Archaeological heritage sites are a special object of real estate; they have a particular legal status and state protection issues. This article describes the state cadastral registration of archaeological monuments and sites, as well as the function of the state cadaster in their protection by the state. The registration procedure for state protection includes a number of measures. For instance, land plots that contain an archeological monument in their boundaries are subject to encumbrance or restriction of ownership rights. Certain information about cultural heritage sites cannot be published openly if the site enters the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage of the Nations of the Russian Federation. The author how the Kemerovo Region and other regions register their archaeological monuments and sites in the Russian State Register (Rosreestr), the State Land Registry (Roskadastr), and the Unified State Register of Real Estate. The current procedure for state cadastral registration needs some improvements in relation to archaeological heritage sites. Under the modern conditions, the ban on publishing the location of archaeological sites is ineffective.

The article features the dimensions applied by ancient figure casters. It summarizes the findings of eye molding forms for spearheads and axe blades from the Ob-Irtysh interfluve. The initial reference point for marking the negative tip of the spearhead was the toe length, which determined the bushing length as 2 to 1. After removing the contours of the bushing, the master marked the maximum width of the toe on the negative of the casting mold. The conditional points were in the middle of the spearhead length. The central rib (stiffening rib) corresponded to the length of the toe, and the endings of the parallel lateral ribs (teeth) fell on the maximum expansion of the toe. The upper edge of the eye and the upper line of the belt were marked at a distance equal to the outer diameter of the bushing towards the blade. The reconstructed system of relations between the whole and its parts could be defined as the dimensional standard observed by the master. The hook under the toe gave it the necessary structural strength. It prevented the toe from sinking, and the fracture did not load along the line of connection between the toe and the bushing. The new dimensional standard occurred as the position of the fork in the spearhead design changed. The Seima-Turbino axes also had a 2 to 1 ratio. Initially, the edge of the eye was marked at a distance equal to half the length of the vent of the bushing. Then, the eye was designed in the vent direction. In Samus-Kizhirovo moldings, the eye was modeled not in the direction of the vent of the bushing, but in the opposite one, i.e., to the blade. The single-eye design was original, and the two-eye products appeared as a result of its modification that made it possible to spearheads and axes with solid eyes.

This research accumulated a representative source base on the history of military education institutions in Asian Russia in the XIX – early XX centuries. It featured the complex and contradictory processes that accompanied the first years of the Neplyuev military school in the first quarter of the XIX century. The paper introduces a wide source base that includes some previously unstudied documents from the Russian State Military Historical Archive and the Russian State Historical Archive. The author used a systematic approach that combined standard scientific techniques with special chronological, genetic, comparative, and functional historical methods. The paper describes the early years of the military school, i.e., prerequisites, opening, military governors’ contribution, the first teaching staff, financial issues, etc. The military school was unique in its international composition as it accepted sons of the Central Asian nobility. According to the curriculum, foreign languages were one of the main competences to acquire. The school trained not only officers for irregular Cossack troops, but also translators for the Orenburg Border Commission that provided international relations between Russia and the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. The school educated the indigenous population and developed its national intelligentsia while consolidating Russian influence in Central Asia. The school was an important step towards the development of the Russian Empire as a Eurasian power. The Orenburg Military School became the most important institution of military education in Asian Russia as it laid foundations for the formation of the local military and teaching personnel.

The article covers the social and legal status of the administrative and academic staff in the West Siberian Education District in 1885–1918. This matter remains largely understudied in Russian historiography as the available sources are uneven in quality and quantity. Domestic historiography also lacks methodological and axiological tools that could reveal the correlation between the socio-legal status of education officials and the development of the education system. The research objective was to identify the level of knowledge that historical studies have to offer on the social and legal profile of the administrative and academic staff in West Siberia in 1885–1918. The data obtained made it possible to identify areas of scientific research in Pre-Revolution, Soviet, and Russian scientific literature. The research relied on the principles of objectivity, historicism, and consistency. The historiographic analysis was in line with the problem-chronological principle. The review consisted of three parts, depending on the chronology, methodology, and scope of research: pre-Revolution (1874–1917), Soviet (1917–late 1980s), and post-Soviet (early 1990s–present). The authors determined the contribution of some researchers to the history of the education system of the Russian Empire, as well as analyzed the role of pre-Revolution, Soviet, and post-Soviet studies of the education system in West Siberia. The article introduces the views and methodological standpoints on the development of the social and legal profile of the administrative and academic staff in West Siberia.

