Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences SPAIN: lessons of its historic experience and new challenges Abstract: September 2-3, 2015 the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences held the 11 ^th Russian-Spanish seminar, organized by the Centre of the Iberian Studies and titled “Spain: four decades of the democratic transition”. Touching upon a wide range of issues, the participants sought to analyze the processes of transformation in the socio-economic and political life of Spain and Russia, paying special attention to the bilateral relations in the face of the new global challenges which affect the international affairs.