The subject of the research in this article is the historically formed integral “locus” of ethnopolitics – the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. During the existence of traditional society, the ties between distinct ethnosocial groupings and their social elites within the territory of historical Kabardino-Balkaria were not viewed as interethnic and had no national-political implications. Prerequisites for the emergence of regional ethnopolitics developed during the 19th century, when social and intersocial relations in the Central Caucasus became the subject of regulation by the state. The formation of the Soviet autonomy of Kabardino-Balkaria already acted as a real ethnopolitical process, the subject of which was the coordination of national interests of the Kabardian and Balkar peoples. The illegal act of expulsion from their homeland brought a traumatic beginning to the ethnosocial experience of the Balkar people, which has not been eradicated to this day. Ethnopolitical problems came to the forefront of the social and political life of the multi-ethnic and “two-subject” republic in the conditions of the crisis transition from the Soviet to the modern state and public system in the 1990s and their modern specificity took shape: the interweaving of the processes of socio-political consolidation of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic and the national consolidation of its “titular” peoples as a deep source of reproduction of ethnopolitics in the social life of the region; an urgent need to confirm the integral national identity of each of the peoples of the republic in the absence of institutional registration of its “two-subject” nature; historical and political discourse as the main field of the “struggle for identity”; the visible asymmetry of the ethno-social structure of the republic and the search for opportunities, conditions and forms of overcoming it as the driving force of Kabardino-Balkarian ethnopolitics at each stage of its actualization.

The publication examines the organization of sand protection works carried out in semi–desert zones of Southern Russia in the XIX - early XX centuries. Despite separate publications on measures to combat desertification in the Russian Empire, sand protection activities that unfolded in the XIX – early XX centuries on the lands of the nomadic peoples of Southern Russia (Nogais, Kalmyks and Turkmens) did not become the subject of separate works, which determines the novelty of the study. The peculiarities of the natural, climatic and geographical living conditions of nomads and their irrational use of arid zones as pasture lands for their livestock were factors that caused the rapid growth of sands in the XIX – early XX centuries. Sand protection works in the south and officials of the sand-ravine parties and the corps of foresters of the Forest Department, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of State Property, carried south-east of Russia out. The activities of sand protection organizations included experimental measures to combat desertification, which included husking and grass sowing on the sands, sowing sandy oats, removing sands from the use of their owners, forestry and horticulture in the steppe. The source base of the study was materials extracted from the State Archives of the Stavropol Territory (GASK) funds: 153 «Forester of the Stavropol sandy-ravine district» and 247 «Stavropol Provincial Forest Protection Committee». Historiographical works on the study of the problem include publications by pre–revolutionary, Soviet and modern researchers involved in combating desertification in Southern Russia in the XIX - early XX centuries. The analysis of materials and sources made it possible to trace the peculiarities of the activities of central and regional authorities, local societies (A.D. – owners of sands), and other organizations that participated in sand protection works during the historical period under consideration. The conclusion is formulated that the sand protection activity that unfolded in the South of Russia in the XIX – early XX centuries. It included many forest reclamation works, the purpose of which was to curb the process of desertification of pasture and agricultural lands of Nogais, Kalmyks and Turkmens, which in turn was a measure of protection and guardianship of the life, health and economic and cultural activities of nomadic peoples within the Russian Empire.

The article examines the influence of the Caucasian region on the events of the Patriotic War of 1812. Attention is paid to the Moscow fire of September 1812. It destroyed most of the city, and key buildings were damaged – the Kremlin, Moscow University and other important structures. Among the surviving buildings are the house of Count F. V. Rostopchin and the Pozdnyakov Theater. Thanks to the bodyguard (mameluke) Rustam Rosa and other Armenians who remained in the second capital during the occupation period managed to preserve one of the most important places for the peoples of the Caucasus – Armenian Lane. Among the generals who took an active part in the hostilities were representatives of the peoples of the Caucasus. The most famous of them is P. I. Bagration. Besides Bagration, about a dozen generals of Georgian origin took part in the war, as well as the Adygs, Azerbaijanis and other peoples of the Caucasus. The article tells about the adventurer Roman Medox and his creating a mounted detachment from the highlanders of the Caucasus. The central provinces of the Russian Empire sent a considerable number of Polish prisoners to the Caucasus in 1813.

