post-Soviet Period Research Articles

Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” in interpretations of Iranian literary critics

The eastern reception of Leo Tolstoy’s oeuvre remains in the list of topical issues. It primarily refers to the Persian perception of the Russian writer’s literary and philosophical heritage because Iran, unlike other Asian countries, has been a closed country for a long time. In the pre-Soviet period (during the lifetime of the author of “War and Peace”), there was no information about the state of Tolstoy Studies in Iran, except for the Russian newspaper and magazine chronicles, which reflected the facts of the general Persian cultural reception of Leo Tolstoy. The situation did not improve during the Soviet period. It is enough to point out that despite the efforts of Iranian philologists, a complete bibliography of Persian translations of Leo Tolstoy’s works was not compiled, and in the works, presenting a general idea of the problem, information on the topic “Tolstoy in Iran” was taken from second-hand sources, without proper verification. In Iran itself, objective factors, related to the unsystematic nature of the source base about Leo Tolstoy, had an impact. The post-Soviet period has not observed Russian Tolstoy scholars’ sustained interest in the problem of the Persian image of Leo Tolstoy. At the same time, Iranian researchers prefer to consider the mechanisms of perceiving Russian literature as a single text, without its special and detailed disclosure based on the example of Leo Tolstoy. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of literary viewpoints on Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” in Iran. It should be emphasized that this review does not claim to be complete: the chronological series, without which it is impossible to describe the receptive dynamics in the spectrum of assessments and interpretations, is far from being complete; the problem of the first references of Iranian literary criticism and literary studies to the novel (apparently, the 1920s) has remained unsolved. The task of the article is more modest: to a certain extent to fill in the gap of understanding how the famous novel was interpreted in Iran.

On the Issue of the Nature and Dynamics of the Development of Russian-Turkish Relations in the Post-Soviet Period

The article examines the development of Russian-Turkish relations over the past 30 years, the main aspects of geopolitical relations and, in particular, the conflicts in the South Caucasus and adjacent regions. The authors believe that the key ones are the two Karabakh wars, the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict and the fve-day Georgian-South Ossetian war, as well as the Ukrainian crisis, the Libyan and Syrian conflicts, in which Moscow and Ankara have different interests. The new confguration of forces in the South Caucasus will largely depend on the outcome of the resolution of these conflicts. The authors identify the main patterns in the development of bilateral Russian-Turkish relations, which are characterized by a combination of confrontation, competition and cooperation. The article was based on the results of a scientifc discussion held at the National Communications Development Research Institution (NIIRC), Moscow, Russia in 2022.

Cultural and semiotic codes of Burkhanist wedding rites of the Altai-Kizhi

The Altai-Kizhi, as the central group of the Altaians, the titular ethnic group in the Republic of Altai, are the guardians of Burkhanism. Burkhanism refers to a belief system that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century as a “reformed” version of shamanism. In Soviet times, forbidden Burkhanism preserved in the intra-ethnic ritual culture, and in the post-Soviet period it began to revive. The purpose of the article is to identify Burkhanist con-cepts in the cultural and semiotic wedding codes. The material for the study was author’s own field accounts of 2020–2022, collected by the method of participant observation and interviewing informants, as well as archival records of A.V. Anokhin, an antiquarian of the early 20th century. When analyzing the source base, a comparative method of research was used. The bride’s transition into a category of married women occurs through the rite of changing the maiden hairstyle for two braids with a parting, and introducing her to the groom's ancestral hearth by ‘treating’ the fire with oil. In the ritual actions of the participants, the Burkhanist attitude towards ‘the positive’ and the observance of the custom of ‘bay’ are encoded. For the first time, on the basis of the collected material, an anthropomorphic code of the ritual practice of the wedding has been identified, associated with the key idea of Burkhanism - the veneration of Altai-deity, the upper heavenly world that provides earthly life. The temporal code of the ritual actions corresponds to the Burkhanist rule — the period of the new moon and morning is a ‘favorable’ time for proposal and marriage. The spatial code of the wedding ceremonies accounts for the contraposition of ‘east-west’, ‘right-left’, and ‘male-female’. The actional code consists in performing the ritual ‘posolon’ actions and an even number of times according to the Burkhanist symbolism. The object code involves sacred attributes — a whip, a gun, a sheath for opening bride's curtain, juniper, and dairy products for ‘feeding’ the hearth fire. The color code of the wedding is in observance of light symbols — bride's curtain, milk, and sacrificial ribbons. The verbal code is realized in the ritual texts of good wishes and songs. The character code is contained in the composition and role of the sex and age groups: elders as experts in the ritual; maternal uncles-taay and nephews of the bride and groom, whose participation means social recognition and approval of the marriage. The analysis of the wed-ding ritual actions reveals the ‘stringing’ of one code upon another, which enhances the significance of the ritual. One and the same ritual meaning can be expressed by means of different codes and by several of them simulta-neously. Despite the fact that the ritual codes are universal, their manifestation and significance in the wedding rituals of the Altai-Kizhi are unique, which is in accordance with the ideas of Burkhanism and is explained by the historical and ethno-confessional factors of the adaptation of the Altaian tribal society.

