Russian Government Research Articles

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the Repatriation of East Prussian Deportees from Simbirsk during World War I

This article assesses whether the repatriation of civilian prisoners of war, most of whom were East Prussian deportees, from Simbirsk to Germany between April and June of 1918, was carried out according to the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Simbirsk, which was home to more East Prussian deportees than any other internment site in Russia, is particularly well-suited for a case study of the repatriation of civilian prisoners from Russia during World War I because the correspondence and memoirs of those who were involved in the repatriation still exist and are accessible outside Russia. The article concludes that the repatriation of civilian prisoners of war interned in Simbirsk was not carried out according to the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk—at least not according to how the treaty was interpreted by the German and Russian governments—and identifies several reasons why this was the case. This case study may have policy implications for the current war in Ukraine, which has also been characterized by the deportation of civilians from Russian-occupied territory to Russia, although on a much larger scale. If the war in Ukraine ends in a negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia, the repatriation of Ukrainian deportees will be an important part of that settlement. The article offers several recommendations for the Ukrainian officials who would be responsible for negotiating such a settlement to avoid chaotic evacuations similar to what happened in Simbirsk during World War I.

Эволюция российской Конституции и государство-цивилизация как концептуальная парадигма нового Основного Закона России

Introduction. The relevance of the study. One of the key worldviews of the resurgent state ideology of modern Russia is the idea of a state-civilization, which acted as the doctrinal basis of the recently adopted Concept of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation. In this regard, there is a need to describe the legal characteristics of the state-civilization and their adequate reflection in the constitutional legislation, which puts on the agenda the issue of developing and adopting a new Constitution of the Russian Federation that meets its civilizational characteristics and development goals. The purpose is to analyze the contradictions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation reformed in 2020, substantiate the idea of a state-civilization as the conceptual basis of the new Basic Law of the country, and argue for the need to start work on it in the near future. The methodological framework for the research is the civilizational approach in combination with the general scientific and special methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, technical, comparative law, and historical-legal. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, based on a civilizational approach, it outlines the tasks facing domestic legal science in connection with the official recognition of Russia as a civilizational state and identifies some conceptual ideas that, in the author’s opinion, could form the basis of the new Russian Constitution. Results and conclusions. The official recognition of Russia as a civilizational state is in fact an announcement of a course towards building an empire. Therefore, the main direction of constitutional reform at this historical stage is the legalization of the Russian government in this capacity. The main principles of the new Constitution of Russia, which allows for the consolidation of Russian society in its confrontation with the collective West, are the ideas of social justice and state sovereignty. It is in them that the request of Russian society to the state is revealed as fully as possible. All other political and legal principles and norms can be important, accepted by the public consciousness, and enshrined in the Constitution only if they correspond to these fundamental values.

ЛИЦО ТУРКМЕНСКОЙ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОСТИ: ИНТЕГРАЦИЯ И АДАПТАЦИЯ В РОССИЙСКОМ ОБЩЕСТВЕ

This study focuses on studying the main factors that have an impact on the adaptation and integration of migrants-students from Turkmenistan. The relevance of the study is related to preventing perceptibility of migrants by a society as “strangers” and identifying factors which block the ways of the adaptation and integration of foreign citizens into Russian society. The research proved that knowledge of the language is a key issue in the socialization of migrants. Ignorance of the Russian language can lead to the emergence of migrant enclaves in megacities, following the example of other countries, which can be used then as a base for radical and extremist activities in the society. The novelty of the study lies, first of all, in the fact that a sociological survey of students from Turkmenistan identified the range of current issuesonce again which are associated with the migration policy of the Russian government. Namely: obligatory knowledge of the Russian language for citizens entering the territory of the Russian Federation, the introduction of the institution of supervision at universities for foreign students, the development of social measures to prevent the emergence of “town houses” consisting of migrants in megacities.

