Russian Government Research Articles

ІММІГРАЦІЯ ЧЕХІВ НА УКРАЇНСЬКІ ЗЕМЛІ В ДРУГІЙ ПОЛОВИНІ ХІХ СТ.

The late 60s and early 70s of the nineteenth century were a favorable period for the settlement of Czechs in the Volyn lands. The immigration of Czechs from Moravia to Volyn was caused primarily by economic factors. The impoverishment of Czech peasants, artisans, and workers forced them to seek a better life outside of the Czech lands. Ukrainian lands, in particular Volyn, became one of the destinations of emigration at that time. The appearance of Czech settlers in Volyn was connected with the desire of some Polish nobility to get rid of their property and leave the Russian Empire. The situation in the Ukrainian lands after the January Uprising opened up the possibility for Czechs to buy land for settlement. At first, land purchases were uncontrolled and often took place in violation of the law. Unfair treatment by intermediaries who tried to profit from those wishing to buy land was not uncommon. For the Russian authorities, the appearance of Czechs in Volyn became a form of pressure on Catholic Polish people. Support, benefits, preferences, and accelerated acquisition of Russian citizenship by the Czechs were steps taken by the Russian government. Separate settlements and districts were created for the Czechs. As for the religious issue, there was a “soft coercion” to convert from the Roman Catholic to the Orthodox Church. However, the Czechs were not particularly concerned about the religious issue, as the arrangement of their own economy, the establishment of private small industries, and the creation of decent living conditions were the priority tasks they set for themselves. Over time, the Russian authorities began to gradually limit benefits and reduce concessions to the Czechs. Seeing that the political plans to create a powerful anti-Catholic force out of the Czechs did not materialize, in 1884 a decree was issued prohibiting Czech immigrants from buying land in Volyn. For a time, Czech immigration to Ukrainian lands stopped, but at the same time, Czech immigrants who had already settled down became an important component of the development of industry and entrepreneurship in the late nineteenth century.

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ПОДДЕРЖКА РОССИЙСКОГО СЕКТОРА ИНФОРМАЦИОННО-КОММУНИКАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ В УСЛОВИЯХ ВНЕШНИХ ОГРАНИЧЕНИЙ

A necessary condition for Russia to achieve technological sovereignty is the strengthening of the national sector of information and communication technologies, which ensures digital transformation of the economy, social sphere, state and corporate governance. The state plays a key role in supporting the development of this sector. Supportive and stimulating measures adopted by the Russian government after an unprecedented increase in sanctions pressure on the country ensured a generally positive development of the sector in 2022-2024. At the same time, their prolongation and improvement, especially in the area of investment support for implemented and planned projects, is an urgent task, the solution of which requires scientific substantiation.

Digital infrastructure for sustainable development of Russian agriculture

The purpose of the article is to assess the implementation of sustainable development goals and consider the current state of the digital infrastructure for the sustainable development of Russian agriculture. The main directions of sustainable development in Russia include the development of agriculture and sustainable infrastructure. The dynamics of achieving 17 sustainable development goals established by the Russian Government are considered. A conclusion is made about the positive dynamics of achieving goals and the factors that influenced this dynamics are identified. The digital infrastructure for the sustainable development of Russian agriculture in the modern economy is discussed in the article through the use of digital technologies, as well as their accessibility to agricultural organizations. The insufficient provision of Russian agriculture with sustainable development infrastructure and insufficient use of digital technologies were noted. The low availability of high-speed Internet networks in rural areas is a significant limiting factor for the sustainable development of organizations in agriculture. The financial infrastructure for sustainable development is represented by commercial banks and non-bank credit organizations. Russian agriculture is primarily served by two largest banks: Russian Agricultural Bank and SberBank. They implement sustainable development programs; SberBank is a leader in promoting sustainable development and ESG programs.

