Territorial structure of inbound and domestic tourism in the Baltic States
This paper examines the transformation of the territorial structure of tourism in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The spatial and temporal organisation of tourism in these countries has undergone significant changes since they became independent and joined the EU. These changes have affected the geography of tourist flows and destinations of interest. This study aims to define the geographical and economic peculiarities of the development of tourism in the Baltic States and to identify the central...
Comparative analysis of the territorial support frame of settlement in coastal areas: the case of St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad regions
As a scientific method, comparative studies respond to the needs of society. However, the logic of globalisation has reduced the demand for comparative analysis in international and national (regional) studies. Nevertheless, old, settled coastal areas — which European urban science considers as evidence of the decisive effect of coastal position on spatial development and urbanisation — remain valid research objects. Achieving corresponding theoretical and practical goals requires qualitative...
Geopolitical regionalisation of the Baltic area: the essence and historical dynamics
The article discusses a theoretical framework for investigating regionalisation and geopolitical regionalisation, employing the activity-geospatial approach. The main theoretical foci of this study are system-forming, or region-building, socio-geo-adaptation and geopolitical relations. The article examines various types of transboundary and transnational geopolitical regionalisation as manifestos of geopolitical relations. These types are categorised based on scale, functional area, historical and...
Knowledge and innovation dynamics of the Northwest Russia under geopolitical changes
Over the past 25 years, Russia has faced several economic and geopolitical challenges, including the 2008 global financial crisis, sanctions imposed in 2014, and the COVID-19 pandemic. To remain resilient in the face of these challenges, Russia needs to adopt a flexible development strategy and transition to a new path of development. This transition requires the development of new knowledge-intensive industries, expansion into promising markets, strengthening trade and economic partnerships, and...
The spread of the COVID-19 infection in Russia’s Baltic macro-region: internal differences
This article explores the spread of the Covid-19 infection in Russia’s Baltic macro-region. The monthly excess mortality rate in the Baltic region is analysed along with regional and municipal Covid-19 response acts to identify regional features affecting the spread of the disease. The spatial characteristics of Russia’s Baltic regions, germane to the propagation of Covid-19, were distinguished by examining selected social and economic statistical indicators. Based on the space of places/space...
Secondary vocational training – an important stage in the formation of core competences of a future specialist by means of physical culture
This article focuses on the role of secondary vocational training in the formation of core competencies of future specialists and describes the physical and psychological development of a teenager. Using the methods of research and methodological literature analysis and pedagogical observation, the author analyses the possibility of the use of physical culture methods in the formation of core competencies of future specialists at secondary vocational training institutions in the framework of competence...
The Baltics and Russian North-West: the Core and the Periphery in the 2000s
This article analyses population changes in North-West regions of Russia (the former North-Western economic zone and the Kaliningrad region) and the Baltics at the level of urban districts and municipalities. The cohort component method is used to analyze the youth population dynamics in the administrative territorial units of this level, which makes it possible to estimate the international (intraregional) migration of this population group. This method is used quite rarely, yet it is more accurate...
Military and political cooperation between Germany and Lithuania in the late 2010s to early 2020s
Since the mid-2010s, Germany has significantly adjusted its approaches to the use of the Bundeswehr, pivoting its strategic focus from regions distant from the Euro-Atlantic community to those within or near it. This has underscored the pressing need to address issues related to securing steadfast allies in Eastern Europe and enhancing cooperation with them. This article aims to explore the current evolution of German-Lithuanian relations in both political and military domains. The approach of...
Structural Changes in the Economy of the Russian Northwest: Spatial Dimension
This paper identifies and explains the trends in the economic transformations in the Russian Northwest (NWFD). It studies the changes in the structure of the gross regional product (GRP) and economic specialization of the NWFD regions. The authors suggest approaches to managing structural changes in the economies of the NWFD regions. The authors propose a new method for the identification of the regional economic specialization on the basis of the reginal economy sectoral development rate. The article...
The geopolitical effect of the maritime factor on the spatial development of post-Soviet Russia: the Baltic case
The article explores the impact of geopolitical processes on the spatial organisation of society, a matter that has gained increasing importance in Russia. It focuses on the utilization of the World Ocean and its coastlines for resource extraction, logistics, military-strategic purposes, and settlement. Methodologically, this study combines modern socio-geographical approaches emphasising the role of the maritime factor in spatial development with classical geopolitical ideologemes drawing a line...