REVISITING FAITH-BASED DIPLOMACY’S EFFECTIVENESS: EASTERN EUROPEAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE 2022 RUSSO-UKRAINIAN CONFLICT

This paper aims to address the possible role of the Eastern European Orthodox Church as an alternative channel to ensure fruitful negotiations to end the Russo-Ukrainian war that has still ongoing since 2022. As the majority religion in Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe as a whole, the Orthodox branch of Christianity has a transnational influence on its followers, including prominent political figures in the aforementioned territories. Utilizing qualitative research methods, this paper is written to provide arguments about whether the Orthodox Church, with its immense presence in the belligerents’ spiritual beliefs, will be able to be employed as a channel to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. In this paper, analysis is conducted through the usage of J. W. McDonald’s “The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy” (2012) journal article about multi-track diplomacy and D. Johnston’s Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik (2003) book about faith-based diplomacy to gauge the Orthodox Church’s potential as a channel of diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine. This paper finds that overall, the Orthodox Church fails to fulfil the criteria that Johnston (2003) posits; one of the most fatal is the organization’s inability to reconcile the belligerents’ deep historical wounds. Due to the Orthodox Church's traditional role that has always been closely tied to the Russian government, its capability to build an acceptable negotiation channel is severely impeded.

Project for the Friendship newspaper of RUDN University. Russian Government Prize for the textbook Theory of State and Law

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Why is Russia Restricting its Fertiliser and Crop Exports?

SummaryBoth Russia and Ukraine are major agricultural exporters, especially of grain and sunflowerseed products, and Russia is the world's leading supplier of fertiliser. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has disrupted world markets for these commodities, driving up prices and threatening world food security. Russia argues that a major cause of this trade disturbance is the economic sanctions that Western countries have imposed against it, despite the efforts of the West to exempt Russian agricultural trade from the sanctions. However, throughout its war with Ukraine, Russia has maintained heavy restrictions (involving quotas and taxes) on its exports of fertiliser, grain and sunflowerseed commodities. The trade controls bring major economic benefits to the Russian economy and government, especially in the current war environment. The gains include: keeping more output within the country, which lowers prices for consumers; earning the government additional revenue; and improving the country's terms of trade in the exported products. However, given that Russia so strongly asserts that Western sanctions are hurting the less rich countries of the world by disrupting world agricultural markets and pushing up prices, the export restrictions make Russia vulnerable to criticism of inconsistency (if not hypocrisy), when its own export controls have the same effects.

Oil and petroleum products market in the Russian Federation: new challenges and development prospects

Within the framework of global geopolitical tensions and sanctions pressure from Western countries, the restructuring of the Russian oil market is taking place, affecting the economies of the leading states of the world arena, including Russia.The subject of the study is changes in the Russian oil and petroleum products market. The purpose of the study is to examine the situation on the oil and petroleum products market by the end of 2022, to analyze the main measures of the Russian government in response to anti–Russian sanctions, promising directions for reorienting supplies from Russia, and also to forecast the prospects for the development of the markets in question for 20232026.The results of the study. The current geopolitical uncertainty and various restrictive measures against Russia pose a threat to the stability of the Russian economy. These risks can be minimized with the help of competent actions of the authorities and the implementation of measures to redirect exports, which will support the economy and maintain positions in the international commodity market.

The Failed Kalmyk Pilgrimage to Tibet at the Beginning of the 19<sup>th</sup> Century: Historical and Source Study Aspect (Based on the Materials of the State Archive of the Astrakhan Region)

