Aims: identification of key factors of integration interaction within the internal dimension of the Union State of Belarus and Russia.
   Methods: informal substantive analysis of documents, formal legal method, SWOT analysis.
   Results and discussion: A set of internal factors of a system-wide nature, directly localized on the territory of the Union State, is investigated. These factors are interpreted as being of fundamental importance for ensuring the positive dynamics of Russian-Belarusian integration. The strengths and weaknesses of bilateral interaction are shown, taking into account their
influence, the results achieved and the likely directions of evolution in the context of the “restart” of integration, attributed to the autumn of 2021. The determinants of different levels of the discussion plan, including the motives of the power elites, are emphasized.
   Conclusion: The important advantages of the Union State, which distinguish it from other integration associations of the Commonwealth of Independent States region, are the multidimensionality, the coupling of different spheres of integration, the combination of axiological and utilitarian levers of integration. It has significant opportunities for progressive development in the future. However, there are also very tangible threats and risks of internal origin in the Union State. It is recommended to pay close attention to the elimination of internal vulnerabilities and the improvement of branding technologies and information support of the Union construction.

   The negative tone of statements about pan-Turkism and Turkey’s policy in the post-Soviet space in the Central Asian region prevails in the Russian media. Indeed, pan-Turkism is a strong factor in the emerging statehood of the newly independent states of the region. At the same time, and it is important to emphasize this, it is not the only and far from defining one. His influence manifested itself mainly in the first half of the 1990s. All the authors note the role of Turkey at the initial stage of the sovereignty of the countries of this region. Then, first, due to lack of resources, its influence in Central Asia began to wane. New players appeared in the region, representing the interests of Western countries and China. Russian economic, military, and political influence also became more stable and weightier. Turkey’s attempts in the XXI century to achieve new successes in promoting its interests based on the values of Turkism did not lead to the expected results. Economic and military-political competitors continued to outpace it, and their successes encouraged Ankara to make measurements during its policy. She became more and more realistic and pragmatic. For a few reasons, during the first decade of the new century, the Turkish upper classes somewhat cooled down to pan-Turkism. At the same time, the elites of the Central Asian countries got a taste of state nationalism and, cultivating their own values, emphasized their sovereignty and the right to a multi-vector foreign policy. Overcoming their dependence on Moscow, they also demonstrated their unwillingness to follow in the wake of Ankara’s interests. In the conditions оf De-globalization and fragmentation that began after the global crisis of 2008–2009 pan-Turkism is once again becoming an important factor in the sovereign positioning of the Turkic-speaking republics of Central Asia. At the same time, it has ceased to act as an instrument of Turkish expansion and today represents a new phenomenon — “collective pan-Turkism”, which testifies to the common interest and solidarity aspirations of its participants. Russia, China and other non-regional actors will have to reckon with this circumstance in the future.

   At present, the development and implementation of new information and communication technologies in all sectors of the economy is of great importance in the leading countries. In full measure, this trend also takes place in the Russian Federation (RF), where the digital economy (DE) is developing.

   The main goal of the study is to, based on the relationship between the formation of the digital economy and the improvement of financial policy, firstly, to analyze this interaction.

   Secondly, on this basis, to develop ways to accelerate the formation of the DE, as well as to increase the effectiveness of the FP at the federal and regional levels. Because of the study, we considered it possible and necessary to supplement with a number of positions the list of tasks already available in a number of official documents for the formation of the digital economy and the conduct of financial policy.

   The relevance of the topic of the article is due to the importance of the concept of sustainable development for the successful functioning of enterprises in the new reality.

   The purpose of the article is to analyze the concept of sustainable development in the projection of modern transformational trends.

   Tasks: to consider the evolution of the conceptual provisions of sustainable development; perform an analysis of the UN sustainable development goals in the context of the formation of the “green” agenda; assess the impact of the digital transformation trend on sustainable development goals; identify new opportunities for implementing the concept in a new reality; identify ESG transformation risks and digital transformation risks.

   Methods. System approach, logical analysis, synthesis. Results. In modern conditions of the functioning of economic systems, sustainable development goals are a guideline for developing strategies not only at the state level, but also at the level of individual companies; ESG transformation is a new vector of business development.

