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The author went on a fieldwork to the state of Tripura in September–October 2022. It was done as part of the Russian-Indian Anthropological Expedition of Paleoethnology Research Center and Timiryazev State Biology Museum. The main goal was to clarify and add to the data that had been collected during a bio-anthropological research of the Tripuri people in 2019. As a result, the author was able to conduct a questionnaire survey at various educational institutions in Agartala and Khumulwng, collecting a total of 405 questionnaires. The article gives a general summary of the work done to create the questionnaire and details how it was given to Indian students in a classroom environment. This article is based on a presentation given at a meeting of the Center for Indian Studies, RAS, on November 28, 2022.

Since the first days of the Russia's special operation in Ukraine the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran has demonstrated a benevolently neutral stance. Stressing the unacceptability of military action as a means of solving conflicts, the Iranian side blames the United States and European countries for unleashing war. They provoked Russia by bringing NATO forces closer to its borders, which led to war. Showing a correct understanding of the reasons for the start of the special operation, official Tehran does not recognize the annexation of new territories and Crimea to Russia, emphasizing the inviolability of international borders. Iran categorically denies allegations of its involvement in military actions and stresses the fact that it does not provide direct military assistance to any of the parties to the conflict. The official Iranian stance has significantly intensified Russian-Iranian cooperation and, to some extent, minimized the impact of sanctions imposed on Russia. The use of Iran's economic and transit potential provides an opportunity to create a new export-import route. The prospects for joint industrial productions are being worked out. Trade exchanges are expanding. Iranian reformist and centrist forces condemn Russia's actions, criticize Iranian authorities for deepening military cooperation with Russia as it hinders the continuation of negotiations between the IRI and European countries on the restoration of the JCPOA.

Russia's special military operaton in Ukraine has become the biggest politcal and military crisis since the end of the Cold War. Under the conditons of the politcal and economic blockade of Russia organized by the «collectve West», China's positon is extremely important for the further oppositon of our country to the pressure of the West. The artcle examines the politcal, economic and fnancial aspects of the Chinese reacton to the Ukrainian events, an atempt is made to predict the future confguraton of relatons between the Russian Federaton and China, the impact of these relatons on the world economy.

Labor migraton to European countries is analyzed through the prism of the region's demographic problems as well as of powerful immigraton wave that has generated contradictons between the EU's central migraton policy and the one pursued by separated European countries. On the example of historical documents from the Swiss Federal Archives in Bern, the author shows the contnuity of both the features of migraton trends and independent approaches to the development of internal migraton policy, in partcular by the Swiss authorites. As a fruitul element in the analysis of factors, immediate causes, consequences and the very labor actvity of non‑European immigrants, the author proposes to use variants of the deprivaton theory that have been tested for decades in many areas of socio‑psychological and economic research.

China, long before the Belt and Road Initatve was announced, formed a strategic plan for the constructon of internatonal railways. Afer the Chinese government formally proposed a strategy for Chinese high‑speed rail to enter the overseas high‑speed rail market in 2009, the actvity of Chinese railway constructon contnues to grow. The PRC has accelerated the modernizaton of its internal railways and has created the world's most advanced high‑speed rail system. The unifcaton and standardizaton of the constructon process of high‑speed railways, rolling stock, infrastructure facilites and new technologies within the framework of the «Made in China» program has made it possible to create a unique world‑class product – high‑speed railways of the Chinese standard and enter the internatonal market with it. The Belt and Road Initatve not only provided additonal acceleraton, but also created a theoretcal basis for the «prestge» of partcipaton in the initatve. As part of the Belt and Road Initatve, the internatonalizaton of China's railway standards has yielded positve results. Many BRI rail projects have been completed and operatonal. As a rule, not only Chinese technical standards are used in constructon, but also basic engineering materials, rolling stock, engineering and constructon equipment, Chinese builders and maintenance personnel. But the PRC's energetc actons in promotng the Belt and Road Initatve cannot be called unimpeded. Many projects with Chinese partcipaton remain untl the tme in the form of agreements or for various reasons, fnancial, domestc politcal, technical and reasons of "lack of a common vision" are postponed or suspended. The artcle examines the major rail constructon projects with Chinese partcipaton, completed and under constructon, in Eurasia, Africa and South America.