The article traces the process of formation of a stable and massive migration flow of representatives of the peoples of the North Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire in the period from the end of 1858 to the middle of 1862, conditionally identified as the initial stage of the Caucasian muhajirism. Involvement of a significant range of published Russian and predominantly unpublished Turkish and British archival documents along with modern domestic and foreign historiography allows us to expand and clarify our knowledge on the socio-economic, internal and external reasons and accompanying circumstances of the said resettlement, its dynamics and evolution, quantitative and ethnic parameters, as well as the approaches and steps in this sphere of official St. Petersburg and Istanbul. While recognizing the unified, pan-Caucasian nature of this socio-migrational phenomenon, attention is drawn to certain specificities in its nature, intensity and scale in different parts of the region.

The article focuses on the evolution of tobacco cultivation in the South Caucasus over the research period. The author investigates the spread of this technological culture throughout all provinces in the specified region. Information is provided on the quantity of land occupied for tobacco cultivation, tobacco types, industrial firms and their owners, tobacco products produced, and tobacco sales locations. The author examines the many causes of the shift in demand for tobacco products over this historical time, as well as the unequal level of tobacco production.

The essay discusses the excellent conditions for the growth of tobacco production in the South Caucasus, which eventually became commodities. The report also underlined the Russian government’s interest in spreading this crop, which was the primary raw material for the tobacco sector. The government, which contributed to the region’s colonial exploitation by the Russian and foreign bourgeoisie, benefited financially from the expansion of the cultivation of technological and precious crops.

The author finds that the tobacco business in the South Caucasus evolved, improved, and gradually adopted the characteristics of commercial agriculture, which included commodity relations. It is emphasized that the quick expansion of commercial agriculture is closely tied to the emergence of capitalist relationships in agriculture.

The article is dedicated to the social and political activities of a Polish nobleman of Armenian descent from Bessarabia, namely the actual privy counselor Bronislav Mechislavovich Yanushkevich. The authors of the article examine his work in three provinces of the Russian Empire: Bessarabia, Tambov, and Stavropol. The primary focus is placed on his role as the governor of the Stavropol province. The authors contend that the personnel policy of the Tsarist government took into consideration not only the class, confessional, but also the ethnic background of applicants for leadership positions within the regions. At the same time, the leader needed to be competent and loyal. When choosing governors and heads of regions, the authorities aimed to avoid the head’s kinship with the local populace, allowing them to follow their own policies in the governed territory. In this regard, in the Caucasus, a significant number of territorial leaders had non-national (German, Polish, etc.) origin. At the head of the Stavropol province, B.M. Yanushevich proved himself to be a «correct administrator». During the ten-year period of his governorship (1906-1915), the central territory of the North Caucasus became an economically prosperous and politically stable province in Southern Russia.

This article explores the impact of the revolutionary situation in the Nalchik District on the dynamics and nature of spontaneous violence and identifies factors that provoked its growth. It notes that in conditions of systemic political crisis, regimes in power lose their monopoly on violence, which is then employed by representatives of various societal layers to settle scores with “class enemies.” Moreover, militarized structures subordinate to the authorities, such as regular army units or popular militias, often used unauthorized repressive practices. This paper emphasizes that acts of spontaneous violence were also provoked by the authorities themselves, who, through propaganda, encouraged the masses to fight against political opponents and social groups loyal to them. The article also discusses attempts by the authorities to contain the growth of spontaneous violence. The Soviet administration in the Nalchik District sought to curb the excessive zeal of commanders of various revolutionary units and to limit their actions within the framework of “socialist legality.” The White administration, aiming to extinguish the social confrontation that arose from the arbitrary attempts by residents harmed by the Bolsheviks to seek compensation, created mechanisms to satisfy their initiatives within the legal framework.

The article devotes itself to establishing and describing the key events in the “migration history” of the Dzhegonassko-Evreyskoe Mountain Jews. The problem is discussed in the context of this group’s post-revolutionary history, up until the beginning of the 1930s. The article analyzes the debatable issues of the fate of the devastated settlement of the Dzhegonas Jews in 1918 and in the subsequent period, their further dispersion on the North Caucasus territory. Additional evidence has been uncovered that confirms the residency of a large portion of this group of Mountain Jews in the village of Nevinnomysskaya, as well as their links to other groups of Mountain Jews. Additional facts about the attempts of the Dzhegonas Jews to return to the lands of their old village in Karachay-Cherkessia in the first half of the 1920s have been revealed. It is shown how the question of land management of the Dzhegonas Jews turned out to be connected with the regular collection by the Soviet, Communist Party and other structures of a variety of accounting, statistical and other information about them (as well as about the Mozdok and Grozny mountain Jews). The forms and methods of consolidation of Dzhegonas Jews in the Soviet policy of indigenization of national minorities and the settlement of Terek District by mountain Jews organized by the authorities are studied.

