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This study attempts to detect papers originating from the Russia‐based paper mill 'International Publisher' LLC. A total of 1,063 offers to purchase co‐authorship on a fraudulent papers published from 2019 to mid‐2022 on the 123mi.ru website were analysed. This study identifies at least 451 papers that are potentially linked to the paper mill, including one preprint, a duplication paper and 16 republications of papers erroneously published in hijacked journals. Evidence of suspicious provenance from the paper mill is provided: matches in title, number of co‐authorship slots, year of publication, country of the journal, country of a co‐authors and similarities of abstracts. These problematic papers are co‐authored by scholars from at least 39 countries and are submitted to both predatory and reputable journals. This study also demonstrates collaboration anomalies in questionable papers and examines indicators of the Russia‐based paper mill. The value of co‐authorship slots offered by 'International Publisher' LLC from 2019 to 2021 is estimated at $6.5 million. Since this study only analysed a single paper mill, it is likely that the number of papers with forged authorship is much higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the tragedy in Ukraine deepens, it's clear that the world should end its dependency on Russian oil. It will be ironic, however, if nations disentangling themselves from this compromised energy source instead turn to another energy source with destructive impacts: harvesting and burning forest wood for fuel, which increases carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels, and degrades forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nguyen, O. T. H., Aksenov, I., Phan, N. T., & Sakulyeva, T. (2021). Russia's foreign policy priorities in the Asia‐Pacific region. Journal of Public Affairs, e2745. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2745. The above article, published online on 17 August 2021 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) has been retracted by agreement between the journal's Editor‐in‐Chief, Laura Corazza and Shaista Wasiuzzaman and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed following concerns regarding manipulation of the peer review and publishing process. Concerns were originally raised by a third party (1). Further investigation by the publisher has found manipulation of the peer review process, and overlapping text with other publications. The retraction has been agreed because the peer review of the article was compromised and there is unattributed overlap between this article and several other articles (2)(3). Abalkina, A. (2022). Publication and collaboration anomalies in academic papers originating from a paper mill: evidence from a Russia‐based paper mill https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13322 Burdzik, T. (2019). Slowly but Surely: Russia's Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics‐and‐comments/columns/asian‐kaleidoscope/slowly‐but‐surely‐russia‐s‐foreign‐policy‐in‐southeast‐asia/?sphrase%5fid=34631795 Rumer, E., Sokolsky, R., Vladicic, A. (2020). Russia in the Asia‐Pacific: Less Than Meets the Eye https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/82614 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the collection of papers from the first workshop on the habitability of the venusian cloud layer organized by the Roscosmos/IKI-NASA Joint Science Definition Team (JSDT) for Russia's Venera-D mission and hosted by the Space Research Institute in Moscow, Russia, during October 2–5, 2019. The collection also includes three papers that were developed independently of the workshop but are relevant to venusian cloud habitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review analyzes papers presented at the "Second International Kosygin Readings: Energy- and Resource-Efficient Environmentally Safe Technologies and Equipment," an International Scientific and Technical Symposium Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Kosygin State University of Russia, which was held as part of the International Kosygin Forum. These papers consider the fundamental principles of methods for intensifying basic processes in various industrial technologies, the scientific fundamentals of the development of energy- and resource-efficient chemical and other processes, innovative developments in this field, issues of the environmental safety of technological processes and equipment, effective systems for increasing technosphere safety, the theory and calculation of heat and mass transfer processes in technosphere protection systems, the issues of digitization as an intellectual and technological factor for increasing the energy and resource efficiency of chemical-manufacturing processes and plants, and the results of studies aimed at developing the theoretical fundamentals of energy- and resource-efficient industrial machinery and equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orthopteroidea is an ecologically diverse group of incompletely transformed insects that includes several insect orders similar in development and structure. Many species from Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Mantodea, and Blattodea are sensitive to anthropogenic influences and are indicators of the external environment. Some species cause damage to agriculture and forestry; others are inhabitants of human dwellings and pests of food supplies. The aim of this study is to describe fauna of some orders of Orthopteroidea in the Republic of Mordovia, in the central part of European Russia. This study was conducted in April–October 1971, 1984, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2004–2023. All possible habitats were studied using a variety of methods (entomological traps, pitfall traps, pan traps, etc.). An acoustic method of species identification was also used. For each observation, the coordinates of location, abundance, and dates were recorded. The dataset contains 4865 occurrences. In total, 16,644 specimens of Orthopteroidea were studied. The dataset contains 71 species including Dermaptera (4), Orthoptera (62), Mantodea (1), and Blattodea (4). Of these, 13 species are identified for the first time in the region; these mainly inhabit steppe areas. The presence of two Orthoptera species has not been confirmed yet during our studies; these species are noted in this paper according an old published paper. The biodiversity of Mordovia includes 73 species from four orders. The biology of numerous species, their seasonal dynamics, and some descriptions of biotopes and number of new species are described. Dataset:  