Current issues of modern migration policy of Russia have been analyzed. It reflects the current state and trends of migration processes in the country on the basis of official statistical data from 2023-2024. On the basis of empirical data and information, the risks and dangers of the modern migration state in Russia have been actualized, and recommendations for improving the system have been developed. The article concludes that Russia’s migration policy is characterized by a rather loyal and liberal approach, which makes it possible to trace relatively open and “easy” opportunities for foreign citizens to arrive and stay in the state territory, in particular, for their labor and other economic activities. The policy is aimed at filling demographic issues and filling the labor market with relatively cheap workers from Central Asian countries without considering the consequences of socio-cultural adaptation and integration of foreign citizens into Russian society. The new migration policy paradigm proposes legal, administrative, and organizational measures to compensate for these issues.

Theoretical analysis of the youth policy at university concept within the framework of the public administration theory has been carried out. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the methodological approach to building a model of youth policy implementation management at university. Different approaches to the youth policy definition in Russian and foreign scientific literature, as well as in the public administration theory have been considered. The ways of youth policy development considering the stakeholder approach have been investigated. The authors’ vision of the essence of the youth policy in higher education institution concept in the context of strategic development of higher education system has been proposed. The principles of youth policy formation based on the matrix model have been developed, according to which the solution of youth issues should be accompanied by the integration of the policy elements in all strategies, programs, and projects at different levels of university management. A methodological approach based on the subject-object paradigm has been proposed, which contributes to creating a sustainable model of youth policy development at university. This approach is aimed at strengthening the importance of youth policy and includes tasks that increase an educational organization competitiveness.

Digitalization as part of the trends of accelerating scientific and technological progress and transition to Industry 4.0 determines the need to pay increased attention to creating conditions for human capital development. Competition for human capital in a globalized market becomes similar to competition for other forms of capital and becomes global in nature. In such conditions, there is a growing need for business process owners to be aware of key trends in human capital development, distinctive features of labor market participants, and effective methods of its attraction. The subject of the study is the main trends in human capital development in the modern IT market, the purpose is to identify and systematize the manifestations of the IT market influence on the processes of human capital development and implementation. The research methodology includes the human capital development concepts, as well as the interpretation of analytical data on its development trends in the digital economy. The content analysis method, as well as the method of synthesis for formulating conclusions were applied. The main trends in human capital development in the modern IT market include a shift in emphasis towards soft skills, digital literacy as a universal competence, the active role of personnel in self-development, expansion of opportunities to acquire competencies (e-learning and digital universities), development of competencies within companies, and involvement of Generation Z representatives in labor relations. The scope of the obtained results application includes specialists of HR departments of IT companies, management, and authorities, whose sphere of activity includes the issues of human capital development.

The smart city concept in the context of the Russian reality has been studied, and the key issues and prospects of its implementation have been revealed. The main obstacle to building smart cities in Russia is the lack of clear political will both at the federal and regional levels. Despite the existence of the Digital Economy state program, including smart cities, its performance indicators do not reflect the level of digital readiness of settlements. It has been proposed to develop new indicators for objective assessment of cities in the country. Within the framework of state and municipal management it is necessary to study the interaction models in smart cities, such as vertical, horizontal, and hybrid. The indicators system for assessing such settlements has been described, which considers not only technological aspects, but also social and economic factors that play a key role in creating a comfortable urban environment. The coefficients definition for each category of indicators allows to adapt the system to the specifics of particular cities. Transparency and accessibility of monitoring results contribute to the residents’ involvement in the process of city management. Implementation of such a system of indicators will improve the quality of citizens’ life, ensure sustainable development of urban infrastructure, and make smart city a reality, capable of responding to the challenges of time.