THE MAIN METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND NATIONALISM

The article discusses the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of relations between religion and nationalism. The relationship between these phenomena as a system of values, social power and ideological constructs is one of the least studied areas within the Social Sciences. In this regard, the models of relationships between these two phenomena, the level of their influence on each other and the factors that contribute to them are analyzed. These methodological approaches, in turn, make it possible to assess the role of religion, including Islam, in national construction projects and processes of the post-Soviet period. In particular, the reasons for the complex relationship between nationalism and Islam in the formation of national identity and its consequences for state policy in the field of national construction and religion are analyzed.

The Post-Soviet period in the history of tourism development in Russia: cardinal transformations and features of development

The object of this study is the history of tourism development in Russia. The subject of the study is the factors and features of the development of Russian tourism in the post–Soviet period (from 1991 to the present). On the basis of documentary and literary sources, the factors and features of tourism development in Russia after the collapse of the unified tourist space of the USSR are characterized. Tourism is considered in the context of socio-economic transformations of post-Soviet society, in the context of changing the geopolitical position of Russia, strengthening the role of cultural and natural heritage as a resource for spatial economic development. The main conclusions of the study are: the main factors of the post-Soviet period of tourism development in Russia were the close attention of business, government, science and education to the field of tourism activity. The main contribution of the authors to the study of the topic: the periodization of the development of Russian tourism of the first thirty years of the post-Soviet era, the characteristics of each of the periods, the identification of the specifics of the use of pre-revolutionary and Soviet cultural heritage in tourism, new cultural objects and traditions of the post-Soviet period. The novelty of the study is to identify the main features and main stages of tourism development in post-Soviet Russia. The main aspects of scientific research in tourism are considered and the contribution of representatives of various sciences is revealed. The role of the import substitution trend in the development of domestic tourism and in the implementation of the Spatial Development Strategy of Russia is shown. The first results of understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of Russian tourism are presented. The research is based on historical-genetic, historical-geographical, problem-analytical and retrospective methods, as well as the method of system-structural analysis. It is shown that tourism of the post-Soviet period has become an actively developing branch of the economy, involving various groups of the population in its sphere, contributing to the search for regional brands and new opportunities for using cultural heritage objects in tourism activities.

К ВОПРОСУ О КРИТЕРИЯХ ОСВЕЩЕНИЯ ПРОБЛЕМ РЕВОЛЮЦИИ И КОНТРРЕВОЛЮЦИИ В РОССИИ

The relevance of the theme is seen in the fact that in the post-Soviet period there was a blurring of the criteria for scientific reconstruction and assessment of the problems of revolution and counter-revolution in Russia. The purpose of the work is to provoke a critical reflection on the methodological and ideological turn that has taken place. According to the author, the reverse side of the restoration of the conservative and right-wing liberal historical-legal and theoretical-legal discourse was the unrea-sonable rejection of the principles of dialectical thinking in the works of post-Soviet authors and, as a result, the reideologization of the historical-legal sphere of academic knowledge. The idea is substantiated that the modern scientific optics of understanding the problems of revolution and counter-revolution in Russia should include not only a specific understanding of the essence of the prerevolutionary system (dependent peripheral capitalism), but also an assessment of the confrontation between the revolutionary movement and the tsarist regime from the point of view of a concretely understood social ideal. The first steps of this ideal in historical practice are reflected in the images of high culture.

