The purpose of the article is to clarify the prerequisites, international context, and features of the armed conflict in Ukraine, which in the conditions of a Special Military Operation (SVO) has acquired the character of a protracted and exhausting proxy war between Russia and NATO countries. By now, Russian social scientists have generally developed an adequate understanding of the causes of the war and the goals of the warring parties. Their methodological position is clear and is mainly determined by political attitudes that have been repeatedly voiced by the President of the Russian Federation, the Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, other senior officials, and representatives of interested departments. As a rule, this does not raise questions since the official Russian position is not actually imbued with ideology. At the same time, the publications of Western political scientists, experts, and journalists, especially those who adhere to the realistic paradigm, deserve attention. Their assessments and forecasts contribute to the formation of an objective picture of the Ukrainian crisis. During the study, it was found that the intentions of the NATO countries led by the United States, and, therefore, the background of their rivalry with Russia, have not changed during the SVO. They still expect to inflict a strategic defeat on our country and thereby prolong the existence of a unipolar world. Believing in Russia’s weakness, Western elites associate the end of the conflict with the victory of the Kiev regime on the battlefield. Therefore, the United States and its NATO allies continue to saturate Ukraine with more and more modern weapons. The main sponsor and organizer of the ongoing war is the United States, which pays two-thirds of Ukrainian military expenses. At the same time, their behavior is characterized by caution and even a certain responsibility. The United States fears an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict, every time it emphasizes its non-involvement in military actions and seeks to localize them within the borders of Ukraine. Even though the Russian Federation is also wary of striking at the territory of NATO countries, the conflict between them continues to develop in an escalating spiral. The war is gradually moving beyond the mediated relations between Russia and the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. With the expansion of supplies of increasingly destructive weapons and the direct involvement of NATO members in the confrontation with the Russian military, it acquires a full-fledged character with the prospect of going beyond the borders of Ukraine and using unconventional weapons.

Digitalization, considered in a broad sense as the most important modern trend of social development, is generally accompanied not only by positive consequences for the economy and society, but also by challenges, threats, as well as negative consequences of the implementation of these threats. Digitalization, considered in a narrow sense as the transformation of information of any kind into its digital form and involving the use of digital information, can also be described by challenges, threats, negative consequences and risks. Among the latter, a significant role is played by the risks of violating the security of digital information — cyber risks. Since they can have a negative impact on digitalization, considered both in a broad and narrow sense, there is a problem of allocating cyber risks and managing them in order to reduce possible losses and damage caused by the implementation of these cyber risks. The article defines the interrelationships of the concepts of digitalization, challenge, threat, negative consequence and risk; identifies the role and justifies the high importance of a cyber call as a requirement to ensure the security of digital information; determines the factors of influence on cyber risks; suggests a variant of building a cyber risk management program, the implementation of which will contribute to reducing the possible negative consequences of digitalization caused by a violation of the security of digital information.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals formulated by the UN is one of the priorities of modern economic policy. At the same time, its implementation should take into account the macro-regional specifics. Without this kind of accounting, due to the emerging imbalances, it will not be possible to ensure the sustainability of development. One of the components of sustainable development is the decarbonization of the economy. The purpose of the study: macro-regional analysis of the mutual impact of energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth trends. At a time when ensuring sustainable economic growth is an important task of economic policy, improving energy efficiency turns out to be a key factor in reducing carbon emissions. Research methods: dynamics analysis, structure analysis, methods of comparative analysis and generalization. The article studies the dynamics of changes in the carbon intensity of GDP on the example of two countries with the largest economies — the United States and China. The analysis showed that macro-regions with a high level of technological development manage to reduce carbon dioxide emissions more intensively, while ensuring economic growth.

The relevance of the topic of the article is due to the role and significance of the results of the processes of ESG-transformation and digital transformation (ESdiGital-transformation) of the sectors of the mineral resource complex of Russia. This is of particular relevance for companies in the oil and gas sector, which is one of the triggers for the development of Russia’s industrial potential. The purpose of the study is to study the risks and evaluate the achieved results of the ESdiGital transformation of oil and gas companies in the current conditions of their functioning. Research objectives: to identify the risks of a resource project, including the risks of developing oil and gas fields on the Arctic shelf; identify ESG risk generation factors and propose their grouping; to classify the factors of formation of ESdiGital risks at the micro level; propose a methodical approach to the assessment and perform an assessment of the ESdiGital transformation of key companies in the Russian oil and gas sector. Methodological basis of the research: a systematic approach, logical analysis, synthesis. Research methods: empirical rating method, Harrington’s generalized desirability function, content analysis of open sources of information. Results obtained: to evaluate the results of the ESdiGital transformation of Russian oil and gas companies in Russia, it is advisable to use the integral indicator of the ESdiGital transformation; to assess the company’s ESG level, the ESG transformation index is calculated, which allows to determine the existing potential for the implementation of the “green” agenda; the level of the company’s ESG transformation is determined based on the use of RAEX Europe rating indicators and the generalized desirability function of E.K. Harrington; to assess the level of digital transformation, it is advisable to use the index of the use of digital technologies. Main conclusions: ESdiGital risks are caused by the use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence tools that reduce the uncertainty and risk of business processes, as well as the need to implement the “green” agenda; the factors that form the company’s ESdiGital risks are represented by three groups of factors (economic, technological, organizational); Of the oil and gas companies in the top 30 of the RAEX Europe ESG rating, PJSC LUKOIL has the highest level of ESdiGital transformation, which also achieved the highest level of ESG transformation (60,7%).