The purpose of the study is to reveal the existing trends, contradictions, and patterns in functioning and development of interregional and inter-municipal cooperation institutions. Contradictions in the encountered institutions functioning have been highlighted in their powers and performance. Among the trends in the institutions development the following have been noted: management decentralization, strengthening of the regional and municipal authorities role in planning and implementation of spatial development projects, vector for strengthening sustainability, sustainable development principles integration in strategies and projects that allows to consider not only economic and environmental aspects in planning, but also social ones, strengthening of innovativeness and financing of interregional and inter-municipal cooperation institutions, spatial development management digitalization, public participation in solving problems of improving interregional and inter-municipal cooperation, and strengthening of international cooperation in relevant projects implementation. Among the patterns in the institutions development it is necessary to define their focus on functioning in the context of horizontal links globalization, growth of development sustainability and population mobility, digitalization and innovativeness, ensuring security on the basis of risk management, which implies legal integration and standards harmonization, intensive exchange of the best projects, activation of local authorities and population in projects implementation. The author’s proposals for improving institutions in modern conditions include transition to the project approach, reorientation of the policy in this area to ensure mutual benefit, and priority in supporting projects of inter-territorial importance, capable of ensuring territorial connectivity and unity of economic space.

Specially protected natural areas are unique sites that attract a significant number of tourists due to their natural beauty and ecological value. The issues of legal regulation of tourism in such areas is becoming critical to ensure a balance between natural ecosystems preservation and tourism infrastructure expansion. A comprehensive study of legal aspects makes it possible to identify ways to improve legislation and eliminate administrative barriers, which is necessary for the sector’s sustainable development. The issue is of paramount importance in the context of modern challenges related to environmental safety and the need to actively attract investment in the tourism industry. Legal regulation of tourism and recreational activities in specially protected natural areas in Russia has been analyzed. The issues of legislation instability and administrative barriers affecting the domestic tourism industry development, especially in the context of restrictions on outbound tourism, have been studied. The changes in the legislation on protected areas, which came into force in 2023, and their impact on ecological tourism development have been considered. The conflict of interests between the environmental community and business in the context of new legal norms implementation, as well as intractable issues of interpretation of the “tourist routes” and “trails” concepts, their categorization, and the need to be accompanied by guides have been analyzed. Recommendations on improving the conceptual apparatus and developing bylaws to eliminate legal uncertainty have been given. Law enforcement and organizational issues arising in recreational facilities construction wit hin the boundaries of specially protected natural areas have been studied, and ways to solve them have been proposed.

The peculiarities of development of various branches of economy in the mountain territories of the Republic of Dagestan have been considered. Geographical, climatic, and socio-economic conditions of these areas have a significant impact on their development. The current state of economic sectors in the mountain territories of the Republic of Dagestan has been analyzed. Special attention has been paid to the factors affecting economic development of the region such as lack or high degree of wear and tear of infrastructure, insufficiency of both public and private investment, as well as lack of personnel. Promising sectors of the mountain zone of the constituent entity have been identified such as agriculture, industry, tourism, and folk arts and crafts. Recommendations have been given on increasing economic activity efficiency and improving investment climate in the mountain territories of the region, aimed at ensuring sustainable development and improving the standard of living of the local population. The article concludes that it is necessary to solve a number of problems that hinder development of mountain territories of the Republic of Dagestan. In particular, it is worth implementing measures aimed at deve loping infrastructure, attracting extra-budgetary investments, training qualified personnel, promoting tourism opportunities, and expanding measures of state support for business activities in the mountain territories.

Import dependence is the oldest problem that has been faced by various states. Back in the Middle Ages, Russia faced the issues of deficit of products and certain technologies, which were compensated by import. Starting from 2014, it became obvious that certain sectors of the economy are highly dependent on imported technologies and a number of foreign goods, which formed trends for the import substitution policy development. Despite domestic technological solutions implementation, their qualitative characteristics do not allow to ensure the required level of competitiveness in the global market. The purpose of the study is to assess the current indicators of import substitution in Russia. When solving the tasks set in the research paper, the author used general scientific and special research methods such as system approach (to determine the import substitution directions), analysis and synthesis (to study the import substitution indicators), deduction and induction (to analyze the issues), and statistical analysis (to analyze statistical indicators on the import substitution policy implementation) methods. The key indicators of import substitution in Russia have been analyzed. It has been concluded that the main priority of the domestic import substitution policy is to reduce the share of imports in the structure of goods supply and to develop the country’s export potential.

