Abstract: The article briefly examines the history of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and the prerequisites for the riots that took place in Moscow in July 2020. The paper presents the results of an anonymous sociological survey conducted immediately after the events in question in two regions of the Russian Federation (Moscow and the Voronezh Region). These regions were chosen based on the fact that one of them is directly the place of events (the city of Moscow), and the second is part of the Central Federal District (CFD) (Voronezh Region). The data obtained in the two regions do not differ dramatically. The purpose of the article is to identify the attitude of the Russian population to the riots that occurred on a national basis in Moscow, as well as how the population of various regions of Russia paid attention to the true cause of the riots. The survey showed that the majority of interviewees knew about the riots, but from 18% to 37% of respondents could not name the true cause of the riots. The development of further mass riots on the territory of Russia as a result of the aggravation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was avoided thanks to the prompt intervention of the power structures of the Russian Federation and the holding of meetings of representatives of power structures with official representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as with the leadership of the Azerbaijani and Armenian diasporas in Russia.

Keywords: military actions, war, escalation of the conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, public opinion, international relations, conflict, sociological survey, Nagorno-Karabakh, local conflict

Abstract: In modern world, different aspects of military science are of crucial significance in the questions related to ensuring national security and protection of national interests of the countries. The activity of separate entities, groups or units of the state militarized formations implemented abroad for solution of tasks within the framework of ensuring national security is defined as “military presence”. The author determines the types of military presence used by the Soviet Union during the cold war in different geographical areas; formulates conclusions based on the analysis of usage of each type of military presence and their impact upon international situation; as well as notes the priorities of realization of USSR military-land and naval presence. The research methodology contains the methods of politological and historical studies, historiography, and systemic approach. The main conclusions consist in the thesis that during the cold war period all types of military presence operated as a universal mechanism in the context of military policy of the Soviet Union: the entire palette of forms of military presence, from fly-over and call at the allies’ ports to placement of the land military objects. At the same time, international relations during the indicated period were viewed through the prism of opposition between the Soviet Union and the United States due to the military presence policy that allowed influencing global processes.

Keywords: naval presence, military-land presence, military policy, confrontation of USSR-USA, cold war, USSR armed forces, types of military presence, military presence, air presence, military-space presence

Abstract: The subject of this research is the relevant problems of ensuring peace and security through the use of various types of armament; conflicts emerging die to its export to the third countries; as well as the questions of financing the modernization of armed forces and manufacturing of new armament. Information is provided on the positions of German scholars of political science and experts in the field of international relation, formulated in the course of the 5th Seminar on Philosophy in the Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Bielefeld. The following conclusions were made: despite the fact that the concept of peace, security, collective security, deconfliction and disarmament are reflected in multiple international documents and national legislation, there is a need for their revision and clarification, since their content defines the policy of the international community and separate countries. Arms trafficking, along with human, environmental and drug trafficking, yields high profits and often contributes to the emergence and escalation of armed, interethnic and religious conflicts. Tightening control over the production of armament is the relevant scientific and practical task.

Keywords: weapon, law, crisis, science, armament, conflict, defence, war, safety, peace

Abstract: In light of the recent international legal documents, this article examines the paramount aspects of the problem of European security on the example of the gap between the EU strive for implementing independent policy and the strategic reality. In order to achieve this goal, the author explores the factors that affected the new paradigm of European security and escalating tension in the international policy; provides assessment of the European Union Global Strategy on foreign policy and security policy determines opportunities of the EU as an independent actor in foreign policy; and considers the possible scenarios of the current situation. The effective protection of EU requires the application of international law and political power in all of its forms. For reducing the gap between the fraught with risks reality and political intentions, the European Union must develop and adopt the integrated program of European defense oriented towards its own resources or further dependence on the United States. Creation of the European military power under these conditions is an extremely difficult task due to the strategic discrepancies between the partners, and as a result of the ability of the state to adjust to the evolution of complicated foreign political situation in terms of civilizational opposition.

Keywords: global security, the clash of civilizations, political reality, international law, war, European initiative, European Union, security, political science, globalization

Abstract: The goal of this research is the problem of hybridism on the example of “peace-war” opposition and its dualistic nature reflected in the works of the prominent scholar of the past and modernity. This goal is specified by the following tasks: 1) to determine hybridism in its political aspect and connection with governance and civilized identity; 2) to examine the hybrid concepts of war in the fundamental for social philosophy and political science texts; 3) to consider the hybrid concepts of the world in classical works of the military theoreticians; 4) to study the problem of the dynamics of military conflicts and their renewal. The “peace” and “war” are the closely related, transitioning into one another phenomena of political reality of hybrid nature. The thinkers of the past and modernity came to the valid and still relevant conclusions on the nature of war, same as the military theoreticians left behind multiple valuable observations on the nature of peaceful existence. In the era of civilizational antagonism and possible civilizational conflicts, the border between the state of peace and war becomes vague, including as a result of escalation of the unresolved in the past geopolitical and sociocultural problems.