For the first time in Russian historiography, the article analyzes the collection of documents from the State Archive of the Astrakhan Region and the Russian State Historical Archive related to the failed pilgrimage of the Kalmyk Buddhist clergy’s representatives to Tibet at the beginning of the 19th century. A significant amount of interdepartmental correspondence accompanied the whole preparation process for this pilgrimage, which was supposed to be part of the government policy on developing the Russian-Chinese diplomatic cooperation. The permission for Buddhist clergy to contact fellow believers in Tibet followed the organization of the Russian embassy to China in 1805, headed by Yu. A. Golovkin. The Russian government expected the successful completion of the embassy, one of the tasks of which was to get free access for Russian citizens to Tibet. Kalmyk pilgrims, escorted by government officials, should be the first Russians officially granted by China to visit Tibet in the second half of the 18th century. The unsuccessful completion of the embassy prevented the pilgrimage from realization but intensified the interaction of the Russian government with the Buddhist clergy of the Kalmyk steppe. The article provides information on compensation for the expenses of the Kalmyk clergy, the organization of the trip of lamas to St. Petersburg, and the permission to build a Buddhist temple in the Astrakhan province at the request of one of the participants of the never-realized pilgrimage. The article presents a transliteration and a modern (diachronic) translation of two letters written by the Kalmyk clergy in “todo bichig” (“Clear Script”) to representatives of the Russian government.

Вопрос об имуществе Армянской Апостольской церкви на Дону в конце XIX – начале XX века

The article deals with the problems of relations between the Russian government and the Armenian Apostolic Church at the end of the XIX-beginning of the XX centuries. The adoption of the law of June 12, 1903 by Prince G. S. Golitsyn on the seizure of church property of the AAC. The negative consequences of this law on the affairs of the Armenian church in the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don, followed by problems in parochial schools are traced.

‘Real Orthodox men’: religious masculinities and the new Russian culture of military patriotism

AbstractThroughout the 1990s and early 2000s, radical nationalist and quasi‐fascist movements defining themselves in opposition to the Russian government dominated the country's paramilitary scene. This trend was almost completely reversed in the 2010s, with the relative decline of grassroots Slavic ethno‐nationalism and the emergence of a statist military‐patriotic culture centred on ‘traditional values’ and Orthodox faith. Drawing on field research with members of a Moscow‐based military‐patriotic club, this article shows how Orthodoxy emerged as an attractive ideological framework to give meaning to individual and communal practices of moral and physical self‐cultivation among patriotically oriented young middle‐class men. I argue that rather than a process of militarization of a religious public, the establishment of the Orthodox military‐patriotic milieu in the late 2000s is better understood as the Orthodoxization of the Russian paramilitary sphere, driven by young militaristically minded men's search for a sense of purpose and belonging. This post‐Soviet Orthodox paramilitary scene that combines militant masculinities with promotion of law abidance and civic values effectively works to curtail more extreme forms of ethno‐nationalism and thus invites us to rethink conventional wisdom on the relationship between religion, militarism, and violent radicalization.

Two decades of winter wheat expansion and intensification in Russia

Since 2000, Russia experienced large-scale increases (149%) in wheat production and starting in 2018 accounted for almost 25% of all global wheat exports. This growth indicates significant land cover and land use change (LCLUC) and is driven primarily by winter wheat growth adding 9 million hectares of cropland area, a 117% increase, since 2000 according to data reported by the Russian government. However, the spatial distribution of this growth in addition to projections for continued growth are not characterized. Therefore, the aim of this study is to comprehensively examine the growth of the Russian wheat industry and quantify LCLUC within the lens of cropland expansion and intensification. Understanding this growth is critical due to Russia being a top global producer and exporter of wheat where changes in its domestic industry directly affect world wheat market stability and food security as well as environmental consequences of such growth. We took advantage of long-term satellite data records acquired by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to map yearly winter crop in southwestern Russia at a 250-m spatial resolution. These winter cropland maps were then analyzed based on their corresponding changes in expansion and intensification between 2001 and 2020. A rigorous sampling campaign was then conducted to provide estimates of areas and corresponding uncertainties for each land cover change type within selected time period. Here, we show that 40% of southwestern Russia experienced changes in land cover and land use including a 29% growth in winter wheat cropland. Of this growth, 66% is attributed to winter wheat cropland expansion (planting in new areas) and 34% to intensification (increased planting rate). The observed growth in winter cropland was latitudinally dichotomous where northernmost regions experienced areal expansion and southernmost regions intensification. Lastly, based on ratios of winter cropland use in comparison with total available agricultural land in the study area, we conclude that there remains significant capacity for winter crop intensification and provide probable trajectories of continued growth.