In modern world there are many problems that require solving various political, economic, social, and other issues at the international level. It is for this purpose that international meetings of countries are held in various formats such as the Group of Seven (G7), the Group of Ten (G10), the Group of Twenty (G20), etc. The prerequisite for the G20 creation was the Asian financial crisis of the second half of the 1990s, after which it was decided to hold the G20 forum with the participation of finance ministers and central bank governors of countries to discuss and make decisions on global economic and financial issues. The purpose of the study is to analyze the evolution and role of the G20 in modern context. The analysis of the evolution of organizational issues and major decisions at the G20 meetings has been carried out, decisions on the issues of disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system, conducting a special military operation in Ukraine, on finance, employment, education, digital economy, agriculture, health, trade, and a number of other issues have been touched upon. The global role of decisions taken at the G20 meetings in the current conditions and in the future has been emphasized.

Creative economies contribution to the total gross domestic product of countries has been analyzed. Issues have been identified in students preparation in higher education institutions in terms of creative competencies formation, considering existing market features and challenges. Creative economy market analysis has been carried out, as a result of which a shortage of qualified specialists has been found. The relevance of the issue of forming creative competencies among future specialists has been substantiated, considering current requirements and recommendations of industry enterprises representatives. A solution to the issue of personnel shortage has been proposed based on implementation of new and processing existing educational approaches, considering the digital transformation trends in the Russia. The digital transformation impact on a future specialist’s competencies, considering the industry demands, has been established. The necessity of changing the traditional approach to organizing educational process in the context of the post-industrial information society is substantiated. A new approach to the development of creative abilities and the effective use of the creative potential of students of educational institutions of higher education has been proposed. The key competencies of management personnel have been systematized. Based on an expert assessment, the key creative skills of a manager in the era of digital transformation have been identified. Priority tasks have been identified, the solution of which will contribute to forming an effective system of creative training of managerial personnel.

The purpose of the study is to identify and assess the key factors in dynamics of Russia’s coal export to Europe in 2014–2023 in the context of the EU green agenda, transforming energy balance of its member states in terms of reducing their non-ecological energy consumption and coal imports, as well as the use of coal by economic sectors, including the steel industry of the leaders in steel production and the EU’s largest CO₂ emitters such as Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Poland. The dynamics of Russia’s coal production and export, the geographical structure of coal supplies, price trends, and the dynamics of Europe’s coal consumption and import have been analyzed. The relevance of the green energy transition in the EU and its contradictions in the context of coal import growth in Europe in 2021–2022 have been determined. The nature and dynamics in certain countries’ dependence, including “dirty” economies, on coal import from Russia has been assessed. As an additional destabilizing factor, the 2022 sanctions have been considered, which provoked the growth of Russia’s coal export to Turkey and along the Asian vector, as well as the reorientation of Europe to other exporters, primarily the USA, Australia, and Colombia as the key beneficiaries of the restrictions imposed by the EU. The prospects for Russia’s coal export to Europe have been assessed in the context of boosting current trends, given the objective need of most countries for cheap raw materials.

Historically low interest rates and active stimulation of national economies through the large-scale use of quantitative easing techniques by central banks have led to a rapid increase in financial assets value on world markets. The Russian economy is experiencing rapid growth in real estate values, prices for durable goods, and general inflation. All these factors have led to a large-scale increase in brokerage accounts and active growth of private investors on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange. As the number of the latter grows, their savings, which are redirected into investments in the financial market, have an increasing weight in shaping trends in the Russian market. At the same time, there is a need to understand the existing risks and methods of dealing with them. Consequently, there is a growing need for a systematic and strategic approach, methods, and criteria for assessing the investment attractiveness of companies. In addition, the struggle among public companies on the Russian stock market is intensifying, and the issue of improving investment attractiveness and business efficiency and developing tools to implement these processes is becoming more and more urgent.

The Regional Investment Standard was created in order to reduce regional differentiation in terms of investment volume and equalize conditions for investors and the investment climate in general. The purpose of the innovation is quite relevant given the significant fragmentation of the Russian regions and the huge difference in business development conditions for potential investors. The trend to reduce stratification by spatial factor must inevitably include conditions equality for economic activity for everyone. It is no less important to improve the effectiveness of the very instruments of impact on the investment climate, i.e. the Regional Investment Standard. The purpose of the study is to analyze the investment standard effectiveness in regional investment activity, i.e. to identify the extent to which the standard implementation has actually contributed to the investment growth in regions. As a part of the solution to the issue, it has been assumed that the tools for improving investment project implementation efficiency should be linked to the investment activity dynamics statistics at the regional level. Otherwise, there is a risk that the Standard will remain in the realm of declarative indices.

