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The paper highlights Russia’s economic cooperation with sub-Sahara Africa; it posits that Russia’s present relationship with sub-Sahara African countries is focused on economy rather than ideology as witnessed during the Soviet era. Analyzing secondary data collection, this paper examines the expanding economic ties between Russia and sub-Sahara Africa. The study reveals that there has been a significant increase in trade, foreign direct investment and economic cooperation from emerging economies with sub-Sahara Africa since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Leading the pack is China, Brazil, India, Turkey, Republic of Korea and Russia, these emerging development partners have in the last two decades expanded their economic ties with sub-Sahara Africa countries within the context of different initiatives, with the view of having new strategic economic partnership. Sub-Sahara’s economic tectonic plate is currently leaning towards these emerging economic powers to stimulate the much needed socio-economic growth in the sub-continent. Most countries in Africa are in search for new economic partners as a result of the changes in the international system. Russia’s trade volume with Africa still remains largely insignificant when compared to other emerging and developed economies, but the aspiration of doing business with Africa is increasing. Russia has increased economic ties with a number of African countries; this is evident in the scope of the mutual official visits by Russia and African officials to Moscow and various capitals in Africa. In March 2018, Russian officials led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a five-day visit to Africa to further spread, deepen and strengthen economic ties with their African partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the present condition and prospects of development of financial markets in Russia and abroad allowed the author to identify risks and provide specific recommendations to improve Russia's economic policy in the new geopolitical reality. The paper aims to examine topical issues on the current status and development prospects of the Russian monetary economy. Developing economy of Russia plays a special role in contemporary world. Financial market is of particular importance for the development of the Russian economy. It has constantly improved, actively developing. Experts believe that in the near future Russian financial and credit institutions will influence more the world economy and stock markets growth. In this regard the banking sector of Russia is of particular interest. The study uses comparative methods, bench marking to market practices and recommendations for analysis and identification of the main risks affecting Russian financial market. This paper discusses quantitative parameters of state banks and the banking business in the face of international sanctions; reveals the main problems faced by the Russian Federation in imposing sanctions for its financial-credit institutions. Author of the paper analyses financial risks imposing such restrictions in Russia and provides specific recommendations for improving the monetary policy under the new conditions. This paper provides the author's position on the possible scientific justification and implementation in practice of the state monetary policy. A key priority in such circumstances is to support solvent and transparent banking system, which is the basis for Russia’s economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the problem of clustering North Russian cities on specific socio-demographic characteristics. The K-means method was chosen as the clustering algorithm. This clustering allows us to identify the specifics and important trends in the development of these settlements. The paper presents a cluster analysis of the data of Northern cities on their socio-demographic characteristics. The most informative was the division of all cities into 7 clusters. The division of countries into more clusters will only have a negative impact on the interpretation of the results. These data can be used in further analysis of the qualitative indicator of socio-demographic dynamics in the Northern territories of Russia. The model presented in the paper can be expanded and supplemented with a number of authors ' works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to describe and compare different approaches in lexical semantics and to find out which of them can be used to study semantic features that are necessary for a speaker and a listener while processing spoken word. We group the methods that can be used in semantic research according to three criteria:1) what aspects are in focus of a research: here we compare the studies of the relations between different concepts (such as a word association experiment) and the studies of the components of concepts (semantic features); 2) types of data used: a single word or a word along with its linguistic context (syntagmatic or paradigmatic); 3) methodology: who and how makes a decision about semantic features and relations between them; and here -- inter alia -- we differentiate between the studies where a researcher is responsible for the decision (which result in dictionary definitions and formal semantic descriptions) and psycholinguistic experiments with native speakers. In the second part of the paper, we shortly describe the two stages of a study we conducted in order to figure out what semantic features of Russian nouns are regarded as essential by native Russian speakers. 90 participants were asked to write down essential features of the concepts expressed by 10 Russian nouns. The answers obtained from different participants were grouped so that the words of one and the same root formed one group (for example, smeh 'laughter' and smeshnoj 'funny'). Then, the groups were ranked according to their frequency. A corpus-based study showed that the words denoting the most frequent features we got in the experiment are normally used together with the nouns from the experiment in casual Russian. It supports our hypothesis that these features can be used by a listener while processing spoken word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the widely discussed problems of development of banking systems, as well as the problem of achieving a balance between ensuring financial stability and stimulating business activity in the country. The lessons of the global financial and economic crisis 2007-2009 prompted regulators and, in particular, the Basel Committee on banking supervision, to transform the regulatory system to more rigid models. The need for restrictions on the freedom of the market through increased powers of regulatory bodies is argued in this paper. Restrictions on the adoption of risk banks have had an impact on curbing business activity monetary institutions in connection with the need for additional buffers of capital formation, lower dividend payouts, needs forming sufficient reserves for possible losses, maintain liquidity at a safe level, etc. Simultaneously the consequence was the growth restrictions imposed regulatory costs in the banking sector, easing interaction banking and real sectors of the economy mainly in emerging markets, reducing the number of existing credit organizations in connection with revocation of licenses and increased cost of restoration. These measures led to an increased presence of the State in the capital of credit institutions, reduce fair competition, increase administration and control. In these circumstances, regulators are searching for directions to overcome contradictions between financial stability and economic development. In this regard, the author examines different regulatory scenarios. The study uses comparative methods, benchmarking to market practices and recommendations for analysis and identification of the main risks affecting financial market. The author analyses the banks' commitment to the international standards of regulation with regard to the expected stimulation of business activity in the short and long run, concluding that banks' regulation can become a new source for a new financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to examine topical issues on the current status and development prospects of the monetary economy of Russia. Developing economy of Russia plays a special role in contemporary world. Financial market is of particular importance for the development of the Russian economy. It has constantly improved, actively developing. Experts believe that in the near future Russian financial and credit institutions will influence more the world economy and stock markets growth. In this regard, of particular interest is the banking sector of Russia. The study uses comparative methods, benchmarking to market practices and recommendations for analysis and identification of the main risks affecting Russian financial market. This paper discusses quantitative parameters