The article analyzes the impact of the economic sanctions of 2022–2023 on the financing for oil and gas projects in the Russian Arctic. The relevance of the topic is attributed to the importance of developing the Arctic oil and gas potential for the energy sector, which is a pivotal industry for the Russian economy. The Arctic zone contains a significant part of Russian and global hydrocarbon reserves. The economic and political feasibility of their development is increasing amid the resource depletion in the traditional production basins and the shift of energy consumption сenters to the Asia-Pacific countries. The author considers the role of the oil and gas industry in the global and national economy, identifies the specific features of the oil and gas projects in the Arctic climatic conditions, analyzes the main economic sanctions affecting the financing for the projects. The assessment of their impact on the Arctic LNG 2 and Vostok Oil projects is also provided. The research is based on the methods of systemic, statistical and comparative analysis, economic analysis, case method and risk assessment. The author concludes that the imposed sanctions have significantly limited the opportunities for financing for the oil and gas investment projects in the Russian Arctic. However, the impact of sanctions may be quite moderate in the short run, while the lack of financing may lead to a change in the timelines and scale of ongoing projects on the horizon of 5–10 years.

For the region of Northern Europe the beginning of 2022 was marked by an important event — the application of Finland and Sweden for membership in the NATO military alliance. For both countries the move signified the end of decades of the neutrality policy, and the North Atlantic Alliance expansion would be relatively significant for the first time since 2009. One of the main features of Finland’s and Sweden’s process of joining NATO was the desire of both countries’ administrations to achieve the Alliance membership simultaneously. Due to certain difficulties that had risen on the international level and prevented Sweden from becoming a member of the organization swiftly, the Finnish administration made the ultimate decision to join NATO independently from Sweden. The decision was connected with the abandonment of the principle of “special relations” between Sweden and Finland. The approval of the NATO membership bill during its ratification in the Finnish parliament was not unanimous. Several lawmakers spoke out against the country’s integration with NATO. This and other factors testify to the controversial attitude to NATO in the Finnish society. “The Kurdish issue” was among the important aspects of Finland’s North Atlantic Alliance joining process. Prior to 2022 Finland along with Sweden adhered to the position of supporting various Kurdish groups that were recognized in Turkey as terrorist organizations. Finland also took in a lot of Kurdish refugees and provided political asylum to some of them. The Turkish authorities were dissatisfied with those actions hence in May 2022 Turkey blocked the NATO membership application of the Finnish republic. “The Kurdish issue” was not fully resolved, but the sides managed to reach a compromise.

In the context of a changing world order, the development of regional integration processes is an important trigger for the inclusion of countries in the world economy and increasing the sustainability of national economies. Integration processes contribute to deepening of the interdependence of different countries, as well as to the expansion of the influence of world economic relations on national economic systems. At the same time, tendency towards the erosion of institutions and mechanisms of multilateral (global) trade and the formation of preferential regional and interregional trade agreements (partners in which are often not only individual countries, but also integration blocs), has become one of the characteristic features of modern international economic relations. The Eurasian Economic Union, as an international organization for regional economic integration, makes efforts to expand geographical boundaries of foreign economic ties, with the aim of developing relations with the economic integration groupings and individual countries throughout the world. With the same purpose EAEU member states pay attention to the development of relations with the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), considering regional countries as promising partners for mutually beneficial cooperation. This article is devoted to the study of trade relations between the countries of the EAEU and Latin America. Special attention is paid to the trade and economic relations of Armenia and Kazakhstan with Latin American countries. The choice of these two states is not accidental, since they are relatively active in the Latin American direction and complement the policy of the Russian Federation aimed at deepening cooperation with the LAC. The author concludes that these countries have the potential for further development of trade and economic relations, the implementation of which requires overcoming, first of all, logistical obstacles and tariff barriers.