The present study examines the question of Abd al-Rahman Khan's colonization of the northern regions of Afghanistan in the 1880s. The colonization process was aimed at resettling people from areas with scarce land and water resources to the northern regions, which provided largely favourable conditions for agriculture and transhumance, restoring economic life through increase in production capacity with additional workforce and ensuring the security of the northern border. At first, these measures were directed at the inhabitants of the region itself, but they came to reach the national level after a while. The appearance of the Afghan Delimitation Commission in these areas during this period had a certain impact on the decisions of the Afghan authorities. Members of the Commission began to discredit the indigenous people of the region in the eyes of the leadership of their own state and before the emir as unreliable subjects and suggested relying exclusively on the Pashtuns. While the emir wanted primarily his fellow tribesmen to settle in the areas, the British pushed for the settlement of representatives of the warlike Ghilzai tribe there. Tens of thousands of households eventually settled in the northern territory but given that large segments of the local population migrated outside the country, the total number of the population did not undergo any significant change. Nevertheless, the number of the Pashtun households has noticeably increased in the regions. The discontent over the resettlement policy expressed by the indigenous population and the position of the authorities on this issue further exacerbated the already tense inter-ethnic relations. The economic aspects of the issue faded into the background while the emir's attention focused solely on the political elements within the region. By exterminating local influential people and their chiefs and by confiscating their land ownership rights, Abd al-Rahman Khan finally managed to suppress the resistance and opposition forces of Tajiks, Uzbeks and other ethnic groups and tribes. Looking through the prism of its rivalry with Russia, England regarded these unfolding events and processes as an outcome of the weakening of the position and influence of its longtime opponent in this Afghan region.

The article covers socio-economic and cultural-domestic peculiarities of land transport routs functioning in Japan for more than three hundred years. In ancient times the development features of Japanese railroads were determined primarily by natural geographic factors. Early feudal period roads were used to transmit information, to deliver taxes, to transport people and goods, as well as for the transportation of troops purposes. Pilgrimage to holy places and annual trips of big feudal lords, accompanied by servants and cargo and heading to the supreme ruler in Edo added to these functions in the Tokugawa period. At those times journey along the Japanese five main roads (Gokaido) was not only rather a reliable means of commujnication, but also kind of fascinating. Roadside postal stations remained in Japanese national consciousness as exiting places of interest. Travel served as an escape from the heavy life of Japanese people, full of conventionalities, strict duties and regulations, transferring them to pleasant reflections and entertainment. In the Tokugawa era travelling was a long and rather unproductive occupation; its philosophy corresponded to the general logic and culture of that time. The railroads of Meiji epoch brought new dimensions to life, customs and culture of the Japanese. They created favourable conditions, removing the mental obstacles in mastering high European standards and way of life. As soon as railway traffic had been established, the united time scheme starts to be used in all the country, which was a novelty. The unified time contributed not only to the precision of the railway traffic, but accustomed people to more dynamism and rhythm of business life. This measure created one of the numerous conditions for the success of industrialization, modernization, and westernization of the country.

To decarbonize the economy it is not enough to adopt renewable energy sources alone. The opportunities of "clean" electric power are not unlimited. Fossil fuel continues to dominate in industrial technological processes, transport and in housing sector. A need arises in alternative synthetic fuel with the minimum carbon footprint. Such fuel is possible to produce from various raw materials through chemical reactions with the use of "clean" electric power from renewable sources. In the foreseeable future "green" methanol seems to be the synthetic fuel which is the easiest to obtain without changing the existing infrastructure.