Financial control is critical to financial management at any level, ensuring the sound functioning of the system. Improvement of this function contributes to increase in efficiency of resource utilization and growth of speed of response to changes. The financial control organization aspects in such an integration form as a holding company have been studied. The issues faced by management companies of holdings when realizing the function of internal financial control have been determined. Based on the study results, an approach to current financial control automation in a holding company has been proposed: the algorithm of data collection and the format of its processing have been described, as well as approaches to automation of reporting forms for stakeholders in order to present the main trends and factors of deviations necessary for further management decisions. Practical significance of the study lies in the described approach accessibility in terms of the cost of its implementation and maintenance, as well as the maximum speed of data collection and processing in holdings with a branched structural organization. The research used bibliographic and logical analysis methods and a systematic approach.

The dynamics of the WACC indicator of Russian real sector companies has been assessed. The purpose of the study is to assess the dynamics of the capital cost of Russian companies and how it will affect their decisions. The required return on equity has been calculated based on the data of public trading on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange using the CAPM model. The model uses the key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation as the risk-free rate. The return on borrowed capital has been estimated based on the yield on corporate bonds. The dynamics of the average capital cost for the Russian real sector companies has been obtained. The capital cost has been declining since 2022, but since the summer of 2023 it has been growing, especially sharply for companies with a fairly high level of debt, which was caused by the increase in the key rate. Continuation of the current policy of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and a likely further increase in the key rate may lead to a significant reduction in investments of Russian companies with high levels of debt. With the rising cost of debt capital, organizations with high levels of debt will have to spend more on servicing it and use their remaining profits to reduce debt levels, which will negatively affect their investment programs size.

The issue of leasing financial risks insurance in project financing has been considered, which consists in the lack of wide spread of this type of insurance in the Russian market. The purpose of the study is to propose recommendations for credit organizations to reduce the impact on the leasing process, which would contribute to a wider spread of financial risk insurance. Within the framework of using the system, comparative, and logical analysis methods it has been established that today leasing is one of the most promising types of attracting financing, as well as one of the tools of project financing. The increase in leasing transactions in Russia entails an increase in demand for insurance of such transactions, so the leasing object insurance is carried out in almost every transaction. At the same time, financial risks are not covered by insurance, despite the demand from lessors. One of the barriers to the spread of leasing financial risks insurance in project financing is credit organizations, which establish strict control over this process, depriving lessors and lessees of choice. Recommendations for credit organizations to reduce their influence on the leasing process in order to accumulate experience of financial risks insurance by insurance companies have been offered. The study of the issue will allow this type of investment activity to become more attractive for all participants of the transaction, and the step-by-step solution of the issues related to banking regulation of the leasing process will contribute to experience accumulation in such risks insurance.

The article presents the results of theoretical and empirical research into interrelationship of the volunteerism and solidarity concepts in sociology, and the former has been considered as a form of assistance and support for those in need, and the latter as an ideological justification of this assistance, a link that allows citizens to rally around a common good goal. Both concepts, being direct attributes of civil society, allow to strengthen social ties and promote formation of indifferent attitude to social transformations. Theoretical and methodological basis of the study was formed by the approaches of domestic and foreign authors such as M. Weber, E. Durkheim, P. Sorokin, T. Parsons, A. Schütz, D. Alexander, P. Kropotkin, V. Lenin, K. Biderman, V. Jeffries, T. Lisovskaya, I. Mersiyanova, L. Yakobson, M. Pevnaya, G. Bodrenkova, and T. Nezhina. The most popular motives for engaging in volunteer activities have been analyzed, and various approaches to the definition of the volunteerism and solidarity concepts have been considered. The associative survey and content analysis of search queries on the “volunteerism” and “solidarity” words-markers have been conducted, and on their basis a scheme of their interrelationship and a synquain as a consequence of their logical dependence have been drawn up. As a result of two concepts of sociological science comparison such as volunteerism and solidarity it has been established that they are inseparable, and volunteer activity is a consequence of social solidarity. The necessity of forming stable links between a joint idea and action, which contributes to strengthening of social ties among people and civil society development, has been substantiated.

