Russia's Accession Research Articles

Государственная поддержка развития транспорта на современном этапе: влияние на транспортный комплекс Дальнего Востока

The article studies the methods of state stimulation of transport development at the present stage. Under the conditions of the «Turn to the East» and geopolitical changes occurring since 2022, Russia's foreign trade flows are being reoriented from European to southern and eastern directions. This has increased the workload of the Far East transportation complex, which provides Russia's access to the markets of Asia-Pacific Region countries (primarily PRC). The increasing scale of cargo flows revealed imbalances in the operation of transportation and aggravated the issue of infrastructure development. The state has developed a system of measures to stimulate the development of transportation. The article suggests their grouping based on the object of influence, market segment and form of regulation. It has shown that the state uses various mechanisms to stimulate private investment in infrastructure development: public-private partnership (PPP), infrastructure bonds, budget loans, etc. The article presents the application of public-private partnerships (PPP) in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) in the field of transport: 16 projects are being implemented, the total investment capacity of which amounts to 223.0 billion rubles. The analysis of the project structure allowed to identify their peculiarities. PPPs are used to implement projects significant for the integrated development of transport in the macro-region, characterized by a significant investment capacity and a long payback period. Examples of such projects are the construction of the cross-border road bridge Blagoveshchensk (RF) - Heihe (PRC), modernization of the international airport «Khabarovsk» (New) named after G. I. Nevelskoy. In general, when implementing PPP projects in the field of transportation, the key role remains with the state, which degree of participation is increasing due to a number of factors: 1) increase in the number of projects in which public sector companies (established by government agencies or development corporations) act as concessionaire; 2) expansion of support mechanisms applied.

Russia and Japan: the beginning of the hard journey

In the middle of the 18th century, neighboring Russia began to show interest in Japan. Russia acquired vast territories of Eastern Siberia and Far East which made the countries the closest neighbors. In 1648 on the shore of the Sea of Okhotsk the first Russian settlement Kosoy Ostrozhok appeared, which marked the beginning of the development of the new lands of the Far East by Cossack detachments. Russians first learned about Japan from European books describing travels to that country and from the few notes of those Russians who had been to China and got acquainted with Japanese culture there. Before its "opening" in 1853, Japan allowed only the Dutch and Chinese into the country. The closure was partly due to attempts by the Portuguese to convert the Japanese to the Catholic faith, but mainly to protect the country from the threat of European colonialism. Having become Japan's neighbor, the Russians tried to establish ties with Japan with neither religious nor invasive plans. However, despite repeated attempts by Peter the Great and his successors to convince the Japanese, they failed to do so. Russians got there very rarely and only as prisoners, and the Japanese happened to be in Russia after shipwrecks or navigational errors. The more Russia learned about Japan, the stronger was the desire to establish relations with it. Since the beginning of the 18th century Russia repeatedly sent maritime expeditions to explore the Kurils and Sakhalin. Similar efforts were made by the Japanese. These territories, including Hokkaido, were inhabited mainly by the Ainu and Nivkhi, and Russians and Japanese appeared from time to time on these islands, but the attempt to determine their state affiliation was made only in 1855. Until that time all Russian attempts to establish diplomatic and trade relations with Japan had failed. At the same time the result of these efforts was an accumulation of knowledge about each other and a growing mutual interest. Peter's interest in Japan was determined primarily by the fact that Russia's access to the Pacific Ocean required the development of new lands, and trade relations with Japan could be an important element in their economic development.

Формирование стратегии импортозамещения с позиций достижения промышленной самообеспеченности и экспансии инновационной продукции на внешние рынки

In order to prevent technological backwardness of our country in conditions of sanctions restrictions from the USA and the European Union countries on Russia's access to world markets, technologies, financial resources, it is necessary to actively develop mechanisms to implement import substitution policy in the most dependent industries, which are critical for the domestic economy in this respect. This determines the relevance of the study presented in the article. Under the conditions of Russia's strong dependence on imports in various indus-tries formed in previous years, the lack of many modern technologies is one of the main incentives for the im-plementation of import substitution strategy in order to form technological sovereignty and industrial self-sufficiency in the country. However, it is necessary not just to copy those technologies, goods, equipment that are no longer available for use in Russia due to the current international sanctions, but to create fundamentally new, innovative objects with competitive advantages in international markets with their subsequent import to foreign markets.

