The article deals with the question of methods for describing lexical semantics. Special attention is paid to symbols — linguistic signs expressing the worldview of culture. The relevance of the study is due to the need to develop an objective description methodology that meets both modern concepts of the semantics of a word and the nature of a symbol. A review of modern concepts of the word meaning is carried out. The question is raised about the possibility of describing the semantics of a symbol based on the analysis of the contextual environment of a linguistic sign. Attention is paid to cases of direct, figurative, symbolic and regular arbitrary use of the word. The author’s development of a methodology for qualitative and quantitative content analysis of a representative sample of texts in describing the semantics of a symbol is presented. The classification of the levels of analysis of the composition of words that form the context of the use of the symbol is proposed. The author dwells on the stages and procedures for extracting the semantics of a symbol from the context in which it is used. The results of a comparative analysis of the semantics of the WAY and ROAD symbols in the language of Russian rock poetry are presented. It is proved that the presented methodology allows describing the semantics of a symbol, relying not on the abstract logic of the relationship of concepts, but on the semantic relations fixed in the text. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that this technique allows us to consider a symbol not as an occasional, but as a linguistic unit, regularly reproduced by the carriers of the corresponding representations.

The results of a study of the discourse of solidarity in the Soviet Russian-language press of Belarus of the post-war period on the basis of the publications of the newspaper “Sovetskaya Belorussia” is presented in the article. The directions of solidarity in media discourse are determined depending on the inclusion of an object in the group of “friends” or “aliens”. Attention is paid to the construction of solidarity both in publications about the internal life of the country and in articles about the “Western” states and countries of the socialist camp. The relevance of the study is due to the need to study the means of solidarity of the media audience in different historical periods, including during crises. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the objects for analysis are newspaper texts with a pragmatic goal-setting of constructing solidarity. The key words of the media discourse of solidarity of the Soviet period are revealed: lexemes with the meaning of compatibility; words labeling “friends” according to the class principle; units emphasizing the responsibility of a person for a joint business; vocabulary of the semantic groups “Struggle” and “Labour”. It has been proved that the solidarity constructed by the mass media was aimed at the awareness of the citizens of the country of their involvement in the common cause and common values, at the legitimization of political power and the formation of mutual understanding between members of society.

This article is an analysis of the linguistic means of figurative representation of the Milky Way in the prose works of Russian authors of the XIX — early XXI centuries. It is established that the basis for the creation of metaphorical models, in which the astroobject Milky Way is one of the components, are the similarity of external outlines, parametric indicators, the identity of light and structural characteristics, while the attraction of only perceptual signs significantly limits the possibilities for comparison. It is shown that the length of the stellar system determines its metaphorical representation as a water body, road, fabric or fiber, a bridge or its component part, an arc, a parabola, a fraction, a procession, a lane, a belt, a ski track, spilled milk, a tail. It is noted that the relative position of the celestial bodies that form the Milky Way leads to its assimilation to fog, cloud, smoke or dust; the luminosity of the stars entering the galaxy resembles the brilliance of silver and gold, and their large number is emphasized by the metaphor “Milky Way — many small objects or particles”. The author comes to the conclusion that the images that arise during the metaphorization of an astroobject differ in the frequency of use, while hydronymic, meteorological, artifact metaphors, as well as the metaphor of a path-road, are productive.

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The article examines the cognitive patterns of the representation of the image of the future of Russia in the French media (Le Monde, L’Express, Le Point, RFI, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur). The analysis of a corpus of 140 French metaphors, updated in the context of the constitutional reform in Russia in 2020 and performing a predictive function in the process of conceptualizing the future of Russia, is carried out. It is noted that in order to achieve the set goal of the work, it is advisable to use the method of cognitive research of metaphors, united by the target sphere of metaphorical expansion. The results of the analysis of the leading metaphorical models of the image of the future of Russia are presented: “The future of Russia is the past / USSR / old age / decline”, “Russia in the future is an absolute monarchy / limited space / fortified military facility”. It is shown that the image of the future of Russia is formed in the French media exclusively by negative metaphorical word usage. It is concluded that the metaphorical expressions used to describe the constitutional reform in Russia in 2020 are being updated by the French political elites to form the image of Russia as an undemocratic country devoid of a positive future.