of state banks and the banking business in the face of international sanctions; reveals the main problems faced by the Russian Federation in imposing sanctions for its financial-credit institutions. Author of the paper analyses financial risks imposing such restrictions in Russia and provides specific recommendations for improving the monetary policy under the new conditions. This paper provides the author's position on the possible scientific justification and implementation in practice of the state monetary policy. A key priority in such circumstances is to support solvent and transparent banking system, which is the basis for Russia's economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the developing of China's economy, the demand for health products in the Chinese market is increasing. Many countries entered the Chinese health product market in the last century, the Australian brands entered the Chinese market last year, but Russian health products brands are still blocked outside of the Chinese market. Under this background, this paper has been studied. There are not many studies on Russian health products about entering the Chinese market. CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) is a key national information construction project, but while search "Russian health product market" there are only three related papers. And also, as Russian biopharmaceutical technology is not advanced, many Russian health care products are import. Therefore, foreign research on Russian health products mostly analyzes how foreign health products enter Russian market. From the perspective of Russian health products, this article provides new ideas for Russian health products entering the Chinese market. The SWOT analysis in the paper is beneficial to Russian health products to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, think about the opportunities and challenges brought by the external environment, which are conducive to the development of Russian health products to make use of their own advantages, to make up for their shortcomings, and to seize opportunities in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current paper analyzes the main trends of the ERP-systems market in Russia and abroad. The main highlights of the research are the following ones: analysis of the market leaders; identification of the industry specificity; analyzes of the structure of the use of the most popular ERP-solutions; identification of the development direction as well as the changes of the market of the presented information systems in the medium-term; the forecasts for the dynamics of development in the medium term. As a result, the main trends of the market of ERP-systems are mentioned: reduction of the number of enterprises introducing systems from scratch; activation of deferred demand in Russia for the modernization of existing ERP-systems; the appearance of Russian solutions in the field of information systems in connection with the intensification of the policy of the import substitution. The paper brings the scientific value in analysis of the market of ERP-systems and the impact of the use of ERP-systems on Russian economy development in overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the negative social and economic consequences of raising the minimum wage for the regional economy on the example of Krasnoyarsk Region are discussed. It is shown that in Krasnoyarsk Region regional coefficients and northern wage surcharges have been established, and according to the Constitutional Court Decree No. 38-P of 07.12.2017 employers are obliged to charge them in excess of the minimum wage. As a result, the social guaranteed minimum wages in the region is even higher factually than the subsistence level. This situation leads to a fairly rapid growth of the minimum wage, which is a socially significant phenomenon. It should be noted that despite this expansionary wage growth, this social security measure remains incommensurable compared to similar values abroad. At the same time, the burden on the business sector is excessive, which implies negative consequences for the entire economy and, above all, the growth of the informal sector in the labor market and shadow economy growth as well. Various foreign and domestic theories of the minimum wages regulation are discussed in this paper. This policy should include certain leverage to support small business. It is also necessary to study the impact of the minimum wages growth on the economy of the region and to evaluate its socio-economic consequences. It is suggested that regions should be given the right to establish the minimum wage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper dwells on the phenomenon of mass sport in the context of the social history of the Soviet society of the 1920s and 1930s. The sport is a subject of historical reflection attracting more and more attention. The paper analyzes the development of healthy lifestyles, physical culture and sports as a subject of scientific study. The study of the mechanisms of recruitment of participants of sports clubs, teams and societies, the formation of leisure sports practices is the field of the "new" social history of sports and physical culture. The research urgency is also caused by historiographical significance of the study of the period of the 1920s and 1930s as time when the Soviet socialist system was formed with its inherent notions of the harmonious development of the "new man". The authors draw attention to the multidimensional examination of the entire complex institualization forms of sports, the reasons for the popularity of certain sports (football, bandy, chess, etc.), social motivation of the participants; the identification of mechanisms of social control in the sphere of mass sports movement. Mass sport is explored on the basis of understanding its role in the Soviet socio-cultural project, the process of formation of the Soviet communication, cultural, information and imaginative environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the social project «House for pensioners», designed by the authors, is presented, it meets the requirements of the building concept of «passive house» with low energy consumption; in this connection it could be suitable for implementation both in European countries and in the climatic conditions of the Russian Federation. A special feature of this project is the authors' attempt to expand the construction concept of the «passive house» by using a new energy efficient technology to deliver natural daylight to the interior spaces of buildings with a constant presence of people in order to reduce the consumption of electricity and improve the physical and psychological state of people. The scientific study presents the results of calculations of the reduced resistance to heat transfer of the fragments of the enclosing structure, the results of calculations for the choice of load-bearing insulation elements used for the interfaces of balcony slabs with the wall, as well as the results of light calculation of the interior provided by energyefficient ecological lighting systems based on the mirrored hollow tubular light guides, executed in the environment of the exclusive computer program DIALux. The last section of the paper presents diagrams compiled on the basis of calculations of the costs incurred and confirming the full profitability of the developed project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper tackles the long-discussed processes of internationalization and globalization that is taking place in the sphere of higher education. The purpose of the research is to determine the underlying factors in students' choice of a university and a country of study. We carry out comprehensive evaluation of attractiveness of high education in the world according to the student mobility criteria. A research of English-language programs offering by the Russian top universities included in the QS World University Ranking has been also made. In addition, we have researched students' satisfaction with English-speaking educational programs (a case of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics). Research methods used by the authors while preparing this paper: deduction, comparative and structural-logical analysis, as well as method of focus group. Our findings show that the language spoken and used in the course of instruction is likely to affect international students' choice of potential destination countries. Moreover, the language of instruction is one of the most important underlying factors in students' choice of a university of study and instrument of integration into global educational space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is devoted to insufficient pre-university IT teaching that is considered a problem in Russian education. The paper examines some issues in school computer science course in the context of informatization of society and new requirements for the orientation in the