   As a result of the development of globalization and the strengthening of the influence of transnational corporations, the focus of the concept of sustainable development has shifted from the national level to the corporate one. The general direction of the ESG approach to managing the development of economic systems at all levels will be set by international trends. To the greatest extent, the UN Sustainable Development Goals correlate with the social criterion (11 goals), while the environmental criterion and the criterion of corporate governance account for 8 goals each. Full coincidence in all ESG criteria is observed for two goals (“Industrialization, innovation and infrastructure; “Responsible consumption and production”). The most significant for companies in the short term are environmental and social risks; in the long term, the most significant criterion is “assessment of climate risks at the asset level”. When developing and implementing corporate strategies, it is necessary to take into account ESG risks, as well as possible threats to economic security (resource substitution, growth of intellectual property, cyberattacks, industrial espionage).

   Findings. The updated concept of sustainable development makes it possible to ensure economic growth when it is balanced with the needs of society to improve the quality of life, prevent degradation of the natural environment, but subject to ensuring safety and security.

   The relevance of the tasks of building partnerships between organizations participating in the value chain, on the one hand, is determined by the desire to reduce transaction costs, and on the other hand, by the need to gain competitive advantages in the market of goods and services. The strategic intentions of interacting organizations are coordinated when forming
alliances through agreements on mutual obligations. Such forms of association of organizations as meta-organizations, clusters and business ecosystems have their advantages and disadvantages.

   The purpose of this study is to determine the main content of these forms of association of participants in joint activities, which opens up the possibility of identifying distinctive features for adjusting the definitions of each of the forms.

   Among the research methods, models for constructing mental maps, the method of paired comparisons and the formation of blocks of characteristics, logical analysis and synthesis of information within the subject area of research were used. This paper defines the main content of these forms of association of organizations, as well as their advantages and disadvantages as initial categories. As a result, new definitions of these categories are given, as well as their interrelations, general and special characteristics.

   This article considers the strategic processes of national innovation systems in the context of the introduction of financial technology, as well as systematized stages of development of financial technology in the world. As a result of the work the stages and strategic trends in the emergence of financial technologies in the innovation systems of different countries were
systematized. It is necessary to allocate the USA as the country-leader on creation and realization of financial technologies. The research revealed that companies of different sectors not only use financial technologies to improve the quality of their services, but also actively implement these technologies in long-term corporate development strategies. The article also explored the strategic features of the implementation of financial technologies in the innovation systems of the United States, China and the European Union. The main strategic decisions on creation of innovation ecosystems, interaction of large companies, representatives of financial system, state and science are given. Introduction and realization of financial technologies transforms not only financial and innovation systems, but also the whole national economy. Around the world, countries are paying increasing attention to the strategy of digital transformation of economic systems and increasing access to financial technology.

   This study explores the possibility of applying the concept of lean thinking to the choice of investment directions for technological entrepreneurship projects in the post-era era to reduce global and project risks and ensure sustainable development. The analysis of modern tools for responsible investment carried away, and the feasibility of combining an approach of sustainable development and lean thinking to create comprehensive support for the effective implementation of innovations in uncertain and complicated conditions is substantiated. Requirements for the methodological tools for selecting projects for investment formulated. They take into account the role of the organization in the investment ecosystem, support a social and environmentally friendly approach to the selection of projects, can be implemented in conditions of social distancing, and contribute to the construction of an inclusive economy of ecosystems. The concept of the methodology for choosing the directions of investment of technological entrepreneurship projects is presented, which contains two levels of decision- making — the project level and the project portfolio level. The basic principles of lean investment in the context of sustainable economic development formulated: the need to consider the long-term consequences of the implementation of a technological project; the need to assess the feasibility of the project based on the connections and relationships between the participants in the investment ecosystem; reducing the risks of financial investments for unprepared investors.

   The development of the film industry is inextricably linked with technological changes. Thus, the digital society is already characterized by various achievements in the production of interactive films based on virtual reality, the frequent use of smartphones as cameras, the emergence of fully digital film sets. Modern digital reality has influenced the activities of film organizations, changing the main value chain of film products due to the emergence of new digital platforms in the process of distribution and creation of film products, which created the need to improve the development strategy of the film business. The article draws a connection between strategic management and strategic orientation based on the research of Russian and foreign scientists in the field of economics. The paper proposes the components of the process of strategic orientation in the film business based on the creation of a value chain, since the links between the individual stages affect the competitive advantage of a film company. The presented strategic orientation of the film organization consists of the existing business model of business development, mission, values of each film project, goals, SWOT analysis, various levels of strategies and feedback present at all stages of strategy development and implementation.

