Mission Of Russia Research Articles

Vladimir Karpets: the Formation of a Russian Thinker and Writer

The article highlights the stages in the evolution of Vladimir Karpets' socio-political views. It also reveals the conditions of the formation of Vladimir Karpets as a thinker, basically at the early stage of his creative work from 1975 to 1995. Poems, historical and literary essays, publishing projects, and a dissertation by Vladimir Karpets are used as sources here. The ways in which the thinker promoted Orthodox and monarchical views against the background of the Soviet censorship are also shown. The article mentions the classics and contemporaries who influenced the formation of Vladimir Karpets' identity: his father Igor Karpets, Pyotr Palamarchuk, Tatyana Glushkova, Anatoly Ivanov, monarchists of the Perestroika era, Grigory Kremnev, Vladimir Mikushevich, Oleg Fomin, Alexander Dugin. All the poetry collections by Vladimir Karpets and the themes of his poems are considered. Attention is paid to his activity as a researcher and lecturer in law, his historical and legal studies of Russia and Spain. The article considers in detail the study by Vladimir Karpets of life and work of Admiral Alexander Shishkov and poet Fyodor Glinka, and traces the influence of their literary and religious views on the formation of Vladimir Karpets as a poet and thinker. The article states the features of monarchism according to Vladimir Karpets, his emphasis on the royal family natural succession, his interpretation of the Soviet period of history as a secret continuation of Russia's mission as Katechon Withholding. In this context, the published films and unpublished scripts by Vladimir Karpets for 1989–1992 are considered: “For Your Friends”, “The Third Rome”, “Name”, “Angel of Harvest”, “Khovanshchina”, “Morok” (“The Story of the Story”). The evolution of the thinker's views in the 1990s is discussed, including his reassessment of the Russian Church schism (dissent) in the 17th century. The article also tells about the translation activity of Vladimir Karpets, and represents a brief description of the subsequent evolution of Vladimir Karpets' thought during 1995–2016.

Count de Lubersac: Mission in Russia, 1916–1919

The author examines the activities of Count Jean de Lubersac, a member of the French military mission in Russia, and demonstrates how the main stages of his activities in that position vividly illustrate the evolution of French policy towards Russia in the critical years of Franco-Russian relations. Published in August 1918, “A Letter to American Workingmen” by Vladimir Lenin mentions his meeting with two French officers in February of the same year. One of them, Jacques Sadoul, is fairly well known, while the personality and area of activity of the other has not yet attracted the same degree of research interest. Meanwhile, his name, Jean de Lubersac, is mentioned in the memoirs of many French and Russian military and political figures when describing the events of 1916–1919 in Russia. Arriving in Russia as a mere second lieutenant on an air mission, this highly enterprising man quickly took up a position in the Russian Fifth Army, then in the French military mission and finally in the ranks of the interventionists in northern Russia. It was a most unusual feat for a junior officer, especially one from abroad. The primary sources for the study include the memoirs of those French and Russian nationals who knew de Lubersac personally, as well as documents from French and Russian archives. Although these sources contain only sketchy accounts, together they provide a fairly complete picture of what Jean de Lubersac was doing in Russia, not only in 1916–1919, but also later, in 1922.

Проблемы управления Сибирью в XIX - начале XX В. В освещении англо- и немецкоязычной историографии

The paper objective is to analyze and evaluate the research findings obtained by the English- and German-language scholars who studied the administrative system of Siberia in the 19th - early 20th century, when the regionalist policy of the Russian Empire was gradually replaced by a more rigid centralism, standardization and unification. Anglo-American and German historians using the conception of “Russian eastward expansion” (E.M. Hicks), theories of “frontier” and “colonization” (A. Kappeler, W. Sunderland, S. Becker et al.) analyzed a wide range of problems associated with the administration of pre-revolutionary Siberia. Comparing “instruments of expansion” and “colonial practices” of the Russian empire with the historical experience of other countries, Western authors critically evaluated the results of “civilizing” mission of Russia in Northern Asia, emphasizing in particular negative aspects of aboriginal and penal policy. However, most of researchers the administrative system created in Siberia provided a rather successful integration of the region in the imperial space. Political and socioeconomic factors influencing Siberia's administrative system were studied primarily in Anglo-American historiography (M. Raeff, T. Armstrong) while sociocultural factors - in German historiography (C. Weiss, S. Frank et al.). Western authors paid special attention to analysis of reasons, essence and outcomes of the 1822 Siberian reform introduced by M.M. Speransky which, in their view, largely determined the region's development till the end of the imperial period.