Keywords: civilizational conflict, security, global security, the confrontation of civilizations, political reality, hybridism, war, peace, political science, globalization

Abstract: The article is devoted to the study of the military factor as a mechanism of Russian modernisation in 1914-1940. The author's main goal is to conduct an analysis of the impact of the First World War on the transition of the Russian state from the agrarian society to the industrial one in terms of spirituality. The article defines the major mental attitudes of Russian peasantry, such as paternalism, piety, monarchism, social collectivism, equalitarian land utilisation, and their transformations in the course of the Russian modernisation during the First World War and interbellum period. The article put special emphasis on the need for organic modernisation processes in Russia as a prerequisite for their successful implementation, because the transition of the Russian Empire from agrarian to industrial society was not of organic nature, which was expressed in asynchronous of economic, political, social and spiritual transformations. The academic novelty of the paper is the interpretation of war as a kind of a "challenge" for the Russian (Slavic) civilisation, and the "response" was the modernisation of Russia in that time. The main conclusion is the assumption that the Great war (1914-1918) was the strongest "accelerator" for the Russian modernisation processes, compared to previous military conflicts involving the Russian Empire. This justified the formation of the deviant model of Russian modernisation, which was expressed in the Soviet variant of the Russian society in terms of spirituality.  

Keywords: First World War, modernisation, spiritual sphere, mentality, organicity of Russian modernisation, monarchism, piety, paternalism, social collectivism, equalitarian land utilisation

Abstract: The current research is dedicated to the problems of establishing a joint European army. Establishment of joint military forces has been many time proposed by various politicians since 1935, when Charles de Gaulle first suggested to consider this possibility. However, due to some historical events and the peculiarities of European integration, these suggestions were not supported by the majority of the members of the European Communities. In March 2015 the president of the European Commission - J.-C. Juncker - again stated the necessity to establish a joint European army, taking into account new security threats and lack of efficient tools of the Common Foreign and Security Policy.  The present study especially focuses on the reasons of the necessity to establish a European army, the main challenges it can face, as well as the achievements of the European Union in the field of establishment of Rapid Response Forces and common defence market. Methodologically and theoretically the study is based on the comprehensive analysis and system approach towards the examination of primary sources and various scientific works of European security experts. The scientific novelty of the research lies in studying the primary reasons for establishment of joint European army and their correlation with the processes that have been taking place in the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy for the past ten years. The main conclusions of the research are as follows: 1) despite numerous initiatives to form joint European armed forces that were proposed during different periods of European integration, this project has not been implemented due to certain reasons, the most important of which are unconditional delegation of the issues of collective security to NATO and different perception of threats by different member-states; 2) the formed European Battlegroups as a tool of European Rapid Response Forces are supposed to perform tasks within the framework of the 'soft power' concept, however, they were never used because of the problems with compatibility, standardisation, transport and financing; 3) the establishment of a European army is not in the EU agenda yet, even in the long-term. It is determined by many problems on this way, which are to be solved by the European Defence Agency, and the orientation of the EU on the 'soft power' concept.

Keywords: joint European army, European Battlegroups, Rapid Response Forces, European Defence Agency, military-industrial complex, European Union, NATO, CFSP, strategic initiatives, common defence market

Abstract: The problematic issues raised by the author in this paper, are worded as follows: firstly, what does the concept of "cyberwar" actually mean for the political establishment? Secondly, to what extent is the concept of "cyberwar" applicable for the understanding of global trends, the future of military strategy and instruments for its implementation? The author is conducting a study of the strategic context in which there are currently undergoing debates about "cyberwar" (in particular, the declining value of direct military force perceived by some researches), and also analysing the difficulty of achieving the real strategic effect through "pure" cyber attacks.In this paper, taking into account the objectives, traditional for the humanities comparative methods are used, as well as case studies, and the theory of political decision-making.The main conclusion of the study is that the military cyberpower does not have enough of strategically strong potential, as it was painted in recent years. According to the author, there is every reason to believe that, like military air power, it will be an important element in future joint operations of ground, air and naval forces; but the concept of cyberwar as a strategically crucial form of interstate conflict is misleading and meaningless diversion of efforts and resources on useless objects.