Economic development of Russia’s north-western regions and migration to the St. Petersburg agglomeration
This article aims to analyse the development of Russia’s North-Western Federal District (NWFD) regions between 1998 and 2021, based on data from Rosstat. It focuses on how the territories responded to migration to the St. Petersburg agglomeration in the early 21st century and compares their progress with the cores of the St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Helsinki agglomerations. For building the models, regions with similar development dynamics were divided into four sectors: St. Petersburg, the Leningrad...
Reputation and status in Denmark’s strategic culture
The primary objective of the article is to evaluate the significance of status and allied reputation within Denmark’s strategic culture. Amongst Danish international relations scholars, there is a well-established notion that one of the key motivations for the use of military force in Danish foreign policy was the aspiration to cultivate special relations with the United States and achieve the status of a privileged ally. This status would confirm guarantees for Denmark’s national security, provide...
Internet diffusion and interregional digital divide in Russia: trends, factors, and the influence of the pandemic
The demand for digital technologies has been growing due to a shift in the technological and economic paradigm. The need for online services has increased since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. There are significant disparities between Russian regions in the digital technology accessibility and the development of computer skills. In 2020, the Internet diffused rapidly in most regions, although previously, there had been a slowdown. As markets got saturated with digital services, the digital divide...
Modern trends in paradiplomacy: a case of Russian-Finnish regional cooperation
For several decades, EU-Russian regional cooperation helped effectively respond to the local challenges. The EU terminated programmes for regional cooperation with Russia and Belarus in 2022. The existing paradiplomatic structure, however, may be of interest to scholars and policymakers as a model to be reproduced by Russia in cooperation with non-EU neighbours. The study aims to identify the main trends in paradiplomacy by examining Russian-Finnish regional collaboration. It reviews theoretical...
Spatial structure and development of settlements in the Saint Petersburg agglomeration
This article explores the spatial structure and development of settlements comprising the Saint Petersburg agglomeration. Previous studies and database sources, which were never used before (the Federal Tax Service [FTS] database and SPARK-Interfax), are analysed to reveal factors in the economic development of metropolitan areas as well as to understand how settlements develop in Russia’s second-largest city agglomeration. The borders and composition of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration are brought...
Geopolitical Security of Russia: Remarks on the Problem Statement
This paper summarizes the results of the seminar “Geopolitical Security of Russia: Remarks on the Problem Statement”, held on August 26, 2022, at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad. During the seminar, the Institute of Geopolitical and Regional Studies of the university announced an initiative to devise a system of monitoring the geopolitical (regional) security of Russia. The debate centred around the development of a conceptual framework and a geopolitical security model...
Strategic competitiveness of organisations in knowledge economy
The process of ensuring the strategic competitiveness of organisations in the conditions when knowledge assets become the decisive development factor is analysed. The author considers a number of modern research concepts striving to explain the development and sustaining of stable competitive advantages of organisations in the dynamic environment of global economy. The article explores the features of the impact of development programmes of the leading educational centres on strategic competitiveness...
Demographic change in Germany and reversal of spatial ageing patterns
The paper presents the result of a spatial analysis considering the effect of demographic ageing and ageing-in-place processes in Germany according to spatially differentiated ageing patterns among urban, sub-urban and rural counties up to 2025. As to the latest official population forecast counties of urban core regions will undergo a slower ageing process than other types of counties, resulting in a reversal of ageing patterns. Urban core areas in this analysis will gain demographically from their...
Sanctions risks and regional development: Russian case
Economic sanctions and countersanctions are expanding worldwide, posing spatially heterogeneous threats to most countries. The study aims to develop and test a methodology for assessing regional exposure to sanctions risks using Russian data. The share of foreign trade with the countries that introduced restrictions can be used to evaluate the exposure to new trade barriers. In several cases, this share exceeded 50 %, necessitating a rapid reorientation of product flows in Nenets, Khanty-Mansiysk...
