The article describes the electoral process in the Republic of Belarus during the elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly in 2012. The author, a long-term observer of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, on one of the constituencies in Brest describes the campaign since the announcement of the election and until the counting of votes. Although the article illustrates the constituencies located in just one city, their typicality allows you to see existing trends across the country. The article presents the author’s analysis of the campaign, with the subsequent evaluation of each of its parts. The accent is on the compliance of proceedings of the main actors in the electoral process according to the legal acts regulating this process. In order that the reader can get an idea of the realities of Belarusian politics, the article presents and describes parts of the Election Code, the Act about Local government and other legal acts regulating elections in each of the different stages.

The accuracy of work and its value is confirmed by the fact that it is based on primary sources. These are my own observations, reports of independent observers, interviews with candidates for parliament, representatives of political and social organizations, correspondence with election commissions.

The main aim of the proposals for the Cohesion Policy 2014–2020, is to simplify the individual elements of policies. The legislative changes at EU level must be accompanied by initiatives at national level and regional simplification of procedures for beneficiaries. It is therefore proposed that each of the Member States should be set clear objectives in this area.

The author analyses the relationship between the groups representing territorial interests and lobbying in the European Union. She points out the genesis of formation of representative offices of the regions in Brussels at the end of the eighties, highlighting the interdependence of the process and the reforms of the EU regional policy. She also draws attention to the impact of intensive cooperation between the European Commission and the regions with a kind of “avoidance” of the state-level, which according to many researchers of European integration have led to the formation of a multi-level system of power. In the later part of her work the author stresses the reasons for and motives of establishing of the regional offices in Brussels. Activity in this direction is shown not only by the regions of federal states that have competence in the area of foreign policy, but also by the majority of the territorial entities below the central level of unitary states. Explanations for this phenomenon are ambiguous. The reasons for such activity of the regions include: the transfer of competences from nation-state level to the supranational level, the mechanisms of adaptation and the Europeanization of the lobbying activity. In conclusion, the author draws attention to the lack of research in the field of formation, evolution and importance of the territorial/regional interests in the European Union, indicating their potential to explain the changes taking place in the European Union Member States due to the impact caused by their affiliation with this organization.

Europe is currently undergoing a deep crisis of values. In today’s circumstances, spreading basic democracy values, as well as presenting mature democratic culture is an important political task. An institution called for the purpose of supporting democracy development, human rights and lawful ruling in member states is the Council of Europe. One of its special activities is supporting young people’s contribution to public life, through creating schools of political studies. The first school of political sciences was created in Moscow in 1992, set up by a group of civil society activists in order to promote democracy values. Its success encouraged others to create such schools in other countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Currently, there are nineteen schools operating, including two outside Europe, in Morocco and Tunisia. Seven of them were founded in newly independent countries, formed after the Soviet Union fell. The dynamic growth of political studies schools created the need of having a network of them (Network of the Schools of Political Studies (NSPS)). The network helps to coordinate tasks, to exchange experience, as well as to strengthen the schools’ education programmes in connection with the Council of Europe. Schools’ positive input the promotion of the Council of Europe democracy standards enabled plans to gradually widen the network into other countries. Schools definitely need greater support from international - including European - institutions. Schools are in need of political and moral programme support. Schools’ further development demands are mainly financial stability. Countries formed in the Soviet Union’s ruins are still struggling, building the basis of democracy. Their admission to the Council of Europe did not change that fact. Many of them have not yet dealt with the communist past and old practices. That is why political schools’ activities are still so important. It is also about the change of generations, about creating staff, a group of people who through their active participation in public, economic or social life would inform society about the ideas and values of democracy, its norms and the role each citizen plays in it.

Vladimir Putin was one of the most successful politicians of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Embracing in 2000 as president of the Russia Federation he took over the country in a deep social, political and economic crisis, a country that lost its place among the world powers and its international authority. Vladimir Putin has managed to stabilize the internal situation of the country, to carry out a number of effective reforms. The first two Putin’s terms in office were a success and he became one of the most popular Russian politicians. Elected in 2012 for the third time in the office of president Vladimir Putin faces major challenges and this term could be very difficult for the Russian president. Russian citizens expect the rule of law, the fight against corruption and democratization. It is widely believed that if Russia wants to develop there must be a far-reaching modernization of the political and economic system. In internal relations the Russian political elite is facing a huge challenge: to modernize the country without compromising the power and privileges of the political elite. Russian external relations will have to deal with the problems associated with the consequence of the so-called “shale gas revolution”. The Russian authorities also need to look for an answer to the question of how to effectively and efficiently carry out the process of building the regional political and economic alliance formed in the Eurasian Union. These challenges will be the main focus of Vladimir Putin during his third term as president of the Russia Federation.