The Estate Origins of Democracy in Russia: From Imperial Bourgeoisie to Post-Communist Middle Class by Tomila Lankina

Histories of Russia focus almost exclusively on discontinuities—the “Time of Troubles” in the sixteenth century, the Emancipation Act of 1861, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Such emphases have reinforced a general view of Russian society as perpetually lurching from crisis to crisis. There is certainly value in the study of Russian upheaval; episodes of instability can shed light on larger questions about social and political organization in the past. But, according to Lankina, the (often overlooked) continuities across ruptures can teach us at least as much, as is borne out by the findings of her ambitious new study of the Russian middle class.In this book, Lankina investigates the reproduction of Russia’s small but (as she shows) constant bourgeois stratum from the imperial era, across the turmoil and upheaval of the twentieth century, to the post-Soviet present day. She is interested in the transmission of values across generations and the implications of this phenomenon for social, political, and economic development. Can we connect those estates (socio-legal groups, or soslovii in Russian) associated with “bourgeois” values in the imperial period to the Soviet intelligentsia in the twentieth century, and further, to groups with more positive views of democratic reforms in Russia today? And can we draw any larger lessons from the Russian case?These are, as Lankina herself acknowledges, big, complicated, and difficult questions to answer; refreshingly, she approaches them as such. Instead of reducing the problem to one narrow question that she can address using data alone, she takes a truly interdisciplinary approach, consulting literatures and methodologies from a range of fields, including history, sociology, and quantitative political science. She uses both textual and quantitative evidence and formulates her hypotheses in relation to a broad range of disciplinary concepts from Weber’s notion of the Ständestaat and Bourdieu’s idea of “cultural capital” to de Vries’ “industrious revolution” and Piketty’s recent work on inequality.1Lankina moves comfortably between micro-history and statistical analysis, between a local archive filled with textual sources and large data sets. She quickly introduces us to a local community in Samara province in the nineteenth century, the fortunes of which she follows across generations. These people’s actions and words—the way in which they perceived their social identity and values and the choices that they made—provide a context for interpreting the statistical findings in later chapters. Similarly, Lankina finds interesting ways to use data to address the issue of long-run social reproduction. Connecting estate membership to professions and educational indicators in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods—along with other proxies for characteristics associated with bourgeois estates—she makes the case for much greater “intergenerational resilience” than the existing literature about Russia implies. Thus, she casts doubt on the idea that the so-called “Soviet experiment” succeeded in leveling the old estate hierarchies. In fact, she argues that the correlations between educational groups and democratic preferences that emerge from the contemporary data are surprisingly consistent with indicators for the imperial period. Hence, rather than breaking down imperial social identities, the turmoil of the Soviet years may have bolstered and reinforced them, at least among members of the middling estates studied in this book.Ever aware of the limitations of her sources and the ambitious pioneering nature of her project, Lankina places most of her emphasis on the questions raised by her findings and their significance to broader inquiries about persistent inequality and the role of human capital and social identity in creating long-run intergenerational resilience. In a world of increasingly specialized research, Lankina reminds us of the value of interdisciplinary approaches, showing how they can shed new light on our most challenging contemporary problems.

ПРАВОВОЕ РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЕ ПАСПОРТНОЙ СИСТЕМЫ В СОВЕТСКИЙ И ПОСТСОВЕТСКИЙ ПЕРИОДЫ

The article discusses the issues of the formation and legal regulation of the passport system in the period after the revolution of 1917 to the present. The analysis of the normative legal acts of the Soviet period and the measures taken by the authorities in order to ensure the registration of the population and the organization of control of migration processes is carried out. Special attention is paid to the period of the establishment of a unified passport system throughout the USSR in December 1932, the role of residence registration and the peculiarities of the certification of the population in certain localities and rural settlements are noted. The adoption of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on August 28, 1974 "On approval of the Regulations on the passport system in the USSR" is considered as the most important stage in the development of the Soviet passport system. The article also draws attention to the development of the passport system in the post-Soviet period, marked by the adoption of the Law "On the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to freedom of movement, choice of place of stay and residence within the Russian Federation", the abolition of permissive registration and the introduction of notification registration. In the article, the authors draw conclusions about the influence of the Soviet passport system on the choice of place of residence and freedom of movement on the territory of the country.

Chisinau architecture of the post-soviet period

The buildings constructed in Chisinau after year 1991 propose a diversified architecture. The stylistic range is quite various: neoclassicism, modernism, postmodernism, high-tech, deconstructivism, neominimalism, brutalism, etc. The influence of neoclassical architecture is felt upon the multistory building of S.A. “ASCOM Group”, and modernism is illustrated by the building of the “Kentford” Business Center, the building of the “Infotag” Information Agency, etc. Among the most illustrative examples of postmodernist architecture is the „Coliseum Palace” residential complex, the “Moldincombank” commercial bank building, Center Branch, etc. High-tech architecture is illustrated by the “SKYTOWER” International Business Center building, the “Shopping MallDova” shopping and entertainment center building, the “Chisinau Arena” multifunctional complex, etc. The buildings of the Business Center “SG Business Centru” and the International Business Center “Le Roi” belong to the architecture of deconstructivism. An architectural premise with elements of brutalism and neominimalism is the Creative Industries Center ARTCOR. The contribution of architects Gh. Telipiz, Gh. Jinkin, I. Apostolov, V. Modârcă, A. Gordeev, M. Calujac and others could be highlighted during the reference period.

