The article assesses the inequality degree within Russia in the context of realising the Sustainable Development Goals. The review of foreign and domestic scholarly writings, focusing on current issues of implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, is presented. The authors reviewed the indicators development degree of sustainable development in Russia as of December 2021. It is determined that Goal 3 “Ensure healthy lifestyles and promote well-being for all at all ages” is the most fully disclosed. Based on the National Indicators of Goals 3, an original system of statistical indicators for assessing inequality between regions has been compiled and substantiated. According to the indicators presented in the above-mentioned system, the clustering procedure of the Russian regions was carried out, and the assessment and interpretation of the selected clusters were given. The content distribution into typological groups was practically not influenced by territorial affiliation. A significant role was played by direct indicators, included in the indicator system, and indirect factors, affecting both the development of the region and the socio-economic well-being of the inhabitants of these regions. The authors believe that there remains relevant to study the transformations that the two divergent flows will take place in the coming years: 1) existing national projects and state programmes to solve the tasks and achieve the planned values formulated in the National Set of Sustainable Development Goals Indicators in the part of Goal 3; 2) the current epidemiological situation, which in the period 2020–2021 has already made tangible changes in the size and composition of the population.

The article considers the reform of the civil service in Russia 1716–1722, and it’s influence on the social processes of post-Peter Russia. The author pays particular attention to the conflict potential of the transformations carried out by Peter I in public service, thereby the most acute conflicts caused by the reforms are distinguished, and their classification and analysis of factors that directly influenced their development are given. The author interprets the events of the first fifth anniversary of the «era of palace coups» in terms of conflict science, analyses the conflicting parties social composition, the logic of their actions, the socio- political results of the confrontation. The initial value gap between the “old” and “new” bureaucracy and a number of problems, have not been solved in the reign of Peter I, are highlighted as key conflict triggers.

The article explores the principles of building a competitive specialist in adigitally transformed economy, and presents the prerequisites that justify the development of staff training through the automation of HR technologies. The interpretation of the concepts «digital economy», «EdTech», «staff training», «gamification» is given. The main barriers preventing the implementation of HR Tech solutions in organisations are showed. The use of statistical analysis and comparison methods made it possible to present the areas of HR Tech, where digitalisation most actively improves and automates processes. It has been revealed that the main drivers of efficiency in the HR sphere can be modern tools and platforms that contribute to the introduction of automation in the personnel training system. The events of recent years have led to the understanding that it will no longer be possible to work effectively without the use of new technologies, therefore, the advantages of automating learning processes are highlighted. The role and area of responsibility of the training and development manager in the process of staff training has been established. Scenarios for solving the problem of a shortage of a digital specialist have been determined.

The paper proposes a method for increasing the motivation of university teachers to work with digital technologies on the example of teaching foreign languages. The fear of complete displacement of the teacher by digital technologies leads to many ethical and psychological problems, resulting in a reluctance to use training programmes in the educational process. To increase the motivation of teachers to work in the digital environment, it is proposed to involve them in the use of digital educational technologies to adapt the work plans of disciplines to the preparation level of students entering universities. The specialists team composition required for the implementation of this method in practice has been formed. Additional factors for increasing the teachers motivation to work in a digital environment when working in a team have been shown. The proposed approach can be used in the implementation in digital educational systems of educational institutions.

The article examines the evolution of the power and governance system in the first decade after the death of Peter the Great, one of the most dramatic periods of Russian history, commonly referred to in the historical literature as the “ epoch of palace coups”. The article gives the author’s interpretation of the activities of the Supreme Privy Council to improve public administration during the reign of Catherine I and Peter II. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of events connected with the invitation to the Russian throne by the members of Supreme Privy Council of the niece of Peter the Great, the Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna, during whose reign the first attempt in the political history of Russia was made to limit the autocratic power of the monarch. The author examines the reasons for the defeat of the plan of the “supreme leaders”, who proposed to Anna Ioannovna “restrictive points” (“conditions”), formulated by Prince D.M. Golitsyn, to change the form of government in Russia, and draws some important conclusions for understanding the events. According to the author, Anna Ioannovna managed to snatch victory, relying on the support of the middle and lower nobility, primary because in Russia the middle class was always afraid of the weakening of the central government, which, as a rule, led either to anarchy or to the power of the oligarchy.