The role of mass media in the processes of interpretation and assessment of various fragments of reality is discussed in the article. The problem of the entry of legal concepts into the media discourse is raised and the task is set to study the changes occurring in this process, which ultimately lead to the formation of new conceptual units — media concepts. The designated task is solved in the process of analyzing one of the key legal concepts LEGITIMACY. It has been demonstrated that the Russian mass media significantly modify each of the three components of the legal concept, that is, the media virus is “implanted” into the conceptual, figurative and value layers. It allows us to speak of three strategies of mediatization: definitional, metaphorical and evaluative. It is shown that the definitional strategy contributes to the emergence of new features in the conceptual layer of the LEGITIMACY concept (‘trust’, ‘approval’, ‘support’, ‘respect’, ‘fairness’, ‘the phenomenon of consciousness’ and ‘subjective feeling’). It is noted that the metaphorical strategy additionally forms such linguo-culturally specific features as ‘defectiveness’ and ‘object of political manipulation’, the evaluative strategy gives the positively perceived concept of LEGITIMACY a negative connotation (conceptual signs of ‘doubtfulness’ and ‘imaginary’ develop), which is an alarming marker reflecting the current situation in Russian society. It is pointed out that the recorded changes indicate the importance of the discursive factor in the study of concepts.

The concept of AMERICA is considered as a part of the concept sphere of Barack Obama’s linguistic personality. Special attention is paid to the structure of the AMERICA concept in B. Obama’s speeches and the nominative features of this phenomenon. The material for the study was the public policy speeches delivered by Obama at different stages of his career. Methods of conceptual, semantic and discourse analysis are used to identify the means of objectification of this concept in the speeches of the studied linguistic personality and to construct its nominative field. The AMERICA concept is proven to be one of the central components in the Barack Obama concept sphere throughout his political career. It is shown that Barack Obama’s AMERICA concept has a complex structure with a branched system of features. It is noted that it includes associations actualized by the AMERICA concept, which is part of the national picture of the world. It is revealed that the structure of this concept also includes a set of individual-author’s associations reflecting the world picture of the linguistic personality of the 44th President of the United States. The structure of the AMERICA concept with the allocation of the core, near and far periphery is described.

The article is devoted to modeling associative fields vezhlivaya (f) and vezhlivyy (m) (polite) based on the materials of the project “Multilingual associative thesaurus of politeness”. The relevance of the study is due to the need to identify the structure and content of the associative-verbal network of a native speaker, which is possible when referring to the data of a free associative experiment. The author considers the combination of stimulus-response as a speech action. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the analysis of associative data is carried out based on the operational model of speech production of distributive activation, which makes it possible to explain the presence of various reactions in the structure of the associative field. When analyzing each speech action and operation, the principle of approaching the word as a unity of the acoustic image and concept is considered. This indissoluble unity is manifested in the simultaneous mechanism of speech actions of conceptualization and internal articulation. A comparative analysis of the associations of the respondents in the masculine and female groups based on the operational model of speech production of distributive activation made it possible to identify universal and gender-specific features in the structure and content of the analyzed associative fields. It is concluded that it is possible to use the speech production model developed by the author in modeling associative fields.

The thesis research carried out over the past 11 years in line with the culturally oriented concept of translation is considered. The main views on the problems of translation presented in more than 200 thesis in the specialty 10.02.20 for 2009—2020 are summarized. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that for the first time an attempt is made to review thesis research on translation topics, considering the “cultural component” as an anticommunicative factor that requires neutralization during translation. The relevance of studying this issue is due to the need to systematize diverse and sometimes contradictory studies in the field of translation, as well as to identify scientific gaps in the translation paradigm that need to be filled. In the process of work, the methods of generalization and interpretation of the results revealed the main approaches to the study of key concepts of translation studies: comparative-transformational and communicative-functional. The key concepts relevant for the study of the factor “culture” in translation were “linguo-ethnic barrier”, “without / equivalence”, “non / translatability”, “strategies for linguocultural adaptation of the text”. Particular attention is paid to identifying problem areas of the science of translation that require further development, which will expand the understanding of the state of modern translation, culturally oriented research, as well as contribute to the general theory of translation.