The article studies the problems of internal administrative and territorial reorganization of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast (Region) in the 1920s. During this period, there was an active process of searching for effective forms of power organization, the formation of a system of Soviet autonomies and the establishment of a new Russian state in the region. In such circumstances, the Soviet government identified one of the fundamental factors of state national policy as taking into account the interests of non-titular peoples living closely in national autonomies – national minorities. In Kabardino-Balkaria, those minorities included Cossacks, mountain Jews, Germans, Kumyks, etc. The governance of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast (Region) has actively joined in solving the issues of their self-determination. At the same time, certain forms of self-determination of national minorities provided for direct subordination to regional authorities. The administrative and territorial transformations carried out in the 1920s affected the foundations of the national autonomy of the Kabardian and Balkarian peoples, which was reflected in the institutional transformation and involvement in its structure of the majority of peoples living on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria.

The issues of self-determination of national minorities were considered in July 1925 at the plenum of the Central Executive Committee of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast (Region), the transcript and protocol of the decision of which are published as an appendix to this article. They are of great scientific importance for understanding the main problems, tasks and trends in the development of the administrative and territorial development of Kabardino-Balkaria in the reviewed period.

The article explores the German occupation rule in the Krasnodar Territory, which was formed between the summer of 1942 and the fall of 1943. The Fascists established a civil and military administrative machinery with the goal of financially looting the territory and physically destroying the civilian population. When we examine the occupying regime’s ideology, we see that it is anti-human. Wehrmacht soldiers, special formations of the German Army, and traitors among local citizens were all direct participants in crimes against humanity and extermination of civilians. Mass executions of people occurred within the area of the Krasnodar area, which included the Adygea Autonomous Region. Archival sources reveal the reality of the population’s planned elimination, which included children and women. The atrocities of the Wehrmacht are documented in the acts of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the Nazi Invaders and their Companions, which were compiled in all districts and cities throughout the region. Many of those who committed crimes were punished during the war, and this practice persisted after it ended.

In the first half of the 1990s, post-Soviet Russia experienced large-scale transformations of state, socioeconomic, and institutional legal structures, which had a substantial impact on the country’s and the world’s entire economic and legal environment. Because of the transformations that took place, there was a general attitude towards integration into the global market, liberalization of the complex of public relations, including the formation of a certain degree of “independence” of the country’s subjects in the decision-making process, granting the latter greater rights and freedoms in foreign economic activity. Under the current conditions, the Government of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic attempted establish as many contacts as possible with several countries in the field of trade and economic cooperation, using any opportunities for interaction with the leadership of other states, as well as with representatives of individual foreign firms and business circles. This had its positive results, since in the analyzed period several joint Russian-foreign companies appeared on the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, foreign investments were attracted to the republic for the development of certain industries, and the states began to view the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic as a promising economic partner. However, the study of the historical and statistical material of the foreign economic activity of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic in the first half of the 90s of the XX century made it possible to identify barriers and threats that did not allow the full use of the internal potential and capabilities of the republic, including: imperfection of the legislative framework, customs and tax regulation, lack of a developed credit and financial system, inconsistency of actions of federal and regional authorities on certain issues of international cooperation, unfavorable political situation on the North Caucasus.

The article examines how modern Circassians living in the Republic of Adygea relate to the issues of carrying weapons, serving in the army, as well as elements of traditional military culture. The results acquired from two ethnosociological studies suggest that modern Circassians have nearly the same attitude toward weapons as the people of the Russian Federation as a whole, i.e. they mostly oppose the licensing of particular types of military weapons. It is also clear that, for respondents, traditional military culture has lost its relevance. The respondents believe that a man is a warrior, this is rather a spiritual state, while in traditional culture it was believed that this is a certain complex in which weapons play the crucial role. A whole range of reasons influenced such changes, including the standardization of the youth education system, a targeted disarmament policy, and the establishment of relative calm in the region at the end of the 19th century.

