict management, issues of the global and regional policies, first of all – in the Indo–Pacific region. In his researches, Dayan Jayatilleka places great emphasis on the study of a perception of the cold war from the point of view of states of a so-called "Global South", which the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a part of.
Rector also gave a brief summary of MGIMO schools, discussions and researches dedicated to the studies on global policies. In particular, Anatoly Vasilyevich mentioned a book 'The Kremlin Letters: Stalin's Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt', written by Mr. V. O. Pechatnov, professor at the Department of history and policies of European and American states, and Mr. David Raynolds, member of the British Academy and professor at Cambridge University. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Dayan Jayatilleka expressed his interest in cooperation with Mr. V. O. Pechatnov as well as readiness to lead a series of lectures for MGIMO students as a visiting professor.
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Dayan Jayatilleka received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Peradeniya, he is a Master of Philosophy of the University of Colombo, Doctor of Philosophy (Griffith University). Has been a Chairman of the Governing body of the International Labour Organization (2007-2008), Vice President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (2007 – 2008), Coordinator of the Asian Group at the UNCTAD (2009), Permanent Representative (Ambassador) of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the UN and Other Organizations in Genève (2007 – 2009), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to France, concurrently accredited to Spain and Portugal, Permanent Representative of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to UNESCO (2011-2013). Currently serves as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation, concurrently accredited to the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Armenia.