Three Russian Baltic regions in the context of confrontation between Russia and the West
This study examines the features, limitations and development prospects of three Russian territories bordering the Baltic Sea — St. Petersburg, and the Leningrad, and Kaliningrad region — amid the sharply heightened confrontation between Russia and the West, which has affected the Baltic region. The time frame spanning from 2014 to 2023 was chosen for the study. This period encompasses the sanctions imposed by Western countries and their associations, primarily the EU, in response to the return...
Developing student’s critical thinking skills through project based learning: international experience
The article considers the issue of developing students’ critical thinking as an important competence in the 21st century educational context. Having analyzed the international research, the authors attempt to present approaches to interpreting the concept of “critical thinking,” its component composition, and methods of its development through the implementation of Project-Based Learning (PBL). The project serves as the core of the educational process, directing it towards creating...
Axiological potential of figurative units of the Russian language, translating the plant code
The article evaluates the linguistic units of the lexical-phraseological level related to the lexical-semantic group “plants.” Metaphors, comparisons, and phraseological expressions possessing imagery, semantic dualism, and an associative nature of expression are characterized. The aim of the research is to identify the axiological meanings of an extensive group of linguistic units representing the plant code in Russian culture. Attention is given not only to the core but also to peripheral...
The Swedish institute’s scholarship policy as a soft power instrument
This paper examines how soft power, nation branding and academic cooperation came together in the scholarship policy pursued by the Swedish Institute (SI) from 1995 to 2023. An investigation of the organisation’s materials, scholarship statistics and feedback interviews with SI programme alumni suggests that the implementation of the scholarship policy was erratic during the study period. A comprehensive analysis of the Institute’s efforts was carried out to describe the relationship between...
Signs and senses as an epistemological problem
The semiotic problem of the triad “sign – meaning – sense” is discussed as a methodological problem caused by philosophy of external realism and the representational theory of cognition based on it. Reification of linguistic signs, along with the erroneous view of the nature and function of language as a communication tool rather than the mode of existence of humans as living (cognitive) systems, impedes scientific explanation of both language and linguistic signs. As an alternative...
Christmas and Easter archetypes in A. Varlamov’s story “The Little Star”: to the plot and character typology problem
The Easter archetype, with its main idea of the resurrection, focuses on the spiritual reality of the Heavenly World, which requires the transformation of the soul, while the Christmas archetype carries the idea of the incarnation of God, and hence there is a need for this type of literature which refers to earthly change and earthly joy. Varlamov’s short story is distinguished by an appeal to the plot of the prodigal son, according to I. A. Esaulov, that is Easter-oriented at its core, with a...
Societal security in the Baltic Sea Region: the Russian perspective
This study discusses whether the concept of societal security is embedded in the Russian formal and informal discourses as well as in the Russian strategic documents on national security and the Baltic Sea region. Particularly, the paper describes four paradigms of international relations (neorealism, neoliberalism, globalism and postpositivism) and theoretical approaches to the concept of societal security formulated in them. On a practical plane, Russia has managed to develop — together with...
International heritage in the memorial landscape of the Kaliningrad region
This article aims to analyse the structure of sites in the Kaliningrad region commemorating events, phenomena or figures of international history, as well as to reveal their symbolic significance. The study uses empirical data on the origin, time of construction and purpose of the monuments, memorials and other places of commemoration. Theoretically, it draws on the concepts of cultural memory and sites of memory. The idiographic and historiographic methods were employed along with general scientific...
Expansionism in Poland’s strategic culture: historical retrospective and variations
This article deals with the problem of assessing and interpreting expansionist elements in Poland’s international political behaviour. The problem is approached using the concept of the strategic culture of states, which covers beliefs, perceptions, and the language states use to describe their own and other countries’ actions. The study examines what expansionist types of strategic culture have developed in Poland, how relevant they are in the current political landscape, and describes their...
The peaks and troughs of Russian-Estonian relations
The world is witnessing the most profound changes of recent decades: a severe economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the bitter confrontation between Russia and the West, to name a few. At the core of Russia’s foreign policy is indubitably the conflict with the West, centred around Ukraine. The member states of the EU and NATO that share a border with Russia adopted the most hard-line position, and Russia’s relations with its western neighbours have always been strained....
