The article deals with events that unfold in Ukraine. The author analyzes the media responses to riots that have occurred in Kyiv this winter. Logic of radicalization us seen everywhere. Events at Maidan and at Grushevsky street are well controlled by the opposition (with all qualifications and deliberate aberrations) and radicals act quite consciously and persistently: they had been well prepared. To be sure, events of this winter are the pilot balloon that has to check stability and endurance of Russia. In fact, all these efforts were made not in vain. They are focused on Russia. There is the only way out: calmness, anti-extremism and law-abidance.

The development of atom weaponry undertaken by the USA in secret from the USSR at the final stage of the World War II led the former anti-Nazi allies along the path of mutual hatred and brought them to the Cold War and nuclear arms race that put the world in the historical nuclear stalemate that was fraught with the real danger of annihilation of life all over the Earth.

The article deals with the burning issues of terrorism and Islamic extremism which are the main threat for the whole humanity today. This danger causes the growing alarm in the world society and that’s why needs thorough analyses of their reasons. That’s why in the article the author thoroughly investigates the growth of terrorist threats, their reasons and why the terrorism and Islamic extremism are especially dangerous. In this context considered the problems connected with the adopting of the decisions by the different international organizations on common struggle with terrorism. Using system and holistic analyses the author who was the ambassador at large and the director of the Middle East department in the USSR Foreign Ministry researchts the possible ways and methods of struggle with terrorism.

A conference organized by S. Kurginyan was dedicated to the fate of the single state examination in the RF. Members of higher education institutions faculty and scientists who work at these institutions took part in discussion of the urgent topic. The Russian education problem lies in the fact that initiatives of the power in the sphere of education have long ago come in contradiction with moods of the overwhelming part of population. In fact, nearly 70% of population is strongly against the SSE. The SSE system contributes to the degradation of education as a whole. It was important for participants of the conference to understand the essence of the SSE, how it is carried on and to what asymmetric results the SSE provides across the RF territory. The author considers the SSE within the general context of education reforms.

Destruction of monuments is one of the most vivid characteristics of revolutionary events. Raging crowds enthusiastically overturn bronze figures of hateful rulers and their servants and destroy other visible hostile symbols. During radical political transformations not only the power is seized in the center of a state and all over a country and not just control over armed forces and important facilities is established. A victory in symbolic dimension has an enormous significance because such victory exerts tremendous impact on people’s minds and hearts, mobilizes masses. A city belongs to a person whose monument stands at the central square of a city.

The article is devoted to the questions of compliance of the act of the Emperor Nicholas II dated the 2nd March 1917 about abdication and the act of the Grand duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich dated the 3rd March 1917 about refusal from the Throne to the norms of State law of the Russian Empire. The analysis of the theory and practice of rules of a succession in Russia since the time of Ivan IV to Nicholas II is presented. A particular attention is paid to the rules of succession established by Peter I and Paul I. A question of status of the Russian Emperor according to the Fundamental laws of the Russian Empire is partially investigated. A detailed analysis of the acts of Nicholas II and Mikhail regarding their compliance to the imperial legislation is given; an attempt to show a role of these documents in discredit of ideology of the Russian monarchy is done.

In article an estimation of U.S. press of Soviet announcement of Stalingrad battle is analyzed. Studied opinions of the press the U.S. about beginning the battle. Specificity of these opinions is revealed. Sources of formation of opinions and estimations are considered, for the first time in historiography. A comparison of press concerning the progress and character of Soviet defense and Nazi offensive.

The interview is dedicated to the current events in Ukraine. De-Banderization of Ukraine is inevitable. It will occur much along the lines of denazification, and Western assistant will not help. These assistants initially provided help even to Hitler. The end of that story is well known. Therefore, right now the main thing is to see the truth, shake oneself free from the spell of the Ukrainian nazi propaganda. It is necessary to understand fully the goodness, totality and happiness of the choice made by the Crimean people.

The author is well aware that by trying to immerse the reader into the murky ages of the Caucasus history he embarks upon a risky travel. The overwhelming part of academic knowledge on that subject-matter is doomed to remain either plausible hypothesis or dubious theories. To verify them with absolute correctness seems next to impossible. Nevertheless we are not going to give up hope to have the picture of the past more vivid and trustworthy. Our cautious optimism is based on the belief that historical sources, for all its impressive quantity, have not yet parted with many of its secrets.