Начальный этап русско-китайских культурных взаимодействий

The article focuses on the role of cultural exchanges between Russia and China in the 19th century and highlights the following aspects of Russian-Chinese cultural interactions at the initial stage: the first trips of Chinese diplomats abroad, the role of the Orthodox mission in spreading knowledge about China in Russia, literature exchange, the contribution of Russian writers to popularizing Chinese culture and of Chinese writers and revolutionaries to popularizing Russian literature. The author came to the following conclusions. The Chinese diplomatic mission in Russia in the 19th century was not numerous (Bin Chun, Li Hongzhan and some others); visits of official delegations were not frequent either, which had some implications for the negligible outcome of long-term interactions and cultural exchanges. Another opportunity to get acquainted with China and Chinese culture was provided by the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Mission, which played an important role in spreading knowledge about China in Russia, as well as in the birth of Russian Chinese studies and the formation of a pleiad of Orientalists (Bichurin, Vasilyev). Chinese literature in Russia was in demand among not only scholars, but also writers, who contributed greatly to the dissemination of Chinese culture. Russian literature developed an interest in Chinese culture and classical literature, which was reflected in the works of Pushkin and Tolstoy. “Chinese motifs” are heard in Ruslan and Lyudmila, Eugene Onegin, and “To a Friend”. Pushkin also researched and edited expedition reports and letters about China. He was a friend of Bichurin and positively evaluated his translation of San Zi Jing (Rus. Troeslovie; En. The Three Character Classic). Tolstoy seriously studied Confucianism and Taoism and was directly involved in the translation of the Tao Te Ching from French and German. China also gradually began to become familiar with Russian literature. Tolstoy's works had the greatest influence - they were very common in China at the beginning of the twentieth century. Many young people of the time - first of all, revolutionaries and writers, the first leaders of the Communist Party of China (Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun and Hu Shih, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, etc.) - liked Tolstoy's works. The worldview of Tolstoy the thinker and the humanistic spirit of his works became an important spiritual nourishment for the development of modern Chinese literature; together with translations of his texts, Russian cultural and philosophical views entered the Chinese spiritual space. Further processes of interaction and exchanges between the two countries took place in various directions, became a link for modern international cooperation and the desire for common development at the beginning of the 21st century.

Верховный правитель против атамана: конфликт адмирала А.В. Колчака и атамана Г.М. Семенова в ноябре – декабре 1918 г. в документах французского генерала М. Жанена

Introduction. The article focuses on a critically important episode in the history of Russian Civil War on the Eastern Front – the conflict between the Supreme Governor of Russia Admiral Alexander V. Kolchak and Colonel Grigory M. Semyonov, commanding the 5th Pri-Amur Corps in November – December of 1918. Semyonov’s nonrecognition of Kolchak’s government after the coup d’état on November 18, 1918 and their heated exchange of telegraph cables led to a long-standing conflict in which the Supreme Governor failed to exert his authority over Semyonov, who was supported by the Japanese Expeditionary Corps. Methods and materials. Their confrontation ended only in May 1919 with concessions made by Kolchak, which was reciprocated with recognition of his authority by Semyonov. Further details on conflict dynamics are revealed in the papers of Maurice Janin, who headed the French military mission in Siberia, and had arrived in the Russian Far East in November 1918 as the chief of the Allied military mission in Russia. Analysis. En route from Vladivostok to Omsk, General Janin stayed in Chita on December 5–6, where he found himself in the middle of the conflict between the Supreme Governor and ataman. Janin’s memoirs published in 1933 and documents from the collection of Service historique de la défense – the Archives center of the French Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces were used when putting this paper together, the latter made public for the first time. Details of conversations between Janin and ataman Semyonov, transcripts of his meetings with Japanese general Jiro Oba, negotiations by direct wire with France’s High Commissioner to Siberia Eugène L.G. Regnault and Admiral Kolchak represent a significant contribution into the history of this conflict. From his arrival to Russia Janin noted the disunity of anti-Bolshevik movement. Results. The information on ataman Semyonov, as well as on Kolchak and his entourage that he collected in the Far East, and his failure to resolve the conflict in Chita led him first to a conservative, and then to an openly negative assessment of White movement’s future outlook on the Civil War’s Eastern Front.