Estonian ‘Balticness’ as a social construct: meanings and contextual specifics
This paper explores the Estonian vision of Baltic identity. Estonia’s authorities have repeatedly articulated their scepticism towards the concept of a stand-alone ‘Baltic region’ and the inclusion of Estonia in it, preferring to position their state as a Nordic country. Yet, in numerous cases, they have clearly labelled Estonia as a Baltic State. To identify the contexts and meanings labelling the country as a Baltic State, this contribution provides a content analysis of official speeches...
The two-party tendency in Poland’s political system: manifestations, causes and prospects
The article analyses the Polish political system and the increasing role of two political parties in it. This tendency has been observed in Poland for more than 15 years. We can draw a conclusion that two-and-a-half-party system has formed in Poland. Using Duverger’s phrasing, there is a “two-party tendency” in the functioning of the Polish model. The study analyses the facts that firm up this conclusion: not only the distribution of seats in the Sejm (the main criterion) but also many other...
Dismantling monuments as the core of the post-2014 ‘decommunisation’ in Ukraine and Poland
Drawing on a wide range of sources (Polish and Ukrainian legal acts, Russian and international media), this study looks at the ‘monument fall’ in Ukraine and Poland as part of the post-2014 memory wars. The purpose of this article is to identify the main patterns associated with the demolition of Soviet and Russian monuments in the two countries. The ‘decommunisation’ of public space is an element of Ukraine’s and Poland’s politics of memory, enshrined in legal acts. Its driving force...
Disturbance of the vaginal microbiome and the risk of HIV infection in women: analysis of scientific studies
Women are the core population group responsible for new HIV infections and the persistence of the HIV pandemic. A key determinant of susceptibility to HIV infection is the composition of the vaginal microbiome, which can influence the local immune cell population and inflammation status. While a low diversity microbial composition dominated by Lactobacillus crispatus is associated with a reduced risk of HIV infection, a high microbial diversity environment associated with bacterial vaginosis increases...
Between the Eurasian and European subsystems: migration and migration policy in the CIS and Baltic Countries in the 1990s—2020s
The article analyses migration from border countries (the so-called overlapping area) of two migration subsystems — Eurasian (centred in the Russian Federation) and European (the European Union) from 1991 to 2021 (before the recent events in Ukraine). A step-by-step analysis of the migration situation in the countries of the former USSR — Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine and Estonia was conducted. The article examines bilateral and multilateral migration processes, analyses the main...
Species composition of diatom complexes (Bacillariophyta) in the holocene sediments in the Curonian lagoon
The paper presents the results of a study on species composition of diatom assemblages in a sediment core from the southwestern part of the Curonian Lagoon. There have been identified 56 species and intraspecific taxa, which belong to 35 genera. The species of Actinocyclus, Aulacoseira, Fragilariforma and Staurosira were recorded as dominant taxa in the bottom sediment samples. The studied sediments contain a large number of species, which demonstrate optimal development at a high pH value. Most...
Typology of migration processes of Russian coastal regions
The coastal area of Russia is a dynamically developing region of the country, the geopolitical and geostrategic importance of which has grown significantly in recent decades due to changes in the external conditions of development. The differences in the socio-economic development of the coastal area of Russia are reflected in the numerous gradients of the migration situation, the study of which determines the purpose of this article. The study relies on typology, statistical and general scientific...
Spatial diffusion of Asian direct investments in the northern European EU countries
The first publications on the spatial diffusion of foreign direct investment (FDI) appeared in the 1970s-1990s. Since then, many of their provisions have been repeatedly criticised as outdated and inconsistent with empirical evidence of the current stage of globalisation. Previously, only examples of ‘newcomers’ to internationalisation were used to illustrate distinct phases in the expansion of transnational companies and their effort to first establish themselves in major economic centres, as...
Intellectualization of operational and technological control of regional electric power by cognitive hybrid intelligent systems. Part 3
Substantial thinking is traditional for a modern person, who is characterized by a description of the world as a set of spatially localized objects-things-resources. The language of operational-technological control was developed on the basis of the tradition of A. V. Kolesnikova — V. F. Ponomarev's semiotic, multilingual representation of operational and technological control of a certain class of complex systems, the basis of which is a verbal-sign, relational language for describing situations...
