Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on February 19, 1957. An agreement on cultural cooperation was signed in January 1958, and agreements on trade, economic and technical cooperation were signed in February of the same year.
In 1963, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike visited the Soviet Union for the first time. Subsequently, several industrial enterprises were built in Sri Lanka with the assistance of the USSR.
In order to develop new forms of trade and economic cooperation, the Sri Lankan-Russian Business Cooperation Council was established in 2001 at the Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce, which included about 40 export-import and manufacturing private companies.
In January 2004, an Intergovernmental Agreement on Military-Technical Cooperation was signed.
The first ever visit of the President of Sri Lanka to Moscow in the history of modern Russia took place on February 6-9, 2010. Mahinda Rajapaksa held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Regular contacts are maintained between the ministries and departments of the two countries.
The primary mechanism for the development of bilateral economic ties is the Russian-Lankan Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, the first meeting of which was held on February 12, 2016 in Moscow.