САНИТАРНО-ЭПИДЕМИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ МЕРЫ ПО ПРЕДОТВРАЩЕНИЮ РАСПРОСТРАНЕНИЯ ЭПИДЕМИИ ЧУМЫ В ТУРКЕСТАНСКОМ КРАЕ В КОНЦЕ XIX - НАЧАЛЕ XX В.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, periodic outbreaks of plague occurred in South Asia. Plague epidemics covered the territories of India, China, Iran (Persia), Afghanistan and the Russian Empire. At the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries, the Russian government developed special comprehensive programs to protect the border from the penetration of the terrible infectious disease in the territory of the Turkestan region. Special attention within the framework of those programs was paid to the solution of international political, economic and medical problems related to the sanitary and epidemiological situation. The main objective of the article is to assess the role of the Russian government and scientific community in the development of sanitary and prophylactic measures to combat plague on the border of the Russian Empire with Iran and Afghanistan. Analyzing the documents deposited in the fonds of the Russian State Military History Archive, the author of the study concludes that the measures taken by the government of the Russian Empire to control the plague were generally effective and contributed to the prevention of major outbreaks of the disease in the territory of the Turkestan region in the late 19th – early 20th century

Россия и новые страны БРИКС: перспективы технологической кооперации

The article analyzes economic, scientific and technological profiles of the countries that became new BRICS members in 2024. The goal is to access perspectives of mutually beneficial collaboration for Russia and these countries in scientific and technological area aimed at achieving technological sustainability. Technological sustainability is an important factor for building technological sovereignty, which is the strategic goal set by the Russian government. These new BRICS countries are comparatively weak in terms of their scientific and technological potential. However, they are rapidly increasing their scientific productivity and have clear areas of specialization. Some of the new BRICS countries already have strong scientific ties with each other. In terms of expanding scientific cooperation, the new BRICS countries are of strategic interest because they have been steadily increasing their level of cooperation with the traditional BRICS countries. This shows that these countries are highly interested in cooperation. Technological area is studied based on data of high-tech export and import. The trade balance shows that Russia has a balanced trade position within the group, but is not among the leaders. China together accounts for more than 90% of Russia’s imports from the BRICS countries. However, diversification of supplies is important for Russia to improve its technological sustainability. Among the new BRICS partners and Russia, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments, electronics and computer technology are in high demand. In terms of country priorities, cooperation with the African Union, which includes two new BRICS countries – Egypt and Ethiopia – is becoming rather promising. These countries could become a growing market for Russian companies in the field of medicine and pharmaceuticals. In addition, Russia can participate in the scientific expertise and development of Ethiopia’s technological capabilities in this area.

Disclosure and corporate governance: Evidence from Russian companies

Purpose: this article aims to provide new evidence on the role of several potential drivers of corporate disclosure that have been insufficiently studied or remain controversial in the literature on accounting and corporate governance such as one-tier vs. two-tier corporate boards, having grey directors on the board, direct vs. indirect government ownership and the ownership stake of second-largest shareholders. Methodology: the study uses rich and unique data on transparency and disclosure by Russian firms collected by the S&P agency from 2002 till 2010 and obtained by the authors under a confidentiality agreement. The analysis is based on conventional techniques of regression analysis for panel data. Findings: there is strong evidence of complementarity between corporate governance and disclosure. In particular, disclosure is enhanced by boards with a higher proportion of truly independent directors (compared to grey directors, whose role is less clear-cut), is higher in companies with a two-tier board and those with a greater stake of the second largest shareholder. It is also found that direct government ownership is associated with reduced disclosure. In contrast, no such effect is observed for indirect ownership by the state. Originality and contribution: the analysis uses detailed data from a country with a relatively poor corporate governance environment in general and low standards of mandatory disclosure, which helps observe relationships that would be hard to detect in better institutional settings. It is also one of the first studies that scrutinizes disclosure practices of publicly traded companies in Russia. The obtained findings emphasize the risks of reduced mandatory disclosure requirements, which Russian government allowed in response to the Western sanctions, on the background of a significant exodus of qualified independent/foreign directors from the corporate boards. Given the complementarity between disclosure and corporate governance, this may amplify the risks of poor corporate governance and performance of Russian firms.

