Introduction. The natural productive forces of each region have remained unchanged for thousands of years. The nature of their use is changing. Analysis of the process of construction of the Volga-Don channel in the scientific thought of Russia in the 18 th-mid 20 th centuries allows us to determine: 1) the formation and evolution of projects of infrastructure economic reforms in scientific and public thought, 2) the political conditions and reasons leading to their implementation. Methods and materials. The authors use the principles of historicism and objectivity, analysis, synthesis, historical and genetic method, systematic approach. The construction projects of the Volga-Don channel were discussed in the works of A.G. Brikner, S.V. Bernshtein-Kogan, V.F. Gnucheva, I.I. Golikov, A.N. Minkh, V.V. Bulatov, M.M. Zagorulko. These works deal with different options of project implementation and the possibility of its use on the basis of concession. Analysis. The paper analyzes how in the scientific thought of Russia in the 18 th-20 th centuries different projects of connection of the Volga and the Don by the channel were created. The research shows that attention of the scientific society and the state powers to this scientific and technical question increased in the periods of the great reforms-in the times of Peter I, Catherine the Great and in the time of the Soviet economic reforms of the 1920s-1930s. From the beginning of the 18 th century and till the middle of the 20 th century empirical data on this problem were accumulated. Results. On the one hand, for over two centuries the empirical data on the channel construction had been accumulated, the focus had being shifted from the one-scale consideration of this problem as a transport and military-political one to the complex research of the channel influence on geography, economy, nature of the region. On the other hand, the most important details of economic model had remained unchanged, and finally, the connection of the Volga and the Don was carried out by the decision of the State power, with the use of unfree labor and was funded by the State, i.e. in the same way as it was planned in the times of Peter I. I. O. Tyumentsev has worked out the key conception of the work, carried out the academic editing of the paper. A. L. Kleytman has analyzed scientific projects of the Volga-Don channel construction in the 18 th-early 20 th century. T. B. Ivanova has analyzed economic and technological projects of the Volga-Don channel construction in the Soviet times.

Венгры в ГУЛАГе (по воспоминаниям инженера-конструктора И. А. Маханова) 1 Hungarians in the GULAG (on the Memoirs of the Design-engineer I. A. Makhanov) The fragment of the memoirs written by I. A. Makhanov, the chief designer of artillery weapons of the Kirov plant, allows us to trace the fate of the Hungarian communist community in the USSR. The memoirist reports many interesting facts and details on some Hungarian communists during the Great Terror. The author of the memoirs, I. A. Makhanov supposed that I. V. Stalin physically destroyed the leaders of the Hungarian communist movement, and drove the Russian proletariat and peasantry to slavery and serfdom a severe blow to the communist movement, from which it could not recover.

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The article presents the analytical review of “Troubled Times in Russia in the Early 17th and Early 20th Centuries: Nature and Lessons” conference, dedicated to the jubilee of I.O. Tumentsev, which was held in Volgograd in October 2018. The aims of the conference were to conduct a comparative study of the two turning points in the history of the Russian state and society, to identify the patterns of systemic sociopolitical crises emergence and occurrence, to determine causes, factors, directions and boundaries of socio-cultural, economic and political changes that took place in Russia during the Time of Troubles of the early 17th century and the revolution and Civil War of 1917–1922. The conference takes an opportunity to analyze a wide circle of issues related to internal and external factors of the appearance of the Troubled Times in Russia, the specifics of social elevators functioning in the conditions of the system social crisis, the interaction between the elite and ordinary people in revolutionary times, the transformation of the state apparatus and service in the Time of Troubles, and the role of the Russian Orthodox Church at crucial moments in the Russian history. Scientists from Russia, England, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and the USA: historians, political scientists, economists, leading experts in these fields attended the conference. The article describes the content of the reports that were presented at the conference, analyzes the course of discussions, and presents the decisions that were made based on the results of its work. The scientific results obtained during the conference can be used in research on the history of Russia in the 17th and 20th centuries, the history of the national state and law, and in the analysis of contemporary social and political phenomena and processes.

Introduction. Memoirs of I.A. Makhanov, who in the 1930s was the chief designer of artillery weapons at the Kirov plant, contain unique data on the development of the military-technical thought and the defense sector of the USSR industry in the pre-war period. The published fragment of memoirs, first introduced into scientific circulation, supplements and corrects the ideas formed in historiography about the military-technical cooperation of the USSR and Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. Methods and materials. The preparation of the source text for publication is carried out taking into consideration modern requirements of archaeography. The published fragment is provided with archaeographic notes which allow reconstructing the history of creation and modification of the text by the author. The scientific commentary provides information about personalities, place names and specific terms mentioned in the text. Analysis. The author pointed out that despite the supply of the latest weapons from Czechoslovakia to Yugoslavia, Italy, Turkey, Latin America, the share of purchases by the USSR was 50% and had broad prospects for increasing. The German occupation of 1938 suspended and then interrupted military-technical cooperation between the countries. Nevertheless, the Czech side fulfilled all obligations to the USSR. Results. As the published fragment of I.A. Makhanov proves, in the 1930s Czech specialists willingly acquainted the Soviet delegation with the latest developments in artillery systems. At the same time, after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Germany, none of these weapons were brought to a prototype. “Skoda” and “Zbroevka” plants were engaged only in the production and modernization of old weapons. Thus, the data of I.A. Makhanov confirm the hypothesis of sabotage of work for Nazi Germany by Czech designers led by V. Gromadko.