The question of the lexicographic description of new words that appeared in the Russian in the period from 2000 to 2020, the thematic groups “Unity” and “Enmity” is considered. A prospectus of an explanatory dictionary of neologisms is presented, namely: the principles of selecting nominations for registration, the structure of a dictionary entry, the rules for describing a lexical unit. It is noted that linguistic facts are registered, in the meanings of which the semes of unity and enmity are contained in the denotative part of the meaning, and words, the semantics of which is determined by the evaluative attitude of the speakers, are not recorded. The inclusion of new linguistic units in the dictionary is substantiated due to their absence in other lexicographic sources or a description in a smaller volume than is planned in the source being created. It is pointed out that the leading principles of registering new words in the dictionary being created are the activity of their use, the integrity of the description and the attitude towards the reflection of the linguistic worldview. Using the example of neologisms of different parts of speech, the structure of a dictionary entry is described, which includes, in addition to the heading word and meaning, grammatical and stylistic characteristics, information about the origin and valence, illustrative material demonstrating variants of use in speech, equivalent lexical units, antonyms and derivatives.

The issues of the development of traditional news television in the context of a single information space are considered. The goal is to look at how much content creators and consumers agree in their predictions about the future of TV. The data of in-depth interviews were used as empirical material: professional television journalists (federal TV channels) and students (PFUR “Television” department) were interviewed. The contradictions between the two basic types of media consumption, which are characteristic of addressers and addressees of television messages, are revealed. It is shown that these contradictions explain the generational gap in the perception of modern news television programs, predetermine the decrease in TV consumption of news content from federal channels designed for a mass audience. The relevance of the work is due to the rethinking of the functions and prospects for the development of traditional TV by both professional broadcasters and consumers. The conclusion is made about the further development of news television. It is noted that, on the one hand (the opinion of professionals), traditional television broadcasting will be preserved while adjusting the agenda, rethinking interaction with the audience, changing the broadcasting paradigm, mastering new competencies by professional journalists and using the opportunities of the online space. On the other hand (students’ opinion), subject-to-object news broadcasting of federal channels will cease to exist when the generation of viewers and the funding model change.

The article is devoted to the study of multimedia tools that are used when placing content in online versions of popular science publications. The relevance of the issue is due to the need to use new convergent forms of promotion of printed publications in the field of mass communications. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that for the first time the process of multimediaization in the popular science segment of the media is described. The role that multimedia tools play in the development of modern popular science media is shown. Particular attention is paid to topical problems of the functioning of popular science journals, possible ways to solve them, as well as, in this regard, the potential of multimedia. The content analysis and comparative research of electronic and printed versions of popular science magazines “Science and Life” and “Popular Mechanics” are presented. The question is raised about how multimedia expands the opportunities for brand promotion. On the basis of the results obtained, conclusions were formulated about the more effective use of multimedia in popular science media. The definitions of multimedia are given and the classification of the functions of multimedia elements in the publications of Internet media is proposed. It has been proven that modern popular science media does not use the entire range of multimedia elements in Internet versions, which negatively affects their popularization.

The article discusses the issue of refraction of the categories “publitsistika” (publicism) and “publitsistichnost” (with the elements of publicism) in the work of I. A. Bunin. It is shown that the definition of “publitsistika” in the categorical sense is applicable, first of all, to his works of the period of emigration, which are of a socio-political nature. Particular attention is paid to the origins of literary-critical and memoir publitsistika, outlined in Bunin’s early articles and essays, in which signs of “publitsistichnost” are found, expanding the boundaries of the declared topic to the level of social problems. The author dwells on certain features characteristic of the future publiсistic manner of the writer: a tendency to polemics, a straightforward position, open attacks towards opponents, the use of artistry. The relevance of the study is due to the need to consider early literary critical articles, essays by Bunin, his «Speeches on the anniversary of the newspaper “Russkie vedomosti”» and publiсistic of the mature period as an integral creative process that has its own dynamics. The novelty of the research is seen in the proposed approach to considering the specifics of the writer’s publicistic heritage, which consists in a systemic and holistic understanding, the involvement of integrative humanitarian knowledge as a context and comments. It is proposed to use mathematical and informational research methods approved by the author in the textual analysis of Bunin’s publicistic works.

