Yefim Pivovar: "Russian Historical Society's priority projects based on post-Soviet near abroad studies"

President of the Russian State University for the Humanities, member of the Council of the Russian Historical Society (RHS) Yefim Pivovar told Vestnik Kavkaza about the RHS projects.

- What kind of projects is the Russian Historical Society working on?

- We have many such projects, and I will tell you only about those that evoked a wide response.

There were many projects related to the centenary of the beginning and end of the First World War. Through the Russian Historical Society's efforts a monument to soldiers of the First World War was erected on Poklonnaya Hill. Many works have been published related to the history of the war, which grew into the history of revolution and civil war in our country.

The second project - a century of 1917-1920 events in Russia - was in the focus of many exhibitions, international conferences, publications, forums, which were held under the auspices of the Russian Historical Society.

Now, work is under way on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the countries of Eastern Europe from fascism. This coincides with other anniversaries - the start of the Second World War in 1939, the background of those events, the Munich Agreement. Under the auspices of the Russian Historical Society, a number of exhibitions dedicated the Munich agreements were prepared. We are also faced with the task of holding the next anniversary of Victory.

There are still a number of projects associated with our great writers - Pushkin, Krylov, Turgenev.

The 2019th is declared the Year of the Theater, so we will also pay attention to the history of theater.

Everything that I have mentioned will be implemented in several areas. These are international conferences, meetings with colleagues from other countries, activities of international commissions and bilateral commissions. We have a lot of historians, archivists, so we will hold various documentary and art exhibitions, museum exhibitions. We will publish monographs, collections of documents.

Many documentary collections and unique publications received the support of the Russian Historical Society or were initiated by it. We work in areas into which historians are somehow 'drawn': these are universities, including the Russian State University for the Humanities, archives, museums, libraries, and schools. The Russian Historical Society holds contests among history teachers, supports contests among schoolchildren. Now, we are engaged in the preparation of two important events - the dictation dedicated to the Victory and the historical dictation. Now the programs of these two events, which will be implemented this year, are being developed.

- What projects does the Russian Historical Society implement together with the CIS countries?

- The priority projects include the study of foreign countries in the post-Soviet space, diasporas, of the Eurasian project. The Department of History of the CIS countries at Moscow State University and the Department of Post-Soviet near abroad studies of RSUH operate thanks to the support of RHS. The Institute of Post-Soviet and Interregional Studies of the RSUH holds a number of seminars and conferences, supported in the CIS countries - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Moscow with the involvement of our colleagues from these countries, they are supported by RHS grants.

With Azerbaijan, we are preparing a special volume titled 'Azerbaijan studies'. I hope that it will be ready by the end of this year, and we will present it both in Moscow and Baku. We want to do this in Moscow in December, and in Baku in January next year. The book will have a whole section devoted to the relations of Russian and Azerbaijani economies. It will also have sections devoted to the history of the Azerbaijani oil industry, the history and culture of Azerbaijan from ancient times to present day, in addition, there will be a whole range of materials devoted to modern political life in Azerbaijan, the republic's foreign and domestic policies.