The relevance of studying attitudes towards ethnic entrepreneurship is due to its increasing role not only as an economic but also as a social phenomenon in the globalization process. Such a group as student youth has been chosen for the study, since one of its key characteristics is a low level of tolerance, which can be expressed in the lack of tolerant attitudes towards social groups, including ethnic groups. The migrant and national approaches to understanding ethnopreneurship have been distinguished, the classification of which depends on the actor or product orientation. The purpose of the study is to reveal students’ attitudes towards ethnic entrepreneurship and the factors influencing it. The study was based on the results of a survey of student youth aged 18–24 years old. The following factors have been analyzed – gender, age group, and course of study. Students’ attitudes towards ethnopreneurship have been studied through analyzing the following empirical indicators: understanding of the ethnic entrepreneurship essence, willingness to purchase and reasons for purchasing ethnic goods, and attitudes towards ethnic products. The presence of blurring of the boundaries of the ethnic entrepreneurship concept has been established. Students have a high level of interest in authentic products of ethnopreneurship. The results of the conducted research on the attitude of student youth to ethnopreneurship can be useful for marketing strategies and can also contribute to building constructive intercultural communication.

The methodology for analyzing interrelationship of marriage and divorces to fertility has been proposed, approbation of which has been carried out on the basis of the modern system of statistical accounting, which allowed to form a unique system of statistical indicators of marriage and divorce. A number of indicators complement the traditional methodology of marriage and divorce tables calculation. The algorithms for obtaining the indicators proposed for implementation (in particular, the cumulative marriage rate of divorcees, the level of divorces compensation by legal remarriages, etc.) have been prescribed, and their estimations have been made, which substantiates the scientific significance of the study. The methodology makes it possible to assess the impact of marriage and divorce rates on fertility, to identify the impact of measures of state assistance to families on the change in the number of marriages, divorces, and births, and also makes it possible to justify new measures of demographic policy aimed at increasing the marriage rate and reducing the divorce rate. The author’s approach considers the current trends in the analyzed demographic processes characteristic of Russia, which determines its predictive capabilities. It indicates high practical significance of the research results in the context of the search for fertility growth reserves in the light of the implemented family and demographic policy and achieving Russia’s national development strategies.

Responsibility features of multiprofile assistance organization specialists (on the example of Sistema-112 operators) with different job satisfaction level have been considered. The direct comparison of groups of specialists with low, average, and high job satisfaction on separate scales of the OTV-70 questionnaire has been carried out, and interrelations among OTV-70 scales, I.G. Senin’s questionnaire of terminal values, and E.V. Kharitonova’s questionnaire of socio-professional demand for personality, as well as S.R. Pantileev’s methodology of self-relationship research have been revealed. It has been shown that operators with low job satisfaction in comparison with their colleagues with average and high levels more superficially understand the essence and significance of responsibility in the life of a human and society, less often do tasks, receive less positive emotions while doing it, are less eager to do it out of the desire to be a part of their team, and are less interested in the tasks result both for others and for themselves. In the correlative pleiad, the system-forming element in them is the emotional component of responsibility. In operators with average job satisfaction the responsibility components are correlated with the subjective professional demand indicators, in operators with high level - with negative self-esteem and subjective professional demand indicators.

The results of the empirical study of social and psychological adaptation of foreign students from non-CIS (Asian, African, and Middle Eastern countries) and near abroad countries have been presented. The relevance of the study is conditioned by the importance of successful adaptation for foreign students studying in Russian universities, as well as by the insufficient study of the specifics of students’ adaptation to learning in a foreign cultural environment. Due to cultural differences, the adaptation process may have different success rates. The study involved 62 foreign students who came to get education in Russia. The age of the respondents ranged from 17 to 28 years old, 58 % of students came to Russia from near abroad countries, and 42 % came from countries that were not part of the Soviet Union at the time of its collapse. For the social and psychological adaptation study we used the “Adaptation of personality to a new social and cultural environment” questionnaire and methodology by L.V. Yankovsky. It has been found that foreign students who came to study from non-CIS countries adapt to Russian universities much worse and are at greater risk of social and psychological maladaptation than students from near abroad countries.