The semantic and plot-generating functions of the onomastic paradigm in the works of Dina Rubina “Napoleon wagon train” and “The White Dove of Cordoba” is examined in the article. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the trilogy “Napoleon’s Wagon Train” has not previously been subjected to scientific analysis, nor has the artistic techniques of this trilogy been compared with those of other works by Dina Rubina. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that, based on the material of the latest novels by Rubina, repeated motives of the reification and humanization of a name, giving it the status of an independent being, a character equal to the bearers of this name, are revealed. Attention is paid to the tendencies in the use of the onomastic code and its gravitation towards a certain type of characters, the life story of which is considered by the author in comparison with the characters who lose, hide and deliberately deform their names in an extensive chronotope, covering the period from the era of antiquity, the Renaissance and the Napoleonic wars to the present day. It is proved that the onomastic code, manifested in novels included in different trilogies, appears as a structural component cementing all the later novelistic works of Dina Rubina as the author’s supertext, arranged according to uniform semantic laws. The proper name in Rubina’s works is a meta-symbol, a sign of personality identification in its uniqueness and in the history of the clan and family.

The supertext in the works of one of the most popular and mysterious Japanese writers of the early 20th century — Ryunosuke Akutagawa examined in the article. The relevance of this study is due to the fact that the problem of considering supertexts is one of the promising interdisciplinary areas of modern humanitarian knowledge. It is pointed out that in literary criticism there are quite a few works on topos texts, but very few works devoted to the nominal supertext, which is Tolstoy’s text. It is emphasized that Tolstoy’s text began to be created especially actively at the beginning of the twentieth century, and Tolstoy’s personality itself aroused interest not only in his homeland, but throughout the world. It is noted that the author’s extensive correspondence with public figures in Japan is known. It is argued that the fiction and journalistic texts of the Russian classic influenced the development of the national literature of Japan. Particular attention is paid to the issue of including in the text the personal myth of Leo Tolstoy as the basis of the Tolstoy’s text in the works of Akutagawa. It is shown that the Japanese writer refers to the story of the Yasnaya Polyana wise old man, using the episode of reconciliation between Turgenev and Tolstoy as the plot of the story “Woodcock”. In conclusion, the authors note that in their later works (“Cogwheels”, “The Life of an Idiot”) Akutagawa questions the sincerity of L. Tolstoy’s faith in God, interpreting the mythologeme “Leo Tolstoy and Religion” in an original way.

The results of the analysis of the basic principles of compiling the database “Olonkhosuts of Yakutia of the 17th—20th centuries” — about the storytellers of the Yakut national epic are presented. The relevance of the research is determined by some difficulties in the systematization and design of the information content of the repository. A brief overview of the history of the study of the personalities of Yakut storytellers is given, the stages of database development are discussed in detail. It is noted that as a result of the generalization of the material a reference book that contains more than 1300 names of storytellers of the 17th-20th centuries was published by the team of the Olonkho Research Institute of M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University. Problems identified in the process of filling in the cells are described. Particular attention is paid to entering data in the national language, their transliteration and translation into Russian. The definition of the types of the second names of olonkhosuts is given, the expediency of allocating a separate field for nicknames-pseudonyms reflecting the status and popular recognition of the talent of the narrator is substantiated. A sample database table on olonkhosuts is presented. As a result of the study, the parameters for selecting data for inclusion in the repository were compiled, the need for additional research work to identify the facts of the change of residence of olonkhosuts was determined, and recommendations were proposed for improving the principles of information content of the database.

As part of the development of the typology of the authors of French romanticism, the creative type represented by the French poetess Élisa Mercœur is determined (Élisa Mercœur, 1809—1835). The relevance of the work is due to the fact that the creation of a typology is a way both to streamline the studied material and to explore new, operating not with a disparate set of facts and subjective opinions, but with generalized conventional concepts. It is noted that the materials about Élisa Mercœur are currently in a state that requires such a typological design. As a result of the study, it was established that the poet, on the one hand, belongs to the category of writers whose biographies are mythologized in a romantic spirit. On the other hand, it is shown that she belongs to a rather numerous category of romantic writers who have creative abilities in the absence of a vivid originality and therefore are intended to popularize the achievements of outstanding authors, practically creating a “language of direction”, but nevertheless developing their own themes (mostly related to the privacy of authors). A typology of creative models of romantic lyrics is proposed in the article; one of the models that combines the authenticity of feelings and moderate complexity of the language of expression is the original work of Élisa Mercœur. 