Analysis of the Transformation of Ethnic Entrepreneurship: Processes and Features of Research on the Business of Kore Saram

  In this paper, the authors reveal the discourse of ethnic entrepreneurship on the example of English-language literature. Practical studies of ethnic entrepreneurship on the example of the diasporas of the CIS countries have shown Russian-language academic works. The authors found that on the materials of the ethnic community of the dynamically developing Kazakh society of entrepreneurs, studies were not noticed in a significant amount. In this regard, there is a need to study the general and particular aspects of ethnic entrepreneurship on the example of the Korean business of Kazakhstan. The importance of alternative research strategies was pointed out by many scientists, the authors of this work paid attention to the qualitative method of analysis. Using the example of a qualitative analysis of interviews with ethnic businessmen of the young Korean generation, the authors drew a parallel with the peculiarities of the ethnic business of the first generation of Korean entrepreneurs, who demonstrated adherence to the enclave theory in entrepreneurship. The generation of Korean businessmen of the 2000s is the generation of ethnic entrepreneurship of a new format. The object of consideration was the Association of Korean Business Clubs (OKBC) as an example of an innovative approach to managing business processes throughout the CIS. Having revealed the “portrait of a businessman” of the post-Soviet period, the authors obtained the features of ethnic business in the form of three components: innovation, internationalization, and the preservation of ethnic culture.

Transformation of the Meaning "POVERTY" from the End of the XX Century to the Present Day

The article presents a part of the study of the conceptual field of WEALTH/POVERTY in the everyday linguistic consciousness of the speakers of Russian linguoculture. The purpose of this study is to trace the transformation of the conceptual field of word POVERTY in the linguistic consciousness of an ordinary native speaker of Russian linguoculture over the past thirty years, marked by serious socio–economic and political changes in Russian society, as well as to trace the influence on the perception of this conceptual field of the philosophical trend of non-possessiveness – one of the basic archetypes of the Russian conceptual sphere. "Russian Associative Dictionary" edited by Yu. N. Karaulov, "Russian Regional Dictionary-Thesaurus EVRAS" edited by G. A. Cherkasova and "Russian Regional Associative database" by SIBAS N. V. Ufimtseva and I. V. Shaposhnikova served as the research material for the databases of different periods obtained during free associative experiments. The material of the first source was collected and published in the late Soviet – early post-Soviet period, when socio-political changes were actively taking place that turned the lives of the country and Russian citizens upside down. The second and third sources were created in the second decade of the XXI century and are still being replenished. After analyzing the data, we established the destruction of the archetype of non-possessiveness, and also traced changes in the mood of society in relation to the problem of poverty by analyzing the content and structure of the conceptual field. The scientific novelty of the work is that we have traced the transformation of the conceptual field. The analysis and conclusions of the work complement the picture of public opinion and can be used by sociologists, as well as in linguoculturology classes.

Сельская мусульманская религиозность в условиях трансформации российского общества

The article reveals the specifics of rural religiosity as an important factor in the development of rural society in Russia. Sociological and historical material, related to the social life of the Tatars of the Middle Volga region in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods serves as an empirical base. New, previously unpublished archival documents have been introduced into scientific circulation. The connection is established between the level of religiosity and such factors as settlement size, socio-professional structure, intensity of atheistic propaganda and state-confessional relations at the local level, economic activity of the peasantry, and development of rural entrepreneurship. The authorities in the Tatar and Bashkir autonomous republics successfully solved the tasks of the Soviet anti-religious policy. However, in the other Volga regions, where the Tatars were an ethnic minority, there was a phenomenon of separate settlements with increased religious activity and informally economic active residents, which the authorities had to reckon with. In the post-Soviet period, this category of villages, in addition to high religiosity, is distinguished by a stable socio-demographic and economic situation. The article raises the question of the causes and conditions of the paradoxical situation, when the preservation of the patriarchal way of life and religious traditions accompanied the successful adaptation of rural communities to new economic realities. It is concluded that it is necessary to study the specifics of religiosity, since informal economic and social practices were built around national and religious traditions. The studied problem of the stability of rural religiosity is a part of a broader problem of preserving the Russian village as a stable ethno-social organism.