The use of the design thinking technology, which is effectively implemented in the educational process and increases the adaptive potential of teachers and students, has been considered. The study was conducted during 2023–2024 in educational institutions of Astrakhan such as Secondary General Education School No. 12, Secondary General Education School No. 8, and Astrakhan State University. The number of subjects amounted to 90 people, including 25 school teachers, 25 university teachers, and 40 graduate students of Astrakhan State University (during the period of their practical courses). ‘Adaptability’ Multilevel Personality Questionnaire by A.G. Maklakov and S.V. Chermyanin method and the Personal Adaptation Potential Scale were used as the main methods. The methods of Behavior Self-Regulation Style by V.I. Morosanova and Coping Behavior in Stressful Situations by S. Norman, D. Endler, D. James, M. Parker (adapted by T.A. Kryukova) were used. To study the design thinking technology the following methods were applied: E. Torrence’s test to identify figurative creativity (creative potential) and N. Vishnyakova’s Creativity test. Personal adaptive potential can be investigated by applying the design thinking technology. Knowledge of the specifics of the content and structural organization of personal adaptation potential can be used in educational activities to increase the adaptation potential of students, teachers, and professors. Some variables of personal adaptive potential, such as flexibility of activity and result assessment, modeling, and planning, reliably change during design thinking application in all groups of subjects and increase personal adaptive potential.

The relevance of the study is due to the fact that digital transformation of vocational education requires revision and elaboration of digital educational technologies psychodidactics, particularly in adult learning. The purpose of the study is to determine the psychodynamic features of digital technologies for professional development of adult personality within the framework of additional vocational education. The main objectives of the study contributed to the goal achievement: to analyze the scientific and practical literature on the research issue; to identify the psychodynamic features of digital technologies in adult learning; to determine the relationship of digital technologies of vocational learning and self-development of adult personality on the basis of integration of digital didactics, andragogy, and psychodynamic. Research methods are theoretical and system-logical analysis of digital technologies for adult personality development, practical analysis and synthesis, and results generalization method. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the promising digital technologies for professional development of a modern worker’s personality and their distinctive features (target orientation, reliability, and openness), contributing to personal and professional development of adults and psychodidactic transformation of the digital educational environment of additional vocational education, have been identified. The literature on the issues of psychodidactics of vocational education, digital didactics, and psychodidactics, and on the issues of digital technologies application in training and development of adult learners has been analyzed. The peculiarities of open Internet resources that allow to determine the educational potential of digital technologies have been revealed. Psychodidactic elements of digital technologies for professional development of adult personality have been revealed. The system-structural interrelationships of digital and traditional educational technologies for professional learning and self-development of adult personality have been determined.

The issue of marital relations in infertile marriages that experience difficulties in conceiving a child for unknown (unspecified) reasons has been analyzed. In the study aimed at identifying the peculiarities of interspousal relations, 312 married couples with women having unspecified infertility took part. The degree of satisfaction of men and women with marriage, differences in assessments of their well-being (methodology of V.V. Stolin, G.P. Butenko and T.L. Romanova), features of communication between spouses (questionnaire of Yu.Ye. Aleshina, L.Ya. Gozman, E.M. Dubovskaya), type of communication system in family (methodology of T.I. Bonkalo), and dyadic coping strategies of spouses (scale of M. Bowman in the adaptation of E.V. Kuftyak) have been studied. It has been revealed that interspousal relations in infertile marriages are quite diverse and changeable. At the same time, the characteristics similar for the majority of married couples are a decrease in the ability of spouses to create a comfortable atmosphere in interpersonal communications and to establish psychological contact with each other, indirect type of communication system, and lack of unity of views on the ideal marriage and interpersonal relations. In such families a wide variety of relationships can be formed depending on the types of their personality, conditioned by the peculiarities of childhood experience and perception of the parental family. It has been concluded that it is expedient and necessary to conduct further research aimed at identifying the personality types of women with psychological infertility and the factors determining the formation of their respective typological features in order to clarify the regularities of their interaction with their spouses.