The Basmachi movement was the struggle of Turkestan indigenous population against the Soviet power, and it remains one of the least studied aspects of the Civil War. Soviet historians explained the reasons behind the movement and its mass character as follows: the local tribal aristocracy, young bourgeoisie, and imams strove to maintain their status, wealth, and privileges. When the former Soviet Central Asian republics became independent, the Basmachi movement and its causes were reconsidered by local historians and, to some extent, by Russian scientists. Now Basmachism is most often viewed as a form of national liberation movement by indigenous peoples of Turkestan. Presumably, it was a reaction to the attempts of the Soviet government to break local traditions, economy, and spiritual life. However, the post-Soviet assessments of the Basmachi movement can hardly claim any novelty. As early as during the Basmachi conflict, some high-ranking party figures and Red Army commanders openly stated that the Soviet government was mistaken in its aggressive internal regional policy and failed to understand the religious foundations that resulted in the Basmachi movement and its mass support. The article relies on some newly-found archival sources, monographs, and memoirs.

The Altai Region with its enormous reserves of minerals, timber, and fossil fuels played a major role in the Civil War in Russia. The article describes its administrative and territorial division after the February Revolution of 1917. The author used unpublished archival documents and newspaper publications to reconstruct the process of disintegration that the Altai economic and territorial complex underwent in 1917–1919. The historical-genetic and historical-systemic methods made it possible to describe how the forest and mining territories dwindled during the abovementioned period. Although the first division plans dated back to the autumn of 1917, the actual transfer of forestry and lease areas to the neighboring provinces began as late as in the spring of 1918 and was completed in late 1919. As a result, one third of the administrative and economic units of the former Altai Region went to the neighboring departments of agriculture and state property, and the boundaries of the Altai mining district shrank significantly. Despite the fact that the region changed hands several times during the Civil War, every new government followed the same course on reducing the subordinate area in order to converge the economic and administrative boundaries of the provinces. However, the changes in power, partisan war, and rural disturbances slowed this process down. The transformations depended mainly on local initiatives while the central government was aware of the real situation in the districts.

The article describes the social role of shamanism in Yakutia in the 1920s. The newspaper of Autonomous Yakutia served as the main source. The research is the first-of-its-kind attempt to study Yakut shamanism as a socio-cultural phenomenon based on a comprehensive analysis of local mass media. The newspaper described the shamanic practices, people’s attitude, and anti-shamanism measures. The editorial office received many letters from villagers and medical workers that described the everyday life of the Yakuts, as well as their attitude to traditions and Soviet modernization. Some letters came from former shamans themselves and contained a public denunciation of the craft. The research relied on the historical-anthropological methodology as an integrated approach that united systematic, historical-comparative, and content-analytical methods. The information potential of the periodical press proved to be a valuable source for regional historical studies, e.g., the history of Yakutia in the first decade after the Revolution of 1917. The results develop the scientific ideas about the nature of Yakut shamanism and its historical development, thus expanding the research source base in the field of regional everyday-life history. The obtained conclusions can be used for further research of Yakut shamanism in the XX century and regional mass media as a source on everyday history.

Science and education are especially important in the post-industrial society. Past experience makes it possible to develop these spheres. In the second half of the XX century, the Krasnoyarsk Region was undergoing a double transition. On the one hand, it was experiencing industrial modernization; on the other hand, it was turning from a resource region into a developed semi-peripheral region. Both transitions required a local system of academic personnel training. This article reconstructs the development of the postgraduate training system in the Krasnoyarsk Region in 1949–1988, from the first to the last postgraduate cohort in the Soviet Russia. Until 1949, the Krasnoyarsk Region had no postgraduate education of its own. Methodologically, the research relied on the symbiosis of an adapted world-system approach and modernization theory, which made it possible to analyze the quantitative changes in the local postgraduate education over a forty-year period as part of the regional development. The early 1950s saw new universities and scientific institutions with their own programs for training senior research personnel. The economic profile of the Krasnoyarsk Region required a sharp increase in scientific personnel to implement the industrialization and ensure the transition to intensive development. Between 1949 and the late 1960s, the number of postgraduate students in the region grew by 9,000%, after which the enrollment and graduation rates reached plateau. The curricula were changing as well, and the number of specialties was increasing. The areas of training and their proportions depended on the economic development plans. The number of graduate students peaked when the new industrial base was completed. The region turned from a periphery into a semi-periphery of the Soviet economy. The postgraduate education in the Krasnoyarsk Region reflected its economic profile in the period under study. Exact and natural sciences had the largest share: more than a third of all postgraduate students were trained in technical specialties, followed by physics, mathematics, and agricultural sciences. Their numbers continued to grow until the end of the 1960s, after which they gave leadership to social sciences, thus reflecting the changes in the local economic and social development.

The authors used the chronological method to trace and periodize the evolution of domestic historiographic approaches to the population evacuation from the European part of the Soviet Union to Western Siberia during Great Patriotic War. They revealed three main stages in the civilian evacuation studies: 1941–1955, 1956–1990, and 1991 until now. Representatives of the first stage faced with the problem of classified sources and propaganda. Civilian population evacuation developed into an independent research topic during the second period, which also experienced the ideological component as a constraining element for comprehensive studies. Historiographers of the current stage have free access to new archival documents that cast light upon some new aspects of the evacuation process. The authors reviewed publications from all selected periods and identified economic, social, and demographic approaches. The economic approach has always prevailed because the civil evacuation has always been connected with industrial relocation. Scarce as they might be, social and demographic publications cover such important issues as accommodation, employment, medical care, social composition, numbers, etc.