https://doi.org/10.15468/cmr3yy. Dataset License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the next stage of a comprehensive study concerning Russian state-legal doctrines in the 19th and early 20th centuries, taken in the triune of the external form of their expression: in dissertations, in monographs and in scientific papers of the periodical legal press. The authors analyzed the content and results of publication of monographs and the most famous papers published by prerevolutionary Russian political scientists on key aspects of the state (constitutional) law science. Data are presented on the main priority areas of research, poorly developed fields of public law science, the laws of genesis and evolution, respectively, of monographic and periodical state-legal doctrines. The methodology proposed for the identification, analysis and general theoretical evaluation of state-legal doctrines has every reason to be applied for obtaining comprehensive knowledge of other branch pre-revolutionary legal doctrines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was initially conciliatory. However, the current French President’ statements, Macron, gradually changed, suggesting a potential shift in France's stance. The French president recently suggested troops could be sent to Ukraine to fight the Russians, a move that could significantly impact the course of the war. Our paper aims to address this possibility. How feasible would this be from a military perspective? Second, are there any other relevant political actors that will support it? Third, why has Paris changed its position to such a radical stance? We start from the theoretical design of realist constructivism. Postcolonial theories and the concept of locked-in path dependence supported this research. The methods follow the path of historical synthesis, discourse analysis of key political actors, and text analysis of defense white papers. Quantitative military variables are used to understand France’s and the EU’s military-industrial complex capabilities and assess its potential. The collapse of France’s neocolonial empire in Africa and Russia’s growing influence in the region partially explains Macron’s discourse change. This is correlated with the need to follow a more independent European security policy and the worsening military situation in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a description of the Olenekian–Anisian sections in South Primorye, Far East Russia, containing reptile remains. The paper describes important ammonoid Flexoptychites cf. rifunus (Yabe et Shimizu), as well as Flexoptychites cf. compressus (Yabe et Shimizu), which are stratigraphically significant. New Anisian reptile remains were discovered from four stratigraphic levels in South Primorye: (1) the upper part of the middle Anisian Acrochordiceraskiparisovae Zone (Ichthyopterigia indet. A), (2) the middle part of the upper Anisian Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Beds (Reptilia indet. cf. Ichthyopterygia A), (3) the upper part of the upper Anisian Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Beds (Ichthyoterygia indet. B), and (4) the uppermost part of the upper Anisian Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Beds (Reptilia indet. cf. Ichthyopterygia B). The Anisian stage is marked by an abundance of medium- to large-sized ichthyopterygians and a comparatively limited number of gigantic forms, particularly in the eastern Panthalassic and western Tethyan provinces. Our recent discovery has unveiled the presence of medium- to large-sized reptiles, seemingly ichthyopterygians, in the western Panthalassic province during the late Anisian (Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Chrone). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper examines the conceptual and legal aspects of project-oriented public administration, focusing on the Russian experience and comparing it with practices from the USA, UK, and Malaysia from 2011 to 2020. The study aims to identify specific features of project-oriented public administration, provide a comparative analysis of methodologies for managing national projects, and formulate recommendations for improving legal mechanisms based on national experiences from both developed and developing states. The research highlights the formation and implementation of public administration aimed at realizing national projects, emphasizing the establishment of public and legal foundations for their implementation. Using a comparative case study approach, the study employs document analysis, secondary sources, and expert interviews to examine the legal frameworks, organizational structures, implementation challenges, and performance metrics of project management in the selected countries. The findings reveal significant differences in the legal frameworks and implementation practices across the four countries, with Russia showing a fragmented legal framework primarily governed by federal laws and presidential decrees. In contrast, the UK and USA have more comprehensive legal frameworks with detailed regulations, and Malaysia's framework focuses on government-led initiatives with clear procedural regulations. The paper concludes by proposing recommendations for improving the legal and institutional frameworks for projectoriented public administration in Russia, including systematizing and consolidating its legal framework, improving coordination among government levels, investing in capacity building, and enhancing engagement with the private sector and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aimed to study land reforms in the Russian Federation from the abolition of serfdom to the present time. The research was carried out by analyzing land and urban planning regulatory and legal acts, territorial planning, and municipal land management schemes used in constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The conducted retrospective analysis of land reforms in Russia revealed weaknesses and strengths and outlined prospects for further development of land relations. The conducted study showed that land reforms in Russia have not reached a successful conclusion. It had negative effects on agriculture and food security of the country. The paper provides recommendations with regard to the regulatory and scientific-methodological basis for a new system of land ownership and land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geopolitical positioning of Central Asia as the centre of the 'Eurasian Heartland' has been the subject of extensive debates in academic and policy circles over the last three decades. However, the mainstream geopolitical narratives on Central Asia tend to focus on grand-level