China's Responses After the Russian War of Aggression Against Ukraine vis-à-vis the European Union and Its Own Population

This study examines the Chinese party-state's reactions to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, focusing on its response to the European Union (EU) and its own population during the first six months of the war's outbreak. Drawing on actor-centred institutionalism, it analyses institutional changes and political steering actions by Chinese party-state actors, a perspective that has rarely been applied to China's foreign policy. The “explaining-outcome process tracing” method was applied to reconstruct political processes and interactions between actors based on extensive document and secondary data analysis. Findings reveal that the EU and its partners warned Chinese leaders not to help the Russian government evade sanctions. In this modified institutional setting, the Chinese party-state has responded with “soft” discursive steering towards the EU and, in addition to this “soft” element, with targeted “hard” steering actions towards its own population. While the political steering towards the EU has failed, the steering towards its own population seems to have been partially successful.

The impact of Austro-Hungarian plans for the construction of the Sandjak Railway on Bihor and the Novi Pazar Sandjak

The emergence of railways brought about new possibilities in people's lives, as well as in terms of political plans and actions. Railway activities began in the Balkans in the second half of the 19th century and had a significant impact on the relationships between Balkan states. This work explores the potential influence of Austro-Hungarian plans for the construction of the Sandjak Railway in the region of Bihor and the broader areas of Bijelo Polje and the Novi Pazar Sandjak, which were part of the Ottoman Empire. Austro-Hungary had expressed its ambitions in the Balkans even before the Berlin Congress, seeing the region as a bridge that could connect them to the warm Aegean Sea and further to the Middle East. The construction of the railway was one of the means by which Austro-Hungary sought to expand its influence in the Balkans. Such significant political intentions did not go unnoticed by the Ottoman Empire, which aimed to preserve its territorial integrity and possessions in that part of the Balkans. Slovene states and peoples traditionally sought protection in Russia, giving Russia an opportunity to express its own interest in exerting political influence in this part of Europe. Recognizing that Austro-Hungary was its main rival in the Balkans, Russia reached an agreement with them in 1897 to maintain the status quo. This agreement was further confirmed by the Treaty of Mürzsteg in 1903, which aimed to mutually neutralize or divide spheres of interest, with Bulgaria falling under Russian influence and Serbia under Austro-Hungarian. Austro-Hungary's primary goal was to prevent the creation of a large state in the region from the Danube to the Adriatic Sea, which would block its path eastward. As Serbia was located in that region, Austro-Hungarian propaganda was directed against it, despite traditionally good relations with the Obrenović dynasty. Austro-Hungary attempted to strengthen its political plans through the construction of a suitable railway network, which would facilitate easier and faster control of the desired territory. This led to the advocacy of the so-called “Novi Pazar Railway,” which would connect Uvac with Mitrovica. However, German Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow advised Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Count Agenor Romuald Gołuchowski to abandon this plan due to the unfavorable situation in Macedonia, where unrest was brewing. Austro-Hungarian diplomacy did not want to make a public and final decision on this proposal. All of the above had an impact on the population of all parts of the Novi Pazar Sandjak. The work examines how the construction of the railway would have stimulated economic development in the entire region by creating new trade routes and encouraging investment in economic sectors such as trade and agriculture. The paper also provides insights into potential changes in the demographic structure through the influx of populations from other parts of the Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungary, which the railway would necessarily impose. Furthermore, it is essential to mention how the realization of the “Novi Pazar Railway” would have affected the ethnic and religious dynamics in the Bihor district and the broader area. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire intervened with Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and Count Goluchowski on several occasions to abandon the plan to build the “Novi Pazar Railway,” as the Russian government maintained the same view it had expressed in 1900. Austro-Hungary eventually agreed, leaving only a political influence supported by the propaganda activities of secret services. This work serves as a foundation for further research and discussions on this topic.

