The Department of Russian language was created at the University of Delhi in the year 1946 at the instance of the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who had a vision to deploy foreign languages to integrate independent India with the developed countries of the world. The founder Head of the Department, Dr. V. A. Shibayev, was a polyglot and a close associate of Nikolai Roerich, the world famous Russian painter, poet and philosopher.