Андрей Краевский — издатель Ф.М. Достоевского

The review is devoted to the monograph by literary historian Svetlana M. Voloshina Power and Journalism. Nicholas I, Andrei Kraevsky, and Others (Publishing House “Delo” RANEPA, 2022), where the relationship between the Russian government and journalism during the reign of Nicholas I and the peculiarities of the functioning of censorship at that time are examined in detail and with plenty of materials. A key place in the book is occupied by the figure of the editor of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski A.A. Kraevsky (1810–1889), known, among other things, as the publisher of most of Dostoevsky’s works in the 1840s.

German cars in the Russian army during the first world war: Features of the military transport crisis

The article discusses the challenges of supplying the formations of the army of the Russian Empire with automotive equipment on the eve and during the First World War. Prior to the war, the utilization of road transport in the army and rear was fragmented. However, as of 1914-1915, the advantages of road transport in military logistics became evident to both the command and government. Nonetheless, ordering new cars from the Entente countries posed several difficulties. Drawing from the documents of the military-technical department of the General Staff of the Russian army, the article highlights the extent of dependence on German production. It delves into the complexities faced by the Russian government at the onset of the war. The research convincingly demonstrates that, contrary to previous studies and customs statistics for Russia, the primary issue lay not in the inability to replace cars from Germany, but rather in the necessity to multiply the number of cars when altering the logistics of supplies from other countries that also had to pass through Germany. These two interconnected problems became key issues that proved insurmountable for Russia, ultimately leading to catastrophic consequences.

КОЛИЧЕСТВЕННАЯ ОЦЕНКА ИННОВАЦИОННОЙ ИНФРАСТРУКТУРЫ РОССИИ

Over the past decade, the Russian government has reformed the national innovation system. However, there is still no research quantifying these changes. This study fills this gap by examining the devel-opment of Russia's innovative infrastructure using metrics from one of the leading innovators in the world – China. This research studies the innovation infrastructures of both countries, and the hypothesis is that there is a difference in the development of certain types of innovation infrastructure in Russia compared to China. The main methods of research are retrospective, structural, and comparative analyses. Data were collected from open sources such as Rosstat, the Global Innovation Index, World Bank, and the State Statistical Office of China. An overview the statistical indicators for Russia and China from 2010 to 2023 shows the level of development of six types of infrastructure: material, digital, scientific, educational, social, regulatory, and financial. The analysis showed that Russia lags behind China in terms of innovation infrastructure as a whole. From a structural point of view, there is also a differentiation in the development of certain types of infrastructure within Russia. The material, social, and digital infrastructures are the most developed, while the remaining elements are less developed compared to China. We believe that the main bottleneck in Rus-sian infrastructure is the lack of autonomy for innovation in private industry due to a lack of qualified scien-tists.

Transport as a key factor in developing Russian-Chinese border regions

The study presents an analysis of the current state of Sino-Russian cooperation in the field of transport and its effects on the bordering regions. Russia’s Far East and China’s North-East regions both struggle to undergo a socio-economic transformation to overcome depopulation and a peripheral position in their countries. Сross-border cooperation, first of all in the field of transportation, is viewed as a factor of growth, able to foster economic development. This article examines such aspects as the increased focus of Russian central government on the eastern regions and their integration into the expanding Asia-Pacific region, reflected in state programs for the development of the Far East, as well as PRC’s intentions to revitalize old industrial North-East and construct both continental route to Central Asia Europe (as part of the Road and Belt Initiative) and maritime route to other Pacific countries and to provide more efficient connection between northern and southern provinces. Conclusions about the necessity of elaborating efficient strategies and scheduled fulfillment of the projects are presented, as these prove to be the key elements to avoid losing mutual interest in cooperation between the neighboring countries and to bring crucial changes to the bordering regions of the two countries.

Карты Дальнего Востока России XVIII в., составленные участниками академических и правительственных экспедиций и на их основе, как источник по истории изучения региона и картографии как науки

The article has carried out the approbation of the theoretical and methodological principles of the neoclassical paradigm of historical science, anthropological and spatial turns, and an interdisciplinary approach to the study of maps of the Far East of the 18th century, made by participants of Russian academic and government expeditions and based on them. These materials show the evolution of cartography and cartographic method in Russia. The role of maps as a special form of representation of the course and results of scientific development of the Far East is investigated. The functions of specific elements of the content of maps and the influence of the actor on it are revealed. The history of the existence of individual cartographic materials is considered. The significance of maps as complex historical and historical-scientific sources is represented.

