The paper presents a geographically based assessment of the volume and value of imported poultry meat into the Russian Federation under the embargo restrictions. The assessment is based on the foreign trade statistics issued by the Customs Service of the Russian Federation. In volume terms, the import of poultry meat to the Russian Federation in 2015 decreased by 14 % as compared to the volume of 2014; in value terms it decreased by 6%. The geography of the import also changed. Before the embargo, the main suppliers of poultry meat to the Russian Federation were the USA (51%), Belarus (16%) and Brazil (10%). After the embargo was introduced, the United States (30%) still remained the main supplier along with Brazil (21%). A significant market share of poultry meat supplies to the Russian Federation was captured by Belarus (26%).

Cognition is an integral part of a person’s orientation in the world. It is studied by different sciences – philosophy, sociology, pedagogics, and psychology. In information society, the role of cognition and the ways it is realized are becoming extremely important. Cognitive activity is an essential part of cognition. It is formed and developed in the process of education. Cognitive activity is traditionally regarded as a special kind of mental activity. There are different components of cognitive activity and levels of its development. The higher the level of cognitive activity is, the more efficient the whole process of education is as knowledge is acquired more quickly and at a higher level. Cognitive independence combined with cognitive activity can radically improve the whole process of cognition. Thus, the task of an educational process is to activate cognition and develop cognitive independence by different methods and approaches.