On September 21, 2024, the Russian statehood will be 1162 years old. This advanced age is conceptually linked to the modern understanding of the historical evolution from the past to the present as a result of the thesaurus of knowledge accumulated over a hundred years. Historically, Russian statehood originally came from Veliky Novgorod in 862, and not later from the southern Kiev suburbs, which is confirmed not only by well-known chronicles, the works of scientists, but also by modern archaeological data. The stable and independent Novgorod state education since the arrival of Prince Rurik in 862 has existed for a generally longer period in history than Kievan Rus. The historical past of Russian statehood is being actualized today during Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, in the process of global multivector confrontation between Russian and Western civilizations of the United States and Europe, sanctions against the Russian population.

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the nature of the “Moscow – Third Rome” theory. Particular attention is paid to the events that became key in the development of this theory, the statesmen who contributed to its formation, flourishing and oblivion, as well as the influence it had on domestic political and legal thought, which is manifested in the specific actions of the central characters of the historical scene. The author comes to the following conclusions: the theory of “Moscow - the Third Rome” had a strong influence on the political and legal life of the Russian state during the period from the reign of Ivan the Terrible to the reign of Peter I: a decision was made to crown the Grand Duke of Moscow as king, for which a special rite was developed crowning of the kingdom according to the Byzantine model, Moscow began to position itself as a protector of the Orthodox population, which led, in particular, to the capture of Kazan in 1552, the Byzantine system of “symphony of powers” developed in Rus’, the state was actually ruled by the tsar as a representative of secular power and the metropolitan as a representative of spiritual power, which was embodied in practice in the convenings of the Zemsky and Stoglavy Councils, which had the same legal force, the patriarchate was established in Rus’, while the enthronement of the first patriarch of Rus’ was carried out by the Patriarch of Constantinople, to unify the church rites of Rus’ and Byzantium, a reform of Patriarch Nikon was carried out, leading to a split and the emergence of such a movement as the Old Believers.

The civilizational choice of modern Russia has posed to our people the problem of searching for a national idea, choosing a socio-political system that ensures the survival of the Russian state in the context of the global political crisis of liberal representative democracy and armed conflict with the West. Universal civil co-government and libertarian state socialism as a popular initiative coming from the depths of the consciousness of Russian society, acts as the only guideline for state-building capable of ensuring the national path of development of the country, preserving its identity and becoming an example to other peoples.

Based on a comparative analysis of the study of the Russian elite we consider current theoretical and practical issues related to the conditions and processes characterizing the activities of the elite. The study subjects are: clarifying the concept of “elite”, assessing the instability of the state and the presence of elements of the structural transformation of elites; revealing the features of the formation of Soviet and post-Soviet elites, the mechanisms of their renewal based on plutocracy, professionalization, consolidation of a synthetic type of mobility, readiness for change. The research focuses on understanding the elite as a social community with signs of mentality, worldview, and ideology. We reveal the role of conservative and liberal ideologies in the formation of state ideology and its significance for the Russian elite in the context of confrontation with the collective West.

The article analyses russophobia as a tool for creating a distorted image of Russia. The publications in the Russian media serve as the material for the study. These publications, on the one hand, represent the falsified perception of our country by the collective West, and on the other hand, are part of the official mass media discourse in the promotion of universal and state values. The research is carried out in compliance with the imagological paradigm. Modelling is the main method of the analysis. Modelling provides the opportunity to investigate and describe the phenomena of reality taking into account the existential, cognitive, discursive, and axiological characteristics of object under analysis. Russophobia in the present research is considered as a discursive practice with its own existential, axiological, linguistic characteristics, and content, which are determined by the peculiarities of the modern geopolitical situation. As a result of the analysis of empirical material, the following characteristics of the analyzed phenomenon are revealed: russophobia is, first of all, the activity of the Ukrainian authorities; russophobia is equated with xenophobia, nationalism and nazism; russophobia is a political technology of the fight against Russia. From a linguistic point of view, russophobia possesses the following characteristics: militant, rabid, manic, cave-like, attributed to a specific geographical name. The paper presents an analysis of the metaphorical content of russophobia in the official mass media discourse. The Research prospects are outlined.

