Understanding of the USSR collapse reasons is one of the most important factors that prevent disintegration of Russia. The comprehension of the fact that collapse of the USSR was disastrous is growing in the Russian society. However answers provided to the question why USSR collapsed are still naive. The article is devoted not only to the current social and political situation and prospects of the Russian Federation but to the future of the analytics which nowadays can be considered as the analytics of elite games, as a new way of reflection which allows reconstruct multidimensional models of the past, the present and the future. The main subject matter of the article is the history of relations within the Soviet and the international elite of the 1930s-1970s. History of elites and clans requires not just a scientific approach which presupposes relations of agents and subjects but requires interpretation, a peculiar hermeneutics.

The author considers consequences and prospects of reforms commenced in the Russian education in the 2000s and 2010s. The author focuses his attention on conception of “effective contract” an instructor strikes with an educational institution administration, on bibliometrical indices as the criterion of an instructor’s scientific activity efficiency, on introduction of final composition in senior classes and on instrumentation materials of the Unified state exam in Russian and, first of all, on massive simplification of tasks, and on reduction of minimum points required for admission to a higher education institutions. The author notes crudity of reforms undertaken and planned, a significant intensification of bureaucratization and unfounded upsurge of reporting. Finally the author proposes a number of measures that can stop the pernicious trend.

The first in the series this article deals with Peter the Great`s diplomacy at the final stage of Russo-Turkish War of 1686–1700. The peace negotiations were to be conducted at Karlowitz between the Holy League (Austria, Venetia, Poland, Russia) and the Sublime Porte to try to reach an uneasy compromise. As the author argues in the opening part of his text, the conflicting interests of the allies seemed obvious enough to make the chances for success slim.

The author considers issues connected with exposure of the «perestroika» design in the USSR in 1985–1991 as the design is reflected in sources and historiography. Importance of these issues for study of the current history of Russia is demonstrated. Principal approaches to the problem under investigation are designated and arguments of respective approaches followers are presented. The author comes to the conclusion that poignancy of discussion does not abate while approaches of scientists and participants of perestroika events remain to be extremely contradictive. The main nerve of discussion is connected with the issue whether there was a conception of perestroika or not and what was the content and intention of the conception. In the latter case researchers are in disagreement on the point whether the conception was aimed at the destruction of the Soviet formation or such destruction was a result of objective processes. Suggestions on methodology of the problem investigation including methods of historical sources critique are made in the article.

Since the 19th century there is a common belief in the historiography that the period of Catherine II’s reign was the time when the policy of forest protection (started by Peter the Great`s as the wood was an important recourse for long-term development of navy and industry) was stopped. Indeed Catherine II supposed it necessary to develop private initiative, and state monopolies unpromising for economical development. However the materials taken under consideration in this article show that this judgment is lop-sided and not quite correct. At the time of refuse of repressive methods, Catherine II paid much attention to the problems of forestry – organization of preservation, descriptions, studies, creation of new regulation. Chopping wood really increased during her reign. But the reason for it was due to not only the changes in legislation and connivance as the growth of population and practice of interpretation.

Contrarily to traditional analysis of the politics main components (property interests, lawful, institutional and social principles of power) the publication turns towards a new political history in studying mechanism or everyday life of power (methods, efficiency of function, image). Personality, subjectivity are the most characteristic features of revolution. How one comes to revolutionary? Is it possible to speak about number of persons, little active in ordinal but essentially important in critical moment? Or there are some circumstances able to provoke crucial deviation in one’s mind and action? Quantity of unpublished documents from archives helps us to understand the whole chain of problems: cultural origins of the revolution; making up a «new human being»; law and violence in revolutionary administration; discourse of the revolution.

The author considers biography of A.K.Voronski, one of the principal figures of the literary process in the 1920s. In 1922 the Bolshevist Party entrusted him not only with censorship but also with guidance of writers whom L.D.Trotsky called “fellow-travellers”. Particularity of the situation consisted in the fact that in the mid-1920s the party admitted the proletarian culture’s inadequacy. The proletarian culture required cooperation with the old prerevolutionary culture in order to acquire the experience accumulated by the old culture. Voronski helped “fellow-travellers” to survive and at the same time tried to instruct representatives of the young proletarian culture in literary mastery skills. This activity caused bitter criticism of the Proletkult representatives who saw in Voronski’s activity the enginery of the class enemy. Co-existence of various literary groupings was possible because the idea of class war within the country still did not gained ascendancy in the party.