Rudolf Smits at the Library of Congress: Bibliographer for Slavic, Soviet and Eastern European Studies, 1941-1972

ABSTRACT Rudolf Smits (1907–1972) was a Latvian diplomat stranded in the United States after the Soviet invasion of his country in 1941. Seeking new employment, he began work at the Library of Congress later that same year. Smits labored on a number of projects in the area of government and periodical bibliography, but he found his unique place in the library profession in the creation of bibliographies and union catalogs of Soviet publications. The bibliographies and catalogs were funded by various government agencies as a result of the intensive U.S. Cold War interest in the Soviet Union. This article traces the biography and career of Rudolf Smits with a discussion of several key Slavic reference tools developed by Smits or under his supervision, including the Cyrillic Union Catalog, the Monthly List of Russian Accessions and Half a Century of Soviet Serials.

Energy as a weapon of war: Lessons from 50 years of energy interdependence

AbstractThe Organization of the Petroleum‐Exporting Countries (OPEC) used oil as a weapon against Western countries supporting Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. From 2021, Russia used a similar strategy of restricting gas flows to Europe, while Europe later reduced Russia's market access. In these cases, there was economic and political damage. These examples show that energy is a weapon used to pressure sovereign states. Energy is a multidimensional resource that reflects broader ties within the political‐economic system of international relations. This comparative study identifies four components that enable energy as a weapon: interdependence, energy security, neoliberal economics and sovereignty. Four key policy lessons emerge to improve energy security: (1) determine the acceptable limits of energy dependence, (2) acknowledge institutions and markets cannot deliver energy security outside their design parameters, (3) energy security requires addressing the entire value chain, and (4) energy is a weapon that threatens state sovereignty. The collapse of the gas trade between Russia and the EU creates instability and removes the pillar of interdependency; this now ushers in a new era.

Assessment of the economic efficiency of companies’ activities as a factor of sustainable development of the region in conditions of instability of the socio-economic environment and restrictive measures

The relevance of the research topic is due to the fact that in a market economy, the analysis of income, expenses and financial results of business structures allows us to assess the effectiveness of activities, as well as to identify the main trends in its development and ways to improve economic activity. In this paper, the author conducted a structural and dynamic analysis of income, expenses and financial results of the telecommunications market of the Russian Federation. And accordingly, the dynamics and structure of the number of users with broadband Internet access in Russia are analyzed. The effectiveness of the organization’s activities for the development of directions for the improvement and development of the telecommunications market is investigated and evaluated.

Bioethics in Russia: a Complex Scientific Discipline at the Intersection of Philosophy, Biology, Culture and Law

The article describes the formation of bioethics — a complex scientific discipline — in our country. The emergence of bioethics in the world dates back to the 1970s of the 20th century, in the Soviet Union it began to take shape during the period of perestroika as part of the activities of Academician Ivan Timofeevich Frolov (1929–1999). Bioethics deals with ethical issues that arise during the introduction of the latest biomedical technologies into practice, the solution of which can have various medical, cultural, legal, and financial consequences. The latest biomedical technologies open up new possibilities for a person (heredity management, genetic passport, etc.) and put a person in a situation of choice. Their future depends on what choice people will make, and this choice is determined by the state of the culture of society. In the field of bioethics, regulation is crucial and should be comprehensive and multi-stage. Philosophers, culturologists, and ethicists formulate general principles of regulation based on the ideology of humanism. Further on, scientists consider these recommendations and develop appropriate codes of conduct, while lawyers consolidate the new understanding within the legal system. The formation of such an integrated approach in Russia took place within the framework of scientific structures created by Academician I. T. Frolov, — the AllUnion Interdepartmental Center for Human Sciences, the Institute of Man of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian National Committee on Bioethics (RNKB), the Russian Committee on Bioethics under the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO. In these structures, expert work was carried out on the main documents related to the interaction of the Russian Federation with the Council of Europe in the field of bioethics. RNKB prepared expert opinions for the Department of European Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Department for International Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation regarding Russia's accession to international conventions on bioethics.

