Vol 15, No 4 (2016)

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of agro-food transformation on the level of social stability in the early period of industrialization. The subject of the study was the passive protest of the population. On the basis of the frequency content analysis of the summaries of the Joint State Political Administration (JSPA) as a single, rather structured and representative source, there are brought out peculiarities of the protest of the urban and rural population of the Orenburg district which was not directly reflected in the official documents. The author notes that the social-economic changes carried out in the late 1920s transformed the living conditions of the rural and urban society, and led to the changes in the system of food provision. The population reaction was manifested in the growth of passive protest against these measures. In the conclusion the author marks the unevenness of the activity of social groups among the rural and urban population.The main cause of the peasant protest was the tax policy of the Soviet state. The strengthening of grievances was observed during the campaign for the procurement of bread. The author notes the initiate changes in the traditional mentality of the peasantry, the radical growth of this segment of the population. The discontent among the urban population was caused by a low quality and insufficient assortment of food products. The reduction of the number of citizens’ radical statements took place along with the growth of this indicator among the rural population. The author comes to the conclusion that such a response to the increasing of the modernization processes in the country and harsh methods of the agrarian and food policy implementation was appropriate. The system of codification developed and used in the article can be applied for the analysis of the JSPA reports and the study of the protest in the second half of the 1920s.

In this article the author analyses the content and implementation of the plans of Nazi Germany and its satellites towards the Northern Black Sea Coast during the pre-war period and the occupation period in the years of the Great Patriotic War (1940-1944). The Nazis designed the central part of this region for the primary colonization by German and European settlers, while the eastern part was planned for the economic exploitation. Romania also had plans for the Northern Black Sea. In 1918 this country occupied Bessarabia (in 1940 this region was retrieved to the Soviet Union). In the predatory plans of Romania this region was viewed in two perspectives - Bessarabia as the region considered by Romania as an integral part of the country, and Transnistria as an occupied territory, playing the role of a subject of territorial bargaining with Germany. During World War II Germany and Romania created their occupation zones in the Northern Black Sea. In addition, several other countries also had their plans for the Northern Black Sea. Some areas of this region were occupied by Italian troops. The Italian Consulate in Odessa implemented an active advocacy to prepare the ground for a possible transition of the region under the control of Italy. However, the defeat of the Italian army at Stalingrad nullified the possibility of this country’s participation in the redistribution of the Soviet lands. Bulgaria expressed some interest in the Northern Black Sea Coast too. However, although Germany was interested in involving Bulgaria in the war against the Soviet Union, this did not happen. The Turkish government unofficially informed the German government of its claims to the Crimea and other Soviet territories. The Turkish mission visited the occupied Soviet territory, including Crimea. However, after the defeat of Wehrmacht at Stalingrad, Turkey refused to enter the war on Germany’s side.

The article focuses on the role of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in China in the period of substantial growth of Orthodox flock of Russian emigrants after the Russian revolution of 1917. Main attention is given to the role of the Orthodox Church as spiritual center of the Russian emigrant community. This research has led to the conclusion that the Orthodox Church has achieved big success in providing spiritual guidance to Russian emigrants and preserving their habitual forms of religious activity. At the same time Mission’s inattention to ecclesiastical work among the Chinese has led to considerable difficulties in development of Chinese Orthodoxy after the departure of Russian community from China in the late 1940s - early 1950s. Future development of the Orthodox Christianity in China demands strengthening mutual understanding between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Chinese state in context of positive development of relations between two states; it is also important to adapt the contents of the Orthodox teaching to demands of the Chinese audience and to create platforms for public discussion on religious and cultural problems in both countries.

In this article the author examines the dynamics of the evolution of the Egyptian policies following the "Arab Spring Revolutions" of 2011 especially after the inauguration of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the new trends of the Egyptian Policies in both the domestic and the international Affairs. As the main focus of this article will be the special nature of the bilateral co-operation between both countries and the prospects of its development in the key areas. Over the past years, Egypt proved to be one of the biggest trade and economic partner of Russia in the Middle East. About 100 of vital industrial projects were built in Egypt with the assistance of the Soviet Union, as these projects nowadays play an important role in the Egyptian economy. The Russian-Egyptian relations have reached a qualitatively new level, establishing an active political dialogue at all levels including the contacts on the Presidential Level which led to the bilateral governmental agreements concerning a number of major projects including the modernization of the projects that were built by the assistance of USSR expertise, including the Aswan Hydropower stations, the creation of special industrial zones for production of Russian agricultural machinery and equipment’s for the Middle East and North Africa Countries on the Egyptian Land, increasing the grain deliveries to Egypt including wheat, delivery of liquefied natural gas by "Gazprom", construction and operation of the first nuclear power plant by the State Corporation "Rosatom" in northern Egypt.

The authors analyze the sources on the number of casualties during the Second World War and reveal the trend according to which during the initial period of the post-Soviet time there was the idea of the ''excessive cost of the Victory''. Then there appeared the idea that the Red Army losses greatly exceeded those of the German troops and their allies. Besides, in recent years there has been the statement of the considerable numerical superiority of the Red Army before and during the war. These are Boris Sokolov, Mark Solonin, Gavriil Popov, Vladimir Beshanov and Andrei Zubov who make up the group of authors comingto such conclusions. As the cause of heavy losses in the initial operations of the war,they consider the low morale of the Red Army, the lack of the ability to fight, the Red Army "incompetent commanders". In contrast to these conclusionsthe authors adducethose of foreign ones - American and British historians David Glantz and Robert Kershaw - as well as Russian military researcher V. Litvinenko. The latter has highlighted three important qualities of the Red Army. Firstly, the soldiers and officers of the Red Army more firmly and courageously defended the Soviet Union in 1941, than the soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht of Germany in 1945. Secondly, in the decisive battles of the war the command of the Red Army was more far-sighted and realistic compared with the command of the Wehrmacht in the assessment of the situation at the front and reacted more promptly and adequately in the current combat situation. Thirdly, the Red Army not only surpassed the Wehrmacht with its combat power and military prowess, but also demonstrated the immensely higher morality in dealing with the defeated enemy and the civilians. The combination of outstanding military and moral qualities puts the Red Army in the first row of the greatest armies in the world history. V. Litvinenko has counted the 'irretrievable loss of human life in the battles of the war' and his estimation has refuted the existing opinion of the 'multiple excess of casualty losses of the Red Army over the Wehrmacht' in the Great Patriotic War operations.