For Russia World War I turned out to be not just a precursor but also a powerful detonator of fateful events of 1917. The tenth wave of revolutionary impulse generated by hardships of those ragged years did not stop upon destruction of the autocracy’s fundamentals that had seemed hard and fast just a few years ago. The impulse went much further and smashed down age-old fundamentals, traditional order of the state and popular life. And resulted in another war, even more fearful and bloody civil war. A century after beginning of these earthshaking events that shattered the whole country and the whole world we are bound to revisit them and to understand them in the perspective of the present-day problems and challenges. To do that we have, in the first place, call from not-being, to revive, hear and perceive adequately voices of people who had endured hardships and consequences of that war now commonly called «the forgotten war».

The article is devoted to the questions of compliance of the act of the Emperor Nicholas II dated the 2nd March 1917 about abdication and the act of the Grand duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich dated the 3rd March 1917 about refusal from the Throne to the norms of State law of the Russian Empire. The analysis of the theory and practice of rules of a succession in Russia since the time of Ivan IV to Nicholas II is presented. A particular attention is paid to the rules of succession established by Peter I and Paul I. A question of status of the Russian Emperor according to the Fundamental laws of the Russian Empire is partially investigated. A detailed analysis of the acts of Nicholas II and Mikhail regarding their compliance to the imperial legislation is given; an attempt to show a role of these documents in discredit of ideology of the Russian monarchy is done.

During the Civil War and the Russian Time of Troubles there was a revival of nomadic consciousness inherent in Russian ethnicity. In stable times it was receding into the background and gradually becoming obsolete. However, it showed its true worth in an extreme situation. That very circumstance played a crucial role in the survival of the Russian population. A significant part of population moved on and became nomads. In this regard, the author relates this large-scale phenomenon to Russian bag people, or meshochnics. Millions of them were essentially nomads. The Soviet state declared war on them, generally for ideological reasons. The bag people movement became illegal. Having started the fight against the state, they met and overcame countless difficulties on their nomadic way. Ultimately, Russian nomads and bag people forced Bolsheviks to compromise.

The authors relate details of so called Dymovka affair, a large-scale press campaign connected with slaughter of G.I.Malinovsky, the agrarian correspondent of the «Red Nikolaev» newspaper. The authors analyze press materials, art works and archive materials pertaining to the event as well as to the trial of «murders of the agrarian correspondents». The authors come to the conclusion that the real reason of the press campaign was the struggle for power between I.V.Stalin who was supported by F.E.Dzierzynsky and L.D.Trotsky. The article demonstrates how sinuosity of this struggle was reflected in press publications, first of all, in the «Red Nikolaev» newspaper.

The issue is about Russian foreign policy during post-Napoleonic period in Europe. Russia keenly protested against Austrian policy of interference with German home affairs. Russia did not champion the reactionary Carlsbad Decrees and restrained from recommending it to German sires. Alexander patronized sovereignty and constitutions of the German princes against the Habsburg court. From 1815 to 1821 Russia recommended and supported public representation bodies established in Bavaria, Baden, Würtemberg, Hessen-Darmstadt with three Saxon duchies of Sachsen-Weimar, Sachsen-Koburg and Sachsen-Meiningen. Russia was going to help France return to the Great Power system and replace the Quadruple Alliance with a «grand alliance» of all European countries which signed the Vienna treatises. Russia acknowledged the revolutionary government of Spain despite adoption of the constitution through revolution and the predominantly radical character of the constitution. After the Italian Revolution (1820) and on the eve of the Congress of Troppau, Russia did its best to prevent Austrian interference with Italian affairs and use the Congress to settle the Naples Revolution problem peacefully. The St. Petersburg Cabinet planned to reiterate the European Union and European Constitution issues.

