On the basis of the text discourse analysis the article gives characteristics of the Soviet historiography dedicated to the past of the Medieval Lithuania. The article follows the connection between the domestic and foreign political situation in the country and the process of construction of the history of Lithuania. Lithuanian history was integrated into general conception of the USSR history in the terms of four key subjects: establishing the early feudal state of Lithuania and the genesis of feudal relationships in Lithuania, deep historical roots of «friendship» between Lithuanian and Russian nations, collective Lithuanian and Russian principalities battle against «Onslaught to the East», the seizure of Russian, Belurussian and Ukranian lands by Lithuaniann feudals.

This article examines contemporary Ukrainian and Russian historiography concerning the Ukrainian-Russian relations in the second half of the XVII - beginning XVIII centuries on the examples of V.L. Kochubey’s activities as general clerk (1687-1699) and general judge (1699-1708). The article is devoted to the disputable questions connected with this person which are differently highlighted in historical sources. The relations between V.L. Kochubey and I.S. Mazepa, the Ukraine hetman, are described separately as they are the matter of special interest for researchers.

The article contains a comparative analysis of the main sources of the genealogy of the Orthodox clergy: cadastres and metric books. The author investigates the peculiarities of the emergence and development of these sources. The role of such sources in the study and restoration of genealogy is examined. The article discusses the process of changing the form of the sources within the XVIII - the beginning of XX century. The author describes the main problems of the study of the sources and questions of authenticity of the genealogic information they contain. Special attention is given pays to the methodology of restoration of the clergy’s genealogy.

Relationship history of the Russian state and the Russian Islam as well as their most important aspect - the state policy of Russia in relation to the Muslim population, the analysis of positive experience and mistakes is considered to be one of the most important problems of national history. The article considers the problem such relations in the Volga region in 1991-2008 through domestic and foreign historiography. The author of the article analyzes the main works studying Islam on the matter and comes to the conclusion that despite the considerable amount of sources the problem of Russia’s state policy in relation to the Muslim organizations of the Volga region during the Post-Soviet period still remains insufficiently studied. This fact makes actual the necessity of its further studying.