Bunt Prigożyna – przyczyny, przebieg i konsekwencje rebelii Grupy Wagnera

The author seeks answers to the question of how the Prighozin’s mutiny affected the position of the Wagner Group in Russia. He mainly takes into account the events that took place on 23-24 June 2023, when the mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin carried out the so-called “march of justice” against the Russian Defense Ministry. The aim of the article is to answer three specific research questions: 1) what factors led to the Wagner Group’s rebellion? 2) what was the reaction of the Russian government to these events? 3) what are the consequences of Prigozhin’s rebellion for the stability of Putin’s regime, the Wagner Group leadership and the organisation as a whole? In seeking answers to these questions, the author focuses on Prigozhin’s relations with the Russian military elite. He then presents the course of the rebellion and the Kremlin’s reaction to these events. The author further discusses the consequences of the rebellion both within Russia and internationally.

Resource and innovation policy of socio-economic development of modern Russia

Global and tectonic shifts in the world economy that have occurred in the 21st century in the world are inevitably reflected in the state of national economies. The Russian economy, over a decade of economic sanctions against it, practically of an open nature of sabotage by the United States and a number of Western countries against Russian critical infrastructure — the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline on September 26, 2022, found itself in a situation of de facto complete stop of export-import operations in the field of foreign trade activities with European countries. As a result of the start of Russia’s special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, the logistics supply chains to the Russian Federation have radically transformed, and new supply logistics are being developed within the framework of the so-called «parallel» imports. The problems that arose with the supply of raw materials, materials and components affected the fall in the industrial production index in a number of Russian regions as of the end of 2022. However, the well-balanced and consistent economic policy of the Russian government has intensified the activities of industrial enterprises to produce products to achieve the goals of the Northern Military District, where positive production dynamics are already noted in 2023. The named factors that determine the state of the Russian economy in the near future determine the need to overcome the conservative natural resource model of economic development and transition to a resource-innovative strategy of economic growth. The purpose of the study is to study the institutional foundations for the formation of a resource-innovative model of economic growth in the modern Russian economy. The objectives of the study are interconnected and consist of the following: to analyze an array of economic scientific works on the research problem in order to demonstrate the evolution of views on the role of the natural resource factor in the development of national economies; analyze the institutional foundations for the formation of a resource-innovation model of development of the Russian economy, etc. The research methodology is a combination of general scientific research methods — analysis, synthesis of information obtained, interpretation of data. The information base for the research is presidential decrees, strategic planning documents, national projects, scientific articles by Russian researchers on the problem under study.

Relationships between Russia and the Left-Bank Cossak Hetmanate and the conclusion of the Treaty of Bakhchisarai

Peace talks between Russia, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean khanate in the late 1670s – early 1680s were long and troublesome. The role of the hetman Ivan Samojlovich in the formation of the Russian conditions of the future peace treaty and the political demands made of the Sublime Porte and Crimea during the negotiations still remains unclear. This article explores the level and scale of participation of the hetman Ivan Samojlovich in the preparation of the second Russian diplomatic mission to Crimea, headed by Ivan Sukhotin, in the Autumn of 1679, as well as the contacts between Moscow and the Ukrainian hetman connected with preparations for the third one, headed by stolnik Vasilij Tyapkin and djak Nikita Zotov. Mikhail Golovin, the tsar’s stolnik was sent to Samojlovich to discuss and coordinate the limits of possible territory concessions in favor of the Porte and Crimea in the Right-Bank Ukraine. The result of the consultations was the Russian-Ukrainian agreement on the possible total concession of the Right-Bank Ukraine (excluding Kiev) if peace on other conditions would be impossible. Hence, the decision about territory conditions of the Russian-Crimean treaty, which was concluded in Bakhchysarai in 1681, was a result of common position of the Russian government and the hetman Ivan Samojlovich.