The specificity of the narrative structure of the story, which connects the memory as an element of a fictional autobiography with the forms of a diary and a “story in a story”, which is one of the most productive in the second half of the twentieth century in German literature, is considered. Based on a fragment of the unfinished novel by F. Werfel “Sella, or the Conqueror” and the novel by A. Okopenko “Kindernatsi”, built as memories of the Anschluss and the arrival of the Nazis in Austria, the principles of organizing a multilevel system author — focalizer — actant, the purpose of which is interweaving of historical, moral and religious, moral and ethical meanings are shown. It is studied how a specific historical plot (which has a real prototypical model for the story of Werfel and an autobiographical one for Okopenko) is filled with religious and existential meanings in Werfel, becomes a reflection of the crisis of identity — a key characteristic of the Austrian mentality — in Okopenko. Particular attention is paid to artistic techniques that complicate and destroy linear narrative: duplicity, with the help of which Werfel shows different ways of solving the same moral issues, and literary editing techniques, which gives Okopenko a fragmented character to the process of recollection and allows to reveal the integrity of the author’s moral and ethical positions at the deep-semantic level.

The question of dialogical poetics in the epic texts of A. S. Pushkin and N. A. Nekrasov is considered. Attention is paid to the actual topic of Pushkin’s influences in the epic of Nekrasov. The results of a comparative analysis of the poetics of “Eugene Onegin” by Pushkin and the epic poems of Nekrasov are presented. The question of the continuity of the epic poetics of writers is raised, special attention is paid to the originality of this component of their works. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the aspects of the dialogue poetics of the epic texts of Russian classics are considered for the first time. The relevance of the study is due to the need for new views on the relationship between the epic poetics of Pushkin and Nekrasov. The definitions of the categories of immanent and comparative epic poetics of both creators are given. The author dwells on the function of motives in the epic texts of Pushkin and Nekrasov. It has been proven that it was Nekrasov’s epic that made him the real successor of Pushkin’s genius. A classification of the leading features of the epic poetics of the classics is proposed. The review of existing scientific research on the dialogical poetics of Pushkin and Nekrasov is carried out. The author’s development of the epic typology of their texts is presented. The author’s experience of many years of work on the material of the poetic heritage of Pushkin and Nekrasov is described.

The features of the image of the otherworldly space in the novel “The Kukotsky Enigma” are considered. The relevance of the topic is due to Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s understanding of the text as a tool with which one can “see the otherworldly”. The concepts of “otherworldly” and “otherworldly space” have been differentiated. The main principles of the image of the otherworldly space in the novel are highlighted: mirroring, carnivalization, its timeless arrangement. Attention is paid to the level organization of space in the novel. The mythologemes of water, sand and fire as fillers of space are investigated. It is noted that the novel “The Kukotsky Enigma” is characterized by the connection of the other world with reality through a number of border spaces: dreams, motives of water and illness. It is noted that the water in the novel is a “portal” to the other world, in which it is transformed into sand; the possibility of rebirth in the Middle World, the author solves the problems of the moral and philosophical order. It is concluded that the Middle World desert is associated with the female womb, where the characters are experiencing a new birth. It is shown that the space also determines the change of the onomapoetic code: the characters traveling in the Middle World change their names to nicknames, and the names remain with the characters who crossed the border of no return and remained permanent inhabitants of the other world.

This article is devoted to the analysis of the rhetoric presented in the Russian press in 1814—1818 regarding the imperial policy in the newly annexed Kingdom of Poland. The aim of the authors is to show that it is necessary to separate the real policy of the Russian autocracy in this territory from the images created first by French publicists, and then repeatedly exaggerated by Russian journalists. It is noted that Alexander I in 1814—1818 appears on the pages of French publications as a tsar-liberator. It is shown that these stories were quickly picked up by Russian newspapers and magazines and, as a result, a paradoxical picture emerged: for several years the mass media convinced the Russian society that the Russian Tsar was the new Polish national sovereign. It is argued that this, of course, caused rejection in conservative circles and among advanced Westerners such as Vyazemsky or Turgenev. It is concluded that it is the dominant discourse that can be considered, on the one hand, one of the factors in the emergence of the Decembrist movement, and on the other, a “trap” for Alexander I, since the liberal rhetoric of the press over time began to diverge more and more from the real policy of the Russian autocracy.