The unique practice of the New Economic Policy that forced to transfer asearch of the oretical and practical solutions in the capitalist plane in the processes of the Socialist society building was accompanied by the Russian Soviet economic science take-off. Complex researches of theoretical and applied nature undertaken by the brilliant constellation of the Soviet economists of the 1920s could in perspective amount the foundation of the mixed economy of the transitory period in the backward in industrial terms peasant country. Less than in 30 years a number of studies will be acknowledged as outstanding achievements of the global economic thought. Involvement of new archive documents in the scientific turnover and understanding of materials that had been published earlier allowed reconstruction of history of the conflict that occurred between scientist and statesman E.A.Preobrazhensky and the authorities. Significance of the theme suggested consists in problem of confrontation between conceptual priorities of innovative economic models and conceptual priorities aimed at maintaining of political regime and retention of political power. And this problem has not lost its topicality even now.

The article is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Slovakian national uprising (August 29 — October 28, 1944) and of the Carpathian- Doukla operation of the Red Army (September 8 — October 28, 1944) that was carried out due to political reasons in order to assist the uprising. The operation was prepared in the shortest terms and was carried out in the most difficult conditions. The operation led to enormous losses. The 1st Czechoslovakian army corps formed on the USSR took part in the operation together with the Red Army. On October 6 the Soviet and Czechoslovakian troops conquered the Doukla pass in the Carpathian ridge and reached the prewar Czechoslovakian border. The author demonstrates variety of the operation’s assessments in the recent Czech and Slovakian historiography. The article is based on archive and published documents, memoirs of the generals and literature available to the author.

The article is devoted to the problems of forest exploitation and protection at the North of Russia in the 18th century. During this period the region got the reputation of the greatest exporter and employer of forests, hard to be held under the control of central power. Though the research based on statistics data and proving that conclusions like that are a mistake, is more than 50 years old, the questions why this stereotype was formed stays without an answer. The materials used for this article provide us with the opportunity to say that the attention to the problems of local forests during the 18th century was constantly drawn by reports and complaints of local people, who used the rhetoric of official forest-protecting official documents, to gain own aims.

Assessments of the World War I as the war of an entirely new type are adduced in the article. Opinions of philosophers (Fr. Jünger, V.V.Rozanov, F.A.Stepun, politician L.D.Trotsky, psychiatrist I.A.Sikorsky, writer Pierre Drieu La Rochelle are presented. E.N.Trubetskoi and P.B.Struve demonstrated in their articles how the war aggravated national problems and engendered the «Ukrainian question». The conservative position expressed by Antony Khrapovistky, L.A.Tikhomirov and M.O.Men'shikov. L.B.Voitylovski and V.V.Korsak characterize the war as the direct participants of fighting.

One of the biggest operation of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War was operation Bagration held in 1944. We knew about that operation practically everything. But some documents found recently in Russian military archives open new interesting pages in history of operations Bagration and Overlord.

The article deals with practices of survival in the blockaded city in the most difficult time, from autumn of 1941 through spring of 1942. It is demonstrated that despite the collapse of ethical norms and weakening of ties among different social groups provision of help to family members and to the most vulnerable social groups, i.e. elderly people, women and children, remained the ethical values inhabitants of Leningrad kept to profess even during the greatest social disaster of 20th century. A particular attention is paid to the practice of gratitude for help. It is noted that respondent presents to people who had provided support were scanty and poor but nevertheless were a tradition emerged in the besieged city. The author demonstrates that the moral values inherent to people could express themselves even on the period of enormous suffering though not to the full extent in interpersonal relations.

The article deals with new types of global wars that arise and will arise all over the world (including the Asian-Pacific region). The author examines causes of global economic and military-political crises, backgrounds of the present-day economic condition of the US, roots of the US economic problems, and twinned plan of the US exit from the crisis. Finally, economic reformatting of the world, successes and problems of the American project form the subject matter of analytical material. Immediacy of the issues set forth in the article is conditioned by the fact that Russia’s future depends directly not only on domestic policy but also on the global economic and military-political context.