Macroeconomic Consequences of Russia's WTO Membership: Foreign Trade Aspect

The World Trade Organization was created to develop and diversify world markets, establish common rules and principles for the interaction of participating countries in the implementation of trade in goods and services. Nineteen years — so much continued the period of Russia's accession to the WTO. The result of participation in this organization was a radical change in legislation concerning Russian foreign economic activity, the transformation of tariff and non-tariff methods for regulating foreign trade, the creation of new information and control centers. The article analyzes the historical features and stages of the Russian Federation's accession to the WTO, as well as the main changes in legislation, regulatory methods and forms of control related to Russia's foreign economic activity. The results of the impact of changes in customs duty rates on foreign trade turnover and, as a consequence, on the receipt of customs payments to the federal budget are summarized. The problems of interaction with the WTO member countries that exist today are revealed. The expediency of Russia's further participation in the World Trade Organization is being considered. Further directions of cooperation development corresponding to modern realities are proposed.

Trade policies in Central Asia after EAEU enlargement and after Russian WTO accession: regionalism and integration into the world economy revisited

ABSTRACT This paper revisits the question of choice between regionalism and multilateralism in trade relations of Central Asia introduced by Pomfret (2005). Our study is motivated by a significant restoration of economic links between the former Soviet republics following Russian accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the formation of new trade ties with Vietnam, Iran, and Serbia. Above all, there have been substantial commitments made by the three Central Asian republics of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan toward a multilateral system under the WTO rules. To this end, we apply a multi-region gravity model with interdependent trade flows using bilateral trade data of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to study the ex-ante effects of economic integration with various bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral partners. Our findings indicate the existence of considerable gains if the aforementioned economies would ascend to the EAEU in comparison to integration with China or Iran. We also document the presence of shared economic links between Tajikistan, Central Asia, and Turkey.

Российско-вьетнамские торговые взаимоотношения: динамика сближения в условиях ограничений

The purpose of this study is to test two hypotheses. First hypothesis: in the long term, there has been a tendency to reduce trade barriers between Russia and Vietnam. The second hypothesis: the rapprochement of the two countries took place under the conditions of the negative influence of geopolitical factors on Russia’s foreign trade, which also include sanctions against the Russian economy. It is shown that, despite the small share of Vietnam in Russia's foreign trade Russian-Vietnamese trade turnover had a long-term increase. It was determined that the reduction of reciprocal trade barriers was facilitated by the accession of Russia and Vietnam to the WTO and creation of a free trade zone between the countries. Transformation of the commodity structure of the Russian-Vietnamese trade has been revealed: investment goods dominated in exports from Russia to Vietnam until 2010, followed by the raw materials; in imports from Vietnam to Russia TNC enterprises’ electronic and electrical industry products began to predominate since the 2010th. Estimates showed that trade barriers between Russia and Vietnam decreased (the border effect in 2022 was 55.4 p.p. lower compared to 1995), confirming the existence of long-term trade and economic rapprochement between these countries. It was determined that the lowest values of barriers between Russia and Vietnam were after the free trade zone creation. However, the attraction between the two economies is weaker than with other closer and larger trading partners (economies). The estimates confirmed the noticeable negative impact of geopolitical factors on Russia's foreign trade. It is assumed that trade between Russia and Vietnam, on the one hand, will be restrained by sanctions against the Russian economy, and on the other hand, will be supported on the basis of political ties between the two countries, as well as the specifics of the functioning of the Russian-Vietnamese enterprises.