The geopolitical situation of the Russian Federation dictates the priority areas of potential mutually beneficial cooperation, the Asia-Pacific being one of them. India’s role on the global information arena is increasing, and Russia needs to set up new, secure lines of cooperation. This work is part of a series of publications on India’s information security system. The article outlines its progress over the past decades, e.g., the concept of information security, the mechanisms that ensure India’s external information and economic security, the tools of database protection in the global information environment, etc. The result is a complete and comprehensive picture of the stage-by-stage development of India’s information security structure in various fields and industries in each sector of cyberspace, with goals and functions for each regulatory act and control institution. This holistic view of India’s information security covers its concept and chronology of development, as well as offers a classification of the key information security mechanisms currently active in the country.

This article describes the political and social situation in Bessarabia in the context of the so-called Great Romania Project, i.e., attempts to romanize the multiethnic population in the region that took place after the Great War in 1918–1919. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires changed the map of Europe and gave rise to new national states. These processes triggered various national minority issues, e.g., civil, political, and language inequality. In 1918, Romania occupied Bessarabia, which had been part of Russian Empire since 1812. Besides Moldovans, who were recognized as the core of Romanian nation, Bessarabia’s population was multiethnic and involved Russians, Ukrainians, Russinians, Germans, Jews, Poles, Bulgarians, Gagauz, etc. Romania started incorporating Bessarabia and integrating its population even before the new borders were recognized internationally. This research featured the methods of Romanization in Bessarabia. It relied on archival documents published in The Red Archive Journal in 1940, which remained beyond the scope of scientific attention. The authors used the principles of historicism and objectivity represented by the methods of analysis and synthesis, comparative historical and problem-chronological methods, etc. The goal of the forced Romanization was to exterminate Russian influence, e.g., the regional division into zemstvo, local elections, language, education, etc. As a result, the methods of force applied to the language, ethnic, and religious minorities caused their active resistance.

In the modern world, contacts between cultures tend to strengthen, even during and after military conflicts. After France had been liberated by the US Army during World War II, US soldiers started getting acquainted with French culture. This article introduces an analysis of American guidebooks published specifically for American soldiers who served in France during World War II. The research objective was to identify the information that the guidebooks represented as necessary for an average US military person to make their stay in the country more comfortable, e.g., culture, entertainment, recreation, etc. The guidebooks told their American readers about the history of France and its current state, as well as about the relationship between the French, Americans, and Germans during the world wars. The guides aimed at facilitating the adaptation of American military personnel to French environment. Initially, the guidebooks attempted to introduce American soldiers to the basic knowledge about France, but gradually they started to publish advice on practical issues that Americans faced in France. The guidebooks were written by prominent representatives of American culture who worked for the armed forces during World War II. All in all, these guidebooks enhanced American interest in French culture.

The article features the role of expert approaches in decision-making concerning the military intervention in Afghanistan by the USSR and the USA. The author identified the subjects, methods, and functions of political expertise in the war in Afghanistan based on minutes of Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and analytical reports declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The Soviet authorities employed experts from those departmental structures that were inherent in the original political decision-making system. This short-term expert support was to provide a system of measures for the implementation of the state policy, i.e., the expert structures were subordinate to the government. The US authorities, on the contrary, relied on the sociological factors in their analysis of the unfolding scenario. This approach allowed them to identify which forces and entities to support at the initial stage. By establishing contacts with the religious opposition, they eventually developed weapon traffic routes. In the USSR, the faulty expert approach aggravated the inconsistency of the Soviet policy while US expert reports contributed to the outbreak of war in Afghanistan.

National universities of Tajikistan compete for Tajik applicants with European, US, Turkish, and South-Korean universities. In this regard, the current educational cooperation between Tajikistan and Russia is a relevant issue. The article describes the export of Russian higher education services to Tajikistan. The authors identified patterns and problems for higher education development in Tajikistan, as well as evaluated the prospects for academic cooperation with Russian universities. Tajikistan is currently experiencing the following unfavorable domestic factors: state conservatism, population growth, lack of resources, corruption, and nepotism. Academic cooperation with Russia may become valuable support for Tajikistan’s higher education. In its academic export, Russia relies on the position of the Russian language in Tajikistan. As the Russian higher education has been improving its positions recently, it attracts students from Tajikistan using the branches of Russian universities in the country. On the one hand, Russian academic services may provide accessible and high-quality higher education to the young people of Tajikistan. On the other hand, they aggravate the conservative trends in the local system of higher education.