The article covers the contents of an Oirat historical work named «The story is about how the rulers of Genghis managed the state and maintained the khanate rule» written in «todo bichig» (clear script). It mainly deals with the ethnic history of the Oirats (Western Mongols) and narrates the origin of their major ethnic components (the Khoshuts, the Dzungars, the Derbets, the Khoits and the Torghuts), the genealogies of their princes and their mutual relationship with each other in the 17th - the 1st half of the 18th century. It is particularly remarkable that there was no ethnonym “Oirat” used in the work, it was replaced with a new collective ethnonym “Eleuth”. According to its anonymous author, the fact that those considered to be direct successors of the ruler Genghis, the united Mongol tribes, including the Oirats, were shattered and scattered, is a common misconception. The author finishes the work written in a span of ten years (1858-1868) by describing the events which led to the conquest of the Dzungar Khanate by the Qing empire in 1755-1758. Despite its fragmentary nature, the work contains the facts which after their verification and comparison can not only clarify the history but enrich the sources for research information. However, they can be considered reliable, since they are confirmed by reference to the other sources.

The article is devoted to the history of the Oirat migration process from Central Asia to the South-Western Siberia. Due to the lack of sources this subject has not been sufficiently studied on many aspects in the historiography. The author identifies four main reasons for migration: environmental, internal political situation, foreign policy, and economic. The main assumption is that revealing the reasons of the Oirat migration from Central Asia to Siberia will allow to resolve all the issues of political history of the Oirats in the 17th century. The mass migration of the nomads from Central Asia to the west has long been seen in history. Nomads being pastoralists, hunters, and warriors due to the dominant mode of production were forced to search for vast areas. Population growth, increase in the livestock, unsuccessful wars, decrease of pasture areas and others forced them to embark on long wanderings. One of which was made by the Oirats in the 17th century. Kalmyk uluses, which had migrated from Western Mongolia, located in the upper reaches of the rivers Irtysh, Ishim, near Kamyshlov town, Omi and Salt lakes. Kalmyks became nearest neighbors of Siberian uyezds (districts) of Muscovy.

The article focuses on studying the Mongol-Manchu’s struggle which resulted in loss of independence of Mongols. There are some main factors in the process of the conquest of Mongolia. The first one is political and feudal disruption of Mongols. Since the 14th century they had been divided into several rival groups and khanates. The most powerful among them were the Chahar khanate in Southern Mongolia, the Dzungar khanate in Western Mongolia and three Khalkh khanates in Northern Mongolia. All of them claimed the great khan’s throne and their constant rivalry eventually led to the mutual weakening. Meanwhile on the territories to the east of Mongolia the neighboring Jurchen tribes were united by Nurkhaci, a charismatic chieftain, under the name of Manchu. The consolidated Manchu state successively conquered the Mongols by means of military force, matrimonial relations and bribes. The first Mongols to ally the Manchus were the Khorchin, next the Chahars were subdued, then the Khalkh nobility pledged allegiance to the Manchu Emperor Kangxi in 1691. Finally in the middle of the 18th century the Dzungars were broken down by the Manchu and became a part of the Qing Empire.

The article considers the scientific work of the XVIII century Orientalist - Johannes Jährig. Taking into account the fact that there were no fundamental studies regarding this topic, long time was considered that Jährig was a scientist of the Russian origin. However, on the basis of German historical sources, it became possible to know that he was born in the family of Moravians or Herrnhut Church on 17th March 1747 in Herngaag, Germany. In 1769 he moved to Herrnhut’s settlement in Sarepta, Russia. Analyses of historical sources and periodicals of the Russian Academy of Sciences helped to specify the line of his research. In 1773 Jährig left the settlement and take service at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences due to the assistance of Peter Simon Pallas. Academy charged him to study Kalmyk’s language, culture and religion. As a result he sent to Academy numerous reports, translations, manuscripts, natural samples and many other materials from Kalmykia. In 1780 on behalf of the Academy of Science Jährig moved to the modern Buryatia district in order to study Mongolians of Russia and increase knowledge about this region. At the same time Jährig systematized received knowledge, which formed the basis for Mongolian and Tibet studies of Russia. He developed one of the first Mongolian dictionaries, Mongolian and Tibetan language grammars as well as other numerous essential materials. The article also considers the directions of his cooperation with the European scientific community. This field is completely unstudied by Russian historical science. The study found that despite the localized nature of Jährig’s work within the Russian Empire, his works were published in a number of German and English scientific publications. Most likely his close contacts with such European scientists as P. S. Pallas and G.Th. von Ash helped him. Moreover, thanks to Jährig the first samples of Mongolian manuscripts appeared in Germany. In conclusion it is necessary to note that Jährig’s almost unstudied scientific work had impact on many areas of Russian and German Oriental Studies. His works in linguistics made an inappreciable contribution to science development. As a result their currency continues to increase due to the growing demand of the recovery of almost lost Mongolian native languages of Russia.

