The article analyzes the prerequisites and consequences of the signing of the Khasavyurt Agreements on August 31, 1996 between the Russian Federation and Chechen separatists. By the summer of 1996, the war in Chechnya had reached an impasse, Russian troops were unable to inflict a decisive defeat on the enemy and gradually lost their strategic initiative. The capture of Grozny by Chechen militants demonstrated the obvious weakness of the federal forces and forced the Russian authorities to make serious concessions. The signing of Agreements, which represented a well-known compromise, made it possible to end the fighting and “ freeze” the conflict. However, the parties were unable to create an effective mechanism for their implementation, which did not allow the conflict between the federal Center and the Chechen Republic to be finally resolved at that time.

Mobilizing society for the implementation of the project of “building communism”, the leadership of the USSR, headed by Khrushchev, sharply intensified the fight against the underground production of scarce consumer goods, as well as illegal buying and reselling of foreign currency, jewelry, antiques, imported clothes and shoes. The fate of the arrested organizers and participants in such a business, as well as the officials who “covered” it, was decided at trials that took place in the early 1960s. in Moscow and other cities. Since there were many Jews among the main defendants who were sentenced to death, there was a certainty in the West that these trials were anti-Semitic. However, this version contradicts the real facts, which is proved in this рaреr.

Lyubov Pisarkova and Anna Goryacheva publish a document from the Russian State Historical Archive (the fund of the Economic Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), which contains information from the late 1880s on the number and class composition of urban vowels of 612 Russian cities where the City Regulations of 1870 were in effect. These data make it possible to study the composition of provincial and sheading city dumas at the regional level; compare the state of urban public administration in different provinces; get an idea of the level of economic development of Russian cities, taking into account their administrative status.

The article analyzes the views of V.P.Vorontsov (1847–1918) on the state of handicrafts in the 1870s–1880s. His attention was drawn to specific issues: handicraft production and cooperation, the sale of handicrafts, commercial and industrial capital, credit for artisans, their work at home, the quality of handicrafts, the connection of crafts with agriculture. The study of statistical data led Vorontsov to the conclusion about the stability of traditional forms of production to destructive capitalist tendencies.

The article analyzes the process of genesis of the left flank of the Russian party system in the spring – summer of 1917. The outbreak of the Russian Revolution completely destroyed the old system of political parties based on Duma activity and Duma elections. There were two tendencies in the development of the Russian Social democratic movement – towards consolidation, unification into a single party and towards a split, the formation of a number of independent parties. By the autumn of 1917, the Social Democrats, separating and uniting, took shape into two opposing all-Russian parties – the RSDLP (united) and the RSDLP (Bolsheviks), as well as the RSDLP (internationalists), which took an intermediate position between them, and a number of small organizations, mainly national.

This part of the memoirs is devoted to the time of studying the author at the historical faculty of the Crimean Pedagogical Institute. The essay considers the age composition and life orientation of provincial students, the preparation of historians for professional activities, life in the conditions of post-war residence in the hostel. Individual characteristics of teachers and students especially highlighted in the text are given. In the section “Strokes to portraits”, in particular, we are talking about two talented scientists – seismologist B. V. Kostrov and chemist E. A. Günner who, simultaneously with the author, were students of the Pedagogical Institute. Student everyday life is associated with reflection on sociopolitical life with the country.