geopolitical players and discourses, thereby reducing the region and its populations to passive entities without any agency. Not much has been said about how these grand-level narratives are reflected and operate within the micro-level, everyday spaces, relationships and experiences of ordinary people. This paper addresses this lacuna by examining the everyday, micro-level discourses and experiences of geopolitics amongst Uzbek migrant workers in Russia and their left-behind families in Uzbekistan – a form of 'everyday geopolitics'. The paper is based on a transnational ethnography of Uzbek migrant workers in Russia and in their home village in Uzbekistan, conducted between January 2014 and November 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on several issues related to the graphic paper demand in the market including the development of gross domestic product (GDP), population, and the price of paper. It also mentions that diffusion of information and communication technologies are now regarded as a possible driver of its consumption, indicating that the emerging markets for paper demand is a combination of classical and new factors. It examines panel data regression analysis of Russian market along with system dynamics simulation using Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis. It also integrates different quantitative approaches to sketch long-term paper demand.

Recent media ecologies are often characterized by their apparent excess and availability of information, in which elites have lost power to a multitude of citizen users. The 2010s, however, are marked by a new information battlespace, as governments, militaries and news organizations have arrested the initial chaotic free-for-all of the Internet. It was into this environment that the ‘Panama Papers’ were leaked in April 2016. We employ this story to illuminate some of the workings of information warfare in the contemporary Russian media ecology. We reveal the sophisticated gatekeeping work undertaken by a range of actors (state, journalists, news publics) in this ecology and their treatment of information across its historically established (television) and emergent (social) media forms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Deals with a study which analyzed transformation in the Russian pulp and paper industry in the 1990s, focusing on ownership changes and their effects at the regional and local scales. History of the Russian pulp and paper industry; State of the forest sector in northwestern Russia; Regional variation in mill ownership.

This paper examines the role of technology on military communications, focusing on the impact of the commercial Starlink system on the battlefield. Utilizing the conflict in Ukraine as a case study, it will evaluate in detail how Starlink has influenced military actions, decision support, and the coordination of military efforts, offering a unique perspective on the transformation of communications in the context of modern conflicts. Furthermore, the study will analyze the essential role played by Starlink in supporting military morale and social resilience, highlighting how access to secure and rapid satellite communications has contributed to maintaining a positive mindset and cohesion under wartime conditions. By addressing these dimensions, the paper aims to capture the critical importance of emerging technologies not only in optimizing military actions but also in strengthening civil solidarity and social cohesion in times of crisis or war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the phenomenon of anonymous news channels on Russian Telegram, which have become increasingly popular in recent years. Drawing on 25 self-confrontation interviews, we answer the following questions: Do users trust anonymous news? If not, why do they keep using this information source? How does a restrictive socio-political context influence users' trust in alternative news sources? Our results show that, in Russia, the concept of trust is linked to the normative democratic understanding of journalistic functions. At the same time, many users believe that trust in media is not at all necessary and develop individual strategies to navigate a "chaos of narratives". The paper discusses Telegram's role in shaping trust or distrust in news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) are the economically and ecologically most important blood-sucking arthropod vectors that can transmit disease agents under temperate climate. In this group, the highest number of species (currently nearing 270) belongs to the genus Ixodes. For this review, more than 400 papers related to this genus in the context of Russia were checked for data on the host records, locations of collection, as well as ecology of assigned tick species. This monograph compensates for the lack of a similarly comprehensive English-language overview of Ixodes species in the region of Russia for nearly half century, and also makes a large set of data easily available for international readers, which is especially important if the original source is difficult to access from outside this country. In addition, the data from a significant number of papers on this topic available only in the Russian language are made accessible through this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany's role in global geopolitics is being renegotiated within current debates about future security architecture, weapons technology capabilities, and the spatiality of future battlefields. This paper introduces a critical geopolitics of technological futures approach and analyses weapons technology discourses through poststructuralist discourse theory and scholarship on technological expectations. It investigates German security policy documents' construction of future threat scenarios, technological visions, battlefields, and the material-technological consequences associated with these futures. It identifies how the geopolitical scenario of 'Westlessness' discursively shifted after Russia's war in Ukraine. It also considers the socio-technical imagination of 'hyperwar', which justifies the development of artificial intelligence-based weapons technologies. Such socio-technical imaginations construct desirable weapons and influence geopolitical leitmotifs. In turn, geopolitical imaginaries affect expectations of future weapons technologies and legitimate the acquisition of specific technologies. Therefore, this paper offers an approach to examining geopolitical power-knowledge constructions in relation to (new) technologies of killing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Beetles in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea are one