The author considers principal stages and complicated problems of restoration of Russia’s relations with its East European former allies and negative phenomena Russia encounters along this way, as well as new circumstances emerging in connection with NATO the European Union expansion in the course of the East European countries' joining the Western integration blocks. Analysis of all these cardinal international changes occurred during the past decade and a half provides an opportunity not just to take into account lessons of the recent past but also (and that is particular important) to project ways of exit from the acute aggravation of international situation caused by the Ukrainian crisis. This crisis brought about «sanctions» of unpredictable consequences against Russia undertaken by the US and the EU countries including the East European «young Europeans» that follow the US.

The author considers employment of memory about Decembrists in the CPRF propaganda, correction of Lenin’s concept of «three generations» in accordance with challenges of the time, i.e. «quest for ethnic roots», «struggle against terrorism».

The author draws attention to an event that, in his opinion, became a milestone and in some way completed the process of growing discord among the Russian intelligentsia. On the 28th of March, 1922 young monarchist emigrants killed the leader of the Cadet party V. Nabokov in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. Since early XX Vladimir Dmitrievich and his associates had been guided by the liberal utopia, which was unacceptable for Russia at that time, and launched an offensive against the domestic monarchy. The ideology of the latter also became an utopia in terms of modernization; still the state continued to symbolize the stability capable of evolving. Meanwhile, liberals managed to undermine the authority of the political system. This resulted in a revolution, the Russian Time of Troubles and the rise to power of a new utopian group — Bolsheviks. Vladimir Nabokov experienced disillusionment and became an emigrant. He was shot by the conspirators, whose psychology and ideology were defined by the sovereign utopia and monarchical exaltation. The author believes that the fierce oppositions between collectives inspired by social utopias often became the dominant of domestic development.

The unique practice of the New Economic Policy that forced to transfer a search of theoretical and practical solutions in the capitalist plane in the processes of the Socialist society building was accompanied by the Russian Soviet economic science take-off. Complex researches of theoretical and applied nature undertaken by the brilliant constellation of the Soviet economists of the 1920s could in perspective amount the foundation of the mixed economy of the transitory period in the backward in industrial terms peasant country. Less than in 30 years a number of studies will be acknowledged as outstanding achievements of the global economic thought. Involvement of new archive documents in the scientific turnover and understanding of materials that had been published earlier allowed reconstruction of history of the conflict that occurred between scientist and statesman E.A.Preobrazhensky and the authorities. Significance of the theme suggested consists in problem of confrontation between conceptual priorities of innovative economic models and conceptual priorities aimed at maintaining of political regime and retention of political power. And this problem has not lost its topicality even now.

After nearly one hundred years the Great War of 1914−1918 continues to affect the spiritual climate and international conditions under which our contemporary global society exists. Among the important sources which unleash the untold stories of that global conflict there are forgotten reminiscences of a few trained eyewitnesses of the war actions on the Eastern front where the most dramatic confrontations between the Russian Army and the armed forces of the Central Powers began in the first days of August 1914. The Robert R. McCormick's book «With the Russian Army» belong to this kind of once published and «lost» memoirs. The media magnate from Chicago was the only stranger to be invited to Russia and the Russian armies. His duty was manifold: to bring to America the information which «was denied to others», to see from within the military organization of a country geographically so like American size and so eminent in military experience and to feel in the proper sense a call to genuine Russian patriotism that could not be refused by Russian haters. As a matter of fact McCormick’s book published in Autumn 1915 was first in-depth research which explores the conditions that gave rise to the military conflagration of 1914−1918. The article and two appendixes tell us the unique story which reflects the authentic vision of the observer, who came in touch with the bloody massacre of world war.

The most authoritative in the Russian empire the Pirogov society of doctors was established in December of 1885. It carried on regular congresses of doctors and occasional meetings with the collective discussions of every medical problem. After events of October, 1917, the board of society called doctors to boycott the Soviet instititons. In May of 1922 the Pirogov society members made the public protest against severe exploitation of the medical labor, humiliating labor duty and arbitrariness of medical establishments' administration. In summer of 1922 the Pirogov society was closed down and some of its members were deported to the Northern and Eastern regions of Russia or exiled to West Europe.