The remaking of geopolitical space and institutional transformations: the case of the Baltic Region
This article adopts the historical neo-institutional approach to analyse the dissolution of the Livonian Confederation and the ensuing reshaping of the Baltic region in the 16th-19th centuries. These historical events are employed to describe the post-bifurcation incorporation of a society in a different social system. Several inclusion models are identified. The centralised model suggests that the incorporated society reproduces the institutions of the incorporating society. Modified institutions...
On implementing the professional retraining program «Oligofrenopedagogics» in a hybrid format
The article focuses on the urgent issue of the lack in the human resources who will be able to deliver counseling service for physically challenged students studying in the educational institutions of the Kaliningrad Region. For this reason, the professional retraining program “Oligophrenopedagogics” has been designed and implemented in Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University. The core points of the program include the questions relevant to professional readiness to teach students with health...
Geographical structure and dynamics of foreign trade relations of the Republic of Crimea with the border countries and economic security issues
The status of the Republic of Crimea as a new border region of Russia prioritizes the study of the region's foreign economic relations. The article focuses on general and particular foreign trade indicators of the Republic of Crimea while ensuring economic security of the region. The author analyzes the features of the post-Soviet export-import operations dynamics in the Crimean border region considering the changes in the scale of foreign trade after the reunification of the Crimea with the...
Verbal aggression in modern poetry: conventional and unconventional functioning of discourse markers
The article examines the specifics of speech aggression in poetic communication. Special attention is paid to the unconventional functioning of discourse markers of aggression. The aim of the study is to analyse aggressive verbal behaviour in poetic communication and identify distinctive characteristics of expressing aggression in everyday discourse. The research methodology includes methods of linguopragmatic, linguopoetic and discourse analyses. The author studies discourse markers of verbal...
Suspended particulate matter within the Kaliningrad coastal zone: distribution, transport, composition
The coastal zone of the Kaliningrad region is an especially sensitive marine area which includes recreation areas, natural heritage sites, construction sites and zones of both abrasion and accumulation. Thus, it requires monitoring and control of core environmental indicators such as suspended particulate matter concentration. The research focused on the suspended matter transport from the main source area, which included both human-made and natural suspended matter inputs. Directions of particles...
Was heißt Fortschritt im Wissen? Gnoseotopische Überlegungen zur Aufklärung und ihren Folgen
This article focuses on the question of what “progress in knowledge” (Fortschritt im Wissen) since the Enlightenment could mean. The answer is rooted in a shift in perspective in our understanding of the Enlightenment, and in an awareness of the gnoseotope at the center of this perspectival shift. Given the fact that human knowledge has always been considered limited, the axiom called gnoseotope (from Greek gnōsis: cognition, knowledge and topos: place, area, field) can be defined as the...
The formation of the narrative and the performative in public communication
Since the British philosopher John Austin, narratives and performatives have been considered as opposite concepts covered by the generic concept of speech act. At the same time, these concepts were separated according to whether a narrative, inducement, a description, or an imperative was present in the text. Similar to the narrative, the performative is created under pressure from various external factors associated with the system of public communications, to which the author is exposed, and...
The effect of cross-border fibre-optic transitions on the information and communication connectivity of the Russian cities
The Russian cities are connected by many telecommunication lines. The information flow between any two cities can be sent via multiple routes, including those running through the networks of other countries. Cross-border transitions are created to connect the Russian lines with the international networks. The effect of these transitions on the connectivity of the cities has not been analysed earlier, either for Russia or for any other country. Using my own database on the Russian telecommunication...
One Belt - One Road Initiative: A Window of Opportunity for Russia’s Western Border Regions
In recent years, global geo-economic transformations have been considerably affected by the development of the People’s Republic of China, its reviving leadership and ambitions, and its increasing efforts to reformat and integrate the Eurasian space. The One Belt — One Road Initiative is a manifesto and a tool to advance China’s long-term geostrategic interests that spread to the bordering states and regions and to the prospects of their socioeconomic development. The initiative encompasses...
NATO Policies in the Baltics: Objectives and Priorities
The authors employ geopolitical analysis to identify the core characteristics of NATO’s current policy towards the Baltic Sea region. After the demise of the Soviet Union, the region was considered as one of the safest in terms of military security. However, in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis, the region has witnessed a growing tension in relations between NATO and the Russian Federation. A comparative analysis of NATO’s official documents on the Baltics shows that the chief pretext for increased...