The role of agriculture in the socio-economic development of the Russian Far East

Because the development of practically all branches, including the agricultural sphere, requires considerably more human and production resources, this article substantiates the role of the agrarian segment in the socio-economic development of the Far East of the Russian Federation. The current socio-economic state of agriculture in the Far East is defined, and their main problems and prospects for development are considered. The Far East is a geostrategically important territory designed to ensure Russia's free access to the developing Asia-Pacific region. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of priority areas for the further development of agriculture in the Russian Far East, taking into account the existing unresolved problems in the agricultural sector of the economy. The country's largest federal district occupies about half the area of Russia's eastern zone, where less than a quarter of its population lives. The object of the study in this paper is to compare the performance as well as the projected indicators of the agricultural aspect. Because of the study, it is planned to bring the Far Eastern region to the modern level of development, where profound transformations in society and directly in the agro-industrial complex, transferring it to an innovative way of development are needed.

Innovation-Export Diversification Nexus in Russian Regions: Does Trade Globalization, Business Potential and Geopolitics Matter?

Russia's regions exhibit a limited degree of export diversification, mostly due to the overwhelming dominance of hydrocarbon exports and their consequential impact on public income within the regions. Nevertheless, in light of the current geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, Russia is compelled to prioritize the diversification of its export. Amidst this backdrop, this study empirically scrutinizes whether innovation can to some extend augment export diversification of Russia's regions, substantiating the significance of factors such as trade globalization through Russia's WTO accession, regional-level business potential, and the economic ramifications of the 2014 sanctions. Data were collected for 66 Russian regions ranging from 2009 to 2019. Given the considerable heterogeneity in data across the regions and over the time period, this study applies the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) to investigate the panel dataset. The major findings of this study reveal that innovation propels export diversification in the Russian regions under different macroeconomic scenarios, where the role of innovation is pivotal at the middle to highest quantiles. This study also observes that Russia’s entry into the WTO platform propels innovation-led export diversification of the country. Additionally, this study observes a strong magnitude of innovation-export diversification dynamics in the Russian regions with high business potential. Moreover, this study finds that the economic sanction imposed in 2014 enforces export diversification through innovation in the Russian regions. The fresh insights that this research delivers might assist policymakers in adopting practical approaches to stimulate innovation within the private sector and foster export diversification in the Russian regions.

ЦИФРОВОЙ ДВОЙНИК КАК ПРОДУКТ ИНФОРМАЦИОННОГО ОБЩЕСТВА. НОВЫЕ ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ ДЛЯ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ В ОБЛАСТИ МЕДИЦИНСКОЙ РАДИОЛОГИИ

Introduction. The development of mass communications and Internet access in Russia and the World as a prerequisite for digitalization. Information society. Knowledge society. Digital environment. Information space. The concept of digital twins. Unified system of identification and authentication (ESIA). Digital profile. Some prospects for improving the organization of medical research, including in the field of medical radiology, in the context of the development of medical information space.

Legal status of the territory of Crimea after the accession of Russia

The purpose of the research. The purpose of the article consists in determination of the current international legal regime of the territory of Crimea for further proper argumentation of Ukraine’s position in interstate disputes with the Russian Federation. Main content. Various forms of foreign military presence on the territory of a state have been studied, such as: occupation, conquest, deployment of foreign military bases, annexation, etc. Determined are signs that characterize the legal regimes of occupation and annexation and their international regulation. Methodology: Review of materials and methods based on analysis of documentary materials of the annexation of Crimea on the part of Russia. Conclusions. Characteristic features of annexation being currently a kind of aggression crime include unilateral declaration of state sovereignty over a territory which have not been a part of this state, as well as the legitimation of annexation through de facto ownership of a territory and international recognition of this fact. According to the international law, there is currently no legal mechanism for the transfer of sovereignty over territory to an aggressor through annexation.
 Key words: annexation, conquest, foreign military presence, occupation, sovereignty.