Ellis Island: A People's History

Ellis Island: A People's History

Environmental Law Regulation in Creating the Conditions for Sustainable Development of the Russian Economy With Simultaneous Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract. Regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in Russia is just beginning. The mission of Russia’s environmental development and climate change R&D program is to launch fundamentally novel basic research and techniques for the environment and climate. There are three major targets to be achieved by 2030: fundamentally enhance environmental security, improve the state of the environment, and study the climate and the mechanisms of adaptation to climate change. Actions will need to be taken to reduce the environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions. In the near future, climate projects will move to the top of the global environmental agenda and will dominate among the projects for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Global specialists have so far failed to deliver a clear definition of the forest climate project. It is up to lawyers to formulate the key quality criteria of the project implementation at the legislative level. Russian forests occupy the largest area in the world and form a core of the system that binds and stores carbon. Russia must use these expanses to augment the carbon absorbing capacity of our forests. A priority in the Russian R&D program will be research into the most effective mechanisms of carbon dioxide sequestration. Structuring of climate data and techniques is underway and, most importantly, it is becoming possible to verify them at the international level.
 Keywords: greenhouse gases, carbon, carbon tax, organizations subject to regulation

Дантовский эпос в русской литературе: Н. В. Гоголь, И. А. Гончаров, Ф. М. Достоевский

“Dead Souls” by N. V. Gogol, the novel trilogy by I. A. Goncharov, “The Brothers Karamazov” by F. M. Dostoevsky form the line of “Dante’s epic” in Russian literature. Solving the problems of historical mission of Russia in the modern world and the fate of modern Russian man in a purely theological key, all three authors deeply and creatively comprehended the question of three-part structure of “The Divine Comedy.” Within the framework of “national utopia” (Gogol), the historically defined image of Russia’s movement from “sleep” to “awakening” (Goncharov), the ideal of “Christian socialism” (Dostoevsky), Russian writers raised the question of fundamental possibility of spiritual transformation for an individual and a nation, indicated for a modern man, infected with apostasy and selfishness, the way from the “hell” of modern life to the religious ideal, to the “paradise,” which all three considered achievable even in earthly life, although they understood it differently. The appearance of the “Dante’s epic” in Russian literature is predetermined, in particular, by its organic attraction to the Orthodox worldview, which determined the centuries-old productivity in art of such an archetype of human behavior as “sin — repentance — resurrection.”

Life of Russian Orthodox Clergy in the United States at the End of the 19th Century (Reflected in the correspondence of the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev)

Using little-known correspondence of the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev with the bishop Nickolay (Ziorov) — head of Russian Orthodox Church in the United States in 1892–1898 — the article explores the everyday life of Russian clergy in America. This correspondence is deposited at the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg and has not been published or studied before. The author analyzes Pobedonostsev’s role in the diocese affairs. This examination is new both in the Church’s history and recently published literature on Pobedonostsev. Yet the Ober-Procurator’s supervision was of utmost importance for the Russian mission in the United States, faced with the crucial challenge of adapting itself to the alien cultural environment. Pobedonostsev was well informed about the situation with the Russian mission, helped to solve many personnel, financial and organizational problems, was a chief promoter of its interests before the Russian imperial government — Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Finance, the State Council, and the Tzar’s court. Pobedonostsev also stayed in touch with the US diplomatic mission in Russia and Russian diplomats in the United States. He was very close with bishop Nickolay who regarded the Ober-Procurator as his main benefactor and constantly turned to him for advice and assistance. Pobedonostsev strongly supported the bishop’s reforms of missionary activities in education, parish life, and propagation of Orthodoxy, as well as his efforts to defend the Russian Orthodox mission’s interests before American authorities. No wonder their extensive correspondence richly reflected the diocese’s life with all its problems and needs. The article highlights their close cooperation in recruiting qualified clergymen for American service, which was the key task for the mission that suffered from a shortage of reliable professional personnel. Pobedonostsev-Nickolay cooperation greatly contributed to the diocese progress, which later reached its peak under Nickolay’s successor bishop Tikhon (Bellavin). Their correspondence sheds new light on the personalities of both men united by their fervent devotion to the Orthodox Church and highly conservative views. It also presents a revealing case study of the interaction between Russian ecclesiastic and state authorities as well as their perception of American culture. The author’s main methodological approach consisted in text analysis of the archival documents juxtaposed against the context of Russian-American relations and the realities of American life.