The traumatic experience of ostarbeiters and ways of overcoming it in soviet and post-soviet memorial culture

For a long time, the Ostarbeiters were silent figures in the field of historical memory, unable to speak openly about the tragic events of their past. This article examines how former Ostarbeiters overcame their traumatic experiences in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. We have turned to a wide range of sources which help us to look at the issue from different angles, and draw attention to the place occupied by former Ostarbeiters in the official narrative of the Great Patriotic War and in the memorial space. We further trace the origins and development of artistic images of Ostarbeiters, using literature and cinematography. Finally, we specifically examine the problems of interaction between the Ostarbeiters and another group of victims of National Socialism - the prisoners of the concentration camps - and draw on interviews to analyze the characteristic narratives of the Ostalbaiters and their strategies for recounting their past.

Alexander Mikhailovich Shumlyansky (1748-1795): historiography.

For the first time, a critical analysis of publications about Professor A.M. Shumlyansky was carried out for more than two centuries. Erroneous statements and errors are revealed; the gaps in Professor’s biography, which were subject to research, are indicated. The periodization of historiography is proposed. 1) Pre-Soviet period. In 1812 the first article about Professor was published. It is shown that the article has the character of a primary source, serving as the basis for the presentation of his subsequent biographies. 2) The Soviet period. During this period S.L. Sobol’s fundamental research saw the light. He introduced into scientific circulation and published a number of materials from the home archive of A.M. Shumlyansky. He described in detail his contribution to science. In this connection, he published a translation into Russian the second part of the Latin dissertation of Dr. Shumlyansky. 3) Post-Soviet period. On the one hand, a study appeared confirming the priority of Professor Shumlyansky, and on the other hand, an emphasis was placed on social history in the study of his biography.

Islam and Psychology in the post-Soviet space: history, modernity and prospects

The article provides an overview of the history, current state, trends and prospects for the development of the field of knowledge and practice at the intersection of Islam and Psychology in selected countries of the post-Soviet space in line with global trends in Islamic Psychology and the historical, social, political and legal contexts that are characteristic of these countries. An analysis of the modern context, historical experience and existing developments of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods allowed the authors to identify the general and the particular in the theory and practice of Islamic Psychology in the countries under consideration, as well as to assess the prospects for its development.The authors state that the development of the problems of Islam and Psychology in the Russian Federation has a solid academic and practical basis for the further development of Islamic Psychology and the provision of psychological assistance to Muslims based on the Islamic tradition. Based on a detailed analysis of a number of areas of activity (scientific, educational, consulting, etc.) in this area, it is indicated that in Russia the field of Islamic Psychology is developing at a faster pace than in other CIS countries. It is noted that the Russian model can serve as a kind of example for the development of Islamic Psychology in these countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and the states of Central Asia), which in many ways follows the pattern of the Russian Federation with relevant regional specifics and has great opportunities and prospects, given that the majority of the population of these countries belongs to Muslims, who have historically deep roots of Islamic culture and religion.

Sediment and Particulate 137Cs Budget Studies in Upa River Basin: History, Results, and Prospects

The intensive pollution of vast areas after the Chernobyl accident, especially in the territories of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, has not only become a serious environmental issue, but also presents wide methodological opportunities for studying the functioning of natural systems. The proposed work is a generalization of the results of studies on the migration of 137Cs in the runoff of river sediments, which were carried out in the basin of the Upa River for over 30 years after the accident. This basin is one of the most radioactively contaminated and studied in Central Russia. Over the past three decades, under the conditions of the decreasing snowmelt runoff in the spring and reduced share of cultivated land over the post-Soviet period, the intensity of the 137Cs transfer has decreased. The 137Cs deposit losses associated with erosion activities do not exceed a few percent. Most of the mobilized sediments and sediment-associated radionuclides accumulate in dry valleys or artificial reservoirs. With a general reduction in the durations of floods, rivers have become the predominant channels for the transfer of sediment yield and particulate pollutants. The exploration of the vertical distribution of the 137Cs in the accumulative strata makes it possible to identify the changes in the sediment budgets of the rivers and their radioecological consequences.