of the most important groups of Coleoptera. They are found in various ecosystems all over the world and belong to coprophagous, necrophagous, saproxylophagous, phyllophagous and rhizophagous types. The aim of the study is to describe the fauna and distribution of Scarabaeoidea in the Republic of Mordovia (central part of European Russia); (2) Methods: The study was conducted from 2003 to 2023. Collection material (specimens from 1972 and 1986) was also used. Specimens were collected using traditional Coleoptera collecting methods (manual collecting, light trap, collection of rotten remains and pitfall traps). For each observation, the coordinates, number of specimens and dates were recorded; (3) Results: The dataset contains 3198 occurrences. We examined 11,011 specimens of Scarabaeoidea. The dataset contains information on 88 species of Scarabaeoidea. Of these, five species (Aphodius pedellus, Nobius serotinus, Phaeaphodius rectus, Planolinus fasciatus and Onthophagus medius) are listed for the region for the first time. Another seven species are additionally known from others taken from the literature (but were not found during the present field survey); (4) Conclusions: Species diversity of Scarabaeoidea of Mordovia accounts for 95 species from 4 families (Geotrupidae, Trogidae, Lucanidae and Scarabaeidae). Ten species (Protaetia marmorata, Anoplotrupes stercorosus, Cetonia aurata, Protaetia cuprea volhyniensis, Oxythyrea funesta, Platycerus caraboides, Serica brunnea, Melolontha hippocastani, Trichius fasciatus and Protaetia fieberi) constitute the main population of Scarabaeoidea fauna given in the dataset. The species diversity of Scarabaeoidea of the Republic of Mordovia is roughly similar in number of species to that of neighboring or more northern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses how the Russian official representation of the war in Ukraine has been sacralised and then applied to the identity-building strategy. Sacralisation is considered a way to legitimise politics by attributing transcendental meaning and significance to it. This paper suggests a framework for identifying the use of sacralisation techniques and discusses the potential applications of the sacralised war narrative lying beyond the justification of war. It is shown that the Russian representation of the war, once sacralised, has codified the ideological leitmotifs of the last decades. It has built a holistic and comprehensive cognitive schema grounded in pre-constructed identity beliefs and ideas. The state of war allowed the establishment of this framework in a top-down way. Thus, the article claims that discursive sacralisation not only justifies warfare but can also intensify identity politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking six representative futures in the international energy and agricultural markets as the research objects, we use multifractal analysis methods to study the fluctuation characteristics, market risks and cross-correlations within and between these markets before and after the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine conflict in this paper. The empirical results show that both the auto-correlations and cross-correlations have obvious multifractal features. It is confirmed that the multifractal strength and market risks of the international energy markets have weakened, while those of the international agricultural markets have enhanced after the Russia–Ukraine conflict broke out. In addition, the Russia–Ukraine conflict has intensified the strength of the multifractality and the degree of fluctuation complexity between these two classes of international markets. Further, the intrinsic multifractal natures of cross-correlations are tested, and the apparent and intrinsic multifractality before and after the conflict are revealed. Finally, some policy suggestions are put forward based on the empirical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using novel longitudinal data, this paper studies the short- and medium-term effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 on social trust of adolescents in Germany. Comparing adolescents who responded to our survey shortly before the start of the war with those who responded shortly after the conflict began and applying difference-in-differences (DiD) models over time, we find a significant decline in the outcome after the war started. These findings provide new evidence on how armed conflicts influence social trust and well-being among young people in a country not directly involved in the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We comment on a recent study (Vasenkov et al. in Dokl Biol Sci 513:395–399, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1134/S0012496623700746) presenting the movement paths of three greater noctule bats (Nyctalus lasiopterus), two juveniles and an adult, tracked from Russia in September–October 2020 and 2021, with particular emphasis on the unprecedented straight-line migration of a juvenile male to Italy. Notably, the juvenile's extraordinary 2515 km migration marks the longest recorded (as the crow flies) movement in a bat species. We argue that the two juveniles may represent cases of dispersal. Despite the attention garnered by Vasenkov et al.'s findings, caution is warranted in interpreting the broader migration picture. The paper's dissemination underscores a potential oversimplification, neglecting key insights from recent work conducted in Italy that documented the year-round presence, hibernation, and parturition of N. lasiopterus in an area of the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region where the juvenile male tracked from Russia stopped over. Besides, inferring the existence of migratory routes based on small numbers of tracked bats is insufficient. The oversight of these findings may imply a misleading narrative about the species' behaviour, likely representing a case of partial migration, a pattern widespread among migratory bat species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a study of the properties of Poletaevsky kaolin with the aim of using it in the ceramic industry. Based on the results of determining the chemical, mineral and granulometric composition. The mineral composition of Poletaevsky kaolin is kaolinite 80–85 wt %, muscovite and illite 10–15 wt %, quartz up to 10–15 wt %. It has been established that the Hinckley index for Poletaevsky kaolin is 0.68, compared to 1.38 for Glukhovetsky one. The ratio of highly ordered kaolinite to low ordered kaolinite for Poletaevsky kaolin is 22 : 78, for Glukhovetsky kaolin the ratio of highly ordered kaolinite to low-ordered kaolinite is 57 : 43. It was established that Poletaevsky kaolin can be used in the production of ceramic materials by plastic or semi-dry molding. The determined low content of high-ordered kaolinite and the insignificant content of particles less than 2 μm according to the results of laser diffraction analysis can lead to the production of an unstable slip. When firing samples of Poletaevsky kaolin, a minimum water absorption of 5.5 % was achieved at a firing temperature of 1450 °C. In this case, the resulting maximum apparent density was 2.17 g/cm3, the maximum mullite content was 38 %, and the maximum compressive strength was 32 MPa. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has severely impacted the healthcare system, including the provision of HIV care. The ongoing war is a human‐caused mass trauma, a severe ecological and psychosocial disruption that greatly exceeds the coping capacity of the community. The bioecological model of mass trauma builds on Bronfenbrenner's concept of interaction between nested systems to argue that social context determines the impact of life events on the individual and how an individual responds. This paper uses the bioecological model of mass trauma to explore the impact of Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the ongoing war on HIV‐positive people who use drugs in Ukraine, a particularly vulnerable population that may be negatively affected by disruptions to social networks, healthcare infrastructure and economic conditions caused by mass trauma. Methods: Data were collected between September and November 2022. A convenience sample of 18 HIV‐positive people who use drugs were recruited from community organizations that work with people living with HIV, drug treatment programmes, and HIV clinics through direct recruitment and participant referral. A total of nine men and nine women were recruited; the age ranged from 33 to 62 years old (mean = 46.44). Participants completed a single interview that explored how the war had affected their daily lives and access to HIV care and other medical services; their relationships with healthcare providers and social workers; and medication access, supply and adherence. Data were analysed using the Framework Method for thematic analysis. Results: The war had a profound impact on the social, emotional and financial support networks of participants. Changes in social networks, coupled with limited job opportunities and rising prices, intensified financial difficulties for participants. Relocating to different regions of Ukraine, staying at somebody else's home, and losing connections with social workers impacted medication adherence and created lengthy treatment gaps. Participants also experienced a decreased supply of antiretroviral therapy, concerns about accessing medication for opioid use disorder, and overwhelming fears associated with the war, which overshadowed their HIV‐related health concerns and negatively impacted medication adherence. Conclusions: Our analysis reveals the complex impact of war on social networks and healthcare access. Maintaining support networks and competent healthcare providers will be essential amid the ongoing war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western‐style internationalisation of Russian universities, which guided the evolution of the country's higher education sector for over three decades, has been challenged by Western sanctions following the 2022 Russian 'Special military operation in Ukraine'. The authors show through the prism of constructivist theory how the norm on the internationalisation of higher education characterised by the strive for Westernised world‐class universities was adopted and then came to unravel in Russia. A qualitative case study based on 42 expert interviews and an analysis of political discourse and legal documents reveals how the key features of the internationalisation of Russian universities are being challenged. The authors contribute to the expert literature the notion of 'norm reversal', defined as the process whereby an institutionalised and internalised international norm is 'cancelled' in a specific country. The paper shows that the reversal in Russian higher education, which was initially 'circumstantial' is becoming 'intentional', with legal documents being drawn up to accelerate and claim ownership of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What has happened to the spectre of Russian hybrid warfare that once haunted strategists, policy-makers and scholars? Many of the characteristics of Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea have been absent in Moscow's current war, prompting some to wonder whether Russia has moved beyond 'hybrid warfare' as it wages a brutal conventional war in Ukraine. Scholars and practitioners should not pack up their hybrid war handbooks just yet, however. The need to limit conflict escalation between nuclear-armed adversaries suggests that non-military asymmetric tools of will increasingly define great power competition in the twenty-first century. Most urgently, scholars must bring some order to the conceptual debate over what is and is not hybrid war. In this policy paper, we propose a classification scheme that can be applied irrespective of the type of conflict, one that illuminates the wide range of political, social, economic and military weapons states may use in future conflicts. This approach not only allows us to move beyond endless debates over which tactics belong in the definition of hybrid war, but it also allows us to describe changes over time in how countries wage multi-domain wars. By describing the 'hybridity' of all conflict along three continuous axes of scale, militarization and centralization, scholars and policy-makers alike can avoid dangerous blind spots that are likely to arise when we try to categorize conflicts into discrete typological bins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a major military incursion on Ukrainian territory, thereby initiating one of the biggest international conflicts of the twenty‐first century. Not only has this conflict claimed the lives of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians, but it has also resulted in mass migration. Against this backdrop, this paper sets out to answer the following question: what are the main legal aspects of the migration policy adopted by the Brazilian state in response to the Ukrainian diaspora? The findings of this research indicate that the Brazilian Federal Government has passed ordinances that can protect the human rights of these people on a temporary basis. Although these ordinances have a precarious nature, their beneficiaries will be able to apply for refugee status when their provisions cease to produce legal effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I will try to provide the justifications according to the laws in force and the needs of democratic policies and institutions to allow the creation of PMCs according to international rules and standards by applying the constitutional laws and with particular emphasis on freedom and human rights in the civil-military aspect. So the challenge and the journey remain in the aspect of the formation of the professional framework within the organizational structure of the PMC from the functionality of the state military structures. During the work, I will be able to identify why there is a demand and implementation of PMC by many democratic states and how much these are covered by laws, regulations, and international conventions, considering that we are dealing with direct intervention in the civil-military aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed palaeogeographical studies of the accumulative fan in the Serteyka River valley in W Russia and underlying biogenic deposits were carried out. The base of a representative core of biogenic sediments in the distal zone is dated to 1291 BC, while its top to 1631 AD. In this paper, palynological, plant macrofossils, Chironomide and Cladocera, geochemical, geochronological and sedimentological analysis were performed. Four phases of biogenic deposition were distinguished by pollen and geochemical analyses. Two of them coincide with the climatic fluctuation during Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age. During the formation of the fan, overbank deposits were accumulated also, indicating numerous and intense floods, which are in line with the trend observed for other sites in this region. The accumulative fan is formed by lower, middle and upper deluvia and agricultural diamicton in its top. All units have specific sedimentological and geochemical features as well as low admixture of plant macrofossils. The beginning of the formation of this relief form dates back to the second half of the 17th century AD, and the end of the accumulation falls on the second half of the 18th century AD. Our work suggests that natural conditions had an impact on the formation and development of studied accumulative fan, however, the decisive factor causing the intensification of the slope processes were related with deforestation resulted from strong human impact, which was marked in palynological and macrofossils analyses (e.g. increase in the contribution of plants macrofossils related to agriculture). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper applies connectivity measures—membership status, contiguity, inverse distance, and power projection—to investigate North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense burden sharing at the operational or (defense spending) categorical levels (i.e., personnel, infrastructure, equipment, and operations and maintenance [O&M]) during the post‐Cold War era, 1991–2022. Alternative spatial weights, assigned to allies' operational‐based spillovers, indicate diverse free‐riding responses with the greatest free riding characterizing equipment, followed by O&M and then personnel outlays. Infrastructure spending, which does not permit much substitution among allies, is understandably characterized by the least inter‐ally free riding. After the Wales Summit and Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, there are marked changes to NATO free riding at the operational levels, with equipment spending displaying reduced free riding. Generally, there is little evidence of a positive reaction to increased Russian military expenditures; however, there is some enhanced operational spending by NATO allies nearest to Russia after 2014. Also, we estimate simultaneous spatial autoregressive models to gauge inter‐operational spending responses to the four kinds of spillovers, where we find interesting inter‐operational substitutions and complementarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will explore the purpose, system of subjects, principal tools and consequences of neo-authoritarian intervention. The peculiarities of the neo-authoritarian regime, neo-authoritarian intervention, and export of neo-authoritarianism are clarified. China and Russia are selected as the main cases for analysis. The purpose of neo-authoritarian intervention is defined as the intention to strengthen the internal stability of non-democratic regimes and to broaden their influence on international processes, the effort being to change the world order and destroy liberaldemocratic values. It is argued that the key subjects of neoauthoritarian intervention are the governments of neoauthoritarian states and a great number of actors (puppet parties; government-organized non-governmental organizations; marginal, ultra-radical social and political movements; statecontrolled media; unscrupulous analytical centres; and international multilingual networks of TV, radio broadcasts, news agencies, which are financed by neo-authoritarian governments). The system of tools of neo-authoritarian influence includes tools of: power; influence within the soft power; subversion; value modification; election tampeering; and pressure on international organizations. The tools of neo-authoritarian intervention are based on the classic tools of authoritarianism, but are modernized due to digitalization, information and communication progress, and the other technologies. Neo-authoritarian intervention is proven to increase the risks to global security. The main consequences of the strengthening of neo-authoritarian intervention on a global scale are the growth of threats to democracy, the risks of changing the world agenda. The consequence of neo-authoritarian interference in the internal affairs of non-democratic states is the growth of dependence on neo-authoritarian exporter states, further socio-political instability, increased use of force in solving socio-political problems. The research states that in the case of neo-authoritarian intervention in the affairs of democratic states, the consequences may include both effective counteraction to neo-authoritarian interventions and thus strengthening of the quality of democracy, and destructive tendencies including the growth of populism, radicalism, corruption, and hate speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic stability can mitigate the security dilemma that mutual deterrence efforts produce. If two parties agree on what the most destabilising peacetime or wartime behaviour is, they are more likely to agree on risk-reduction measures. However, contemporary security actors rarely share views of what constitutes destabilising behaviour, given political