Optimization of payroll funds in construction industry

This study analyzes a new method for determining the minimum subsistence level based on the median wage in regions with the purpose of exploring the impact of this method on payroll funding in construction industry. The research methodology involved economic and statistical analysis, system analysis, as well as integration of theoretical and practical knowledge. The authors analyzed payroll fund as part of the cost estimate documentation and the wages stipulated in the “Federal Industrial Agreement on the Construction and Building Materials Industry of the Russian Federation, 2020-2023”. The authors analyzed the new method proposed by the Russian Government for determining the minimum subsistence level on the basis of the median wage, explored its advantages and disadvantages, and introduced ideas for its optimization. According to the results obtained, the changes introduced in the method for calculating the minimum subsistence level in 2021 failed to produce the expected results. The method needs to be improved in the following part. The official indicators of regional median wages should be calculated at least quarterly and posted on the official website of Rosstat. The method should justify the percentage (44.2%) adopted for the calculation of the minimum subsistence level based on the median wage. In addition, a low threshold should be established for the minimum subsistence level in a region equal to the cost of the market basket. In order to be calculated accurately, the cost of the market basket should be adjustable in terms of the content of all its sections.

ЦИФРОВАЯ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО УПРАВЛЕНИЯ

In the article we formulate and classify key barriers for data driven governance system implementation based on international experience analysis. Further based on the interviews with experts we formulate and prioritize barriers for data driven governance in Russia. We classifi ed technological, organizational, normative barriers in data driven governance system. Th rough the comparison between international experience and experts’ survey we demonstrate the common trend for data driven governance model development which is digital trust on the side of the citizens. In case of data driven governance model in foreign states the highest priority belongs to explicit data policy in standardization and regulation of working with government data whereas in Russia the emphasis is in increasing the level of civil servants’ and citizens’ skills and knowledge about options, mechanisms and conditions of working with data.

Astronomer and Surveyor Anton Shahin (1799–1842)

The paper presents a new data on the biography of eminent astronomer and land surveyor of Vilnius and Kharkiv universities Anton Szahin (1799– 1842). He was born in Vilnius; may be the scientist was in relationship with Tatar poet Franciszek Szahin-Sokol. A. Szahin studied at the Teachers Institute of Vilnius University. In 1816 he obtained the degree of Master of Philosophy and in next year was invited to work at the Astronomical Observatory of Vilnius University. The Chair of Land Surveying was set up in 1826 and A. Szahin, the author of the first textbooks on higher geodesy (Higher Geodesy and Land Surveying and Levelling, 1929, in Polish) was elected its head. In 1832 the Russian government closed the Vilnius University, as an act of repression after the uprising. A. Szahin was forced to go to Vitebsk where he delivered mathematics at gymnasium. In 1834 A. Szahin was invited to Kharkiv University where he gained the professorship of astronomy.

Do deepfake videos undermine our epistemic trust? A thematic analysis of tweets that discuss deepfakes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Deepfakes are a form of multi-modal media generated using deep-learning technology. Many academics have expressed fears that deepfakes present a severe threat to the veracity of news and political communication, and an epistemic crisis for video evidence. These commentaries have often been hypothetical, with few real-world cases of deepfake's political and epistemological harm. The Russo-Ukrainian war presents the first real-life example of deepfakes being used in warfare, with a number of incidents involving deepfakes of Russian and Ukrainian government officials being used for misinformation and entertainment. This study uses a thematic analysis on tweets relating to deepfakes and the Russo-Ukrainian war to explore how people react to deepfake content online, and to uncover evidence of previously theorised harms of deepfakes on trust. We extracted 4869 relevant tweets using the Twitter API over the first seven months of 2022. We found that much of the misinformation in our dataset came from labelling real media as deepfakes. Novel findings about deepfake scepticism emerged, including a connection between deepfakes and conspiratorial beliefs that world leaders were dead and/or replaced by deepfakes. This research has numerous implications for future research, societal media platforms, news media and governments. The lack of deepfake literacy in our dataset led to significant misunderstandings of what constitutes a deepfake, showing the need to encourage literacy in these new forms of media. However, our evidence demonstrates that efforts to raise awareness around deepfakes may undermine trust in legitimate videos. Consequentially, news media and governmental agencies need to weigh the benefits of educational deepfakes and pre-bunking against the risks of undermining truth. Similarly, news companies and media should be careful in how they label suspected deepfakes in case they cause suspicion for real media.