In the article, the authors consider various aspects of the functioning of convergent media editorial offices. For this purpose, organizational and technological innovations were studied. They have become actively introduced into the practice of editorial activity in recent decades. The merger of several media channels into large media holdings led to the fact that on the basis of such editorial conglomerations, specialized Internet departments and services first began to emerge, and then independent multimedia editorial offices. In the course of the study, employees of convergent media were interviewed, who told not only about the principles of organizing the production process for the release of multimedia products, but also about the features of introducing new forms of management of the editorial team, about various planning methods, and finally, about the functional tasks of new media employees.

This article discusses the process of forming the General Plan of St. Petersburg. The short-comings of the existing General Plan of St. Petersburg are revealed. The concepts of the General Plan, territorial planning documents, the process of making changes to the General Plan of St. Petersburg are analyzed. Based on the conducted research, the author proposed a solution aimed at the optimal functioning of the General Plan.

Globalization challenges companies, demanding from them an immediate response to changes in society and the use of non-standard methods of promotion that can attract the target public. Special events are an effective brand promotion tool, but not without difficulties. Even in conditions of a limited budget, provided high-quality management, an original concept and prompt response to current socio-economic and political changes, special events can bring profit, increase the efficiency of the organization, highlight the brand in the market, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the company. Each event requires the development of a concept as a separate opportunity to best influence the target group. The purpose of the work is to identify non-standard ways to promote special events in conditions of limited resources and to determine their effectiveness. To achieve the result, the author applied methods of systematization and generalization of existing experience on the subject of research, as well as methods of theoretical and empirical analysis, thanks to which recommendations were developed on the use of non-standard methods of promotion within the framework of solving problems for the implementation of a special event in modern conditions.

The appeal to this topic is due to the 80th anniversary of the victory at the Kursk Bulge (August 23, 2023), as well as the conduct of a special military operation. The Battle of Kursk demonstrated the morale, unity and will of the multinational Soviet people in defending their Fatherland. Only on the Kursk Bulge 248 servicemen who showed courage and heroism were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Their patriotism, service to the Fatherland and responsibility for its fate serve as an example for the population of the country, soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Russia.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the structure and content of socio-economic crises as manifestations of emergencies and corresponding periods. With the help of general scientific and special methods, including comparative, the author reveals the evolution of crisis phenomena in the economy in relation to emergency periods, essentially reflecting the phenomenon of emergency. The historical analysis of economic crises is illustrated by the graphs of the impact of crises on basic economic indicators compiled by the author. The author’s definition of the concept of “emergency period” is given with the specification of the phenomena of its components (situation, situation, circumstance, incident). On the basis of V.L. Kvint’s strategic methodology, the necessity of strategizing the emergency period from the point of view of prevention, overcoming and getting out of it is substantiated. At the same time, the author believes that economic crises from their inception to their peak are essentially extraordinary periods that require appropriate strategizing according to the phases of the economic cycle: strategies for crisis prevention, prevention or mitigation of depression, as well as ensuring the revival of the economy with an exit from a particular emergency period.

Purpose. The study addresses the phenomenon of brain drain developing via international student mobility.

Methods. In order to address the research question “What impact has international student mobility between Russia and Germany had on the formation of the brain drain in Russia?” a qualitative methodology was applied with the comparative historical method (philosophical comparativism) and the case study. In terms of data collection techniques, document and Internet-based research was primary used.

Results. First and foremost, the research revealed that international student mobility between Russia and Germany is imbalanced: the number of Russian students studying in Germany from 2013 to 2020 was almost 30 times higher than the number of German students coming to Russia. Furthermore, 47% of the Russian students who were permitted to study in Germany from 2006 to 2011 were still there 10 years later on various reasons, including naturalisation.

Conclusions. Firstly, international student mobility between Russia and Germany does not contribute to the mutual enrichment of each other (brain circulation), but it rather plays a significant role in the brain drain formation of the former and the brain gain of the latter. Secondly, the difference in the level of socio-economic development and features of the political systems in Russia and Germany may explain the high demand for German higher education among Russian students and, at the same time, futility and unattractiveness of Russian higher education for German students. As an outcome, the author proposes recommendations for strengthening Russia’s technological sovereignty, multiplying and preserving its intellectual capital.

This scientific work is devoted to explaining how the problem of digitalization is understood in the broadcast of Russian audiovisual Orthodox media. Religious, in particular Orthodox, mass media are aimed at understanding events and processes from a value-worldview perspective: by determining the position of the media in relation to digitalization, it is possible to identify an assessment of the phenomenon from an ethical point of view. According to the author, the most representative TV channel is Spas (more specifically, the program Glavnoye (The Main Thing). The paper is aimed at determining which manifestations of digitalization in the life of society and man are discussed in the channel’s program, how the TV channel assesses the universal introduction of digital technologies. It is supposed to study the semantic content of the program, therefore, the main method of research is the analysis of media texts (journalistic materials of the TV channel).As a result of the study, it turned out that such manifestations of digitalization as the Internet and cyberspace, urban video surveillance systems, biometrics, unified databases, artificial intelligence, chipization of the population and digital learning are being analyzed by program. The journalists of Spas do not give an unambiguous assessment of digital transformation. The following position is stated on the air: like any phenomenon, digitalization produces both positive and negative effects. Transformations can represent improvements in response to modern challenges. How[1]ever, at the same time, it is necessary to take into account the potential and real threats that digitalization poses to a person and society. In the virtual environment, such problems as the security of personal information and personal space, the effectiveness of digital education in comparison with the classical face-to-face, the cybercivilization practice advance of the regulatory framework development and the need to regulate the legislation of the Russian Federation to stop the processes taking place in the gray legal zone are becoming more acute. Cyberspace is a new sphere of human habitation, where maximum security, including privacy, should be ensured in the absence of excessive control.