Abstract: The subject of this research is the Soviet Union's negotiations on the purchase of Italian planes from the company "Fiat" in the early 1930s, as well as the testing of captured Italian CR.32 planes in the USSR. The article's aim is to investigate this aspect of the relations between the Soviet Union and Italy in the field of aviation, which has not been sufficiently studied in modern Russian historiography. The author focuses a lot of attention on the history of the Soviet-Italian negotiations with the company "Fiat Aviazione" and on the analysis of documents regarding the testing of the Italian fighter CR.32 by the Soviet state. The methodological basis of this study is comprised of the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematics. The main principle is the principle of historicism, which presupposes the point of view of history as a process in its sequential development. According to the principle of historicism, the development of Soviet-Italian relations in the field of aviation during the interwar period is described in the article while taking into account the context of this historical era. This work proposes significant scientific novelty, due primarily to the used source base. The author draws on new archival documents from the Russian State Military Archives, as well as the memoirs of Soviet pilots who took part in the Spanish Civil War. The author presents the conclusion that the Soviet Union sought to maintain intensive relations with the company "Fiat" in order to acquire its newest aircrafts. The second conclusion is that the flight characteristics of the Italian CR.32 planes tested in the Soviet Union were rated quite low, but nonetheless some construction solutions and weaponry systems were later applied by Soviet mechanicians.

Abstract: The subject of this article is the work of the Italian airship designer Umberto Nobile in the Soviet Union in 1931-1935. Upon writing this article, the author used the memoirs of Umberto Nobile published in Italy, as well as numerous archival sources from Italian archives: the Documentation Center of Umberto Nobile in Vigna di Vale and the Central State Archives of Rome. The author attempts to demonstrate the importance of further studying this topic in light of today's newly available sources, including those from Italian archives. The methodology of this research is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and systematics. The author places particular focus on the interdisciplinary approach in the examination of Soviet-Italian relations in the field of aviation. In order to achieve this, the study uses the historical-genetic and comparative-historical methods, which allow to reveal the general and particular in the developmental patterns of Soviet-Italian relations in the field of aviation during the period under study. The figure of Umberto Nobile has been studied by Russian scholars for a long time, but the scientific novelty of this work comes from its novel composition of the source base. In addition to published sources (the memoirs of Umberto Nobile), the author draws archival documents in Italian from the Documentation Center "Umberto Nobile" and the Central State Archives of Rome, which have not been previously studied by Russian historians. At the end of the article, the author comes to the conclusion that during the period under review the ideological antagonism had no decisive influence on the development of cooperation between the two named countries, including in the sphere of airship construction. The arrival of Umberto Nobile and Felice Trojani in the USSR made possible the rapid development of this industry in Russia.

Abstract: The subject of the study is relations between the USSR and Italy in the sphere of aviation in the period of 1922-1938. The author considers a number of aspects of these relations, such as the first Italian flights to the Soviet Union and the return visits of the Soviet delegations to Italy, as well as procurement of Italian aircraft and aircraft equipment by the Soviet Union. The author devotes much attention to the work of Italian aviation specialists in the Soviet Union, such as Umberto Nobile, Felice Trojani and Roberto Bartini, and refers to the sources in the Italian language. The methodological basis of the study is a comparative-historical method which contributes to identification of the general and the particular aspects in development of Soviet-Italian relations in the field of aviation at various stages. The interdisciplinary approach of the work allows the author to go beyond the technical aspects of aviation events and to include their political, ideological, cultural and propaganda components. The scientific novelty of the study is conditioned by the need for a comprehensive study of the Russian and Italian sources that cover such a strategically important sphere of relations between the two states as aviation. The author introduces new sources to scientific circulation, for instance, archival materials from "The Umberto Nobile Documentation Centre" in Italy (which have not been translated to Russian and have not previously been studied in Russia), as well as the memoirs of Italo Balbo, Felice Trojani and Umberto Nobile, which contributed to substantial extension of knowledge about the role of Soviet-Italian relations. As a result, the authors draws a conclusion that, contrary to the popular belief, the ideological confrontation was by no means an obstacle to productive and mutually beneficial cooperation in the aviation sphere in the said period.