The purpose of this article is to analyze the most significant processes and trends within the former USSR area associated, primarily, with domestic economic and political problems, the results of 25 years of independent development of former Soviet republics, specifics of their political and social and economic transformation. These and other topics are considered in the context of Russia’s interests and the role of Russia on the post-Soviet territory.The author’s opinion is that a typical feature of oligarchic regimes in the post-Soviet states has become a refusal to have an independent policy and a course aimed at the introduction of an external control. In this case, the sovereignty and national interests of a country are sacrificed for the interests of the transnational oligarchy. Local politicians and oligarchs act as its agents. Naturally the externally controlled countries (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) have found themselves far behind the other post-Soviet states.According to the author, the most successful of the post-Soviet states have become the states with a well-developed and rigid administrative and bureaucratic vertical of authority, which was able to limit the role of the oligarchy and local criminal structures in politics. Acting in this way, the nation-oriented part of the government and business have managed to prevent the dictatorship of the transnational oligarchy, overcome the negative implications of transformational crisis and ensure internal political, social and economic strength within new state boundaries. This creates opportunities for accelerated modernization and construction of a more democratic state system.

Despite the fact that a lot of research has been devoted to the study of Eurasianism, both in Russia and abroad, the international scientific community seems to still lack a common understanding of both the term “Eurasianism” and its derivatives. And we can talk not only about the socio-political, cultural, philosophical and religious definition of these concepts, but even about the geographical. If the difference in the humanitarian aspects of this issue can be explained in terms of the difference between the social system, ideology, and political structure, then the divergence in the geographical understanding of the Eurasian space and its borders can cause surprise. At the same time, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western scientists began to resort more and more geographically to the regionalization of the world political map, dividing the regions into increasingly smaller fractions right up to the redrawing of national borders, justifying in their writings the emergence of new political entities as a natural course of history, bloc approach of the Cold War period, but also the basic constants of geopolitical science about the confrontation of two global forces: sea and land. In terms of the same geopolitics, the land forces are represented by the “world island”, Heartland or Eurasia. However, according to the English dictionary Collins, the term “Eurasia” since 2006, the number of its uses in the English-language literature began to grow rapidly, breaking all records of use, since its inception, and occupying a place of honor among other 30,000 most common words. It seems that this interest is caused by the West's awareness of the fact that Russia was able to overcome the turbulence of the nineties and gradually began to restore its positions, primarily in the outward political arena. Thus, before our eyes there is a return to the topic of Eurasianism among international scholars, but already in new geopolitical realities. With the change in realities, the perception of the basic category of geopolitics-space also changed, which in turn led to a difference in the interpretation of the term “Eurasia” and its derivatives.

The actual, still little explored topic of the reforms of the new president of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh. Merzieev is considered in the paper. It is noted that the study of these reforms and the prospects for the development of the situation in Uzbekistan are extremely important from the point of view of the interests of all countries of the post-Soviet space, because Uzbekistan is strategically located and has the largest population of Central Asia. The migration processes that bind Russia and Uzbekistan and the existence of a common terrorist threat show our country's serious interest in maintaining stability in the neighboring state. The aim of the work is to provide an analysis of reforms in the country's foreign policy. Scientific works and expert opinions devoted to the situation, both in Uzbekistan and in the Central Asian region are used in the article. Among them there are the works of MGIMO staff (Sergeyev V.M., Sodikov S.D., Mehdiyev E.T.), Russian International Affairs Council (Alekseyenkova E.S.), Institute for Socio-Political Studies of RAS (Seleznev I.A.), Information Analytical Center of MSU (Vlasov A.V., Karavaev A.V.). In addition, press materials in Uzbek and Russian were used. In conclusion, it is pointed out that the President of Uzbekistan initiated a large-scale series of reforms, which can already be called a “thaw”. In foreign policy Tashkent managed to improve relations seriously with all its neighbors in the region, as well as with Russia and Western countries. The authors formulated three scenarios for the further development of the situation in the country.

The system of international relations is in constant change, where new challenges, problems, trends are emerging. In this context, the global migration is no exception. The central question of this study is that labor migrants from Central Asia are changing their traditional directions, where Russia is replaced by other European countries. Such a trend can not be short-term for a number of reasons, both internal and external. Globalization, which neutralizes the natural borders of states, contributes to the gradual growth of world migration. Moreover, the leading countries of Europe with a high level of economic development have always attracted foreigners who were in search of work and a better life. Among other reasons of this problem is the rapid demographic development of Central Asia, the interest of European countries in cheaper labor, but quite qualified. In addition, the economic crisis in Russia, the complication of migration policy, the weakening of the currency, as well as the dependence of the budget of the Central Asian countries from remittances from abroad, it provokes great interest in changing traditional migratory direction. The objective of the research is to investigate the phenomenon of gradual increase in the number of migrants from Central Asian countries to Europe and analyze causes and consequences of this phenomenon in the context of the current international situation. Summarizing the results of the research, the authors make the important conclusion that the number of migrants from Central Asia in the countries of the European Union is gradually increasing. In the next decades this phenomenon will also be relevant because of the high birth rate and relatively young middle age of citizens in the countries of Central Asia, the EU’s need for cheap and at the same time qualified labor, a low level of the Central Asian economy and the economic crisis in Russia.