The author considers an extremely difficult moment of the current history and the current political process connected with involvement of Russian and the EU in the conflict in the South-East of Ukraine. The imperfect Russian statehood provides certain hopes for reconstruction of the USSR (the USSR 2.0) is in need of support by all healthy and sane forces. The Nazi mutiny has occurred in Ukraine and that fact does not allow the Russian patriots any other choice but tacit public support provided to the resistance forces. An alternative structure capable to undertake the state’s functions and to protect its citizens is still lacking in Russia.

The disappearance of the GDR from the political map of Europe over a quarter of century ago clearly marked the beginning of the process of destabilisation of the continent, which are now manifesting themselves in an especially dramatic way in Ukraine and around it. This alone necessitates a more thorough analysis of the history of the East German republic that, to a great extent, embodied the European ideas of peacefullness and social equity. The attempts to reduce the memory of GDR only to the «Stasi horrors» are inappropriate. Edward Snowden proved beyond any doubt that the secret services of the countries portraying themselves as the leaders of the world’s democracy have left Stasi far behind in terms of horrors. The 65th anniversary of the creation of GDR calls for a serious discussion on the main stages of her 40 year-long development from a zone of occupation to a respected member of the European family of peoples. For Russia this subject is especially relevant because it reminds that of one the basic human truths is that you cannot leave a friend in need if you do not want to find yourself on your own. The Russian-German cooperation remains the cornerstone of European peace. The preservation of the traditions of friendship that have always characterised the relationships between the Russians and East Germans is in the interests not only of Russia and Germany but those of the entire continent as well.

The article deals with a comparative analysis of «Moldavian question» in Bessarabia in late XIX and early XX century. Bessarabia was an object of symbolical competition of Russian Empire and Romanian national state. The comparison of Bessarabian case with other «national questions» in Russia shows that the Moldavians had complex position in the ethno-cultural hierarchies and their national movement demonstrated resemblance with the nationalisms of both «western» and «eastern» national borderlands of Russian Empire. In Romanian national imagination and policy Bessarabia played smaller role as compared with Transilvania and Bucovina.

The introduction of guilds in Saint Petersburg in 1722 played an important role in the growth of the city’s handicrafts and corporate self-administration. With signs of development in the middle of the nineteenth century, a civic consciousness appeared in the guilds. Initiatives of the guild masters during the period of reform, demanding the right to choose permanent and non-permanent masters, were not supported by the state, which brought about institutional stagnation, in spite of considerable growth of guilds up to 1914.

Sytin was one of the most important figures of the publishing business at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century in Russia. This article gives us not only an analysis of his biography, but also shows the process of the development of the book publishing business and Sytin’s key role in it. The personality of the entrepreneur is considered in the complex and difficult historical context.

The World War I changed the geopolitical picture of the post-war Europe and encouraged emergence of extraordinary personalities. Stanislaw Bulak-Balakhovich, a guerilla warrior, adventurer, lucky and successful army commander, can be described as one of such figures. War experience he obtained at the frontlines and personal qualities ensured that he was welcomed in armies of several states, including the Russian Empire, the Soviet Russia, Estonia, and Poland. Bulak-Balakhovich made his way from the rank of captain of horses in the Russian Imperial army to the rank of the Polish Republic army general rapidly. He was decorated with Virtuti Militari, the highest Polish order. His attempts to create Belorussian detachments (army) failed because the Polish leaders vigorously suppressed any expression of national self-consciousness on territory under their control. After the Soviet-Polish war ended and the self-contained march to Belorussia failed Bulak-Balakhovich resided in Poland down to the World War II beginning and collaborated with the Polish military command (intelligence and counterintelligence).

Based on the materials from the US press the article explores special aspect of the period of international crisis 1938−1939. The American society in 1920−1930s had two tendencies in respect to the threat of war: «isolationists» on one hand, and «internationalists» on the other hand. Central and local newspapers provide a vivid description of society’s reaction to crisis moments in the international relations in 1938−1939.

The author considers the Soviet satirical press of the 1930s on the example of «The Crocodile» magazine. The historical and political context of the magazine’s existence is discussed in connection with tasks that were set for the Soviet satire of that period. The author analyzes «The Crocodile» editorial board’s policy, the circle of the magazine’s writers, main themes of publications. A particular attention is paid to the issue of denunciations on the magazine’s staff members made to the State Political Directorate. Reasons of «The Crocodile» reform of 1934 are considered in detail. The article is predominantly based on archive materials including documents from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Central Archive.