information space. The authors have been conducting a survey and entry testing of students for several years. First-year students of the Institute of Management, Economics and Finance KFU participated in the study. The article presents the results of surveys conducted by the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is dedicated to the points of efficient recreational management of natural resources in the steppe area of Russia. It is the authors' opinion that koumiss therapy - the traditional for the region kind of tourism - is necessary to consider as an upcoming trend in the development of recreations in steppes of the Russian Federation. The history of the koumiss therapy at the territory of Russia and the USSR is analyzed in the paper; it was noted that the organized at the beginning of the XX century net of health resorts, practicing koumiss therapy stopped the existence with the USSR decay. The special attention is paid to the steppe trans border region of Russia - the Orenburg region. Taking into account the competitive advantages of the region steppe climate, possibilities of landscape therapy, maturity of horse breeding), the authors came to conclusion on advisability and perspective for revival of the koumiss therapy and modernization of the health resort net, practicing koumiss therapy in the Orenburg region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the influence of fundamental factors of the knowledge economy development that have a specific refraction at the subregional level and assessment of the impact of the existing structure of human and physical capital in the resource regions of Russia on the scale of economic growth in the context of transition to the postindustrial information society and knowledge economy are carried out in the research paper. Intensive industrial development, primarily based on the increase of the scope of natural resources consumption, placed physical capital above the human one. As a result, human capital has long been regarded as one of the quantitative factors of production, along with the inanimate forms of physical capital. At present, the impact of human abilities and knowledge on economic development both within the national economy and within the framework of the national subregions' development is growing rapidly. In the context of the knowledge economy, national or regional human capital is considered as a part of the region's innovative labor resources. The key idea of the research paper lies in the fact that the approach to assessing the window of opportunities for the regions with resource economy to retain competitiveness and to ensure economic growth primarily through the development of human capital under the conditions of the global transformational transition to the knowledge economy is considered. To ensure the comparability of human and physical capital measurement, their cost estimation is applied. In this study, the macroeconomic assessment of the value of human capital in the region is based on the discount approach to calculating the value of human capital, taking into account the given rate of return on national wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the current challenges the international community faces in the context of migration crisis. The research follows comparative legal analysis standards and rests on the international legislation, national laws and legal administrative practices regarding the refugee child protection against exploitation and abuse in the countries that are part to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. The paper aims to identify the issues that are critical for refugee minors' protection at the age of skyrocketing migration. The paper aggregates empirical data that comes from the questionnaire conducted by the Council of Europe Committee of the Parties to the Lanzarote Convention. The research explores the Lanzarote Committee State Members data regarding their legislation in force and current practices in the field. The research was implemented within the framework of the RUDN university participation in the Russia-wide 5-100 project. The paper theme and research findings were specified in line with the RUDN research project № 201211-1-074 under the Russian Ministry of Education grant support in 2017. The authors of the paper in their capacity of the Russian delegation members have taken part in the activities of the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today information technologies provide good opportunities for computerization in the financial sector for financial services and individual investment. The majority of Russians look at investment process as very difficult and risky, therefore preferring to deposit their money. To support this argument, the growth of the individual deposits for the period from 01.01.2012 to 01.01.2016, grew by 98% [1]. On the contrary, the number of private investors in the Russian stock market is less than one percent of the country's population. While in many developed countries this figure is 20% on average and in the US it has reached about 60% [2]. All these facts reflect a major problem in the financial industry - financial illiteracy of Russians. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the available opportunities for keeping and augmenting of funds for an individual investor. The main questions addressed in this paper are: choosing the best investment account; identifying the most efficient investment tools and calculating return-risk ratio for the investment. The information from bank and investment companies, Internet sites, financial encyclopedia, financial periodicals, Federal state statistics service and other financial sources are analyzed. The available investment tools are described and assessed in terms of risk/return. In addition, the paper summarizes available sources for investment ideas and presents a newly created investment method for individuals. Qualitative and quantitative research methods are applied to provide descriptive, interpretive and empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is an applied contribution to the analysis of international capital flows. International capital flows play a central role in the global economy; they are closely tied to countries' economic and financial conditions, can influence macroeconomic policy, and bring a range of benefits and risks to beneficiaries. This paper describes the patterns of international capital flows in Russia (a sample of a big emerging market (BEM) economy) in the period 2000-2016, focusing on the last decade. The paper reveals key determinants of the three different types of capital flows (FDI, portfolio and other investments) toward Russia and identifies general trends and patterns by simulation of the capital inflow/outflow during the survey period. Also, It is shown that in the last decade the significance of global factors has increased versus domestic factors. It is concluded that institutional reforms and «a reset button» with the West are critical policies to stimulate both the national economy and the required inflow of foreign capital. Understanding the capital flows drivers thus is necessary for macroeconomic policymaking, which is reflected in the significant scholarly interest in the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topic modeling is a method of automated definition of subtopics in a text corpus. Usage of topic modeling for short texts, e.g. tweets, is highly complicated due to their short length and grammatical restructuring, including broken word order, abbreviations, and contamination of different languages. In this paper, the authors use the BTM topic modelling algorithm (previously found to work best in comparison with two other topic models measured by automated coherence metrics Umass and NPMI) to test three topic quality metrics independent from topic coherence. Topic modelling is applied to three cases of ethnic conflict discussions on Twitter in three different main languages, namely the Charlie Hebdo shooting (France), the Ferguson unrest (the USA), and the anti-immigrant bashings in Biryulevo (Russia), thus combining a large multilingual, a large monolingual, and a mid-range monolingual type of discussion. We measure the quality of modeling by looking at topic interpretability, topic robustness, and topic saliency. The results of the experiment show that the three topic features may be interdependent (but not always are); the multilingual discussion performs better than the monolingual ones in terms of interdependence of the metrics and formation of ideal topics; and interpretability does not depend on multi-/monolingualism and the dataset volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper we investigate the insurance behavior of Russians in terms of the determinants of different types of individual voluntary insurance's choice. Dataset used is Individual Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey - Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) Round 