The article is devoted to the study of the main problems of the political and legal integration of the peoples of the North Caucasus into Russia, materials from public sources of office documentation. In particular, the authors studied the problems of establishing the Russian administrative and judicial-legal system in the region, the normative and organizational foundations of the imperial policy in the North Caucasus, the emigration of local peoples to the Ottoman Empire as reflected in published sources. The authors also studied the process of understanding office documents on the problem of the political and legal integration of the North Caucasus into Russia in modern historiography.

The authors conclude that the materials of published office documents play a major role in modern scientific research on the problem of the administrative, political and legal integration of the North Caucasian peoples into Russia. They form the basis of the source base for research on this problem. In the context of source studies, the authors consider office documents on the history of the establishment of the military-administrative and political-legal system of Russia in the North Caucasus, as well as the processes of emigration of local peoples to the Ottoman Empire.

A review of the primary statistical sources on the history of the Balkars in the final part of the last third of the 19th and early 20th centuries is conducted. The source base included collections issued by the Terek Regional Statistical Committee as well as archival Balkar demographic statistics sources. This sort of historical material has a great information potential and may be analyzed quantitatively. The primary materials of the First General Population Census of 1897 were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time: lists of settlements related to the Balkarian population of the Nalchik district of the Terek region, extracted from the Russian State Historical Archive’s 1290 fund (Central Statistical Committee). The conclusion is made about the importance of this source for modeling the settlement network of Balkaria in the late 19th – early 20th centuries and for studying the history of the formation of various settlements 

The article focuses on studying some features of documenting the financial activities of government and self-government institutions of the Nalchik district in the early twentieth century. The paper considers the records of government and local government institutions that were entrusted with financial functions (district and district boards, Treasuries, including Nalchik, Stavropol Treasury Chamber, Congress of Trusted Rural Societies of Greater and Lesser Kabarda and Five Mountain Societies, Kabardian public Sum and its treasurer, rural boards, rural public funds). The informative impact of such clerical documents as prescriptions, resolutions, reports, relations, receipts from residents of villages, bills from various institutions to the treasurer of the Kabardian public sum and the head of the Nalchik district, statements, receipts, certificates, etc. is determined for the study of various areas of the economic history of the Kabardian and Balkarian population of the district. The exchange of information between the subjects of financial relations occurred through telegrams and notices, and their description is given. It is concluded that the records of the institutions of government and self-government of the Nalchik district in financial activity contain information about how, in what form and on what issues they interacted with each other and with other non-financial institutions, what the hierarchy of financial institutions of the Nalchik District looked like during the period under study; and also reflected information on the composition of employees of financial institutions, authorities and self-government and their employees, including representatives of the Kabardian and Balkarian population.

The article touches upon the topics related to the events of the Civil War in the North Caucasus in the summer-autumn of 1918 as presented by General A. I. Denikin in Chapter 12 of Volume 4 of the “Essays on the Russian Troubles”. The author examines the situation in the Terek-Dagestan region at the turn of 1917-1918, on the eve of and during the Terek Uprising of 1918. The extent to which each Terek Soviet Republic citizen participated in the revolt was examined. The author insists on the inevitability of an armed uprising of the Terek Cossacks and some Kabardians and Ossetians, citing the reasons for the indignation of the rebels. Denikin believed that in the North Caucasus, Soviet power did not have mass support because of the absence of large cities and, as a result, a local proletariat, so the Bolsheviks used the interethnic friction of local peoples to consolidate their position in the region. In this regard, the powers of the Terek Soviet Republic entered into an alliance with the mountain peoples against the Terek Cossacks, using their land shortage in their own interests. According to Denikin, in order to destroy the military and economic power of the Cossacks, a resolution was adopted at the 3rd Congress of the People of the Terek in May 1918 on the resettlement of 4 Cossack villages, which provoked the initially well-disposed Cossacks to an armed uprising. A.I. Denikin’s negative opinion regarding the leadership of the rebels led by G.F. Bicherakhov, which did not actually oppose Soviet power, but only the excesses at the local level, which consisted of Cossacks disarmament and the deprivation of part of the land. The “government” was constantly looking for a compromise with the Soviet leadership, which did not make concessions to the rebels. In opposition to the “government”, there was a “command” of the rebels, headed by General E.A. Mistulov, Colonel N.K. Fedyushkin, General I.N. Kolesnikov. It can be conditionally called “pro-Denikin”. It advocated the creation of a regular army, discipline in the units, and an uncompromising armed struggle against the Bolsheviks. General A.I. Denikin saw the main reason for the defeat of the uprising in the disunity of the rebels. 