Technological sovereignty as an imperative of national industrial policy

The strategically significant task of achieving technological sovereignty is considered in relation to the general state of Russian industry. The main industrial trends of recent years are characterized. The ways of improving the domestic practice of state regulation of industry are formulated. Including: fuller use of the best world practice of industrial policy (China, USA, South Korea, Japan, India); adjustment of domestic legislation on this issue; improvement of the system of strategic planning of industrial development. The national Industrial Policy is considered as a strategic course of the state for the sustainable functioning and progressive development of the industrial sphere, meeting the national interests and national security of the country. The content of objects and subjects of industrial policy, as well as the vision of the system of strategic planning of the industrial sphere with an emphasis on the needs of the domestic market are clarified. The key provisions of the Concept of Technological Development of the country until 2030, approved by the Government of Russia, are outlined. The basic principles of improving the mechanism of import substitution and the directions of its implementation at the macro level are proposed. It is recommended to concentrate import substitution efforts on industrial goods and complex technical systems that are strategically important from the point of view of national security. Pay special attention to the final types of industrial products containing difficult-to-replace (the most complex) components. To modernize the composition and interaction of technological chains of organizations producing strategic replacement products. In general, a course is needed to increase the strategic flexibility of Russian industry and accelerate the diversification of its scientific and production potential.

The Rise of China and its Interplay with the Russian and Turkish Regimes

How does the rise of China challenge the existing international order? What are the possible outcomes of the interplay between China’s rise and the current trajectory of the Russian and Turkish regimes? Based on a qualitative analysis, I find twomajor dilemmas for the current power dynamics have resulted from China’s challenging behavior in the international system. First, while China promotes steady relationships based on mutual interests facilitated by the rule-based international order, it also carries out actions which feed its aspirations for exploiting the current international institutions. Second, while China underlines the importance of a Westphalian style of sovereignty and non-interference, it also takes interventionist actions in both cyberspace and territorial space. Based on identification of ChinaRussia and China-Turkey interactions through the variations in the most ‘central’ domestic issues of the current governments in Russia and Turkey, I predict four possible outcomes, shedding light on the future policy directions in Russia and Turkey: 1) a prolongation of Putin’s campaign in Ukraine, 2) an acceleration in the process of de-dollarization, 3) lasting Chinese influence on Turkey’s Kurdish issue, and 4) an increase in Turkey’s tendency toward a Chinese-style ‘growth’ model.

The Changing Nature of the Natural Gas Trade between Russia and Turkey: The Role of Climate Change and the EU Institutions

This article focuses on the changing nature of Russia-Turkey energy trade relations. The main argument of the article is that climate change, as well as EU institutions and environmental protection regulations, have been decisive in the long-term transformation of bilateral natural gas relations. The EU favors competitive market structures to combat climate change, and the EU Green Deal sets ambitious targets for renewable energy consumption. These variables establish grounds for legitimacy among EU members in the face of Russian dominance of the EU energy market. However, as discussed in this paper, the Russian government’s main strategy to counter this opposition from the EU side is to circumvent the EU’s institutional arrangements through its relations with Turkey. The final point to be discussed in this paper is the impact of the EU energy and environment policies on changes in Russian perceptions of Turkey.