26, 2017. Sample includes 10 318 individuals and contains individual data augmented with their households information. Survey is representative for Russia. We estimated logit model for the life and accident insurance and biprobit models for motor insurance (under condition of having a vehicle), apartment insurance (under condition of apartment ownership), and country house insurance (under condition of having one). We revealed that considered factors have different effects on various types of individual voluntary insurance choice. Thus there is a difference in effects of age, sex, household size, marital status, education level, religion, settlement type, attempts to start own business, and another financial behavior types such as loans, savings, savings at interest and money lending. The identical effect on all insurance behavior types has the life satisfaction level and households income. Individuals from a highest income group have the best chances of having the voluntary insurance policies. Hence we confirmed that separated analyses of the demand for different types of voluntary insurance allow us to reveal the differences between the determinants of individual's insurance strategies. Our results show that formally voluntary insurance types are not always individual voluntary choice. Insurance for Russians is not a risk management method. It is either forced decision (equivalent of imputed insurance) or just another financial behavior type available for higher income groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the most urgent issue that faces start-up entrepreneurs is the issue of attracting funding for the implementation of the project. Traditional forms of capital raising, such as credit, can solve these problems, but it may be problematic for start-up companies and individual entrepreneurs to take out loans on good terms. The problem of capital search served as an impetus for the development of new models for financing projects, one of which is crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly popular source of fundraising. The pace of expansion crowdfunding platforms in Russia and in the world, are very high. Already today they bring in amounts that are measured in billions of dollars a year. "Crowdfunding" - a term borrowed and quite new for Russia, its definition is not yet in the solid domestic financial and economic reference books and dictionaries. In this paper, we examined various methods of financing projects, comparing them with models based on crowdfunding. Since this model is a relatively new instrument of the financial market, the topic of its application has not yet been fully explored and is an urgent issue for economists to study. The goal of the final qualifying work is to reveal the financial features of the funding model based on crowdfunding. Objectives of the study: • Consider the nature and types of crowdfunding, as well as crowdfunding platforms; • Analysis of crowdfunding tools; • Consideration of the field of application of crowdfunding; • Identify features and problems of crowdfunding. The object of the study carried out in this work is the new method of financing projects, crowdfunding. The subject of the study is crowdfunding companies as a set of activities performed in the process of fundraising with the help of crowdfunding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topicality of the paper is predetermined by the importance of competitiveness assessment and development for most modern companies, operating on the global arena in the era of globalization, business internalization and the growing opportunities of global sourcing. The term “competitiveness” can appear ambiguous, as competitive abilities of a product on one market can be outperformed on other markets. This trend pushes the companies to the development of more multifactorial strategic approaches in order to maintain competitiveness level and keep production on track. The purpose of the research was to establish methodological approaches to assessing competitiveness, specific factors affecting competitiveness in the Russian Federation and abroad. The article deals with the financial aspects of the formation of strategies to achieve and maintain the competitiveness of national companies. According to the results of the analysis, the authors obtained the following conclusions. The use of the factor model of corporate competitiveness based on a complex of macro - and microeconomic indicators is offered. Some factors of competitiveness of the Russian companies and possible directions of strengthening of their competitive positions are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decades, accounting researchers have been urged to shift their study of the role and function of management accounting to its natural contexts, thus case research is an efficient approach for such studies. Despite its intrinsic limitations, it offers a much deeper understanding of an organisational context. This paper presents the results of a case-based study of management accounting practices in Russian midsized companies. In general, the research on management accounting in Russia is scarce; only a handful of studies try to investigate its dynamics, driving forces, and current state. At the same time, the above mentioned studies follow traditional approaches (e.g., survey-based or archival research). In the presented case-based study, the author chose three regional market leaders from different industries as respective units of analysis, one of them is a contrasting case compared to the two others in terms of the main principles of the owners’ approach to managing the company. This is a longitudinal study, which provides additional insights and deeper understanding of changes in management accounting practices in the companies during a longer period of time. In this research, the author adopted an interpretive approach and grounded theory perspective. The findings, including an emerged theoretical proposition, provide exploratory and explanatory perspectives on the state of management accounting in Russian midsized companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to explore to what extent the Russian elderly are involved in the usage of digital technologies. The research methodology is based on sociological survey conducted in 2015 (1084 respondents, stratified sampling quoted by gender, age and the place of residence). The sample included the residents of St. Petersburg and two regional centers who were 55+ years. The study revealed the routinization of seniors' computer usage, showed the differences between the 3rd and the 4th age groups, explained the motives of computer skills developing such as professional and recreation motivations, investigated connection with computer usage and the trust to other modern technologies - mobile phones and ATMs, showed the rating of the Internet activities. The majority of respondents attended special courses, usually - free of charge. Overall, the practice of these groups didn't differ much from the practices of the other computer- users: the elderly also spent more time in front of the monitor as the development of new technologies (Skype, social networks, etc.). The paper fills the gap in scientific literature on seniors' inclusion issues. The research of substantial differentiation among the older generation user practices (communication, gaming, blogger, etc.) is becoming a promising direction for the further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the discrepancies between the norms of humanist morality and the health legislation in the Russian Federation. This discrepancy affects the way some groups of Russian population, the homeless in particular, can exercise the right to qualified medical aid. This right can be realized only if citizens have a special medical insurance policy, which the majority of the homeless do not. Without insurance, medical staff is unwilling to provide assistance to homeless people, especially because in certain situations they represent a potential threat to medical practitioners' own life and health. The paper also outlines the relevant European experience in providing special forms of medical assistance to marginalized population groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to describe the tourism industry in Russia. The authors define the clustering in tourism and ecotourism as two important features of perspective. Cluster-based tourism development in Russian regions and new approach to ecotourism are presented in the article. The researchers show its necessity and importance on the base of the history of cluster tourism in Europe. The paper shows that the concept of clustering is becoming increasingly popular in tourism. The study is an attempt to suggest tourist destinations with global quality tourism service and standards of good environmental policy and practice. As the finding of the paper Eco cluster Project is presented by the authors. The research highlights