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The article describes the found out archival collections of Ukrainian magical folklore from the funds of the Russian Geographical Society (RGO) and the Society of Amateurs of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography (OLEAE). The author determines the history of the manuscripts and expresses ideas about their authorship, the available editions of these materials, the functional composition, the features of the content and poetic language of the charms included in the collections under consideration. Special attention is paid to the fact that in some of these collections, charms are juxtaposed with «small» forms of verbal magic, creating a complete picture of this fragment of folklore tradition. The expediency of publishing some of these manuscripts (the most complete and little-known) is due to their exclusivity, as well as to the fact that Ukrainian verbal magic is still the least known among the three Eastern Slavic traditions.

The article analyzes the symbolic plot of the Bulgakov's play «Flight» – especially the images of the three «Romes» formed in the subtext. The parody image of the "second" Rome / Constantinople / Tsaregrad is of primary importance. The dominant place in the city space is occupied by a «spinner»with a cockroach races, which is owned by the burlesque-infernal «king» Arthur. Constantinople / «second» Rome acts as the «epicenter» of earthly, historical life (of general «run») and at the same time it appears in a buffoonery theatrical, «profane» form. The connotations of the «first» (eternal) Rome in the play are connecting with Khludov, who ultimately prefers «heavenly» being to the earthly world. The associations with the «third» Rome, contrary to tradition, do not refer to Moscow (this toponym is not mentioned in the play at all), but to Kiev.

The article is about two works by Jacob von Rammingen on the registry – a structural unit within the administration at the court of the German territorial sovereigns in the 16th century. Written by a contemporary and a participant in the reform of the management system, published in 1571, the treatises that reflect approaches to the storage and use of documents are a valuable source on the history of archival thought. The theoretical justification for the existence of the registry as a necessary element in the management system was a step towards the establishment of the archives as an independent institution. In the article, the treatises are considered in connection with the processes that took place in the management system of the German territorial states in the 16th century that affected the organization of chanceries. Special attention in relation to the source is paid to the issues of authorship, target audience, terminology. As a result, Rammingen's works are ultimately representative of the trends of his time: the emergence of the category of professional registrars with their corporate culture, reflect the isolation of the archive as an independent unit in the management system. The approaches to the documents laid down by Rammingen retained their practical relevance up to the 18th century and are at the root of the origins of scientific archival science.

The traditional way of describing and researching national demonological systems is the character approach. The article attempts to substantiate another possibility of studying Slavic demonology – through the concept of a mythological motive. The motive is understood as a semantic predicate of demonological narratives of various kinds, the minimal meaningful unit of plot composition (including motives-actions, motives-situations, motives-descriptions etc.). The composition of motives in each mythological tradition is unique and can be used to understand the mentality of the people, their way of perception of the world and their attitude to the world. The article describes, with varying degree of detail, some of the motives characteristic of the Carpathian-Ukrainian demonology: motives "to scare a person", "to lead astray", telling fairy tales as a protective charm, substitution of babies by demons, motives of double-mindedness, gaining magical power against hail, a circular dance of forest demons and a number of others. Among them, there are world-known, all-Slavic, actually Carpathian-Ukrainian and also Carpathian-Balkan motives. An analysis of these, as well as of other motives, contained in mythological narratives from the collections of V. Hnatiuk, V. Shukhevych, A. Onyschuk and others, allows us to realize the specificity and uniqueness of the Carpathian Ukrainian tradition, and can also provide material for conclusions of an ethnogenetic nature.

The author investigates traits of foreign policy which is based on ideological principles and values. Osmanism was a cosmopolitan doctrine and extended to all subjects of the empire. It meant that regardless of religious, confessional, ethnic or other affiliation, all subjects of the Osman Empire have equal rights and responsibilities and belong to a single Osman nation. Mustafa Kemal replaced Osman cosmopolitanism with Republican nationalism. He established good-neighborly relations with Russia/USSR – Eurasia, the Balkans – Europe and the Middle East – Asia. After the war, Turkey joined NATO and became part of Europe. T. Ozal supplemented unilateral orientation towards the West during the Cold War with relations with neighboring regions and restored the approaches of Kemalism proceeding however from more extended understanding of nationalism. A. Davutoglu conceptually rationalized foreign policy regionalism in the concept of «strategic depth». Relying on the evolving ideology – neokemalism, T. Ozal and the Justice and Development Party, through their transformations, created a new republic, which restored Ataturk's regionalism in foreign policy. Therefore, «Neo-Republicanism», «Turkish Regionalism» and «Neokemalism» seem to be more appropriate terms for the issue under study.

In World War II Greece suffered immense devastation; aside from the damage itself, the country was forced to provide the Third Reich with an occupation loan. After the war, Athens claimed reparations and repayment of the loan, but not all such claims were settled. The final solution was postponed until the eventual reunification of Germany and the signing of a peace treaty. All attempts of Greek diplomats to address the issue were met with the position that the issue has already been resolved diplomatically and in legal terms. The simmering conflict gained new prominence during the financial and economic crisis of 2010s. Greek citizens, frustrated over the strict austerity policies, blamed not only their own government, but also the "troika" of creditors, which forced Greece to adopt such measures. Since the financial assistance program was developed largely by Germany, the Greek collective memory provided a number of vivid negative images connected to Germany, the Nazi crimes in particular. In the public space of Greece the issues of reparations and the occupation credit were constantly discussed, putting further strain on Greek-German relations. These attitudes among the Greek public were used by Greek politicians who strived to shift the blame for the ongoing crisis onto the Germany. Stereotypes of the past became a tool ofGreek populists. During the crisis the issue of post-war payments reached a new level, and a desire for historic justice was accompanied by the blamegame against Germany.

After the formation in March 2020 of a new government coalition led by Igor Matovic, the Slovak government has adopted the foreign policy concept analyzing the European agenda. The Slovak Prime Minister participates in several meetings of the EU Council and at the EU summit on July 17-21, 2020. Before his arrival in Brussels, the Slovak politician visited all the countries of the Visegrad Four. Both the meetings of the EU Council and bilateral and multilateral negotiations within the Visegrad Group had a pronounced «pandemic» component: they mainly discussed the EU instruments for overcoming the consequences of COVID-19 (EU budget, Recovery Fund and Next generation EU). The organization of a videoconference between the Prime Ministers of the Central European countries and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 19, 2020, had a very positive effect on the satisfactory results for the Visegrad countries of the EU Summit. As the pandemic subsides, on the agenda of European Council appeared foreign policy issues, especially the Belarus crises.