The article aims to review and at the same time holistically highlight the multidimensional, multi–genre artistic work of Muradin Olmezov, one of the sought-after and authoritative authors of modern Balkar literature. The work outlines several issues related to the identification of leading stylistic trends, a wide range of mastered thematic areas and topical issues, a complex of figurative structures, constants, and dominant poetic formulas. In parallel, the main stages of the creative evolution of the poet and playwright are determined. The study examines the value content of the significant works of M. Olmezov, reveals various interpretations of philosophical concepts in reflecting the national picture of the world. The fundamental features of the author’s manner are sincerity in revealing the emotionally sensitive component of the personal worldview, the authenticity of the depicted events, the historical orientation of lyric-epic texts, and the pronounced drama of stage works. The diversity of creative interests allows us to conclude about the level of artistic skill of the poet, who fully realized his talent. The leading direction in the work of the analyzed author, of course, is children’s poetry. His experience in enriching the repertoire of the national theatre and developing modern Balkar drama is seen as fruitful. Translation activities deserve special attention. He has achieved significant results in expanding the possibilities of poetics, mastering new forms such as verlieb (free verse), introducing fresh ideas into the national versification. As a result, M. Olmezov’s poetry occupies a worthy place in the Balkar literature of recent decades. Guided by the above criteria, the article provides an objective and holistic assessment of the author’s individual creative findings and achievements in the light of artistic developments at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries.

The work examines the features of the construction of space and the role of its individual details at different stages of Inna Kashezheva’s poetic creativity. In view of the ideas that have become entrenched in Russian literary criticism, the “spatial-ethical field” of the poetic “I”. Kashezheva’s poetic “I” has been explored. The importance of visual perceptions in her work is highlighted. Nuances of perception of Caucasian geography are exposed, as are the expressive features of the spatial pictures she depicts: sound, light, movement, and their modifications throughout time, as well as the influence of time on the semantics of space. Landscape and interior space-related episodes are examined, and spatial aspects associated with the intimate and personal experiences of the poetic “I” are highlighted. The image of silence plays an active role in adult creativity. Conclusions are formed about the type of space that best fits the worldview of I. Kashezheva’s lyrical “I”.

The article examines the emergence of rhyme and stanza in postwar Abaza poetry. The transition from rhymeless verse to poems with infrequent interspersed homogenous (mostly verbal) rhymes is described, followed by the appearance of the first completely rhymed poems. The progression of rhyming kinds from paired to cross and ring, terminal to internal, butt, compound, and their numerous combinations is investigated. Specific instances highlight the difficulty in mastering the rhyming approach. The analysis of stanzas begins with a quantitative ratio of astrophysical and strophic compositions, followed by the discovery of eight major types of stanzas, each with its own set of variations: couplets, three-line verses (2 variants), quatrains (7 variants), pentameters (4 variants), six-lines (8 variants), eight-lines, ten-lines, and twelve-lines. All findings are based on the examination of works from the literary age.

This article examines the images of mythological characters and interprets the text of the dastan “The Tale of Shan’s Daughter” from the point of view of folklore studies. The author of the dastan is considered being the ancient Bulgarian poet and educator Mikail Bashtu. The author solves the super-task of his dastan - the conversion of a pagan to the Muslim faith - with the help of several artistic techniques, among which an important place is occupied by a dream, which is equally characteristic of archaic folklore and ancient Eastern literature. Forces of good and evil, love and rejection, procreation, expressed by the concept of “woman” point to the most ancient layers of traditional everyday culture of the Turks, and the transformation of these images into divine forces of the Islamic persuasion allows us to trace how the Turkic peoples passed from one religious hypostasis to another. The genre definition of the work is determined through the analysis of its poetics. In particular, the features of the plot structure and artistic language are considered.