The article analyses the development stages of the regional social organisation, Belaya Rus, created in 2004 in Grodno. During the past couple of years, attempts to convert it into the party of power – similar to the United Russia – have been noted. Currently the Belaya Rus numbers around 130 thousand members and has complex structures all around the country. Since 2004 the Belaya Rus has been gaining more and more influence in both parliament and local government. Its transformation into a political party is only a matter of time.

Until the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991, there was no possibility for Poland to regain its cultural heritage seized during the Second World War. From 1945 till 1991 Poland received from Moscow only a small percentage of the archives taken away, collections of books, works of art and monuments – usually as a gift from the soviet nation. That is why the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, as well as the process of regaining independence by former Soviet republics created the need of negotiations about Polish cultural goods with each of the Soviet Union’s successors.

On 22nd May 1992 in Moscow, a treaty was signed between the Polish Republic and the Russian Federation about friendly and good-neighbourly relations. Back then, President Boris Yeltsin gave President Wałęsa documents from the Jozef Piłsudski Modern History Institute, as well as two portfolios containing copies of documents about the Katyń massacre. Furthermore, in May 1992 the Auschwitz books returned to Poland, taken away in 1945 and stored in a Special Archive in Moscow, now owned by Auschwitz Museum. It was only a fraction of the Polish artefacts possessed then by Russia. From 29th June 1992 the Military Archive Council of the Ministry of National Defence was operating in Moscow and it revised more than 4 million files, out of which 430 thousand documents were copied, coming from the Special Archive (Osobyj archiv) and from the Russian State Military Archive, that concerned Polish people in the Soviet Union from 1939 till 1940, as well as the Katyń massacre.

During 22nd–23rd February 1993, the Head Office of the State Archives of the Polish Republic and the Archive Committee of the Russian Federation Government agreed on a source publishing titled Katyń. Documents of crime. Based on article 17th of the Polish-Russian treaty from 22nd May 1992 about friendly and good-neighbourly cooperation, on 22nd February 1994 both governments signed an agreement about graves and memorials of war and repression victims. The Russian side announced that in May 1994 exhumation works would begin in Katyń and Mednoye. As a result of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs‘ diplomacy, on 18th May 1994 in Warsaw an agreement about cooperation in revealing and returning cultural goods transferred to another country, was signed. In October 1994 Polish- Russian commission on revealing and returning cultural goods transferred to another country was gathered. The Polish side presented a list of wanted objects. Found files were to be returned to the other party. However, firstly Poland was demanding the return of the archives, which were supposed to be given away according to the Treaty of Riga and, up until 17th September 1939, were not.

The State Social and Political History Archive of the Russian Federation in Moscow include a very interesting document, dating back to April 1944. It is a statement made by Włodzimierz Sokorski, back then the deputy leader of the Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division, addressed to the Soviet authorities. In a servile, obsequious form, he assures about his absolute loyalty towards the Soviet state and the communist ideology. He explains how comrades from the Union of Polish Patriots and the Central Bureau of Polish Communists falsely accused him of political assaults and wanted to throw him out of any power over post-war Poland’s fate. He guarantees his utter loyalty towards Moscow.

This document is connected to the once famous argument among Polish communists about the shape of the post-war state, inspired by the announcement of the so called Theses no. 1. In that conflict, Sokorski stood against the majority of the Union of Polish Patriots’ leaders, presenting a solution for Poland as a vassal to the Soviets, with the army having the same political role as the communist party. Sokorski lost the case, but thanks to Moscow’s support, he did not leave the game yet. The Kremlin probably assessed, that he would be useful after the war. After a short quarantine, he came back to the so called first echelon of Polish communist authorities.

I am publishing this statement along with accompanying documents found in an archive portfolio.

This article refers not only to the biography of Wilhelm Storosta (Vydunas) and his works and creations but more to his intellectual, philosophical and literary influence on the next generations of Lithuanian political and cultural elite. Storosta (1868-1953) most of his active life spent in East Prussia, in Tylsit (now Sovietsk) his was the teacher and preceptor of Lithuanian youth, founder of theaterы and folk circles that reconstructed the unique beauty of Lithuanian cultural legacy deeply rooted in pre-Christian tradition. Storosta studied philosophy and anthropology in Berlin and Leipzig. There he discovered firm relations between Baltic nations (philology, ethnology) and Indo-European tradition. His output is often called by his domestic followers and researchers “vydunism”, and it is the inspiration for studies in many branches of human sciences (eg. ethnography, ethnology, culture and religious studies). In the 70’s in occupied Lithuania there appeared many folk circles of a hidden anti-Soviet character what then beget generation of activists of the Lithuanian national revival of the 80’s and 90’s. But there’s one another interesting aspect of Vydunas’ creativeness – his theatrical productions. Such pieces as: “Shadows of ancestors”, “Star’s itineraries” or “Sea bells” that were translated into the Polish language and had an impact on the Polish intelligentsia in Vilnius before WWII. The Author tried to reconstruct in his theatrical works an atmosphere of pre-Christian Lithuanian culture that inspires even today many activists of pagan cults and movements. Back in the 20’s associations were formed called “Romuva” aimed at the rebirth of ancient Lithuanian tradition and religious culture. Therefore it is no exaggeration when we call today Vydunas one of great fathers of Lithuanian national identity.

