The articles on history and archeology that we are proud to introduce in this issue feature a wide range of topical issues, from conservation of archaeological sites and interpretation of archival sources to Russia’s socio-economic development in particular periods, diachrony of personnel training, and the evolution of public attitudes to religious practices. The publications on international relations concentrate on information and cyber security, domestic and international conflicts, representation of foreign lifestyle in mass media, etc. Our authors are not afraid to reinterpret historical sources, thus providing a new angle on some key topics in domestic and foreign history.

The Journal opens with archeology. Yu. Yu. Gisey in her article criticizes the current procedures of cadastral registration of archaeological monuments. Yu. I. Mikhailov explains how the people of Seima-Turbino culture processed spearheads. The author studied artifacts from the Ob-Irtysh Valley and provided a practical explanation to the standard size and shape of spearheads: the spears neither broke nor got stuck in the enemy’s body.

The next two articles feature the issues of personnel training and social development in the Russian Empire. Yu. M. Gordeev’s article describes the early years of the Neplyuev Military School. The school had such novelties as Eastern and European languages in the curriculum. Its graduates became officers, state officials, and teachers in Russian Asia. K. Z. Ragimova used the historiographic approach to structure the social and legal status of academic community in West Siberia in 1885–1918.

Then, we move up the timeline to study the social, spiritual, and political transformations that happened in Russia in 1917–1920s. V. A. Barmin compared Soviet and post-Soviet discourse on the so-called Basmachi movement in Turkestan. Even as the fight against the Basmachi went on, some party and military leaders voiced their critical opinions that it was the strict Soviet policy against the local religion, traditions, and nomadism that led to the mass anti-Soviet movement in the region. A. A. Kalashnikov worked with unpublished archival documents to study the territorial issues in West Siberia. In 1917–1919, the former Altai Province lost almost one third of its forestry and mining lands to its neighbors. As the region kept changing hands, partisan movement and peasant protests increased, which the local authorities kept secret from the central government. N. V. Tikhomirov analyzed archival Yakut newspapers to study the public attitude to shaman practices in 1920s.

The section of Soviet history concentrates on source studies and historiography. D. N. Gergilev, R. V. Pavlyukevich, and A. S. Kuzmenko reviewed the postgraduate education in the Krasnoyarsk Region in 1949-1988. They linked the boom of postgraduate education with the objectives of the scientific and technological revolution, as well as the industrial and economic needs. E. Yu. Starodubtsev and A. N. Ermolaev identified three stages in the domestic historiography of the mass evacuation to Western Siberia during the Great Patriotic War. If earlier studies concentrated mainly on the economic issues, new sources made it possible to address various social and demographic matters.

Section four touches upon such issues of global history as ethnic minorities and the development of information and cyber security infrastructure. I. V. Nam and N. I. Naumova described the Romanization of the ethnic minorities in Bessarabia, i.e., Moldovans, Rusyns, Poles, Russians, Germans, Gagauz, etc., after its occupation by Romania during the interbellum. The Romanian authorities banned local government bodies and employed aggressive language and education policies, which caused active resistance from the ethnic minorities. E. N. Matyukhina analyzed the Indian best practices in the information and cyber security infrastructure, e.g., changes in legislation, organization of special government agencies, development of special mechanism to protect Indian databases from external attacks, etc.

The final section introduces articles on more recent inter­national issues. S. V. Vivatenko and O. V. Baev
analyzed the guidebooks written in 1944–1945 for American soldiers to intro­duce them to French culture. V. V. Mironov compared how Soviet and US governments received expert reports on the situation in Afghanistan in 1979–1985. According to the author, American specialists had a much more effective methods of expertise. A. M. Pogorelskaya and N. P. Pogodaev studied the current Russian export of academic services to Tajikistan. The authors believe that it may help Tajikistan to solve such issues in the sphere of higher education as young population growth, shortage of qualified personnel, nepotism, corruption, etc.