Strengthening fiscal decentralization in Russia: causes of the 2020 failure and prospective directions

Relevance. Strengthening fiscal decentralization is viewed as a crucial strategy to foster the economic development of Russian regions. Research Objective. The research aims to assess the potential impact of redistributing tax revenues, particularly VAT, among various budget levels. Data and Methods. The study employs regression analysis to investigate the correlation between the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of Russian regions and the expenditures of their consolidated budgets. A comparative analysis is also conducted, using data from the Federal Tax Service on VAT receipts to the federal budget and data from the Federal State Statistics Service on GRP and expenditure components of regional budgets from 2005 to 2021. Results. The research confirms the Russian government’s concerns regarding a possible increase in economic disparities if 40% of VAT is shifted to sub-federal levels. It reveals the negative impact that such a measure would have on specific regions. Instead, a more promising approach is to implement a special budgetary regime in select regions to stimulate their development. Conclusions. The study showcases adverse effects associated with transferring 40% of VAT to the sub-federal level. It proposes a mechanism to enhance fiscal decentralization in Russia, aiming to advance regional economic development, address economic disparities among regions, and offset any potential reduction in federal budget revenues.

On the hetman Ivan Mazepa’s escape to Swedish camp: some new documents of the Field Chancery of Alexander Menshikov

The escape of hetman Ivan Mazepa to the Swedish camp was totally unexpected for the Russian government and thus changed radically the political situation in Ukraine, which was, in Autumn of 1708 – the first half of 1709, the site of one of the most important stages of the Russian-Swedish struggle during the Great Northern War 1700–1721. The Russian authorities did their best to stabilize the situation, and Mazepa tried to win support of the Ukrainian Cossacks by any means possible. The first weeks of the hetman’s stay in the Swedish camp have always been the focus of attention for scholars who study this decisive point in Russian-Ukrainian relationships in the Early Modern period. Testimonies of prisoners of war and deserters play an important role in the reconstruction of those events. This publication presents four such documents, extracted from the archives of the field chancery of Alexander Menshikov. There are testimonies of prisoners of war from the Swedish army, but the most important ones are protocols of interrogation of Cossack-deserters from the camp of Ivan Mazepa, including mercenaries from the infantry regiment of the colonel Jakov Pokotilo and Stefan Romanchuk, the Cossack of Gadiach regiment. The most detailed description of Mazepa’s steps and actions during first weeks after his treason was made by Kornej Savin, the sotnik of Priluky regiment. All documents are published for the first time.

Празднование годовщины установления антибольшевистской власти в Сибири 7 июня 1919 г. По документам Омской городской думы

The paper analyzes the story of the history of Omsk city self-government, associated with the attempt to approve a new public holiday in anti-Bolshevik Siberia - the anniversary of the entry of White-Czech troops into Omsk. The connection of the investigated issue with the historiography of the problem is given, on this basis the relevance of the work is connected with the introduction into the scientific turnover of unpublished sources from the funds of the Historical Archive of the Omsk region. These documents allow us to detail the emergence, discussion and coordination of the initiative, the course and results of the official celebrations in Kolchak's Omsk on June 7, 1919, positioned as the day of "liberation of Siberia" and "revival of Russian statehood". The importance of those events is connected with the fact that Omsk then had the official status of the capital of anti-Bolshevik Russia. The aim of the paper is to analyze the preparation and results of the celebration on the basis of new sources - minutes of the Omsk City Duma meeting within the period - the end of May and the beginning of June 1919. The theoretical basis of the research is a combination of approaches (institutional, systemic, anthropological) and methods (problem-chronological, comparative-historical) traditional for historical science. This makes it possible to establish the degree of participation of the institutions of power in the attempt to establish a new public holiday of potential significance for the entire anti-Bolshevik Siberia, as well as the role of specific socio-political figures in the realization of that initiative. The nature and course of the celebration demonstrate the conservative views of the authorities in White Omsk (both at the level of the Russian government and the City Duma), as well as the special importance of the festivities of June 7, 1919 for the highest circles of the anti-Bolshevik statehood. In addition, the study of the celebrations in the Kolchak capital prompts thoughts about the significant influence of the religious factor in the Civil War in eastern Russia. The study is an example of when a casual episode of local history acquired all-Russian significance. The work also emphasizes the inviolable postulate of historical research that for a full-fledged assessment of events it is essential to take into account the widest possible range of sources. The publication may be of interest to academic specialists studying the Civil War and anti-Bolshevik movement in the East of Russia, the history of public holidays, as well as socio-political and everyday life in the era of social cataclysms.