About malaria

During the work of the German Medical Mission in Russia, we could be convinced that issues related to malaria are of particular interest among our Russian comrades.

Рыцарский идеал Н.А. Бердяева и мировая война

The knightly ideal of N.A. Berdyaev is one of the major components of his creativity: “the spirit of chivalry” is a unique alternative to “the spirit of the bourgeois”, to “world philistinism” and total, self-sufficing, godless statehood. Berdyaev believes in the great historic mission of Russia – to become a connecting link between the East and the West, to unite two streams of world history. The First World War adds an urgency to these themes. The Russian thinker interprets this war as an epoch of great tests, hopes that it will lead to spiritual awakening of Russia, will give courage and nobleness to the Russian people, provide the Russian person with attributes of the knight. Berdyaev is convinced of the necessity of qualitative changes of Russian national consciousness and being. War as a phenomenon of a spiritual order shows that only spiritual power can eradicate violence in the world. According to the well-known concept of “the new Middle Ages”, the barbarity of war overcomes bourgeois decadence and opens the potential of the humane person; war expands culture horizons, opens new resources. Russia needs people of dignity and honour, people who realize the greatness of divine power. Russian society should join the world civilization; internally accept Christian revelations about humanity. Berdyaev confirms that the idea of knightly service is anticipated in Christian morality, it’s crucially important for the history of personal formation. The precondition of success of the historic world mission of Russia is the liberation of the ‘Russian soul’ from domination of womanly, natural, potentially chaotic elements. The problem of choosing between the East and the West, declares Berdyaev, defines the fate of Russia. Russian national consciousness should accept the cultural heritage of the West imminently. Only focusing on the self-forged knightly courage and responsible creative personality will allow Russia to change spiritually, and successfully solve problems on a global historical scale.

A Letter from the Samara “Consul” to the Prime Minister of France about the Events of the Civil War: A Citizen’s Duty and Self-Interest

The letter by French “consul” Jeannot proposed to the reader highlights the participation of French military and diplomatic representatives in the Civil War in the Volga Region in 1918. Soviet historiography considers Jeannot one of the key figures who caused the situation in the Czechoslovak Corps in the spring of 1918 to destabilise; however, information about him is scarce. This letter highlights the role of Jeannot in events related to the mutiny of the Czechoslovak legion and demonstrates his motivation and understanding of events in Russia between 1914 and 1918. The letter dates from September 1919 and is addressed to Georges Clemenceau, president of the Council of Ministers of France. According to the document, Jeannot wanted compensation for the financial costs that he had incurred during his mission in Russia and aspired to demonstrate his usefulness and competence in the “Russian question” to the officials of the Third Republic. The document touches upon the financial side of French anti-Soviet actions in the Volga Region and French speculation in the Russian domestic market in 1918. Jeannot’s letter is kept in the fund of the Second Bureau of the General Staff of France of the Historical Service of the French Ministry of Defense (Service Historique de la Défense).

