The article provides a detailed analysis of the concept of creative industries, which is currently being actively introduced into the cultural practice of modern Russia. The author attempts to revise the terminology (the industry of culture – cultural industries – creative industries). In the case of creative industries we are talking about the combination of the following three elements: creative activity, entrepreneurial skills and intellectual property rights, as a result of which an added value is created in the economy, and the product is traded on the market. However, the majority of cultural goods created in the non-commercial segment of the cultural sector have no relation to creative industries. The substitution of concepts results in the cultural sector being required to earn more and more, and this contradicts the mission for which public cultural institutions were created: introducing the population to cultural values. Though experts admit that there is currently no consensus among researchers regarding clear criteria for classifying certain activities as creative industries, Russia is facing increasing challenges for the non-commercial segment of the cultural sector – it is gradually being pushed towards commodification and commercialization. The Concept of Developing Creative Industries… adopted at the end of 2021 completely identified the non-commercial segment of the cultural sector with creative industries, which included theaters, museums, and even libraries. Moreover, the latter became “entry points” to the creative industries. The article shows that the task of boosting economic growth in Russia’s regions, for the sake of which The Concept of Developing Creative Industries… was designed, cannot be solved solely by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, as it lacks the appropriate functionality, financial and administrative resources, and professional staff for this purpose.

In the article, the authors substantiate the need to develop an integrated approach to analyzing the problems related to the reproduction of human potential. Having analyzed the existing approaches, they present a matrix that matches demographic, technological, social and institutional challenges in the key areas of human potential reproduction (labor, education, and healthcare). The proposed methodological framework, by visualizing the links between the challenges to human reproduction, allows for quicker comprehensive analysis of shifts in their system and can be used in any national context.

The aim of the article is to justify the need for creating tools to work with the continuously developing and increasingly complex knowledge space, allowing to study the transformation of complex systems, identify new knowledge, formalize, store, distribute and apply it in an information deluge, and reduce the time from the appearance of data to their use. Based on the study of research results and factual data, as well as on comparative analysis of the state of innovation development in Russia and developed countries, new tools for organizing and managing effective scientific communications are proposed. These tools can significantly increase the effectiveness of interaction within the scientific community in Russia, eliminating the fragmentation of the scientific environment.

The work’s purpose is to develop the theory of economic security risks and threshold values, considering these economic categories in interrelation. The authors examine key approaches to risk assessment and economic security threshold values formation and demonstrate relationship between classification characteristics of the two economic categories. Three main models of threshold values are considered. In a model containing two risk zones, threshold values serve as some reference points separating acceptable values of economic security indicators from unacceptable ones. The “traffic light” model is a more preferable one. It contains critical and target threshold levels and three risk zones. The third model, containing seven risk zones, corresponds to six conditional threshold levels, which leads to a more accurate assessment of the state of economic security of the objects under study compared to other models, and can be effectively used, for example, for classification purposes. The authors note that for monitoring threats to economic security, it is important not only to position the value of the economic security indicator in the corresponding risk zone, but also to analyze its changes over time, which makes it possible to compensate for system errors in determining the threshold values by studying the self-development of the system. They give examples of the use of volatility analysis and elasticity theory in the tasks of risk assessment, opening up new opportunities for economic security monitoring.

The article discusses the experience of WeBank, China's digital financial inclusion bank recognized as the best digital bank in the world. The indicators of WeBank's successful activity over the past five years are analyzed. It is revealed that the main clients of WeBank are socially vulnerable groups, small and medium-sized enterprises. The main success factors of WeBank have been identified and studied. They include digital innovation in customer service, development of the platform business model, social media integration, significant cost reduction, quick and affordable credit products, enhanced security measures, crossfunctional teamwork of employees, and regular research into user behavior. It is proposed to implement the Chinese digital banking experience in the Eurasian Economic Union member states.

The use of sanctions policy to compete for sales markets and to exert pressure on the governments of countries subject to sanctions has stimulated Russia to develop trade with friendly and neutral countries, to redirect the trade flows along new logistics routes and to form new supply chains. The article examines the impact of Western sanctions on the economies of the Central Asian countries and on their integration with Russia. A sharp decline in exports from Western countries to Russia is accompanied by a significant increase in exports from these countries to the countries of Central Asia, which is especially noticeable in relation to sanctioned goods. Maintaining a neutral status in the sanctions war of the United States and its allies against Russia allowed the countries of Central Asia to significantly improve their macroeconomic performance by increasing trade with Russia, including through intermediary trade. Despite official statements about the observance of the sanctions regime, the countries of Central Asia began to act as transit operators between Russia and third countries and to significantly assist the Russian economy in overcoming the negative consequences of sanctions. The study has led to the conclusion that anti-Russian sanctions encourage Russia and the countries of Central Asia to find new ways to develop regional integration in order to solve key problems of economic development, which does not prevent these countries from following their national interests.

The Caspian Sea, a unique enclosed body of water, is not only home to endemics, but is also navigable and rich in important economic resources such as oil, fish, sand, and recreational resources. The author analyzes a negative impact the intensive economic activity in the Caspian countries has on the ecology of the region. Thanks to international and local environmentalists, the governments of the Caspian countries have realized the need to take environmental issues into account in the process of further economic integration, without reducing the intensity of economic activity in the countries of the region. In this study, the author attempts to show the significance of the adopted Tehran Convention and the role of interstate cooperation in solving environmental problems.

The Korea-EU relation has developed based on multilateral and bilateral legal infrastructures. Among the international legal document, the three bilateral agreements between Korea and EU provide the foundational basis for the bilateral relations. First agreement is the Korea-EU FTA which effectively became a legal tool creating favorable environment for development of the economic relations between the parties. Second is Korea-EU Framework Agreement, amended in 2010. It proclaimed a strategic partnership between Korea and the EU elevating the status of cooperation. Third is the Agreement establishing a framework for the participation of Korea in EU crisis management operations. This agreement created a new cooperation field between the partners.

The documents described above represent international legal infrastructures that directly regulate Korea-EU cooperation activities and in this they differ from multilateral documents such as the WTO or the UN laws which can provide rules for certain areas of bilateral cooperation but are not directly related to Korea-EU relations. International laws are cohesively becoming important in areas beyond trade relations and in future may change the paradigm of their bilateral dialogue. Although the two partners may have some challenges and different views of the laws and their application, they main purpose is to provide significant new engines in boosting cooperation between the partners.

In 2022, Russian economy faced unprecedented sanctions pressure from the Western countries. Against this background, the government and the Central Bank need to constantly monitor the economic situation in the Russian Federation in order to take timely and effective measures. A high-frequency indicator of inflation expectations based on big data can help in solving this problem. The author identifies significant shortcomings of the existing approaches to the assessment of inflation expectations that make the possibility of their application under sanctions questionable. Based on the developed high-frequency indicators of inflation expectations, sanctions concern and the frequency of sanctions mentioning in the context of inflation expectations, she analyzes the impact of sanctions on the inflation expectations of the Russian population. The method of assessing inflation expectations based on big data has proved effective under sanctions and demonstrated the impact of sanctions on forming inflation expectations of the Russian population.