The Sources of Russia’s Soft Power in Relation to Belarus

This paper aims to evaluate the sources of Russia’s soft power as a tool which should enable it to integrate Belarus more closely with Russia. The research question is as follows: what are Russia’s main sources of attractiveness, and what kind of instruments of soft power is the Russian government applying to achieve that aim? To what extent was this soft policy successful? The author applied a qualitative research method. It is inductive and allows the researcher to explore meanings and insights into Russia’s notion of “soft power” in its foreign policy toward Belarus. The basis of it lies in the interpretive approach to the present reality of Russia – Belarus political and economic relations and in the evaluation of Russian efforts to integrate its closest neighbour by using only non-military means.

Трансформация характера занятости в постсоветской России

The subject of the article is the Russian specifics of the nature of employment against the background of highly developed countries. The aim is to analyze the evolution of the nature of employment as a result of demographic and socio-economic transformations in Russia. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the consideration of the forms of employment as a result of the combined influence of demographic, sectoral and professional-labor transformations (existing works either did not analyze the reasons for the transformation of the nature of employment or limited to its individual aspects). The research method is a descriptive identification of the main theoretical approaches to the essential aspects of the nature of employment and their practical verification through statistical analysis on the basis of ILO, OECD and WB world statistics in correlation with the main stages of the socio-economic development of Russia after 1991. The analysis was carried out over a long period of time, starting from 1992, taking into account Russia’s economic cycles, which made it possible to trace the evolution of the nature of employment taking into account the transformation of socio-economic conditions. The simultaneous analysis of changes in all forms of employment was carried out, which made it possible to identify the Russian specifics of combining elements of standard and non-standard employment. It is concluded that with a certain lag in the sphere of demographic ageing and sectoral transformation in the form of shifting employment from the productive sector to the service sector, Russia, compared to highly developed countries, is characterized by a stronger differentiation of jobs by skill level and nature of labor operations (employment is more concentrated in two opposite sectors of mental highly skilled labor and manual physical low-skilled labor). The opinion of a number of authors about the strengthening of non-standard forms of employment in Russia has been verified and refuted. After the transition to capitalism, the basis of employment remains wage labor, and forms of non-wage labor (except for employers) during recessions are more of a transitional forced nature. At the same time, the share of informal employment has increased in Russia, but the basis of the labor force functioning regime is still full-time permanent employment (this observation refutes the opinion of a number of authors about the close connection between informal employment and other forms of non-standard employment). The conclusion is made that in the future the Russian labor market will see a strengthening of standard employment in the form of permanent wage labor, which will be beneficial to both employees (whose influence will increase due to the shift of the age structure towards older ages) and employers (due to increased requirements to the level of personnel qualification). At the same time, a certain increase in the share of temporary employment is possible in case of economic growth. Given that non-standard forms of employment in Russia mean a deterioration in the quality of jobs, the strengthening of standard forms of employment should be seen as a positive phenomenon. The results of this article can be used by Russian government agencies when planning the state employment policy, as well as by employers when taking into account the Russian specifics of the labor force in the preferred nature of employment.

Bunt Prigożyna – przyczyny, przebieg i konsekwencje rebelii Grupy Wagnera

The author seeks answers to the question of how the Prighozin’s mutiny affected the position of the Wagner Group in Russia. He mainly takes into account the events that took place on 23-24 June 2023, when the mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin carried out the so-called “march of justice” against the Russian Defense Ministry. The aim of the article is to answer three specific research questions: 1) what factors led to the Wagner Group’s rebellion? 2) what was the reaction of the Russian government to these events? 3) what are the consequences of Prigozhin’s rebellion for the stability of Putin’s regime, the Wagner Group leadership and the organisation as a whole? In seeking answers to these questions, the author focuses on Prigozhin’s relations with the Russian military elite. He then presents the course of the rebellion and the Kremlin’s reaction to these events. The author further discusses the consequences of the rebellion both within Russia and internationally.