Abstract: The object of the study is the international relations of Azerbaijan at the junction of the XX and XXI centuries. The subject of the study is the relationship between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan after the disintegration of the USSR. The author dwells in detail on the bilateral relations between Baku and Astana during the presidency of Heydar and Ilham Aliyev. The greatest attention is paid to cooperation in various fields within the framework of Trans-Caucasian logistics projects through the prism of involving Caspian partners in them. This perspective allows us to note that Kazakhstan has gained an important "logistics hub" in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan fount in Kazakhstan a partner. The research methods are content analysis, discourse analysis and historical research methods. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that Azerbaijan's foreign policy is reflected quite briefly in Russian historiography, especially in the framework of bilateral relations with the countries of Central Asia. The attention of domestic researchers, as a rule, focuses on relations with Russia, as well as other countries of the South Caucasus and Turkey, however, it should be noted that Azerbaijani-Kazakh relations became one of the foundations of the Caspian vector of Eurasian integration at the turn of the century. The main conclusion of the author is that the Azerbaijani-Kazakh relations allowed the two countries not only to solve their own geopolitical problems, but also to qualitatively improve the Caspian vector of Eurasian integration, harmoniously supplementing it with the "West-East" direction. It should be noted not only the intensity of contacts, but also their productivity, a reflection of this is the involvement of Kazakhstan in logistics projects in the South Caucasus, participation in which allows the Central Asian country to have another "corridor" to the world ocean. Probably, the bilateral relations under consideration were the most productive in the region between the post-Soviet countries, with the exception of bilateral relations in which Russia participated.

Keywords: Baku, Caspian sea, International relations, Eurasia, Kazakhstan, Astana, Russia, Caspian Region, Azerbaijan, Post-Soviet space

Abstract: The article is devoted to the changes in Soviet-French relations after the constitutional coup in France on July 10, 1940. This coup, which took place under the influence of the defeat of the French Republic in the war with Nazi Germany, led to the formation in non-occupied France of an authoritarian puppet state with its capital in Vichy and a sharp turn in her foreign policy. At the same time, the withdrawal of the French state from the anti-Hitler alliance and the declaration of neutrality in World War II created the conditions for a certain improvement in the country's relations with the Soviet Union, which at the initial stage of the war also adhered to a neutral position. Based on published and archival materials, the article examines the dynamics of relations between Vichy and Moscow after July 1940, analyzes the factors influencing it, shows the evolution of the foreign policy of the French state, characterizes the perception of the Vichy regime and its international policy by the Soviet side. Describing the spheres and specific features of the Soviet-French interaction, the author shows the limited opportunities for its development in the international context of 1940-1941. Ultimately, relations between the Vichy regime, whose pro-German orientation was becoming increasingly pronounced, and Moscow were severed after the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR in June 1941.

Keywords: Nikolay Ivanov, Philippe Pétain, collaborationism, Vichy regime, Soviet-French relations, constitutional coup, France, USSR, Second World War, François Charles-Roux

Abstract: Parallels in lunar myths of the Turks (ancient Turks), Mongolian peoples and Eastern Finno-Ugric peoples (Mordvins, Mari, Komi, Udmurts) are the subject of this research. So far, lunar motifs in beliefs of these ethnic groups have not been specially compared with each other. In the article, the authors make an attempt based on a comparative analysis of mythological images and plots, and specifically, lunar myths which are essentially universal for all peoples of the world, to provide additional arguments in favor of confirming the hypothesis of V.V. Napolskikh about the existence of a special North Asian community of the Northern Eurasian peoples mythologies. Based on the review analysis and the research, the authors have come to the following conclusions. Firstly, the moon deity in myths of the Turks, Mongolian peoples and Eastern Finno-Ugrians is a predominantly male deity having a close link with the underworld and the image of the death god. Secondly, the mythologeme about the origin of the moon from the water is another specific Ural-Altai element. Thirdly, in the mythology of the Turks, Mongolian peoples and Eastern Finno-Ugrians, the deities of the moon, most likely, go back to totems in the form of birds (primarily waterfowl), a bull, probably more related to the water element. Thus, the assumption of V.V. Napolsky about the existence of a North Asian mythological union receives additional support.

Keywords: Scandinavians, Kalmyks, Northern Eurasia, Eastern Finno-Ugric peoples, Mongolian peoples, ancient Turks, Turks, lunar myths, North Asian, mythological union