the importance of eco cluster as an instrument for environment protection. Much attention is paid to tourism branding. The authors emphasize eco cluster as a powerful tool in order to attract tourists and to contribute at achieving competitive advantages of marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contains an analysis of approaches to address the concept of energy security. It proposes an original method for the quantitative evaluation of energy security of a territory. It is based on an indicative analysis and consists of a set of performance indicators that describe individual threats to Russia's energy system. The methodology is based on 7 units of indicators, including technical, economic, and environmental performances. Such a structure of the set of diagnostic tools allows detecting a wide range of energy security threats. A brief description of all the units within the methodology is provided. This set of indicators reflects (describes) key threats to energy security. The main results of the study relate to evaluating of the dynamics of changes in energy security in Russia's regions in 2000-2015. Key factors that lower the level of energy security in Russia have been identified. Among them, a high level of wear and tear, higher fuel consumption, increased emissions of pollutants, and low rates of technical reequipment of the energy complex. The paper represents calculated levels of energy security for major regions of Russia by diagram. It proposes directions of the country's energy policy to increase the level of energy prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the role of the Moscow Times (MT) in the securitization process of the Arctic topic in the period from 2007 to 2014. Analyzed articles were selected by the presence of the word Arctic in the title. The paper employs an analysis of the narrative as the main method of data evaluation. Four major narratives can be identified in the sample: 1.The narrative that can be called the "wealth of the Arctic"; 2. The narrative that can be called "cooperation necessary"; 3. The narrative "ecological threat for the Arctic" and finally 4. The narrative "we will defend Russian interests in the Arctic". In a vast majority of the texts, the MT acts as the "boatman" and the newspaper does not take a direct part in the securitization process of the Arctic. The prevailing narrative in a majority of the texts is the "wealth of the Arctic" narrative; the second most frequent is the narrative "we will defend the Russian interests in the Arctic". Texts dealing significantly with the narrative about the defence of Russian interests in the region are sometimes combined with the narrative of "cooperation necessary" and hence, in fact, are more likely to have a de-securitizing impact. On the whole, we can argue that the MT as a newspaper do not strive for the securitization of the Arctic issue and are more likely to report the attitudes of Russian officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South Caucasus has been a frontline for the collision of empires, as well as the location of considerable migration by different national groups. The strategic significance of the region attracts the attention not only of regional leaders, but also of great power actors and international organizations. Taking into consideration how complex and multidimensional the conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia is, as well as the interests of international actors and their mutually exclusive goals, this paper explores the consequences of the Russian-Georgian armed on the systemic and the state levels of analysis. The paper offers in-depth analysis of economic, political, strategic and military aspects, which uncovers the fragility of peace and new strategic realities in this region. The paradoxical situation remains that Russia recognizes the existence of South Ossetia as an independent state, while North Ossetia is regarded as a part of Russia. This implies that Russia considers the sovereignty of South Ossetia to be an instrumental principle, using it as a tool to pressure Georgia and the international community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author considers the problems of corporate governance in modern Russia. The results of governance are not obtained immediately, but appear through the implementation of the successive stages of a governance process. The paper offers a way to optimize corporate governance basing on the axiological resources that serve as guidelines for social and professional activities. The optimal governance is viewed in the paper as a process of selecting the best administrative decisions basing on some criterion of efficiency from a set of possible decisions according to the purpose of the system and taking into account the constraints and the information on the state of the governed object and the external environment. A classification of values constituting the essence of corporate governance has been developed. In the author's view, the core of axiological essence of any process in society is made up of citizens' needs and interests, which can be unconscious (instincts) and conscious. The author concludes that corporate governance can be efficient, given the social and legal activity of employees in this process, and only if their needs and interests are met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ural Federal District is one of the nine federal districts of Russia. Its population is about 8.4% of Russia. The paper covers the main trends in demographic and health development in the Ural Federal District for a long time span as well as results of demographic and population health projections up to 2030. Main demographic indicators by administrative units of the Ural Federal District for the period 1990-2015 are presented. The paper contains data related to population size dynamics, natural population increase features, transformation of the population's age structure, life expectancy in birth and infant mortality. Data on morbidity of population and prevalence of such social significant diseases as malignant neoplasm and HIV for 1995-2015 are considered. Comparisons with demographic and health data on Russian federation as whole are presented. The second part of the work is dedicated to forecasting of demographic and health dynamic in the region up to 2030. Projections of population size are compiled by the method of shifting basic data forward by age. Total population size in each administrative division of the Ural Federal District is a sum of results of shifting by the above-mentioned categories. Demographic forecasting is based on extrapolation of existing demographic trends (age-specific fertility and mortality rates). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the report was to examine contemporary conditions for developing and promoting sustainability initiatives for companies in Russia. Namely, the working paper focused on international companies operating in Russia and transformational process of international sustainability initiatives being introduced for the emerging market. The methodology of the research included: analysis of work practices in terms of descriptive research, analysis of statistical and historical data, and comparative analysis of existing practices. The research also encompassed relational study in order to investigate the relationships between established and emerging corporate sustainability practices, as well as prediction study, carried out for establishing possible sequence of actions for the development and wide adoption of sustainability practices in Russia. The major findings of the report rely on the assumption that key international companies operating in Russia need to use benchmarking in transforming sustainability practices in terms of three main pillars: environment, social responsibility and human resources. As sustainability of these three pillars has already been adopted as integral part of strategy in the developed countries, the working model will be transmitted to the corporate levels of operations in Russia. Thus, the international agents can act as driving forces for promoting sustainability practices and their strategic implication to the level of national and business legal base. The main aim of the scientific paper was to provide distinct impact across Russian corporate sustainability practices as well as business and management research network. The delivery of the results and coverage of the topic will provide substantial background for further actions on adopting sustainability practices and changing strategic mindset in Russian corporate practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is focused on the analysis of selected risks with a more detailed elaboration of systematic and unsystematic risks that need to be taken into account in the valuation of the company's capital. In the processing of risk analysis, the focus was on analyzing the development of the β coefficient, country