   The article is devoted to assessing the prospects for the life of the main sport — athletics, which in itself is extremely important, which had a good reputation in the past, many Olympic champions, world records, outstanding coaches, advanced methods and practices for training athletes of the highest sportsmanship category. In recent years, a number of serious violations and doping scandals have led to the fact that Russian athletics has found itself on the sidelines of world sports and has lost the opportunity for full development in connection with the announced sanctions.

   The purpose of the material is the authors’ attempts to study the recent past of the development of Russian athletics look into the near future and assess the real prospects for overcoming the deepest systemic crisis.

   The goal determined the tasks, object and subject of applied research within the framework of this article. The presence of a satisfactory information base, literature support on the topic, detailed reviews from the media made it possible to properly organize the study of phenomena and events, to involve statistical methods of analysis and the theory of structural shift. And also draw the necessary conclusions, give the author’s recommendations regarding the way out of the current impasse, which has humiliated the dignity of both Russian sports and the Russian state. In particular, we are talking about strict compliance with the requirements of the so-called road map, developed jointly with the Russian side by international organizations IOC, World Athletics, WADA and CAS.

   The article is based on the results of a large research project “State and Religion in the North-West: a sociological analysis”, which was conducted by the RANEPA in 2020, and was aimed at developing and implementing an interdisciplinary methodology for analyzing the religious situation in the Northwest Federal District. The article presents the results of a study of the relationship between the state and religious institutions in 5 regions of the Federal District. The article presents theoretical developments in the perspective of modern state-confessional relations, the study of the mediatization of religion, concludes about the multi-tiered structure of modern communication between the state and religious organizations on the Internet, as well as about the significance of the symbol and religious holiday in the public public sphere. The methods of empirical research were content analysis and expert interviews with an emphasis on both different regions and a combination of factors throughout the North-Western Federal District as a whole. The results of the study show that there is a strong interrelationship between social and religious processes in the subjects of the federation. But there are some regional differences, first of all in the role of media in different regions.

   Purpose and objectives. The article analyzes the state support for families with children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia and abroad. The purpose of the study was to study the opinion of families with children about state social support during the pandemic.
   Methods. The study uses a set of general scientific methods, such as analysis, synthesis, generalization, comparison, system-functional and integrated approach. Within the framework of the stated topic, systematization of measures to support families with children in the crisis
caused by the pandemic in different countries was carried out. In addition to the analysis of statistical data and scientific literature, a sociological study was conducted in the form of online surveys of families with children. Surveys were conducted in the period from June 2019 to March 2020 and from November 2020 to December 2020 (the total sample is 140 families).
   The theoretical and practical significance of the presented study is that it can become the basis for further study of measures of state support for families with children in crisis periods. The analysis actualizes the importance for the practice of international experience of measures of social support for families with children.
   Results and conclusions. The article analyzes the state support for families with children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia and abroad. The study is of practical importance for the development and implementation of measures to support families with children by state and public organizations, which will prevent the deterioration of the financial situation of families.

   The relevance of the issues of financial and investment support of innovation activities of the oil and gas industry both in Russia and in foreign countries is due to the specific features of the industry. The article considers the global experience in the implementation of PPP mechanism and venture capital financing, and studied the Russian practice of applying these methods of attracting funds from private investors. The problem of the implementation of PPP, which is imperfect state mechanisms that allow investors to guarantee the invested funds, and also revealed the problem of venture capital insufficient financing in the oil and gas industry, due to the need to develop and exploit hard-to-recover oil reserves, which involves large-scale investment. Possible solutions to the identified problems are proposed — the improvement of long-term investment mechanisms and the implementation of oil and gas companies’ co-investment mechanism in venture capital funds.

   The nature of the tasks facing modern Russia requires not only a forecast of the future, but also a thorough study of the past, which is necessary to optimize management decisions. The experience of the State Planning Committee of the USSR in the last year has been repeatedly mentioned and discussed as an element of the economic history of the USSR, possible for future application.