The basic problems of Russia’s presence in the South Caucasus through historical and retrospective analysis are identified. The geopolitical component of Russia’s foreign policy toward the region since the ХVII century was shown. The configuration of the main political forces in the South Caucasus was analyzed, Russian nowadays influence in the political and economic processes in the region was estimated. The basic geographic, geo-economic and other benefits of the South Caucasus were shown. In particular the transit potential of the region was assessed. Weaknesses of Russian geopolitics in the South Caucasus direction were identified, some recommendations were made.

Interest in the common law of the Ossetians used to be and is still of current interest. Nowadays adats of the Ossetians as well as of other mountainous peoples exist both as an important historical resource and as a practical guidance. The author of the article bases this conclusion not only on studies of published collections of common law documents but also on his own experience gained during the extensive travels in the mountain regions taken by him to understand the reason for these archaic norms to survive through ages.

This article analyzes the 1920s methodological guidelines to conduct tours of Petrograd-Leningrad. Key themes for the formation of the city’s image and the recommendations for sightseeing for the local and visiting tourists are identified. Author concludes that there were four main ideas of the excursion literature for Petrograd-Leningrad in the early Soviet period. Firstly, the City as the center of the revolutionary movement; secondly, historical significance of the former capital was also quite important; thirdly, the city was seen as a center of culture; and finally, Petrograd-Leningrad was presented in textbooks as the economic center of the country, and the large industrial city.

Making use of archive documents that previously were classified the author seeks to understand the background of complex conflict emerged in the second half of the 1950s between leaders of the USSR and the Soviet writers' union on one hand and Howard Fast, the prominent American writer, on the other hand. Trying to comprehend why Fast was the most published and the most highly paid foreign writer in the most cruel years of Stalin’s rule and why he, as if suddenly decided to put the end to his relations with the Communism and the USSR (and did that in the scandalous way) in the earlier years of Khrushchev’s liberalization the author presents his own documented version of this contradictory situation that does not lend itself to an univalent assessment.

The magazine publishes materials of the conference held in October, 2013, at the Department of philology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The conference was dedicated to one of the most ancient monuments of the Russian literature, The Primary Chronicle. It is the most ancient code of the Russian history. It contains the most important mythologemes and ideologemes of the East European past. Participants of the conference focused of issues of hermeneutics, the text’s integrity and origins of The Primary Chronicle. The significance of the monument is not limited to narrow professional interests of medievalists. For The Primary Chronicle was intended to provide the answer to the question: «Wherefrom the Russian land has emerged?»

Volga region woods had strategic meaning for Russian Empire in the 18th century. Its ship groves provided the material for Russian navy. No wonder it was the region where Russian forestry started. Volga region was experienced the most of Peter 1st's restrictions, the hardness of procurement obligations. Forests of Kazan, Nizhni Novgorod, Voronezh provinces were the best known, the best specialists were sent there, the most attention was paid to keep these forests in order.

This article is dedicated to the problem of how intertextual and contextual factors influence an autobiography. The aim of my thesis is analysis of the both S.Y.Alliluev's autobiographies, written in 1922−1923 and 1944−1945. I am trying to show peculiarities of the first text’s influence on the next, differences in systems of argumentation and plots' choice.

In August, 1946, A.A.Zhdanov, the Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) launched the campaign against dissent and nonconformity in the Soviet literature. Zhdanov chose literary magazines «Zvezda» and «Leningrad» as well as M.M.Zoschenko, the writer, and A.A.Akhmatova as and his main targets. Preparing his huge report A.A.Zhdanov used the reference cited below and produced by the Ministry of State Security Department for Leningrad region.

The newspaper «Nedelja», published in Czechoslovakia in 1929−1930, is an important source of information on the economic adaptation of Russian emigrants in this country. Analysis of the publications of the newspaper allows us to consider the basic directions and ways of organizing economic activity of Russian emigrants in Czechoslovakia, to evaluate the nature and forms of mutual aid, characteristics and extent of their participation in the economy of Czechoslovak Republic and other countries.