disagreements and asymmetries in deterrent measures due to varying military capabilities, technology adaptations and threat perceptions. This paper examines the deterrence dynamics between NATO and Russia, demonstrating how asymmetric views of strategic stability add potential security dilemmas to the already-severe political confrontation between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After Russia's massive Cyber-attacks on Ukraine's government and bank sectors in January–February 2022, many analysts alleged that Cyber-power would be a crucial component of Russia's military victory in Ukraine. Contrary to these expectations, however, Russian Cyber-intrusions yielded meagre strategic benefits, with Moscow seemingly prioritising conventional warfare and destruction of energy and civilian infrastructure instead. Using a theory of asymmetric conflict, this paper argues, somewhat counterintuitively, that the reason behind inhibited efficacy of Russian Cyber-operations post-2022 are Moscow's prior Cyber-attacks against Ukraine since 2013. While having helped the Kremlin weaken Ukraine's Cyber-networks and collect local intelligence, these antecedent Cyber-operations have provided a two-pronged learning loop: for Ukraine to cultivate habits of mitigating Russian Cyber-threats, and for Russia to acquire habits of relying on information operations more than on destructive Cyber-attacks. This "pedagogical" mechanism ultimately enabled Ukraine to redress its Cyber-asymmetry with Russia and deny Moscow success in its Cyber-intrusions post-2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research in security studies contends that information warfare (IW) is becoming a critical element in states' overall security strategies. Additionally, many researchers posit that artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly emerging as an important component of digital communications and states' military applications worldwide. However, less is known regarding how states are incorporating AI in their information warfare and influence operations (IWIO). Thus, given the growing importance of AI and IW in global security, this paper examines how the United States, China, and Russia are incorporating AI in their IWIO strategies and tactics. We find that the US, China, and Russia are utilizing AI in their IWIO approaches in significant ways depending on each state's overall IW strategy, with important implications for international security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work and religion are closely linked by historical ties and roots. In virtually the entire known world, social support for the needy was inspired by religious and spiritual ideas and dogmas. This did not pass for the Russian state in different periods of its political structure, which has its own national specifics. The paper provides rationale for the continuity of community service as a manifestation of advanced Russian political and philosophical ideas of 19th − 20th centuries. The study showed a more than twofold increase in the number of volunteers in all community-based organizations over the analyzed period of 2012–2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did Serbia not impose sanctions against Russia following its aggression on Ukraine in February 2022? As a state seeking membership of the European Union (EU), Serbia's reluctance to join the sanction regime is puzzling. This paper draws from the ontological security literature to show how Serbia, as a political community, is divided between East and West, that is, between a vicarious attachment to Moscow and a relationship with Brussels driven primarily by the prospect of joining the benefits of membership of the EU. The problem of sanctions brought to the fore the conflicted identity of Serbia, showing how Belgrade's hedging in foreign policy reflects not only an attempt to extract concessions and advantages from both partners – the EU and Russia – but more fundamentally its efforts to come to terms with its liminal, ontologically insecure position within the international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on religious populism are on the rise. They are located within the three main theoretical approaches of populism: ideational, performative, and strategic. Building on these three components, this paper proposes a comprehensive analysis by creating an ideal type of the relations between religion and populism. To that effect, it utilizes the relational paradigm of populism from Pierre Ostiguy in conjunction with Ernest Laclau's concept of sedimented practices and applies a genealogical method to analyse why and how religion plays a role in populist politics. This combination emphasises the fluidity of the interactions between religion and populism, their contingency on contextualised political cultures as well as on the often neglected transnational forms of religion. It focuses on two aspects of this role that have been less discussed: 1) the religious actions toward the political establishment 2) the transnational dimension of the populist politics based on religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New data on the concentration and spatial distribution of the benz(a)pyrene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in bottom sediments in the testing area of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Plant (BPPP) waste water discharge in 1981-1988 and 2010 are presented in this paper. The bottom sediments in this section of the lake are strongly polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global energy crisis, which began in 2021 due to the extraordinary economic recovery after the pandemic and intensified after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has changed the conditions of energy management, paying more attention to energy efficiency. Natural gas prices have reached record levels and, consequently, so have electricity prices in some markets. Oil prices have reached their highest level since 2008. Higher energy prices have contributed to sharply increased inflation. Households are again becoming interested in buying coal as a source of heat. High energy and gas prices have pushed many families into poverty and forced some factories to cut production or even close. They have also slowed economic growth to the point where some countries are heading for a serious recession. Paradoxically, the negative effects of the energy crisis may accelerate the introduction of cleaner, sustainable, renewable energy such as wind and solar energy. The energy crisis is comparable to the oil crisis of the 1970s, when it contributed to significant advances in energy efficiency. The current crisis has highlighted