The aim of this article is the analysis of the modern directions of the Pakistani external economic policy in 1990-2000s - its ties with the Central Asian countries. While selecting the research topics the author proceeded from the idea that the problem of the Pakistani cooperation with Central Asian countries has not been comprehensively studied for the last two decades. The research required to attract and summarize a large amount of statistical data that has been drawn from many sources including official-sites of Pakistan and Central Asian countries. The author also used Russian and Pakistani scientific journals and monographs. The article highlights economic cooperation between Pakistan and Central Asian countries: there are statistical data on the index of intensity of mutual Pakistani-Central Asian trade, some information both on investment cooperation between parties and on Pakistani “soft power” in the region. A comprehensive analysis of the Pakistani-Central Asian economic cooperation allows to make several conclusions. Despite some growth in the volume of mutual trade in recent years, its dynamics and nature remain below potential. An important obstacle to the expansion of cooperation in addition to the economic problems in Pakistan and the lack of the common border between it and Central Asia as well as the unstable situation in Afghanistan through which the trade is carried out, are the geopolitical aspirations of the parties. The geopolitical interests of the Central Asian states towards the US, the EU, Japan and Russia reduce the possibility of expanding cooperation between Pakistan and countries of the region. On the other hand the new Great Game unfolding in the region and the participation in it a number of developing states (first of all China, Turkey and Iran) each of which uses an impressive arsenal of funds to consolidate its intensions - from providing humanitarian aid to financing various infrastructure projects, significantly reduces Pakistan’s chances of expanding its presence in the region. The article presents statistical data characterizing the present state of the Pakistan - Central Asia mutual trade at the present time.

The research aims to analyze the Chinese BRICS presidency in 2017 from the standpoint of promoting adenga’s continuity, developing new initiatives and providing a balance of national and partner countries’ interests in the context of existing and new global challenges. To carry out the research the author applied historical and comparative analysis methods. The author comes to a conclusion that China was able to effectively organize its presidency’s agenda to promote its own initiatives while supplying partners’ demand hereby laying a basis for further cooperation development in the BRICS, first of all in the framework of the South African presidency in 2018. In the economic sphere a number of sectoral documents were approved to exchange experience between the participating countries, in particular the Framework on Strengthening the Economic and Technical Cooperation for BRICS Countries aimed at providing CNY500 million to boost practical cooperation. In the financial sphere, with an objective to promote the Chinese national currency at the international financial markets, China implemented steps aimed at developing cooperation in the monetary sphere that, obviously, in the interests of other BRICS member countries. Chinese national financial institutions broadened their engagement with the BRICS New Development Bank. China faces a wide range of social goals in line with the Sustainable Development Agenda. The Xiamen Declaration affirmed the BRICS members’ commitment to fully implement the Agenda 2030. Being interested in new technologies transfer China promoted an adoption of a long-term cooperation instrument in this sphere (BRICS Action Plan for Innovation Cooperation (2017-2020)). To expand its influence at the international scene China actively uses soft power mechanisms. Its BRICS presidency was not an exception. A wide number of events were organized to promote Chinese culture and language. For the first time the BRICS Sport games took place. In such a way the Chinese 2017 presidency reaffirmed the BRICS mission, adopted new decisions, in particular aimed at cooperation institutionalization, in the interest of China and partner countries.

The article touches upon the specifics of the development of Russian-Iranian cultural ties at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Over the past 25 years, these relations have significantly intensified mainly as a result of a purposeful and state-funded policy of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which ensures the spread of Iranian-Islamic culture and the Persian language in the world, including in Russia. At the same time, Iran resists penetration of any cultural influence “alien to Islamic values”, which requires a carefully thought-out approach in promoting the achievements of Russian culture on its territory. Russia regards Iran as an influential regional force and a geopolitical ally for strengthening stability in the region and a multipolar world. Development of ties with Iran at this stage is a priority in the militarytechnical, scientific-educational, trade and economic spheres. Cultural cooperation with Iran at the state level is not given independent significance and the role of some favorable background is assigned. There is an underestimation of the role of the cultural factor in shaping the structure of Russia’s strategic interaction with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The article is devoted to the development of Russian-Chinese humanitarian cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The author analyzes main aspects of humanitarian cooperation between the SCO member states, due to the fact that cooperation in this field is very important within the SCO’s agenda. At the same time, the special significance of Russian-Chinese relations in this sphere is highlighted in connection with the fact that Russia and China were the first among SCO member states to declare humanitarian cooperation. Since that time both countries were actively developing bilateral cooperation in various spheres. The article examines various spheres of humanitarian relations within the SCO, namely education, culture, academic mobility, sports and tourism. Recently, the humanitarian component has become increasingly important in Russian-Chinese cooperation, which in the last two decades has begun to include not only traditional spheres of interaction such as culture and education, but also health, sports, mass media and tourism. In addition, after the establishment of strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, humanitarian cooperation, having received great state support, began to develop very fast. With the advent of a new international regional organization, which member-states are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and since 2017, India and Pakistan, a new format of bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the framework of the SCO has emerged.

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