Through vigorous economic development in recent decades, China has become one of the world’s leading economies and a major player in the international arena. The strengthening economic potential has caused a significant increase in the demand for energy resources. Therefore, the need for an effective energy policy has also increased. The PRC uses fossil energy resources such as coal, oil and natural gas as its main energy sources. Fossil energy sources are currently important for maintaining the country’s energy balance. Moreover, one of the important objectives of energy policy is to reduce the environmental risks associated with the overuse of the coal industry. The coal industry poses a serious threat to the environment, as emissions of biogenic methane and carbon dioxide from fuel combustion lead to a greenhouse effect. In this regard, China is actively developing alternative energy sources that will be beneficial for this period of economic development, namely the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas are among the main sources of energy in the PRC today. China currently occupies an important position in the global oil and gas market, having a significant impact on prices in these sectors. Every year, the country purchases significant amounts of oil and gas from global markets and uses them in various sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, transport and energy. In addition, China is actively developing oil and gas infrastructure and investing in exploration and production activities to meet its own energy needs. In this regard, the article studies the oil and gas industry of the PRC, considers the main indicators of oil and gas production, imports and consumption, and analyses the existing development trends and problems of this industry.

The article examines such a phenomenon of American politics as the party platform. The article reflects its features in comparison with European interpretations of the concept of “party program”. The author’s definition of the concept “party platform” is given, which is based on a consideration of the definitions of domestic and foreign policy researchers of the concept “party program”. The article focuses on the foreign policy parts of the platforms of the main US political parties. The ideological approaches and conditions that influence the formation of the foreign policy part of the party platform are considered (from factors such as political expediency to the personal views of US presidential candidates). An example of a comparative analysis of the foreign policy parts of the platforms of the US Republican and Democratic parties is given. Based on a comparative analysis of the foreign policy parts of the platforms of the main US political parties, the author proposes his own methodology for determining the similarities and differences of party platforms. This methodology allowed the author of the article to plot the similarities and differences in the foreign policy approaches of the US Republican and Democratic parties from 2000 to 2020. The comparative analysis carried out by the author allows us to say that the platforms of the main US political parties can be used to analyze the foreign policy course of different US administrations and make forecasts on Washington’s foreign policy.

The article analyzes the confessional rift in Ukraine as a projection of the global geopolitical process. The nature of the repressive policy of official Kyiv in relation to canonical Orthodoxy is considered in detail. The unprecedented pressure that the state institutions of Ukraine and the neo-nazi formations supported by them are currently exerting on Ukraine’s largest traditional confession, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is a consequence of the gradual introduction of long-term geopolitical stratagems of the opponents of the Russian World. The author believes that the open support from the collective West of the arbitrariness of the Kyiv regime in the confessional space of Ukraine should be considered in the light of the fundamental geopolitical tasks of the Euro-Atlantic structures. The author comes to the conclusion that their goal is the final disorientation of the Ukrainian society, ensuring the unhindered colonization of a number of Ukrainian territories, turning them into a stable zone of Western interests, openly hostile to Russia. It is natural that representatives of other traditional confessions are also victims of the ethno-confessional policy of official Kyiv. Today, in the world community, all people of common sense should unite in defense of the fundamental principle of freedom of conscience, which fully meets the criteria of basic human rights, enshrined in the fundamental acts of international law.

The article examines Arctic thrillers, action films and fantasy films. Presented kaleidoscope of horror, drama, thriller, science fiction and action films, with all its plot differences, is united by almost a single location, the Arctic north. Against his background, all maginable and unimaginable events occur. It enhances or weakens the role of what is happening with its whiteness, making the viewer’s screen even whiter. This is an artistic space in which characters are placed and actions, are performed. The silence of the Arctic is its action. The films reviewed are extremely different, responding to the spirit of the time when they were filmed. Their placement about genres is conditional since they all have a cinematic hybridity. Each tape combines all kinds of genres under consideration. We tried to correlate a number of films with temporary political-social processes.