Keywords: international security, national security, cyber-threats, confrontation in cyberspace, cyberrevolution, cybersecurity, information security, Russia, USA, NATO

Abstract: The author studies the issue of the US deterrence doctrine evolution in the 1950s – 1960s. Special attention is paid to the role played by the RAND Corporation analysts in this process. The origins of nuclear deterrence theories, their evolving and influence on the decision-making process in the United States during the early period of the Cold War are also regarded in this article. The author pays special attention to the stages of the American nuclear deterrence evolvement and to the role of the RAND Corporation in its establishing and further development. The methods of historical comparison, historical typology and historical periodization are the essential approaches exploited in the article. The review of nuclear deterrence evolvement in the RAND analysts' works, particularly in those written by B.Brodie and D.Elssberg is a feature of the article novelty. The transition from mutual assured destruction doctrine to the theory of nuclear balance in the relations between the superpowers is also stuided. The author brings into application the mathematical expression of nuclear deterrence, offered by A. Lee Burns, D. Ellsberg and D. Hunter.

Keywords: Analytics, Desicion, RAND, Nuclear weapon, Doctrines, Deterrence, the USA, Cold war, Method, Development

Abstract: The center of attention for the studies was formed with war and military arts before the Enlightenment epoch as a formation of civilization and cultural diversity. The dominantly materialistic approach to history and economical element are only partially manifested in military reality. In most cases they are overshadowed by more powerful motives, such as dynasty interests, class estate vestiges, religious bias. Cultural and mental formations of late feudal society (the atmosphere of the court, estate ethics, moods and intrigues) were infl uential factors of military and political activities. An important attention is paid to the subjective factor and personal ambitions of politicians, ruining the image of rational, step-by-step and successive policy of states, which was formed in XIX – XX centuries. The article provides comparative analysis of attitude to war in various classes of Western European and Russian society. Comparison of the existing factual materials allows to draw a conclusion on differences in the roles of common people in the Western Europe and in Russia in regard to waging wars and bearing its costs. The European military culture is regarded as a symbiosis of professionalism, military law and the code of knight and nobility honor. Russian military service is regarded as an authentic mix of the state “yoke”, general land business and moral debt. Attention is paid to the defi ning infl uence of climatic and natural factor upon the military culture. All of the above predefi nes the differences in character of wars in the East and in the West of Europe and their refl ections in the public conscience. War in a historical and philosophical discourse have for a long time been a matter of political and economic formations in the world. The article provides comparative analysis of wars of the epoch from the standpoint of civilization– cultural pluralism, allowing to show new dimensions of military arts, and to take a look at traditional forms from a different angle. The European community before the Early Modern Period shows a gradual transition from the negative attitude to war to the indifferent one. The Europeans got used to wars regarding them as normal, and it becomes a gradually more and more notable matter in the European culture. Infantile character of the common people in combination with the militant mentality of the nobles, material interest of trading and producing bourgeoisie allows the modern researchers to state that “civilization was culturally predisposed to war”. Russia shows the opposite tendency. In the Russian cultural tradition of the late feudalism war is a hard ordeal for the people. It brings pain and suffering, destruction, loss, hunger and death. Moreover, images and associations of the wars of the Early Modern period only strengthen the anti-war moods. Strong opposition to wars becomes more and more dominant mental and moral element of the Russian culture.

Keywords: Wars of late feudal period, Europe and Russia, civilization authenticity, specifi c features of military arts, cultural formations, subjective factor, traditions and customs, images of war, military law, romance and ambition.

Abstract: The article is devoted to studying the military factor as the mechanism of the Russian modernization in the early XX century. The main purpose of research is to analyze the infl uence of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 – 1905 on the transition of the Russia Empire from the agrarian society to the industrial society. Special emphasis is made on the need for harmonized modernization processes in Russia as the key to their successful implementation. The scientifi c novelty of research is the interpretation of war as some kind of a Challenge for the Russian (Slavic) civilization. Modernization of the Russian Empire of that period was the Response to that challenge. The main conclusion made by the author is the statement that the war between Russia and Japan at the beginning of the last century contributed to the development of the main tendencies in the Russian modernization that had been formed in the XVIII – XIX centuries. Political and social processes came to the fore while the economic modernization as the part of the internal policy established by Nicolas the Second became secondary and spiritual modernization was not even properly developed.

Keywords: the First Russian Revolution, military factor, limits of the Russian modernization, mechanism of the Russian modernization, Japan, Russo-Japanese war, Russia, modernization, dual monarchy, Stolypin agrarian reform.