The article examines the concept of BAUUR (Liver) in the Karachay-Balkarian linguistic picture of the world. This concept covers a fairly wide range of metaphorical images, including at the level of phraseology. The subject of the study was the anthropomorphic metaphorical features that make up the figurative content of the BAUUR concept, and the means of their linguistic verbalization. When studying this concept, researchers identified some of its universal features, which contribute to the ethnic uniqueness in the worldview. It was also revealed that phraseological units with the BAUUR component in the Karachay-Balkar language are widely used to express various emotional and expressive meanings. In the Karachay-Balkar language, as in many Turkic languages, the liver is one of the spiritual and mental centers of a person. The liver can correlate with the soul and heart, and in some cases, people can use it to express various expressions, such as the meaning of breast “kyokurek”. As a result of the analysis, the main types of metaphorical features included in the figurative content of this concept were identified.

The article focuses on the subject of polysemy in the Karachay-Balkar language. Through polysemy, new concepts appear in a language without changing or with a slight change in the sound expression of these concepts. The development of polysemy is based on the figurative meaning or one meaning of an existing word to a new concept through the associative connection of ideas similar to them. Therefore, an unconditional condition for the development of polysemy is the stability of the phonetic word, which in turn is determined by the concept it expresses. Polysemy should be recognized as an important method of expanding vocabulary, particularly the root word. The main obstacle to detect and define new meanings of words stems from the fact that a new meaning might emerge and disappear in a relatively short period, while other meanings emerge and firmly enter the language lexicon, preserving word frequency. However, all these changes are not always recorded in dictionary entries and this phenomenon in the modern language is one of the key problems and requires identifying ways to solve it.

This paper highlights the most important issues of the state and functioning of the modern Kabardino-Circassian language in impending globalization and the existing realities in the field of state language policy. The study examines the fundamental risk factors that, without appropriate drastic measures, will inevitably accelerate the process of extinction and subsequent disappearance of the Adyghe language. Material for the presented research was normative legal acts in the field of functioning, preservation and development of the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, journalistic materials of the republican newspaper “Adyge Psal”, Kabardian broadcasts of radio and television of the Republic. The work uses descriptive, comparative research methods, synthesis, and analysis. Conducted research allows us to conclude that the most important condition for the preservation and development of minority languages, which include Kabardino-Circassian, is the implementation of a unified “protective” state language policy in the country, which would not only declare the legal and social status of the language but also provide a real opportunity for its use in official spheres with a guarantee translation, since an indispensable condition for the functioning of any language is its relevance to society; the suppression of the currently violent interference in the natural course of language development by introducing fictional terms into its vocabulary instead of established lexical units that native speakers actively use.

The article discusses the linerialization of adjectives in a typological aspect. The approach to the arrangement of adjectives in multi-system languages is not accidental. The study tests the hypothesis that native speakers, regardless of linguistic orientation, trigger the same or similar thought processes at the cognitive level. Examples from English and Kabardino-Circassian languages are chosen as contrasting ones. The issues raised in the paper are of interest both from a practical and theoretical point of view. For example, it is known what difficulties linguists have to face interpreting nouns used in the definition function, which affects the work of lexicographers and teachers engaged in educational activities. The researchers determined during the research that the English language has a unified position regarding how the hierarchy of prepositive adjectives in syntagmatics is built. An analysis of examples from the Kabardino-Circassian language shows that their attribution influences the distribution of adjectives to different classes – relative or qualitative. Relative adjectives are located to the left of the vertex word (preposition), and qualitative adjectives are located to the right (postposition). In general, the idea is confirmed that the linearization of adjectives is universal, while preserving a certain specificity for each language.

One of the frequently pursued purposes and objectives of modern cultural policy is to preserve and promote oral poetic traditions, as well as folk art practices in general. The purpose of the study is to determine the role of ethnoartistic traditions in modern cultural practice. The object of the analysis is the traditional art of Kabardians and Balkars in historical dynamics. The subject of the study is the study of the processes of influence of the traditions of Kabardian and Balkarian art on modern artistic creativity. In connection with the object and subject of the study, the following tasks are solved: to determine the influence of ethnic artistic traditions on modern culture, to identify the role of amateur and professional creativity in the formation of artistic self-awareness. The article reveals an inextricable link between norms, values, meanings and symbols of traditional culture, as well as the forms of their functioning and social transmission. The conclusion is drawn on the importance of a historical approach to the study of folk art as an important aspect of modern society. It has been demonstrated that traditional art, folklore, and amateur art form value orientations, foster persistent interest in national culture, and help individuals develop their creative ability. The research is scientifically original because it takes a fresh approach to studying traditional art as an autonomous entity undergoing modifications at distinct phases of its historical evolution.