the importance of investments in renewable energy resources and initiated the process of integrating regional markets, developing energy efficiency and promoting renewable energies. The aim of this article is to comprehensively explore the complex relationship between energy awareness, consumption patterns, and energy efficiency, with a focus on both individual consumers and industries, during the global energy crisis. This paper is based on a literature review, overarching policy documents, energy reports, and other secondary documents. The primary research method was the systematic literature review method, based on which the impact of the global energy crisis on energy efficiency was evaluated. This study emphasizes the diverse influences on energy awareness, ranging from economic factors to consumer preferences and environmental consciousness. The findings of the paper underscore the significant responsibility of industries in contributing to energy-saving efforts and the active role of consumers in the energy market. The responsibility of industries in contributing to energy efficiency is highlighted, with a call for a comprehensive approach that integrates energy-saving criteria into product development and corporate social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before full‐scale war broke out in 2022, over 1 million Ukrainians resided legally in Poland. Within weeks of Russia's aggression, around 1.5 million new Ukrainian forced migrants had arrived, many of whom remain in Poland. As of September 2023, 970,000 Ukrainian refugees were still in Poland, where they enjoyed temporary protection status. This paper analyses data from a 2022 survey of both forcibly displaced and pre‐war Ukrainian migrants with the aim of establishing what measures are needed to facilitate the economic integration of the former group. The two cohorts differ in terms of gender, age, family status, ways of seeking employment, employment situation and aspirations. Although 66 per cent of respondents had completed tertiary education, only 30 per cent of the forcibly displaced group had Polish‐language skills. The paper recommends strategies for the provision of language education along with solutions to enable the labour market participation of this group and otherwise support their integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 26 May 2011, the Russian People's World Council issued a document entitled The Basic Values: The Fundaments of National Unity. The document, prepared by the Synodal Department for Church–Society Cooperation, provided a catalogue of 17 traditional values whose general framework was constituted by a combination of freedom, unity, patriotism, family, and devotion. At that time, the Moscow Patriarchate considered religious faith to be the foundation of traditional values and it continues to do so. The defence and promotion of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values were also central in the Russian National Security Strategy (2015); this was the case in the updated version of this document as well, put out in July 2021. Furthermore, they have been the core of the Moscow Patriarchate's participation in the Council of Europe and of Patriarch Kirill's speeches about the war in Ukraine. Finally, on 9 November 2022, The Foundations Of State Policy For The Preservation Of Spiritual And Moral Values was approved. This framework permits us to understand the strict interplay between the Church and the State in the Russian Federation and to see why it is important to refer to the concept of post-secularism when talking about the role of religion in post-Soviet Russia. Proceeding from the Abstract, the present paper aims to analyse this interplay in a specific sector of visual culture: the cinema and television industries. Manuel Castells highlighted the relevance of cultural values in the age of information and the connection between the values and social mobilization that follows it. He pointed out that the Internet has become a way to render this connection predominant, inevitably leading to the development of social movements and networks that have a religious basis. This is unquestionably true; surveys conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (OJSC «VCIOM») and by Nevafilm Research confirm that a high percentage of Russians watch films not only at the cinema or on television (especially the older generations) but also on the Internet (as far as the younger generations are concerned). The importance of this market is also confirmed by the success of the cinema and TV distributor Orthodox Encyclopaedia (2005); in the words of the philosopher Sergei Kravets, who, commenting on it during an interview published in 2006 by the website Sedmits.ru, declared that the expression "orthodox cinema" can be understood as a way to express Russian culture. He asserts that "the fact that today Orthodox films have begun to appear on the central TV channels testifies that Russian film producers and viewers have apparently begun to be aware of themselves as Orthodox, to feel that they are bearers of a special Orthodox culture. [..]". At the same time, consideration should be given to the importance of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Minister of Culture's condemnation of films such as Matilda or Monastery. In addition, it is important to consider that, according to a survey conducted in 2022 by the Levada Center, Russian people consider television the most reliable source of information (54%). The long-term implications of this tendency may have very important effects, not only in terms of its objectives but also in terms of the consideration that, after the beginning of the war, many Western film distributors withdrew their licenses from Russia. This paper will analyse "the effect of religion on the institutional system, the regulatory environment of the media and the public sphere" by studying the features of films and TV programs distributed by Orthodox Encyclopaedia, their relations with traditional values promoted both by the Kremlin and the Church, how these have contributed to strengthening the interplay between the Minister of Culture and the Moscow Patriarchate, and the impact this process has had on Russian society and Russia's relations with the European and Western World in the 2005–2022 period. A list of the films and TV programs being discussed will be provided, and then statements about the project and reviews of the serials and films will be analysed. The analysis will be conducted mainly through the official sites of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin and by browsing the Integrum database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]