The article considers the problems of integration of the new region - Donetsk People’s Republic into the economic field of the Russian Federation. The main tasks to be solved in the liberated territories are given. It is suggested to form a state programme aimed at solving these problems. It is revealed that one of the key problems limiting further economic growth, along with the ongoing military operations, is the outflow of able-bodied population. As a strategic goal of socio-economic development of the Republic for the next 10 years, it is proposed to restore infrastructure, modernize industry and structural reform of the economy, increase the population, as well as the quality and duration of life. To achieve this goal, three directions are considered: formation and accumulation of human capital; creation of space for human capital development; creation of appropriate economic environment. The stages for the realization of goals and tasks have been identified. It has been determined that industry should form the basis of the economy of the reviving Donbas. It is necessary to develop manufacturing industries, knowledgeintensive and complex production. It is of fundamental importance to improve the quality of economic growth - to build and move along the supply and value chains from the first links, with a low specific weight of added value in the price of goods, to the next links, with a higher specific weight of added value. Priority sectors of the Republic are identified. It was noted that the activation of economic development cannot be carried out without reforming the existing system of state administration in the Republic. An important task is to transfer the functioning of public authorities to the technology of strategic and programme-target planning and budgeting.

The article is devoted to the study of the conceptual image of the South Kuril Islands in the leading English-language mass media of Japan after the beginning of the Russian Armed Forces’ special military operation in Ukraine. The relevance of the study is explained by the preservation of the hotbed of military and political tension near the Far Eastern borders of Russia, manifested in Japan’s territorial claims to the southern part of the Kuril Islands, which acquired a strongly pronounced verbalized ideological shift after February 24, 2022. The conceptual characteristics of the image of the islands (and closely related images of Russia/USSR) were identified using the methods of content analysis, cognitive-discursive analysis, cognitive interpretation, cognitive modeling, as well as elements of cognitive matrix analysis.

The article reviews the features of the processes in the Arctic region in the context of its growing importance in world politics and economics. The Arctic has the richest resources in the world. In the depths of the Arctic there is about a third of all the world’s reserves of natural gas and up to 13% of oil, huge reserves of coal, gold, copper, nickel, tin, platinum, and manganese. The growing dependence of the world economy on energy resources is pushing foreign countries to develop their interests in this region. Russia occupies a unique geopolitical position in the Arctic. The Arctic zone of Russia is singled out as a special object of state policy on the basis of its special national interests in the areas of geopolitics, economics, ecology, science, defense and national security. The development of mutually beneficial international cooperation in the Arctic meets the interests of Russia and its socioeconomic development. International cooperation in the Arctic is greatly influenced by the contradictory trends in modern international relations. As a result of the confrontation unleashed by Western countries against Russia, there was a significant complication of relations within the Arctic community. The Western Arctic states have blocked the development of common approaches to solving the most important issues for the region in the modern Arctic. In these conditions, Russia is building a multi-vector policy in the Arctic, which has brought positive results in attracting friendly states to partner cooperation on the implementation of projects in the Russian Arctic zone.

The article discusses the main characteristics and features of Russian International Development Assistance policy. This phenomenon is elaborated withing the theoretical part, based on Russian scientists’ expertise. Additionally, the article analyses the Concept of the State Policy of International Development Assistance. The authors emphasize the role of state-guided International Development Assistance as a direct manifestation of Russian foreign policy, as well as the reflection of national interests of the Russian Federation. The main part of the article presents the results of content analysis of International Development Assistance Comprehensive State Programme, conducted on open data basis. It is concluded that the data presented are insufficient to form a complete picture of the essence, composition and content of International Development Assistance. Moreover, it is mentioned, that the possibility to highlight the main directions and problematic issues of international assistance is clear.