Vasily Fedorovich Antonov (1919-2014) - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, well-known expert on the history of the narodnik movement. He taught at Moscow Regional Pedagogical Institute (now Moscow Region State University - MOPI/MGOU), the article is focused mainly on it, and at a number of other universities (Peoples' Friendship University - RUDN). The article gives a brief overview of the publications of the author, devoted mainly to the most prominent representatives, theorists and publicists of the narodnik movement: A. I. Herzen, P. N. Lavrov, N. D. Chernyshevsky, N. Ah. Dobrolyubov, G. Lopatin. One of the plot lines of the article is the characteristic of the graduate students, whose supervisor was V. Antonov when he was a professor of MOPI named by N.K. Krupskaya. His name is associated with the creation of two scientific schools on the history of the narodnik movement (RUDN) and the study of national historical and methodological thought, especially school textbooks (MGOU). The anniversary article gives a general idea of pedagogical and scientific activity of the scientist. It is primarily addressed to teachers and students of MGOU - of the educational institution where V. Antonov worked for most part of his life.

The author undertakes a historiographical analysis of conceptual approaches of contemporary Russian historians on the problem of diarchy in the Great Russian revolution. Based on the comparative-historical method, the principles of objectivism and historicism, the study of historiographical material reveals different points of view on the essence of dual power and its chronology. Besides, the historians’ positions are defined: both recognizing the fact of dual power and denying it. On the basis of the factual analysis the new chronology of the diarchy period is proposed. The theoretical and practical importance of the research is the synthesis of the historiographical knowledge on the issues of the diarchy existence in the Great Russian revolution which allows formulating the concept, coinciding with the objective historical facts but not the conflicting one. The article is addressed to historians, graduate students, students of history faculties of higher vocational education and to everyone interested in the problems of the revolutionary process in Russia

The article is devoted to the elucidation of V. M. Molotov’s and K. E. Voroshilov’s participation in the English-French-Soviet negotiations in 1939. The author pays special attention to the analysis of historical sources and literature in this subject. A lot of researchers, following the opinion of V. M. Molotov and K. E. Voroshilov, believe that the USSR was just the single fighter for peace during the pre-war times and accuse the English-French participants of the negotiations downfall and the treachery of geopolitical interests of the states which were potential victims of aggression. They believe that the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact was a sound decision in the international situation of that time. Other historians consider the USSR to be to blame too and point out the treachery interests of Great Britain and France while the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact was being signed.

The author set forth an objective to identify, classify and evaluate the sources of studying the Social Democrats’ activities in the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the I and II convocations. The memoir and archaeographic sources devoted to the activities of the Social Democrats in the State Duma, the archival funds, the verbatim records of the Duma and the publications in the periodical press on the activities of the Social Democrats in the Duma are included. The comparative analysis and classification of the groups of sources for their informative value on the topic is performed. The sources to which the researchers pay undeservedly little attention are identified, as well as the archaeological publications on the topic are evaluated for their representativeness. The theoretical / practical significance is in the novelty of the formulation and solution of the question of the source base of the study of the Social Democrats’ Duma activities and the possibility of using the factual material, the main provisions and conclusions of the article in writing special and generalizing works of both source studies and historical and political science. The article is addressed to historians and political scientists dealing with the history and source studies of parliamentarism in Russia.

The article, based on a large complex of New Zealand historiography, analyzes the formation and development of cooperation between New Zealand and China. These materials provide an objective picture of the development of cooperation. The author reveals the reasons for the parties' interest in strengthening the dialogue. The systematic approach was used in the research, it means that the foreign policy of the state is considered as a system of “political attitudes defining the main content of activities for developing state relations with other actors in the international arena”. Besides, the historical-comparative method was used too. It allowed, on the basis of the chronology of the development of interstate relations, to analyze the changes in special and general factors of the foreign policy of New Zealand and China. The findings of the study can be used to predict the directions of development of the interstate relations.

The article analyzes the ideology of neo-fascism in the Second Austrian Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany in the middle of the twentieth century. General scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction are used, as well as the special comparative historical method, when considering the general and specific features of neo-fascism. The author comes to the conclusion that in the second half of the twentieth century neo-fascism was a kind of eclecticism of ultra-left and ultra-right views. As a result of their confusion a deeply contradictory phenomenon arose that reflected the interests of the reactionary part of capitalist society and created the appearance of a reflection of the interests of the middle part of the population. The ideology of neo-fascism speculated on the national consciousness of people, playing up to its own interests the specifics of the historical, economic, social, political and cultural development of the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria, taking the form of protection of national feelings and traditions. The theoretical / practical significance lies in the fact that the materials of the article can be used in the preparation of textbooks on the newest history of Europe and America, as well as special courses on the history of Austria. The article is addressed to students and postgraduates studying the course of New and Recent History of Foreign Countries and Historiography.