КИТАЙ В ВОСПРИЯТИИ Ф.М. ДОСТОЕВСКОГО

The aim of the study is to form a holistic image of China as presented in the artistic and journalistic works of Fyodor Dostoevsky. The article examines the issue of China’s place in Dostoevsky’s works and its special significance for the formation of a holistic picture of the writer’s world. A broad historical and cultural background is presented, showing the relevance of Dostoevsky’s views on Chinese issues. Despite the existence of works devoted to the Chinese issue in the writer’s work, the issue of the place and significance of China in the writer’s heritage has not yet been resolved. For the first time, a number of fragments are introduced into academic discourse that reveal Chinese problems in the writer’s works. The imagological concept unfolds on the broad material of the entire body of Dostoevsky’s texts, bringing the scholarly apparatus of research to a new level. The article uses the following works: White Nights, Humiliated and Insulted, The Village of Stepanchikovo, The House of the Dead, The Idiot, Crime and Punishment, The Possessed, The Brothers Karamazov, the poem “On European Events in 1854”, A Writer’s Diary, preparatory materials for A Writer’s Diary, notebooks of 1864 and 1865. It is concluded that the understanding of the Chinese theme is in harmony with the general journalistic trends of the second half of the 19th century, on the one hand; on the other hand, the unique place of China in Dostoevsky’s creative mind is emphasized. A clear structure of the constituents that form the writer’s idea of China is proposed. China is considered in several significant aspects. China is a symbol of the alien and the distant. China is like a set of clichés and a fashion for Chinese household items. China is a real threat to the outskirts of Russia, Siberia. These positions are consistently analyzed in the article. The article also analyzes the Chinese attributes found in different works by Dostoevsky, demonstrates the writer’s acquaintance with the clichéd idea of China. The position of understanding China as a symbol of the alien and the distant is considered in detail. The article shows how the author imposes the realities of Chinese statehood and the principles of organizing society on Russian reality based on the key theme of chaos and disorder. Particular attention is paid to the perception of China as a real threat to the outskirts of Russia. In considering this aspect, Dostoevsky’s geopolitical ideas about the place and role of Siberia in the issue of the revival of Russia are touched upon. The need to expand the understanding of the specifics of Dostoevsky’s Asian views is shown by including a detailed analysis of China and the Asian outskirts of Russia, which undoubtedly are part of the writer’s circle of special reflections on the role and mission of Russia.

Socialist Jules Destrée at the Head of Belgian Diplomatic Mission in Russia, August 1917 – March 1918

The article examines the diplomatic mission of the Belgian socialist Jules Destrée to Russia in August 1917 – March 1918. He was appointed to Petrograd at the height of internal political changes in Russia when the country began its withdrawal from World War I. Following the previously set goal of participating in the war to the victorious end, Belgium tried to keep Russia as an ally, expecting that as her neutrality guarantor it will render assistance in restoring Belgian political independence. Furthermore, one of the urgent problems was to take care of Belgian companies and enterprises in Russia, their workers and employees who were in Russia. To achieve these goals, the Belgian Foreign Ministry attempted to establish a dialogue with the new Bolshevik government, appointing as its official ambassador a left-wing politician instead of a professional diplomat. He was well-known for his patriotism and his views about the necessity to continue the war to the end. The analysis of diplomatic documents and J. Destrée’s private notes allows the author to identify the diplomatic strategy pursued by the Belgian government, the specifics of the tasks assigned to the diplomat, and the fruits of his mission. The author concludes that Destrée’s mission failed due to the lack of understanding of the Russian internal contradictions on the part of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs which could not be counterbalanced by the ambassador’s political views.

“Old Civilized Asian States”: the Perception of Eurasian Space by Russian Public Figures and Publicists at the End of the 19th and Beginning of the 20th Centuries

The article analyzes the issue of conceptualization by Russian public leaders and publicists of the causes and goals of the turn of Russian foreign policy to the East at the end of the 19th century. In those years there took shape the idea of specific eastern mission of Russia that influenced later the configuring of Eurasian ideology. At the same time the ideological constructions of the publicists at the end of the 19th century were rather peculiar. In contrast to the Eurasians those authors paid special attention to the “old civilized states in Asia”, like Persia and China. The necessity to support the Celestial Empire and the Christian communities in Persia was determined, according to those publicists, by Russia’s duty to protect the weak. Besides, China was viewed as the state with established autocracy concept that was very important for Russia. At the beginning of the 20th century the ideas of the “orientalists” and other publicists contemplating Russia’s special mission in Asia, lost their former influence. Their distant echo can be found in the program of the prominent White movement leader baron R.F. Ungern, who brought forward the idea of establishing a Pan-Asian monarchy relying on China during Civil War.