ТЕНДЕНЦИИ И ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПРИНЯТИЯ ФИНАНСОВЫХ ИНВЕСТИЦИОННЫХ РЕШЕНИЙ В ДОМАШНИХ ХОЗЯЙСТВАХ: ОПЫТ РОССИИ

With Russia's limited access to the external capital market and sanctions pressure from Western countries, the importance of do-mestic sources of financing for economic development is growing, one of which may be household savings. The author identifies trends and features of making financial in-vestment decisions in difficult socio-economic and political conditions. Particular attention is paid to the problem of stereotypi-cal thinking and irrationality of household financial investment decisions.

Natural Variation of Seed Tocopherol Composition in Diverse World Soybean Accessions from Maturity Group 0 to VI Grown in China.

Tocopherols are natural antioxidants that increase the stability of fat-containing foods and are well known for their health benefits. To investigate the variation in seed tocopherol composition of soybeans from different origins, 493 soybean accessions from different countries (China, USA, Japan, and Russia) belonging to 7 maturity groups (MG 0–VI) were grown in 2 locations (Beijing and Hainan Provinces of China) for 2 years (2017 and 2018). The results showed that significant differences (p < 0.001) were observed among the accessions and origins for individual and total tocopherol contents. The total tocopherol content ranged from 118.92 μg g−1 to 344.02 μg g−1. Accessions from the USA had the highest average concentration of γ- and total tocopherols (152.92 and 238.21 μg g−1, respectively), whereas a higher level of α-tocopherol (12.82 μg g−1) was observed in the Russian accessions. The maturity group of the accession significantly (p < 0.001) influenced all tocopherol components, and higher levels of α-, γ-, and total tocopherols were observed in early maturing accessions, while late-maturing accessions exhibited higher levels of δ-tocopherol. The inclination of tocopherol concentrations with various MGs provided further evidence of the significance of MG in soybean breeding for seed tocopherol components. Furthermore, the correlation between the seed tocopherol components and geographical factors revealed that α-, γ-, and total tocopherols had significant positive correlations with latitude, while δ-tocopherol showed an opposite trend. The elite accessions with high and stable tocopherol concentrations determined could be used to develop functional foods, industrial materials, and breeding lines to improve tocopherol composition in soybean seeds.

The German and Austrian Historiography on Russia's Participation in the Holy League War

German and Austrian historiography of the Holy League war is an essential source because German and Austrian historians have analyzed Russia's participation in this war since the 18th century. The discussion revolves around three main questions: about the moment of Russia's accession to the Holy League de jure and de facto; about the qualification of the Holy League as an international anti-Turkish and anti-Crimean alliance; finally, about the peculiarities of social and technological cooperation between the Venetian Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, and Russia. The German and Austrian historiography on Russia's role in the war with the Ottomans began to form at the end of the 17th century when Austrian diplomats started issuing pamphlets spreading the pan-European Christian idea. Leopold I acted in accordance with this idea as the defender of the European order on the Rhine and the defender of the entire Christian civilization from the Islamic Empire and its vassal of the Crimean Khanate. Russia was trying to secure its national interests in dealings with the European partners, which did not fit well with the relations between Vienna and Constantinople, Venice, and Constantinople, as well as the plans of Jan III Sobieski to compensate for the loss of Ukraine at the expense of the Danube lands. The assessments of German and Austrian historiography make sense if we regard Russia as a part of the European Christian civilization, sharing common cultural values and geopolitical challenges.

