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This story crosses two continents and takes place in Russia and the United States. It is unique as it follows my emotional responses to events that took place first, during my childhood and later, during transformational and volatile periods in the history of Russia. Simultaneously, the story should resonate with any woman who experienced adversity, was rerouted from her native place, had to witness collective upheavals of her people, and came to realize a strong connection between her experiences and her leadership path. This is the story of a bicultural woman’s courage, hope, and resilience.

This article discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the demand and preferences of tourists in Russia. Tourists are the important part of the tourism industry, the most affected by COVID-19, because they are not only limited in moving and free choice of vacation destinations but also experience the economic consequences of the pandemic. However, the industry has already adapted to the current realities of the pandemic period, and tourists largely accept closed borders, mandatory vaccination requirements and PCR tests as an integral part of a modern tourist trip.

In Russia, the tourism industry has received a significant development boost despite the expected crisis consequences. The efforts of the authorities to stimulate domestic tourism and the lack of alternatives for vacations contributed to the fact that in 2020–2021 the domestic tourist flow increased by several times.

Article is aimed at studying the changes in tourist motivation and preferences of Russian tourists made by ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, will Russians still want to travel across their country after the pandemic is over? And what is currently influencing their choice of vacation forms and destinations? The survey revealed changes in the tourists' choice of vacation destinations, preferences in forms of activity and duration of travel, decrease of interest in package tours and rise of individual trips as well as the stable degree of satisfaction with vacations in Russia.

To answer this question, we examined the results of public opinion survey, carried out by All-Russian Centre for the Public Opinion Study and Association of Russian Tour operators. To confirm these results, we conducted own tourist opinion survey and analysed reviews on popular travel platforms in Russia. Today the tourism industry is in uncertainty and it is impossible to predict its development and tourist motivation in long-term perspective. This makes the study promising for continuation in the long term.

Yet, at the beginning of the 21st century, Russia has found itself in search of a lost national identity. The communist regime has collapsed, country has broken into separate nations and it has suffered a decade of deep social reform. Russian identity inevitably is, and should be, multidimensional. Russian self-perception and self-value vis-à-vis the West is an important component of this identity. The combined (but internally split) essence of Russian civilization is often defined as Eurasian. For years, Russian civilization was a mixture of European and Asian. The School of Eurasianism, which interprets Russia’s relationship with Europe and Asia, has recently been rejuvenated, based on the work of Russian political classical thinkers like N. Danilevskyi, N. Berdyaev, L. Gumilev, L. Karsavin, V. Illyin, P. Savitskyi, and N. Trubetskoy. Classical Eurasianism is aimed at overcoming the seemingly irreconcilable contradiction between the well known Slavophil and Westerner schools. Through this dialogue, debates about Russian policy toward the West have returned (after decades of Soviet ideology), seeking a middle path between the purity of Slavophils and the extremist Westerner views.

This chapter considers anti-Russia sanctions and their role in the country’s sustainable development. The authors consider sanctions against Russia in the general context of restrictive measures as an instrument of international economic activity. The nature of the anti-Russia sanctions is analyzed in the chapter. A chronology of the introduction of restrictive measures against Russia is discussed. The authors consistently examine the negative consequences and positive aspects of the anti-Russia sanctions in the general political and economic context. Due to duplicitous implications of the sanctions, attention is paid to the import phaseout policy, which has been proclaimed and implemented by Russia. In addition, reciprocal restrictive measures (counter-sanctions), which are introduced by Russia in response to the actions against the country, have been considered in the chapter. Regarding the Russian economy as an inherent part of the world economy, the authors present their conclusions on how reciprocal restrictive measures cause damage to the interests of all parties involved in the process.

To elaborate on the model terms for the effective integration in Russia's special economic zones in the long term.

The statistical method, comparative method and a formalised model of game theory are used in this research.

The research is aimed at determining the model conditions for effective integration in Russia's special economic zones. The proprietary methodology envisages the following stages: establishment of the case experience of the development of Russia's special economic zones and determination of requirements that are set to residents (players) for entrance; comparison of the functioning of players of one of the studied integration structures under the conditions of individual development and the conditions of business integration; description of advantages; development of the practical implications to improve the business strategies of residents (players). The analysis is performed based on the materials of the development of Industrial Production SEZ ‘Alabuga’ (Republic of Tatarstan) and its residents, as well as the evaluation of the system of regulation of the parameters of joining special economic zones of different types. The assessed residents of Industrial Production SEZ ‘Alabuga’ (Republic of Tatarstan) are Trakya Glass Rus and Automotive Glass Alliance Rus (in 2021, the name was changed to Shishejam Automotive Rus), which started functioning within the association in 2017.

The originality and scientific value of this research are due to the description of the specific features and perspective directions of integration in Russia's special economic zones.

What can we learn about cultures of contamination from our comparison of Russia and the United States? Three final chapters offer some perspective.

This study increases understanding of the influence of Russian culture and society on travel practices during Soviet times and now, through the subjective experiences of Russian women. Based on the life-history narratives concerning travel of Russian women who lived in the USSR and worked for the government, the study explores features of traveling during Soviet and Russian times: norms and rules, gender aspects, Russianness and habitus. Both culture and governmental restrictions and societal rules affected how women traveled in Soviet times. This study demonstrates how historical and social contexts and habitus were significant for women in the past and continue to be so in the present, as well as how they have affected these women’s travel practices. By drawing on social reality, gender literature, Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, and sociohistoric patterning of consumption from the research domain of consumer culture theory, this study seeks to fill the gap in understanding the significance of these aspects for travel practices.

In this chapter one of few studies made of banks’ internationalization process in emerging markets, focusing on behaviour relating to the political environment is presented. Aiming to understand banks’ behaviour in the Russia, an analytical framework built on the internationalization process model incorporating the impact of political environment is developed. The empirical data in the chapter concern Sweden's four largest banks’ expansion into the Russian market and is presented in form of an longitudinal cross-case study with secondary data between years 1990 and 2010, collected retrospectively. The secondary data consist of newspaper articles, annual reports and press releases. Findings show that in stable periods, Swedish banks have followed the pattern of the internationalization process model when expanding into the Russian market. In periods of instability, the banks’ behaviour is heterogenic and can be opportunistic or cautious.

The development of the Russian banking sector was subject to numerous criticisms and pessimistic forecasts in the recent years. The observers pointed out the low ability of the Russian banking sector to provide financial intermediation in the economy and thus to perform the key functions which society expects from the banking sector – mobilization of savings and financing investments in the real sector of the economy. The study seeks to explain above-mentioned features from institutional, economic, and political perspective on the basis of the existing knowledge of the nature of transition banking.