The article examines the architectural monuments of mountainous Ingushetia from the point of view of their physical preservation and preservation of historical and cultural value. These monuments have undergone active restoration in recent years. Patrons are involved in financing these works. It is established that there is concern for preserving historical and cultural value during these works. The reason for this is the inability to determine the original appearance in detail of most dilapidated monuments, as well as the fact that the number of restored or restored tower settlements over the past couple of years has exceeded a dozen, and the materials on mandatory archaeological excavations are few indicating irreparable damage that can be caused to historical and cultural monuments. Also, the absence of the need for practical use of restored premises of cultural heritage sites is an indicator of the inexpediency of using such an approach. In world practice, restoration is used in exceptional cases, in particular when there is an ongoing historical cultural process. To solve this problem, it is necessary to attract the attention of state bodies, institutions, commercial organizations engaged in the preservation of cultural heritage sites, the public to the need to preserve the historical and cultural value of historical and cultural monuments as tower and castle complexes, as well as religious and burial structures concentrated on the territory of modern mountainous Ingushetia, when carrying out work on their preservation, as well as the priority of their conservation over other types of work. It is concluded that a monument of history and culture is valuable insofar as it contains reliable information about human activity in previous eras, and principles for the preservation of architectural (tower and castle) complexes of mountainous Ingushetia have been developed, adherence to which will solve the problems identified in this study in matters of conservation work architectural monuments of mountainous Ingushetia.

The review examines the publication of “Memoirs” by Jozef Petrucina-Petrushevsky, who was in the Caucasus in 1917-1920 and became a participant and witness of many historical events in the region. The review acknowledges the good archeographic preparation of the publication and considers the text itself as an addition to the rich heritage of Polish narratives about the Caucasus. The extraordinary personality of the author gives the originality of the “Memories”. The Russian officer and Polish patriot became a devoted soldier of the Caucasus, sharing the fate of its peoples during the hard years of historical trials of the period of revolutions and civil war. The review draws attention to the key aspects of “Memoirs” related to the history of the Mountain Republic, the author’s military activities, and his meetings with Caucasian leaders at that time. The conclusion is substantiated that “Memoirs” are a valuable source of the history of the Caucasus at the beginning of the last century.

The content of B.A.-K. Musukov’s monograph “The formal semantic paradigm of color vocabulary in Turkic languages,” which was published in Nalchik in 2023, is given and studied. The reviewer characterizes the two chapters of the book consistently by surveying the lexico-semantic and structural aspects of a considerable layer of vocabulary from Turkic languages representing nominations of various colors. The author’s use of the comparative historical technique in the examination of colorants is emphasized. A multivector analysis of the adjectival colorative vocabulary led the author to the conclusion that coloronyms differ from other categories of adjectival words in their specific semantics and individual grammatical features, as well as in ethnocultural terms, which are influenced not only by the Turkic language system but also by their speakers’ cultural and historical experiences. It is suggested that the author adopt the anthropocentric paradigm of modern humanities and linguistics to study the issue in question in future research.

The study of the problems associated with the spread of the ideas of the Russian revolution in the Northern Caucasus, with the history of the civil war in the region, is marked by discord in Caucasian historiography. This led to our interest in the work of A.H. Borov "Conceptual results and problems of studying the experience of the revolution and the Civil war in Kabardino-Balkaria." The very formulation of the question promises an objective approach to the analysis of published scientific literature on the topic. An unbiased but clear analysis of the previous scientific heritage, compared with the events and actors, allowed the author to consider various interpretations of the problem of civil confrontation in the revolutionary years on the materials of the Ter region, which included the Nalchik district. The author of the monograph summarizes the results of the study of this historical period, arranging the facts in a strict chronology and rethinking them. A deep historiographical analysis, verification of various concepts, and powerful scientific erudition led the author to conclusions about the peculiarities of the modernization processes of North Caucasian society under the influence of "external" challenges and "internal" conditions. The work of A.H. Borov is an example of honest scientific work and will certainly contribute to the creation of a generalized history of Kabardino-Balkaria.

DMITRY VLADIMIROVICH SEN' IS 50 YEARS OLD

In memory of Valery Khashirovich Kazarov