The publication presents the materials and results of the research and construction of the methodology and the methodology for formalising the tasks, procedures, functions of managing a socio-economic organisation as its main goal. Its formulation and achievement are ensured by the definition and resolution of the range of tasks for formalising the management of the formation, functioning and development of an organisation, the methods and results of solving which are considered in relation to digitalisation procedures. Their selection, description, adaptation to the requirements, conditions and possibilities of formalisation are identified, analysed and positioned in the process of substantiating the methodology, developing and testing the methodology for constructing a spectrum of the most constructive functional positions for digitalisation. The examples of their selection, definition and positioning given in the publication methodically substantiate and adaptively demonstrate the relevance of the research being conducted, the constructiveness and relevance of the results obtained.

The article discusses the use of network partnership in the process of interaction between the consultant and the client in the framework of the search, the client’s receipt of investments and further project support. Traditionally, the process of interaction between the client and the consultant is presented in such a way that only these two parties are the main participants in the consultation process. The article discusses the experience of building a multidisciplinary complex consulting process, in which many participants are involved. This experience is based on the practice of the Business Angels of Russia network community. This article analyses the practice of mainly small consulting organisations that are very different from large ones and provide significantly more customised services. The consulting related to investing funds in the client’s business is in the author’s focus. At the same time, only clients belonging to small and medium-sized enterprises naturally stand out in the work. As a rule, they do not seek advice from wellknown and renowned brands in the field of consulting services. As a rule, they do not have enough money for their services, and large consulting firms themselves choose mainly large clients to work with.

This article examines the creation and development of ecosystems in business in the Russian market. The author analyses the concept of “ecosystem” as it applies to business and describes the main ways in which the first ecosystems to emerge in the Russian market have been formed. The review and analysis of service accession to the Yandex ecosystem is carried out, and brief characteristics of its key services are given. Two main elements of any ecosystem, including Yandex, are highlighted for the user: subscription and a single user identifier (ID). Their impact on consumer behaviour and the synergistic value effect of subscriptions to services within the Yandex ecosystem for its users is described. The most effective way of attracting users to ecosystem loyalty programmes – product delivery – is highlighted and its advantages are shown. The issue of building a new ecosystem in business, comparable in scale to Yandex, is raised, and attract enough users. For this, businesses must develop and offer a unique service to the user or a unique experience different from what is currently available. Recommendations for entrepreneurs and forecasts for the further development of ecosystems in Russia are given.

Research on the business processes digital transformation is of great interest among Russian and foreign scientists. The domestic economy’s development pace at the present stage is largely associated with widespread digital transformations. Over the past decade, Russia’s innovation performance, and the pace of digitalisation, has remained at a satisfactory level, which is not in line with the global trend. Branches of the economy, corporations, and small economic entities face the problem of adapting to the digital world. In the context of the upcoming economic crisis, the growing number of threats to economic sustainability, the task of increasing the pace of digitalisation is most acute. The study considers the main technologies in the concept of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, analyses the digitalisation tools and key sectors of the domestic economy. Based on the information provided, recommendations for the business digital transformation have been formulated. Due to the relevance of the topic, the results of the study have formed the basis of subsequent researches.

The article analyses the experience of Russian education digitalisation in the context of restricting the social contacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of a survey of teachers and students of the State University of Management on the quality of education during the pandemic and the difficulties that the participants of the educational process overcame in connection with the emergency transition to the online format are presented. The problems of psychological, pedagogical, didactic, socio-psychological and technical nature that the participants of the educational process encountered when organising online learning activities have been identified by the methods of expert analysis. As a result of the analysis of respondents’ opinions and their comparison with the opinions of education researchers, a generalisation was made: despite the fact that e-education has firmly entered our lives, in the near future, at the bachelor’s level, the online learning format will not be able to replace the traditional format, since it does not provide a high quality of knowledge transfer and assimilation. At the same time, it is emphasized that the indisputable advantages of learning using electronic educational environments should not be overlooked, which aims to develop the principles and technologies of a “hybrid” bachelor’s education system, providing for a combination of online and offline formats in accordance with the requests and specific conditions of educational activities, depending on the orientation and profile of training.

The adoption of strategies for the spatial development of the Russian Federation, national and economic security has brought the study of inter-regional interactions up to date. In this regard, the authors have reviewed the theoretical and methodological approaches of domestic and foreign scientists to the issues of interregional cooperation in various branches of science and production. Interpretations of the concepts “inter-regional interaction”, “economic security” and “economic security of the region” are analysed. The role of inter-regional cooperation, especially inter-regional investment projects, as critical factors in ensuring regional economic security is emphasised. Groups of potential risks and risk-forming factors for joint inter-regional infrastructure projects are identified. Interregional projects are classified according to their scope and purpose: 1) in the production sphere; 2) projects promoting innovation; 3) projects aiming at infrastructure development. Examples of existing interregional projects in the Ural Federal District are presented. The study uses general scientific methods, in particular, analysis and synthesis. The results of the study can serve as a basis for the further development of new theoretical and methodological approaches to solving the problems of inter-regional cooperation.