risk, capital market, as well as financial and business risks. The analysis was performed in selected production systems of the food industry in Slovakia in the period of 2003 - 2015. The paper compares the development of systematic and unsystematic risks as well as the impact of quantified effect risk on the value and performance of selected production systems. For capturing the expected development of selected risks, their progress is forecast with the application of mathematical - statistical methods. One of the benefits of the paper are the results obtained by analyzing risks and quantifying their impact on the value of selected production systems in the Slovak food industry, as well as the expected development of risks that may contribute to the modeling and planning of the future developments with the aim of minimizing the risks. The results thus obtained are highly valuable input that can be used in the construction of an early warning models focused on predicting the risk developments and their impact on the performance of production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both state authorities and the society are in need of performance analysis of public administration. This paper analyzes existing public administration estimation techniques used by international agencies and individual countries. This paper also quantifies an effectiveness of public administration in Russia and interprets the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia is one of the few countries in the world where life expectancy in the mid-2010s is the same as in 1960 or even lower. The leading causes of death are cardiovascular diseases, malignant neoplasms, and external causes. This paper provides a summary of key aspects of mortality fluctuations in Russia since 1980. Adverse health behaviors responsible for excess deaths are identified. One of the aspects of the problem is a high level of premature mortality in the working age. The paper presents results of assessment of life expectancy losses and damage cost from decrease of life expectancy due to leading causes of death for 83 federal subjects of Russia. A new approach for assessment of the damage cost from the decrease of life expectancy is suggested. In contrast to the most existing approaches, based on the utility theory, this method is based on the use of the human development index. The damage cost from different causes of death is interpreted as the increase of the gross national income per capita, sufficient to compensate the decrease of life expectancy at birth, so that the human development index of a country remains constant. To identify preventable causes of death the difference between Russia and the countries of European Union is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russian cities have been transformed considerably in the post-soviet period, including economic base, forms of ownership, architectural view, land structure, methods of planning and governance. However, the patterns of such transformation are significantly varying for different types of cities. In this paper the major transformation processes and the factors influencing the pace and scale of urban economy transformationsare discussed on the example of the cities, including in Yekaterinburg agglomeration. The authors mainly concentrate on analyzing of key trends of Russian urban agglomeration development and spatial specificity of Russian urban agglomeration systems. Considerable attention is paid to identifying the reasons of urban agglomerations shrinkage and growth in current Russian conditions. Spatial specificity of Russian urban agglomerations system is analyzed in the context of old industrial regions development. The methods of trend, statistic and spatial analysis were used to reveal and aggregate above-mentioned processes. Taking in account the current trends of the country spatial development, it notes the importance of state support agglomerations development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensification of international migration processes in the modern world entails a number of issues, one of which is the problem of social adaptation and integration of migrants in the social life of the host country. This issue is on the agenda in all countries receiving migrants and refugees, including Russia. The Russian Federation is the center of regional migration processes, becoming the main state receiving migrants from the former Soviet Union countries, especially from Central Asian. Along with the positive effect that migrants have on the Russian labor market, filling the labor shortage, the increasing flow of migrants sometimes leads to inter-ethnic tensions and increased discontent in society. Thus, the need occurs for the implementations of measures to facilitate migrant adaptation, their involvement in the social and cultural life of Russia, to encourage their interest in the culture, traditions and values of Russian society. However, like any other modern process, the adaptation of migrants is linked to a number of difficulties and obstacles, taking their origins in both the migrants and the autochthonous society. This paper analyzes the problems of the integration of Central Asian migrants in Russian society. The article shows that the process of adaptation of migrants is bilateral and requires a comprehensive approach. Statistical data of international organizations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), as well as Russian state structures, including the Government of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and others was widely used during the research. The empirical base of the research relies on sociological studies conducted by the Russia Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), Levada-Center, the international non-governmental organization "Search for Common Ground", the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of extremism and terrorism is an actual threat in the modern world. The national security of Russia is no exception in this sense. In the context of negative statistics of extremism, the methods of scientifically based prevention of intolerance in all its forms acquire great importance. The scientific task of this research is monitoring of political tolerance of the population of the Russian Arctic region (Murmansk region) as well as the diagnosis of the risk groups of intolerant behavior. The paper presents some of the results of the fourth wave of long-term sociological monitoring (the first wave - in 2007 - 319 respondents, the second wave - in 2009 - 449 respondents, the third wave - in 2011 - 421 respondents and the fourth wave - in 2016 - 702 respondents). The sample represents the age-sex and settlement structure of the adult population of the region. The maximum statistical error in all researches did not exceed +/- 4.5% with a confidence level of 95.4%. The method of collecting sociological data is a personal, standardized interview. Measurement of political tolerance was carried out with the help of the author's methodology "Values and attitudes of political tolerance". Formalization, processing and statistical analysis of data were carried out in the SPSS software environment. As methods of statistical analysis of primary data, descriptive statistics methods were used. The research showed that most residents of the Murmansk region adhere to the values of political tolerance. The average group value of political tolerance for the total number of respondents was 25.8 points. This value can be interpreted as a high level (where the index value from 8 to 15 - low level, from 16 to 23 - average level and from 24 to 32 - high level). The ratio of population groups within the sample in terms of the expression of their values of political tolerance is the following. The percentage of respondents for whom the values of political tolerance are of low significance was 5.1%, the average significance - 23.2% and high significance - 71.7%. At the same time, a stable trend was found when the values of political tolerance are weakly actualized in conditions of interaction with a particular "political other", in other words, at the level of attitudes, respondents are mostly intolerant. Values of political tolerance are partly declarative, weakly actualized in socio-political practice. The index of political tolerance of the population at the level of the social attitudes is 44.4 points and describes the average level of tolerance among residents of the Murmansk region in relation to Russian political parties (where from 18 to 36 points - low level of party tolerance, from 37 to 54 - average level and from 55 to 72 - high level). Frequency analysis allowed to reveal the ratio of subgroups of the population showing low, medium and high levels of tolerance, which are respectively 20.5%, 66.7% and 12.