The Contemporary polytechnic composition of the Republic of Kazakhstan’s population has been forming over a very long time. However, the social and political events of the 19th and 20th centuries had the most noticeable impact on the process, primarily forced relocation of various social and ethnic groups in the Russian Empire, among which there were Poles. The fate gathered in contemporary Kazakhstan members of 130 nations, in East Kazakhstan alone there are 105, including about 500 people of Polish nationality or origin. They ended up in a distant country at various times and for various reasons, and for many of them, in time Kazakhstan has become a second home. These people came to the Kazakh land often not of their own volition. They were mostly members of the liberation movement in Poland in the 30s and 60s of the 19th century. Deportees, people of different age and occupations: poets, painters, doctors, architects, lawyers and many others. This article is about them and their ancestors. They left a huge mark on the history and culture of our country, but it is not only the fate of Poles in Eastern Kazakhstan, which we should like to talk about. There are a lot of tchem and of various origins. The more we find out about us and about our neighbours, the less space will remain in our hearts for the stereotypes and distrust, the more we gain understanding and respect for each other.

It has been 20 years since the collapse of the once great power – the Soviet Union. In its whole area new states were formed. It’s hard to say that this positively affected the economies of the young states. The first decade of independence affected all these countries very badly – the delay towards the developed countries in terms of productivity intensified, the rate of economic growth slowed down, the wealth of the population of these countries decreased catastrophically. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and its institutions, created before the year 1994, clearly could not cope with the existing problems, and did not allow full use of its integration potential. The Integration Group of Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) is currently the widest formal integration of the post-Soviet space. The countries belonging to it have officially chosen to create transnational bodies, the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space. The EurAsEC currently has a free trade area, at the same time the next goal is to create a united customs territory. If successful, the Customs Union will transform into a new union inhabited by 167 million people with a combined GDP of 2 trillion dollars and trade in goods of 900 billion dollars.

The Article describes the history of the Aviation Plant “Anatra” in Odessa, one of the largest companies in this sector in the Russian Empire. The evolution of the company from the workshop, which operated under the Odessa flying club, to a large group, combining several plants is studies. Analysed the production program of “Anatra”. Noted that, in its early years the basis of the production program were French aircraft designs. Since mid-1916 aircraft production began building aircraft of its own design - “Anade” and “Anasal”. Intensive development of the company due to several factors: the owner of the company had sufficient capital, he was interested in the development of Anatra aircraft production, and above all – a sharp increase in orders from the War Department, caused by the First World War

China for many years was self-sufficient in meeting their needs for energy. Even in the late 80’s and 90’s of the twentieth century, China had an important place among oil exporters. At the end of the last century, China’s energy situation began to change rapidly, from an exporter it turned into an importer of energy resources. Currently, the amount of oil imported from overseas outweighs the domestic production and the PRC in terms of import is ranked third in the world after the U.S. and Japan.

China’s demand for energy has its impact on the relations of this superpower with other countries, and thus affects the state of international relations. An important role is played by the safety implications of obtaining energy. Sea lanes, by which is supplied most of China’s oil from the Middle East, Africa and South

America, are patrolled by U.S. naval forces. It strikes at the ambition of Beijing, who wants to play the role of a world superpower, so the program was initiated to increase the presence of the Chinese fleet in the waters of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. China’s growing demand for energy has brought it into direct competition with the source of energy for both with the United States and with the countries of Western Europe. Experts are of the opinion that the depletion of oil reserves in the future will lead to a conflict not only between the U.S. and China but this group may include: the European Union, Japan, Brazil and India. Adopted by the Chinese government’s energy strategy for the coming years, mainly includes measures to reform the national energy sector. The main objective is to increase its efficiency, expansion of oil and gas pipelines, and creating a system of institutions responsible for energy policy. It should also be noted intense efforts to diversify energy import sources and types of energy. The strategy of China’s energy security, scheduled for a period of transformation and economic growth is based on the principles of peaceful coexistence in the world. In economic relations with other countries, the Chinese promote dialogue based on achieving mutual benefit. At the same time, they are very consistent, and sometimes ruthless in the realisation of the strategic objectives.

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The article deals with a analysis of Homo politicus and Homo religiosis in postsoviet Kirghizia. On that political condition in the West and political ones in the East are compared. The authors draw a conclusion that reference point for modern transitional Kirghizia must be not political absenteeism but a junction of all citizens to policy.