The article analyses the problems of socio-political development of towns and the place of sociological research in this process, demonstrating its importance and the relevance of studying public policy at the local level. As an object of research, special attention is paid to single-industry towns due to their vulnerability to various kinds of shocks that directly affect the social and political state of the urban community. In order to reveal the specifics of the socio-political development of a single-industry town as an isolated political space, the city of Sarov was chosen. A survey (questionnaire survey) of respondents in Sarov and an expert interview were used as the main research methods. Three hypotheses regarding the factors of political and social behaviour of Sarov’s residents of were put forward in the course of the study, one of which was later confirmed. The principal features of socio-political development of a single-industry town have been revealed.

The article discusses the specificity and current trends of ecological tourism in the context of sustainable development. The authors performed a literary review of the concept of “sustainable development”, grouped the views of various authors on the definition of this concept. The modern normative-legal base of the Russian Federation in the field of steady development is analysed, the list of operating statutory acts in this sphere is revealed. The world practice of tourism development has been studied. The basic principles regulating natural ecological tourism are revealed, plans of strategic development at various levels of management are studied. The authors concluded that the current high tourism potential of the Russian Federation is underused. Ecological tourism can become one of the effective means of nature protection and formation of ecological culture.

The relevance of the article stems from the fact that in today’s world, in order to maintain a quality of life, the state must pay increased attention to the economic and social well-being of citizens, and ensure all basic material needs of the individual without conditions or restrictions. One of the instruments of economic and social support for the population is the unconditional basic income. The aim of the study is to develop the concept for applying the unconditional basic income as one of the attractive methods for addressing poverty and eliminating economic and social inequalities in the Russian Federation. The key components of the poverty’s problem and the state’s approach to tackling it were analysed. Approaches to defining the term “unconditional basic income” and the phenomenology behind the term were explored. The key factors of social life, contributing to the practical implementation of unconditional basic income, were determined. A review of the world practices of its implementation is reflected and possibilities of its application in the Russian Federation are considered.

The article examines the practice of applying various tax instruments to stimulate largescale investment processes. The purpose of the study is to analyse tax instruments to stimulate these investment processes from the point of view of their impact on the final outcome. The authors decided tasks: to consider the taxes benefits and preferences as tools for stimulating large-scale investment processes; to identify opportunities for creating the most favorable tax climate for these investment projects; to assess the possibility of expanding such a tax administration tool as tax monitoring, subject to the inclusion of organisations implementing large investment projects as taxpayers. The authors’ recommendations and conclusions can be used in the development of conceptual provisions of tax policy both at the regional and state level in the field of tax regulation of investment processes.

This article explores the economic relations between the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic, considers Russian investments in Syria, and analyses the trade turnover. Based on the results of the study and the current geopolitical situation, the prospects for the development of economic relations between the two countries are shown. Using methods of analysis, comparison and a historical approach, the author has concluded that economic relations between Russia and Syria, although quantitatively insignificant, have great prospects for development. One of the prerequisites for the development of trade between Russia and Syria is the pressure of sanctions on these countries. Commodity turnover between these countries is characterised by a much larger flow in one direction – to Syria, which is not surprising, as Syria has been under sanctions since 2011 and is still on its way to economic recovery.

In accordance with the current tax legislation, on an equal footing with organisations and individual entrepreneurs, individuals who do not have income from business pay taxes on income from labor activities in organisations and taxes on property they own: transport, land, and personal property tax, as well as other non-tax payments (housing and communal services, etc.). The article analyses the role and importance of taxes paid by individuals in the budgets of various levels, non-tax mandatory payments, their impact on the financial situation of individuals. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the payment of taxes and mandatory payments worsen the financial situation of taxpayers – individuals, and the fight against poverty has been declared a priority task of the state and local authorities. The study found that individuals, including non-working pensioners, bear a significant financial burden, which is caused, among other things, by the inability to shift the responsibility for paying taxes to someone, and therefore the number of people whose incomes are less than the subsistence level does not decrease, differentiation of the population does not decrease in terms of income. Recommendations on compensatory instruments to increase the income of the population are made.

The article discusses the results of the study of consumer attitudes towards the insurance sector in the Russian Federation. A low level of financial literacy, cases of fraud by insurers lead to the formation of a negative image of the insurance industry, even if the respondents have a positive experience of using insurance products. In world practice the relationship between reputation management of companies and their financial condition has been proven, however, a quantitative assessment of the insurance sector image has been not carried out earlier. The article offers a methodology for assessing the insurance sector image? using the author’s index, and provides an example of its calculation based on the Russian insurance market. The developed indicator will allows to objectively assess the dynamics of consumer attitudes to insurance, and to conduct a cross-country comparison of the indicator.

