The diplomatic relations between the countries date back to February 19, 1957. The year of 1958 brought two milestones, in January when an Agreement on Cultural Cooperation was signed and February when the partners entered an Agreement on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation.

The year of 1963 saw the first ever visit of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka to the Soviet Union. In the years that followed, Sri Lanka erected several industrial facilities on its land with the USSR assistance.

Seeking ways to encourage new forms of trade and economic cooperation, the partners established a Business Council under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Commerce Chamber that incorporated around 40 private export/import and production companies. 

The first ever in the history of modern day Russia visit of Sri Lanka’a President to Moscow took place on February 6-9, 2010. President Mahinda Rajapaksa met his Russian counterpart President Dmitry Medvedev. Since then regular contacts proliferated across many levels, including ministries and agencies. 

A major tool for development of bilateral economic ties is the Russian-Sri Lankan Intergovernmental Commission on Trade & Economic and Scientific and Technical Cooperation that held its inaugural meeting in Moscow on February 12, 2016. 

Military and technical domain has not been left outside the scope of cooperation. Covering this aspect is the Military and Technical Cooperation Agreement of January 2004. In 2012, Sri Lanka received Mi-type helicopters from Russia.

Today the partners are considering ways of promoting military and technical cooperation in the area of training of specialists, supply of naval ships, as well as construction of a service center for after-sales support of Russian helicopters.