The International Position of Russia at the Beginning of the Seven Years’ War in the Instructions of the College of Foreign Affairs to Residents in Regensburg and Gdansk

The article publishes two sources from the Archives of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire – instructions of the College of Foreign Affairs dated December 31, 1756 (January 11, 1757) to the residents in Regensburg and Gdansk, G.H. Büttner and A.S. Musin-Pushkin. The mission at the Perpetual Diet of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in Regensburg, created by the decree of Elizabeth I on November 12 (23), 1756, was to become a new diplomatic channel in Germany during the Seven Years’ War. Expecting to make Gdansk a stronghold of the Russian troops at the Baltic Sea, the Empress raised the status of her representative there, replacing an agent who did not have a diplomatic rank with a resident – a diplomat of the third rank. The instructions compiled exclusively for internal use give an idea of how the Russian court defined its place in the system of international relations of the era, how it evaluated its relations with European powers. At the same time, Russia's goals in the upcoming war were not formulated, and its participation in the war was explained only by the need to protect the interests of its allies, Austria and Saxony, violated by Friedrich II. The published documents do not contain information about Russia's accession on December 31, 1756 (January 11, 1757) to the Treaty of Versailles, signed by Austria and France on April 20 (May 1), 1756, and the conclusion of the Westminster Convention on January 5 (16), 1756 between Great Britain and Prussia, which in fact meant the dissolution of the Russian-British Treaty of December, 11 (22) 1742, was not regarded as an unfriendly gesture on London’s part. These circumstances allow the author to draw some conclusions about the diplomatic practice of the Russian court, which was rather selective regarding the issue of its diplomats' access to information that could be crucial for their future activities.

Current trends and tasks of training of land management specialists

In 2015-2016 the State University of Land Use Planning and land management faculties of higher educational institutions released the final mass enrollment of graduates who studied “engineer” qualification for five years. Starting from 2016-2017, bachelors and masters of land management began to leave the walls of the State University of Land Use Planning and land management departments of universities. Has the division into two parts - bachelor's and master's been justified? Basically, we can say that this is an international practice and we would not want to live separately from the international community, since we study foreigners from many countries of the world who want to receive education in a Western way; in addition, our students also study abroad. But, unlike the Western baccalaureate, we remain specializations. There are profiles in the undergraduate program: land administration, land management, real estate cadastre, urban cadastre, land valuation, real estate valuation, and so on, that is students receive professional knowledge. Mastership is designed to deepen them. But it is absolutely not necessary to choose undergraduate and graduate programs in the same direction, it can be changed. If a student is not satisfied with the direction or specialization chosen before, he can correct it by studying another mastership program. One undoubted positive consequence of Russia's accession to the Bologna process is the simultaneous assumption of international obligations to maintain the wide accessibility of higher education regardless of financial situation of young people. Europe seeks to provide broad social protection in this area, where Russia has been catastrophically losing ground in recent years. The United States, with all its wealth, has never tried to positively solve this problem and is not going to accept the Bologna rules, and they have enough compelling arguments for this. First of all, do we need a bachelor degree? How will a master match with a candidate of science? Today, the heads of land surveying firms and companies, sociologists, professors of universities as well as educational and scientific institutions are discussing this problem.

Indications for a Central Role of Hexokinase Activity in Natural Variation of Heat Acclimation in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Diurnal and seasonal changes of abiotic environmental factors shape plant performance and distribution. Changes of growth temperature and light intensity may vary significantly on a diurnal, but also on a weekly or seasonal scale. Hence, acclimation to a changing temperature and light regime is essential for plant survival and propagation. In the present study, we analyzed photosynthetic CO2 assimilation and metabolic regulation of the central carbohydrate metabolism in two natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana that originate from north western Russia and south Italy during exposure to heat and a combination of heat and high light. Our findings indicate that it is hardly possible to predict photosynthetic capacities under combined stress from single stress experiments. Further, capacities of hexose phosphorylation were found to be significantly lower in the Italian than in the Russian accession, which could explain an inverted sucrose-to-hexose ratio. Together with the finding of significantly stronger accumulation of anthocyanins under heat/high light, these observations indicate a central role of hexokinase activity in the stabilization of photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism during environmental changes.