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Russia, the quality and quantity of multimedia components used in content production vary across the regions. According to Friedman's core-periphery model, these differences are caused by the discrepancies in regional development. The purpose of this study was to assess the quality and quantity of multimedia materials produced by the regional mass media in the Ural Federal District. In this paper, multimedia production is understood as content creation by using texts, photos, video and audio materials, graphics and hyperlinks. We developed a five-point scale for assessment of multimedia materials and analyzed the publications of eighteen media holdings operating within the Ural Federal District. We also conducted structured interviews with regional journalists. In total, we analyzed more than a thousand media texts produced in 2017 and the same number in 2018. It was found that in 2017, only 5% and in 2018, 7% of texts could qualify as multimedia products (each received 2-3 points out of 5). Interestingly enough, most multimedia texts were created by private media while state-owned and state-controlled media seemed reluctant to do so. According to our interviewees, the regional state media are more focused on delivering the 'message 'from the government to the people rather than developing new technologies in journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers the problems of methodical approaches to the assessment of the activities of large, medium and small businesses in the region and determining their role in the social and economic development of the region. Few attention is paid to the analysis of the activities of enterprises in regional studies, during developing strategies at the federal and regional levels and while working out the regional policy measures. The methodology for assessing the activities of complex of enterprises in the region, based on the calculation of the integral index, was proposed in the study. The information for the calculation of indicators is based on the statistical data of the Federal Service of State Statistics of Russia and the professional database of the Interfax agency "SPARK". The performed calculations allowed to reveal significant differences in the activity of large, medium and small businesses in the regions of Russia. Enterprises of depressed regions are characterized by low values of the gross regional product per one enterprise, turnover per enterprise, share of the corporate profit tax in the total amount of taxes. Demographics and financial condition of enterprises are also less favorable. The share of large and medium-sized enterprises in such regions is significantly lower than the national average, while in Russia the regions where large business enterprises are located are much more efficient. In the ranking of regions on the index of strategic stability of enterprises these regions occupy the last ranks. The study allowed to determine the typological features of the activities of enterprises in depressed regions, to show that there is a close relationship between the activities of enterprises in the region and the level of its development. Based on the analysis of the state of strategic stability of enterprises in the region, it is possible to develop measures to form an effective complex of enterprises in the region, to formulate measures for state regulation of enterprises, and to adjust strategic directions for Russia's spatial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the drivers and barriers for the international competitiveness improvements in the pharmaceutical industry in Russia and the United States. The methodological basis of the study is the combination of the competitive advantages theory by M. Porter with the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index methodology. A grouping of global competitiveness indicators in connection with the determinants of the Porter diamond was carried out and resulted in following seven pillars: factor conditions; conditions of demand; social infrastructure; political institutions; macroeconomic policy; cluster development; strategy, structure and competition of firms. Analysis of the exports and import quota and coverage ratios of imports by the export in the pharmaceutical sectors of both countries revealed controversial trends in the dynamics of pharmaceutical exports in Russia and the United States. The authors argue the impact of the related and supporting industries growth as a crucial driver for the Russian pharmaceutical exports potential growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration of the population is one of the most important demographic processes. It has a significant impact on the change in the structure of the population, and as a result - on the overall economic indicators of the country's development. Transformational processes in the Russian economy are responsible for qualitative changes in the labor market. These changes affect both demand and supply of labor. Increasing the efficiency of costs for hiring new employees and stimulating their labor productivity are one of the main trends in the qualitative transformation of the Russian regional labor market. However, one of the driving factors of migration is the search for more attractive work. It was he, in recent years, in the context of the transformation of the Russian economy, which became the determining factor in the migration processes. At the same time, the economic difficulties of moving to a permanent place of residence in another region are determined by the fact that the pendulum or seasonal and labor migration is of decisive importance in Russia. Many people who live permanently in one region work in another, while they do not change the region of their permanent residence. This phenomenon is very difficult to measure and evaluate statistically. This paper presents an approach to the statistical evaluation of labor migration in Russia. The source of information for the study was the microdata of the official statistical survey of the workforce of the Russian Federation. Within the framework of this survey, one million people are interviewed, which ensures the representativeness of the final data. The article presents a statistical analysis of labor migration in Russia, points of attraction of labor migrants, as well as the most depressed regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines prospects for expanding exports of manufactured goods in Russia's foreign trade and increasing presence of Russian companies on the world markets of goods with high added value. In the paper macroeconomic tendencies, national and regional conditions of foreign economic activity (FEA) are analyzed. The author focuses on the infrastructure and public administration aspects of supporting international trade of the Russian Federation. The article offers short-term, mediumterm and long-term scenarios for the development of Russia's foreign economic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the questions of development of food security in information aspect and in the context of information economy. The importance of the article is conditioned by advancing development of information and digit economy and its influence over all the state economy. The goal of the article is to address the issue of food security within the development of information economy and implementation of information and communication technologies. The article reports in depth of food security as the foundation of state economic security and the problems of realization of digitalization potential within the agriculture sector of the Russian Federation. In the frameworks of this paper the authors address the types of monitoring of agribusiness industry as well as the «Internet of Things - IoT» conception and the specifics of IoT implementation in agriculture of Russia. New projects of digitization of agriculture as the process of creating of effective information systems and implementing of the breakthrough hardware and software are reviewed. The courses of efficiency improvement of agriculture driven by digitization and IoT are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent years Russian sugar market has been undergoing considerable changes stipulated by the innovation development and national policy of the country focusing on food supply security and support of the domestic beet sugar production. The Russian sugar market has turned into export-dependent from import-dependent and deficit. The article analyses the place of the Russian Federation in the world sugar market in the context of import substitution and shows the Russian Federation as one of the biggest world sugar producers in terms of cane and beet sugar followed by the data of the market share of Russia as a beet sugar producer. The article considers key points influencing competitiveness and penetrates into the geographic structure and export dynamics of sugar in the period of 2016-2017. This research gives a deep insight of the factors significant for pace, volume and destination of sugar export as well as of development perspective and potential risks in 2018-2019. A set of recommendations for further development of the Russian sugar market has been proposed. The paper is based on the statistics research approach including a balancing method, a graphical analysis, an expert assessment and a method of average and relative indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to assess the millionaire cities attractiveness for residents in the Russian Federation in the period from 2011 to 2015. Ranking is made using 20 indices combined in five groups. As a result, authors find out that the best positions among millionaire cities in their attractiveness for living are taken by Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk. They are characterized by a high standard of living, the state of the economy, and the provision of social infrastructure. A little lower attractiveness is shown by Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Krasnoyarsk. In the middle of ranking are cities Perm, Omsk, Volgograd and Samara, showing the minimal difference between each other in the integral index. Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Voronezh are citiesoutsiders in context of their attractiveness for living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes in the socio-economic system of the Russian Federation and its regions have brought us to focus on the dynamics of these changes through the selection of main indicators characterizing socio-economic crisis, latent processes and choice of ways out of the crisis. We consider the current state of the system taking into account external trends. Using traditional statistical indicators for this purpose is not always justified. Negative trends that accompany the development of economically advanced countries and low innovativeness in the global market are characteristic for the Russian Federation. Our research is based on the authors' method of the diagnostics of the welfare of individuals and inhabited area (on the example of the Ural Federal District). The assessment of the welfare of individuals and inhabited area, which was presented earlier and included 94 indicators in 8 modules, has showed to be reliable. However, for the express diagnostics, this method was too complex and did not allow prompt respond to changes. This shortage was especially evident in estimating the impact of certain result-based measures and in forecasting. This paper presents a multiparametric system (index of the welfare of individuals and inhabited area), which includes 6 basic indicators: rate of natural increase; ratio of budgetary spending on education to Gross Regional Product (GRP); amount of mortgage arrears; ratio of budgetary spending on healthcare to GRP; total unemployment; percentage of the population with incomes below the subsistence level. We made calculations of these 6 indicators both without correction due to their respective impacts and based on the matrix of respective impacts (using the method of economic tomography). This approach has allowed receiving comparative analysis and reveal emerging latent trends. Moreover, the received results more precisely define the directions of changes, demonstrate the degree of the crisis (using the scale of crises) and enable to forecast options of the system behaviour. We use the term sustainability, understanding it as an ability to be resilient to dramatic changes in those indicators, which lead the value of the index of the welfare of individuals and inhabited area from normal state to the crisis. We classify crisis degree which became the result of these dramatic changes as distorting. For non-distorting levels of crisis, we forecast the remaining ability to resist. We calculate the values of the parameters, which indicate their transformation into distorting crisis. This author's method became the basis for a software product and can be used as a reliable toolkit for choosing scenarios of the regional socio-economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper authors present the assessment of ecological well-being in large Russian cities, situated in the Volga Federal District. Comparative analysis is made for five cities of the Volga Federal District of the Russian Federation for the period 2008-2015, based on data published annually by the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation, namely the statistical yearbooks "Regions of Russia. Main socioeconomic indicators of cities". To assess the ecological well-being of inhabitants, statistical data is standardized by introducing normalized indices. The procedure of normalization is reduced to two formulas in different cases: direct (positive) and backward (negative) exponents. Further, the integral index of the ecological well-being of the population is calculated according to normalized ecological indicators. Results show that the worst situation is in city Kazan and city Ufa. Perhaps it is due to the large number of industry in these cities. Both cities are the outsiders in ecological well-being among the cities with population more than one million inhabitants in the Volga Federal District. The best ecological indicators were in city Perm for the 2008-2015 years. City Samara and city Nizhny Novgorod occupy the middle positions for both ecological indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research of corruption is mostly limited by legal perception of this phenomenon being exceptionally referred to as a consequence of criminal nature of actions practiced by the corruptionist. Meanwhile, the fact that corruption has not only social grounds but also social functions is often ignored. The author claims the approach which treats corrupt and its milder complementing informal practices as both products and mechanism of social order in some communities to be more productive. In 2016, a mass telephone survey was conducted in the form of an interview (CATI) with a sample of n = 700. The mass survey toolkit has been developed on the basis of techniques applied by the World Values Survey and Independent Public Foundation INDEM (commonly used for analyzing corruption and its prevalence in Russia) in order to effectively compare the data of Russian and large international research projects. Besides, additional scales which were tested during the qualitative stages, namely, the scale of the evaluation of the phenomenon of justice, the scale of the justification of corruption in healthcare and education, were added to the study. The data collection software was prepared for CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) on surveystudio. com. The key findings of the study are as follows: 1. Perception of a corrupted society and justification of corruption are directly interconnected. The hypothesis of "infectious" character of corruption put forward by B. Dong, W. Dulleck and B. Torgler has not been confirmed, but a series of in-depth interviews proves its relevance for certain professional communities (particularly, for health professionals). 2. The assessment of corruption is interrelated with perception of "informality" in public opinion. The concepts of A. Ledeneva, I. Kuzminov on the separation of "informality" (profitable connections, bribery or guancxi) and corruption exist only as for research purposes, but do not reflect fully the perception of corruption in public opinion. 3. The paper findings have partly confirmed S. Kordonsky's argument on different perceptions of corrupt and informal practices by various social and vocational groups (healthcare, education, security and law enforcement professionals), specifically for health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's global world an image of a certain country and its society plays a significant role in international relations. The creation of such image depends largely on the attitude of the mass-media and their owners' policy. For the past several decades research is done over many different aspects of the modern communication processes in search for better target audience impact methods and models. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the principal model of forming an intercountry communication within a specific target audience. The research is based on the model of the communication process by H. D. Lasswell and marketing research conducted by authors. The object of the study are residents of Spanish-speaking countries, while the subject is the formation process of perceiving the information about Russia. Research methods were based of questionnaire surveys of the Spanish-speaking region residents, which today are of special interest for Russia. The survey was conducted in the period within January-March 2017. The survey was done through online platform Survio.com among the residents of Latin America countries (Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador) and Spain. The specific purpose of the survey was to determine the television news features and the strength of its influence on the local audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]