Homo peregrinator: образ автора и образ России в «Русском дневнике» Льюиса Кэрролла (1867)

This article is devoted to the psycholinguistic study of the dominants and their “traces” in the consciousness of Homo peregrinator, a travelling person, – Lewis Carroll, the author of “The Russian Journal” (1867), which he kept during his trip to Russia. The dominants (A. A. Ukhtomsky), which are values of the motivational level of linguistic personality (Yu. N. Karaulov), leave “traces” in the thesaurus. The “traces” are investigated through three aspects of the thesaurus level: dissimilation, anisotropy (Yu. N. Karaulov) and emotion as an expression of the sensation of linguistic personality at the linguistic-cognitive, or thesaurus, level. The Lewis Carroll’s mission in Russia, his goodwill and respect were a determining factor in dealing with a surrounding unfamiliar reality. The author’s value dominant, correlated with the motivational level of the linguistic personality, contrasts with one of the other European and English authors’ travel notes.

«A special institute or academy of missionaries is needed»: Archbishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky) about sectarianism and Church’s anti-sectarian mission in Russia

«A special institute or academy of missionaries is needed»: Archbishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky) about sectarianism and Church’s anti-sectarian mission in Russia

Civilizacionnaya missiya Rossii v Evrazii: istoricheskij opyt kul'turnogo stroitel'stva v nacional'nyh regionah SSSR i v Mongolii

Civilizacionnaya missiya Rossii v Evrazii: istoricheskij opyt kul'turnogo stroitel'stva v nacional'nyh regionah SSSR i v Mongolii

Time, Events, People in the System of Vital Coordinates of Nikolai Ryzhkov (to the publication of the 10-volume collection of scientific and journalistic works by N.I. Ryzhkov released by «Economicheskaya Gazeta PH» in the year of his 90th anniversary)

The article deals with the socio-economic and ideological orientations of scientific and journalistic works of N.I. Ryzhkov, united in the author's 10-volume edition under the general title «In the fields of historical memory. Time. Events. People». Particular attention is paid to the reflections of the former Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the ways, programs, methods, forms and methods of restructuring the socio-political and socio-economic life of the Country of the Soviets. Emphasizes the importance and relevance of reflection N.I. Ryzhkov about the historical mission of Russia, the multifaceted appearance of its national idea, the exploits of Russia on the fields of its combat, labor, scientific and intellectual glory. On the red line is estimated the scientific component of the collected and analyzed N.I. Ryzhkov extensive statistical data on the economic support of the USSR's victory over Nazi Germany. The variants of Russian answers to the civilizational challenges of the XXI century facing the Russian Federation are compared with the established public discourse proposed by N.I. Ryzhkov.

The Holy See’s Modus Operandi in Dealing with Some Requests for Assistance Sent to the Vatican in the 1920s and 1930s: Based on New Archival Documents

After the 1917 Revolution in Russia many requests for help were addressed to the Vatican from Soviet Russia and from those who had to leave the country. Indeed, on the one hand, the majority of the people in the Soviet Union, in one way or another, was affected by the famine of the 1920s or its consequences; on the other hand, right after the seizure of power Bolsheviks started political and religious persecutions. This article provides some information about the activities of the Papal Relief Mission in Russia, led by the Jesuit Edmund Walsh and undertaken to assist the population, as well as some cases of requests for help addressed to the Vatican in order to analyse the response of the Holy See. Several requests are analysed: the request by Ljudmila Lubimova, who actively helped Russian migrants (thanks to her connections among the people of influence); the request from a hieromonk Pachom, who wrote to the Holy See about the conditions of two Orthodox bishops in Paris and Vienna; the episode of a certain Mr. Makarov, who asked for financial support; the case of a Fr. David, who appealed for help to a Carmelite monastery in Lisieux (France).