The characteristic of the Franco-Burgundian relations of the second half of the 15th century in the works of R. A. Maslov is considered. It is noted that the research problem does not need additional actualization: the time under study was a turning point in the history of France, the final stage in the formation of a centralized state. It is shown that the experience of many years of work of R. A. Maslov confirmed the conclusions that during several decades of the reign of Louis XI significant success was achieved in creating a modern French state, the foundations were created for the economic and political unification of its territory, for the cultural and linguistic community of the population and, accordingly, conditions are provided for the formation of the French nation. The attention of R. A. Maslov to the fact that the most important prerequisite for the formation of a nation was the achievement of political unity of the country, carried out on the basis of the creation of its economic community. It is indicated that in his studies Maslov argues the point of view according to which the fierce struggle for the elimination of feudal fragmentation reflected the process of economic consolidation of individual regions of the country into a single whole and the creation of an all-French internal market.

The impact of the 1998 financial crisis on the dynamics of market reforms and the privatization process in Russia and St. Petersburg is examined in the article. The activity of the government aimed at curbing the crisis tendencies in the first half of 1998, as well as the activity of the Cabinet of E. M. Primakov on the reanimation of the Russian economy in September — December 1998, is analyzed. The main reasons for the default, the impact of the crisis on privatization activity, the state of industrial enterprises, the banking sector, the transformation of integrated business groups, the level of welfare of the population, the state of relations “center-regions” are considered, and the social reaction to these changes is investigated. The state of the industry is revealed on the example of St. Petersburg enterprises. The approaches of the government of E. M. Primakov to the privatization policy are investigated. The features of personnel policy in the Ministry of State Property of the Russian Federation and the Committee for the Management of City Property of St. Petersburg are considered. The study of the causes and consequences of the default showed that this event became a key event in the development of the Russian economy, significantly influenced the pace of privatization activity and the state of financial and industrial groups, and also became the starting point for subsequent economic growth.

The plot of the genealogical myth of the Buryats of the Khori tribe is studied in the article as a historical and cultural source reflecting ideological attitudes, which were also a historical fact. It has been established that the myth about the origin of the Khori-Buryats is the plot of the areal cosmogonic myth. It is stated that the historical-genetic and cultural-semantic interpretation of the main events of the myth, when identified with information from archaeological, historical, ethnographic, folklore and linguistic sources, makes it possible to see in the plot of the myth the cult of the sun, the type of calendar of the solar year caused by it and the model of calendar rites of the early nomads of the steppes of Central Asia. It was revealed that the plot of the myth came to the northern shore of Lake Baikal with the carriers of the culture of tiled graves — the ethnic ancestors of the Turkic-Mongol peoples with Indo-Iranian cosmological ideas expressed in the calendar, calendar holidays, calendar rituals and calendar culture in general. It is proved that the main events of the myth are reflected in the rock paintings of the Sagan-Zaba Bay on the northern coast of Lake Baikal. It is shown that the plot of the genealogical myth of the Khori-Buryats acts as a text of culture, which is a means of preserving information about the picture of the world, which in the traditional culture of the tribe was controlled by a rite. It is noted that the historical and cultural origins of the myth go back to the archaeological Scythian-Siberian culture of the Iron Age (VI—III centuries BC).

The so-called travelogues, that is, “notes” (“legends”) of foreigners about the Russian state, are considered. The main attention is paid to the representation in these literary works of the spatial representations of their authors in connection with the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the Lithuanian-Russian state). The relevance of the study is due to the lack of demand for travelogues, despite the fact that they found themselves in the field of vision of large, sometimes famous historians. Another aspect of relevance is shown — the topicality of the study of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania itself and the travelogues, as such. The results of a comparative analysis of the spatial perception system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by the authors of travelogues up to the famous “Notes” by Sigismund Herberstein are presented. In this regard, first of all, the idea of the relationship between “Lithuania”, “Russia” and “Muscovy” in the geographical space of Eastern Europe is analyzed. It is concluded that the spatial representations of those who traveled through these territories or wrote on the basis of available information changed over time, reflecting, albeit in a distorted form, the complex processes of socio-political and ethnic development that took place in Eastern Europe, where the so-called Kievan Rus’, there were new, young states: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, which actually grew up on the same ethnic basis.