The article discusses the possibilities of developing trade cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. The purpose of the work is to identify and analyse specific sectors of the economy that may offer potential interest in the event of the creation of a free trade zone between integration associations. As a result of the study, potential opportunities for trade and economic cooperation in the agro-industrial complex were identified. The methods of analysis and comparison of data from information and analytical materials on the advantages and trends of foreign trade relations of the EAEU and GCC countries were used. The state of the matter at the political level is indicated, as well as the main barriers and potential risks to the growth of trade. The relevance of the work lies in the need to diversify foreign trade partners and ensure the sustainability of economic growth for the integration associations under consideration in the conditions of macroeconomic turbulence, global disruption of supply chains and the general degree of high tension in international economic relations.

The article presents an analysis of the innovative and investment state in the industrial production in the Russian Federation. The indicators “production and sales” of the Russian Federation, USA, Germany and Brazil are compared. An analysis of the Global Innovation Index and its components, in the context of seven indicators in the countries under study, is presented. Russia’s place in the IMD World digital competitiveness rating, is analysed. The main methods used in the study are analysis and generalisation, and the construction of chain indices based on statistical information on industrial indicators, the Global Innovation Index and the level of assessment of the digital competitiveness of four countries. Conclusions are drawn about the impact of the studied indicators on the economy and, at the moment, the Russia’s position is not entirely positive according to these indicators. It is proposed, to include these indicators in the methodology for managing corporate innovations and investments in industry under digitalisation to improve the economic level of the country as a whole.

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of legal and economic measures aimed at state support for small and medium-sized businesses in order for them to obtain an alternative source of financing using crowdinvesting platforms, and a consimilar foreign experience research. Based on statistical data, conclusions on the crowdinvesting platforms sector’s development and its interaction with small and medium-sized businesses are presented. Within the frameworks of the article, the emphasis is placed on a detailed study of foreign experience in the providing an alternative funding source. The advantages and disadvantages of this method in the Russian context have been shown. The study involved an analysis and synthesis of domestic and foreign anti-crisis measures.

Remote audit is performed using information and communication technologies to collect, store, retrieve, process, analyse and transmit information. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, remote audits were carried out on a relatively small scale (for example, checking enterprises with hazardous production) or in case of unforeseen circumstances. During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses, regulators and households have been forced to switch to work remotely, based on existing and developing new technologies. This article analyses remote audits and their effectiveness. To do this, autors have been conducted 18 interviews with representatives of the audit profession (leading auditors, auditors) and audit clients. The result has been the identification of the main differences between the process of traditional and remote audit, difficulties and features. Based on existing methods for analysing the audits’ effectiveness, and using a balanced scorecard, we have developed a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of remote audits (including indicators that affect the effectiveness of only remote audits).

The article discusses some strategic issues related to the raising of international financing by the means of syndicated loans and eurobonds by Russian corporations. Author proposes a method for benchmarking the financial position of the company compared to its competitors. This analysis uses key performance indicators, including the debtfinancing share, credit rating, weighted average cost of capital. Crises have become a frequent occurrence in global economy. For the top-managers of the corporation, one of the key tasks during the period of economic uncertainty is the handling of communications with lenders and investors for the control of the company’s financial position. The article considers the specifics of providing the required information about company activity during the crisis. The key document is the financial model, based on the macroeconomic, industrial, and operational assumptions regarding the borrower’s operations. Using financial covenants as an example, we consider the mechanics of incorporating changes into the current loan terms, as well as the raising of new funding by using shirt-term revolving credit facilities. For the solution of one of the key strategic goals of corporate finance – execution of mergers and acquisitions transactions – we present an algorithm of raising financing by using syndicated loans and eurobonds.

The article provides a review of the study of the problem of childlessness in foreign and domestic literature is presented. The results of the author’s research, revealing the psychological characteristics of women, choosing conscious childlessness, are presented. The characteristics of women who consciously choose childlessness for themselves and women with children have been described and analysed by a questionnaire to identify the dominant instinct, the questionnaire “Reproductive Motives”, the California Psychological Questionnaire. Among the psychological traits of childfree women, dominant traits aimed at social and interpersonal relationships, abilities for status, independence and flexibility, achievement through submission and through independence prevail, etc. They are aimed at domination, control of themselves and their lives, receiving material and social benefits from life, moreover, they do not want to bind themselves with responsibility for other people in general, and for children in particular.