Transformation of public spaces in Almaty

The article deals with the main factors and peculiarities of the transformation of public spaces in large cities of Kazakhstan in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. It gives a retrospective review of significant historical, existing and emerging public spaces of Almaty. The study is conducted from the standpoint of socio-economic, natural, environmental and urban development factors of a large city. The positive trends in the transformation of the modern urban environment are highlighted, and the difficulties and disadvantages arising in this process are pointed out. As a result of the study of the situation in Almaty and the foreign and domestic experience, the authors formulate principles that can be useful for professionals in the field of architecture and urban management to optimize urban public spaces.

Youth as a ‘priority theme’: Socio-political impetus and the evolution of films for youth in Russia and the Soviet Union

ABSTRACT This article examines the evolution of ‘films for children and youth’ from the early 1970s to 2021. The genre-category was one of the most significant in the Soviet Union, serving a political, social and artistic function as a mediator of Soviet values and norms for the youngest generation. For most of its history, critical literature has focused on the films ‘for children’ rather than youth – a more fluid category. Since the 1970s, the intrinsic tension within the genre-category led to a crisis within, with film workers and other interested parties showing concern that teenagers were not sufficiently represented on film. This tension was fed by wider societal concerns about the growing gap between the younger and older generations in the Stagnation period. Whilst youth became a key discussion point during Perestroika, the concern over how to target and guide youth audiences had started earlier. The communication gap between old and young remained unresolved through to the post-Soviet period, when the arrival of ‘priority themes’ for national film funding suggests a continued effort to differentiate between children and youth in order to shape consciousness. However, this process also reveals the lingering presence of Soviet film norms in the post-Soviet period.

Specifics of Economic Transformation of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Post-Soviet Period

The article analyzes the specifics of economic development and economic transformation of the Central Asian mountain republics (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) in the post-Soviet period. The author has revealed that, on the one hand, the mountain republics during the period of market reforms developed in the general trend of other post-Soviet and post-socialist states in general, on the other hand, the socio-economic achievements of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were among the least successful among countries transitioning from a planned administrative-command economy to a market economy. In particular, it was found that many economic sectors in the mountain republics have remained depressed over the thirty-year period, which have grown rapidly in other post-Soviet states: such as the mining industry (coal mining, uranium mining, oil and gas extraction) and many sub-sectors of agriculture. The republics currently have an unbalanced, more primitive employment structure, not only in comparison to post-industrial countries, but also to other post-Soviet states (in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan a much higher share of the total economically active population is occupied by people working in agriculture). Among the more high-priority sectors of the economies under consideration were gold mining (primarily due to the development of one of the largest gold deposits, Kumtor, in Kyrgyzstan) and wholesale trade (Kyrgyzstan in the post-Soviet period became one of the largest reexporters of goods from China to the Eurasian Economic Union). Hydropower has been identified as one of the most promising sectors for the development of the mountain republics’ economies (thanks to the huge hydropower resources of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan).

Ethnic heterogeneity of Russian regions: Dynamics by decades in the post-soviet period

Many Russian researchers note that the most important feature of ethnodemographic processes in Russia in the post-Soviet period was the increase in the overwhelming majority of republics in the share of titular peoples. To conduct a comparative characterization of the complexity of the national composition of the population of the country's regions, as well as to compare changes in the level of ethnic heterogeneity over a certain period, the ethnic mosaic index is most often used. The purpose of this work is to identify general trends and features of changes in the ethnic heterogeneity of Russian regions in each of the three post-Soviet decades using the cartographic research method. The novelty of the proposed methodology is associated with the simultaneous display on the cartographic chart of two indicators: the dynamics of the index of ethnic mosaic and the proportion of the Russian population. In the first post-Soviet decade, the tendency to increase the mono-ethnicity of the country's regions began to manifest itself more and more, which covered more than half of the subjects, both “Russian” and national. The processes taking place in this decade allow us to speak about the initial stages of regional ethnic polarization, which replaced the predominant growth of ethnic heterogeneity in the country's regions during the Soviet period. In the second post-Soviet decade, the general trend towards regional ethnic polarization has already fully manifested itself, when the overwhelming number of “Russian” regions and most of the national subjects followed the path of mono-ethnization. In the third post-Soviet decade, there was a slight slowdown in the processes occurring in the first two post-Soviet decades, and even a partial return to the dynamics characteristic of the Soviet period. Nevertheless, the noted trends have not yet changed the general trend of the post-Soviet period, which can be characterized as an increase in regional ethnic polarization in the country due to the increase in mono-ethnicity of both “Russians” and the majority of national subjects of the Russian Federation.