The issues of ethno-demographic and ethno-linguistic development of the Bashkir population in the regions of the Russian Federation are considered. It is noted that the tendencies of demographic processes among the Bashkirs in the regions and in the republic of the same name are very different. The features of the ethnodemographic development of the Bashkirs in the regions of their historical settlement are shown, in which general trends coincide with the demographic processes in the country as a whole. It cannot be said about the Republic of Bashkortostan, which is characterized by sharp fluctuations in the size of the titular ethnic group. The dynamics of the ethnic and linguistic identity of the Bashkir population in the regions of historical settlement is revealed in a comparative aspect with the subjects to which the Bashkirs moved at a later time and in which their number is a small proportion. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it was the first to analyze the ethno-demographic and ethno-linguistic aspects of the development of the Bashkirs in the Russian Federation, including in the regions of their historical settlement. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the issue of the demographic development of the Bashkir population at the present stage, especially in the republic of the same name, has acquired an ethnopolitical discourse. It has been proven that, despite the policy of reviving ethnicity and the native language, the Bashkirs, like other peoples, are gradually losing it in favor of being recognized as a native Russian.

The article reveals the problem of distortion of the socialist principles of Soviet trade in the economic practice of the state of the 1960s — 1980s, which is insufficiently illuminated in historical science, using the example of letters from Soviet citizens collected in the fund of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History. Based on a review of a significant amount of archival sources, various kinds of deformations occurring in trade activities and their fixation in the public mind are demonstrated. It is emphasized that people’s ideas were the most important dimensions of social life, the economic dynamics of Soviet society and the social psychology of citizens. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of legislation as the main mechanism for regulating the development of the trade and economic area. It is argued that the lack of formation of the regulatory framework gave rise to such reality phenomena as deficit, overcharging, short weight and measurement of buyers, squandering, embezzlement, robbing and theft of property, black market turnover. The circumstances of the incorporation of the phenomenon of fellowship and nepotism into the stable custom of everyday life are commented. The author comes to the conclusion that class conflicts emerged in the socio-economic structure of Soviet society in the 1960s — 1980s, while the urgent facts of the system’s crisis were generated by the duality of the line of power.

China and Turkey — countries located at the two ends of the ancient trade Silk Road, which at the beginning of the 21st century were again closely linked by the Chinese initiative “One Belt, One Road”, are considered in the article. It is shown how these two economies with high economic activity complement each other’s needs and benefits. Attention is paid to the interaction and cooperation between them in such areas as the development of contacts on political issues, road communications, trade, money circulation, communication between people. It is stated that China and Turkey have achieved certain successes in promoting sustainable and stable development of bilateral relations. The authors also note that there are many challenges faced by both sides in implementing “One Belt, One Road” Initiative. It is emphasized that in terms of geopolitics, foreign policy and foreign economic relations, Turkey is in a rather difficult situation, cooperation between China and Turkey within the framework of “One Belt, One Road” also contains many risks. It is concluded that as long as the two countries adhere to the idea of reviving the Great Silk Road and a pragmatic approach, more and more mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Turkey will move forward.

The events in the late XIX — early XX centuries in Western Siberia, where the population survived several epidemics of cholera, typhus and typhoid fever, measles and other infectious diseases, are considered. It is noted that the sad result of the outbreak of many infections was the high epidemic mortality of the population. The activity of municipal authorities on the prevention and control of the spread of widespread diseases, the prevention of high mortality among the sick is being studied. The anti-epidemic measures taken by local authorities are analyzed: an increase in expenditures for urban improvement; the publication of mandatory sanitary regulations; creation of medical and sanitary executive commissions; division of the city territory into sections and assignment of sanitary guardians to them; arrangement of bacteriological laboratories, infectious barracks and disinfection chambers; health education of the population. The conclusion is made about positive changes in the prevention and treatment of a number of infectious diseases, the organization of sanitary supervision over the state of water supply sources, places of sale of food, the maintenance of garbage and cesspools, the dumping of sewage on strictly designated areas. At the same time, attention is drawn to the persistence of high epidemic mortality (especially infant mortality) due to the low standard of living of most of the townspeople, malnutrition, poor development of hygiene skills, lack of awareness of the causes and methods of treating diseases.