It is the first time when the relationship of the outstanding surgeon, Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Luka (Voino-Yasenetsky) (1877-1961) and his student, Krasnoyarsk surgeon V. N. Zinovieva (1908-2000) are examined in detail in the article. The article presents biographical information about V. N. Zinovyeva, V. F. Voyno-Yasenetsky’s letters, addressed to the student in Krasnoyarsk from Tambov and Simferopol in 1946-1953. In addition there are excerpts from the most unique memoirs of V. N. Zinovieva, which were dictated to the author of the article in 1997 for the first time. On the basis of these and other accounts three periods of V. N. Zinovieva's life are singled out, that represent scientific interest in the study of the events of the life and work of V. F Voino-Yasenetsky and his inner circle in the Krasnoyarsk period (1941-1944) and in the time following. The use of materials about Krasnoyarsk doctor V. N. Zinovieva help to reveal the depth of professional and human relations of Voino-Yasenetsky with the secular circles.

The aim of the article is to explore the financial relations between I. A. Bunin and the Committee for Support to Russian writers and scientists in France as one of the institutions supporting the famous writer. In addition, the article analyses the episode of their interaction in the period when the writer was awarded the Nobel Prize. The materials of the Committee Archive located in France were used for the detailed analysis of the issue. The survey of the financial documents and correspondence has yielded new, more detailed data of I. A. Bunin’s biography. Besides, certain issues in the activities of the Committee for Support to Russian writers and scientists in France are also revealed. The article is addressed to all researchers of the institutions of the Russian emigration and the biography of I. A. Bunin.

The article presents the analysis of raw materials base, which formed the basis for the composition and implementation of the first five-year plans in the Udmurt Republic in 1928-1937. The research is based on scientific articles of the Soviet and post-Soviet period, as well as on the archival materials first put into scientific circulation. It is noted that forest and agricultural resources became one of the most important factors in the development of the region. The article enumerates all the difficulties in raw materials development and considers the dependence of the regional industry on the local resource base. The authors mention that the most important tasks set for the region in terms of the development were: reducing the export of resources outside the Udmurt Autonomous region and the need to process them on the spot. At the same time, the authors come to the conclusion that according to the results of the first five-year plans, the region could not fully exploit the existing potential of natural and mineral resources.

The author analyzes the country movement in the Soviet Union as an attempt to compensate for the shortcomings of standard urban apartments, as the need for converting their homes. The article presents this urge as a socio-cultural problem. The purchase by Soviet citizens of country houses is studied through the objects which provide the transformative activity of citizens. The author shows the problems of the Soviet dachas in close connection with the social processes in life. The function of socialization of the holiday villages is also analyzed.

The article investigates some aspects of the Russian Orthodox Church’s social role in the modern history of Russia. The purpose of the article is to study the financial aspects of the Charity Fund of the Moscow diocese for the restoration of the destroyed shrines, to identify the main sources of funds for the church charity and the channels of their expenditure. The article deals with the following research tasks: to identify the main sources of funding of the Fund, as well as their dynamics within the period of 2015-2017; to identify the main channels of expenditure of the Fund and their dynamics within the period of 2015-2017; to analyze the financial aspects of the Fund in terms of the development of the church-state relations in Russia and to identify the role of the state in the church charity of the modern ROC. It is concluded that the share of state funding of the Fund and its evolution from the church to the church-state status is increasing. It is due to the fact that it is a manifestation of the general trend of cooperation activation between the state and the church in solving social problems in Russia in the 2000s.

The article scrutinizes the main contradictions which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Elements of comparative historical analysis are used as a scientific methodology. (Macro approach of the sociologist R. Collins, who had predicted the Soviet collapse, can serve as an example). According to the author, the collapse of the USSR was caused, first of all, by geopolitical tension on the international scene and ethnic contradictions within the country. The deficit was the integral line of the Soviet economy. The geopolitical tension weakens the order in the state. Historical experience of the collapse of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union also points to the danger of analogies in the present situation.

In the article, the positions of the leading political parties of the Russian Federation, fixed in the policy documents during the election campaigns of 2011 and 2016, are considered in the context of international problems. The comparative analysis of the election programs of the parties that were represented in the state Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of VI and VII convocations. Changes in legislation are taken into account, allowing more parties to participate in the elections to the lower house of the Federal Parliament and potentially increasing their ability to influence the foreign policy process of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study was to identify similarities and differences in the vision of the Russian parties for further development of the state foreign policy in the context of international sanctions. The main vectors of modification of their positions in the foreign policy sphere are determined.

The purpose of this article is the comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese policies in Central Asia (CA) to assess the prospects of their integration projects development in the region. Central Asia is gradually becoming an arena for the intersection of major international players’ interests and a zone for the deployment of integration associations and initiatives, such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt project. Special relations between Moscow and Beijing do not exclude the possibility of contradictions between them in the region. Using the principles of the systematic approach, the article discusses the ways of "development" of the macro-region of Eurasia from the standpoint of Russia and China.