In the middle of the 1920s on the basis of the written request on behalf of the Mongolian people and Bogd Khan the first seven representatives of the Mongolian People’s Party composed of three groups were sent to the USSR for military and financial assistance in the struggle for independence from Chinese oppression. The first group of delegates held a series of important meetings with the leadership of the Far Eastern Soviet Republic and Eastern Bureau of the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U.(b.), where they presented their goals and objectives in the struggle for independence, as well as requests for assistance in training party workers, establishing the printing-house, providing international support, supply of arms and financial assistance. The Mongolian delegation was aimed to achieve the independence of Mongolia under Bogd Khan. The leadership of the USSR advocated the establishment of Soviet influence in Mongolia and the transfer of power from the hands of the aristocracy and the clergy to the common people. Despite these contradictions, for the sake of retaining the independence, the Mongolian delegates had to agree with the idea of the people’s revolution the Soviet leadership was interested in. For political purposes the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) was renamed the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP). The Mongolian delegation composed a new letter in which it was stated that the revolution was in the interests of the common people and the power of the Bogd gegeen was limited to the relogious matters. In this case, Mongolia could count on the assistance in the delivery of weapons to 10,000 soldiers, machine guns, artillery guns, cars and 7-8 million dollars credit. Thus, the “first seven”, who went to the Soviet Union for negotiations, successfully completed their tasks and returned home. Keywords: the first seven, Troizkosavsk, the Comintern, the seal of the Bogd Khan, the People’s Party, military assistance, the Mongolian delegation, the Siberian Bureau, weapons, financial assistance, «From Princes and Lamas of Mongolia», agreements.

An important step in strengthening the military-political alliance and legal basis of relations between the two countries became to be the Gentleman›s Agreement on mutual assistance between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Mongolian People›s Republic dated November 27, 1934. It provided that the two parties would assist each other in the case of external military attack on one of the two sides. Its provisions had been supplemented and elaborated in the Protocol on mutual assistance, signed in Ulaanbaatar on March 12, 1936, which contributed to the failure of the aggressive plans of the Japanese militarists against the MPR in 1939. In accordance with the Protocol on mutual assistance between the USSR and the MPR, Soviet military troops were brought into Mongolia and quartered along the South-Eastern boundary of the republic in September 1939. At the same time, the Soviet Union built a number of critical facilities necessary for the development of the Mongolian economy, and strengthening the defense power of the republic. The military-political alliance of the USSR and the MPR in the 1930s proved to be stable enough to defeat Japan at Khalkin-Gol in 1939. The Soviet-Mongolian troops under the leadership of the corps commander G.K. Zhukov who had developed a brilliant strategy for defeating the Japanese armed forces, managed to implement a successful offensive operation. So, the victory at Khalkin-Gol in 1939 showed the relevance and timeliness of creating the military-political alliance of the USSR and the MPR.

The paper examines the influence of the natural factor on the military history of Russia. It is natural conditions that determined the choice of military strategy and tactics, the state of the system and supply of troops, and to a large extent - and the results of combat operations. The major part of the territory in the south of the country (1250 km from Voronezh to Ordzhonikidze, from north to south and 1,000 km from Taman to Astrakhan from west to east) was turned into a combat zone from the summer of 1942 to the autumn of 1943. It is characterized by various forms of relief (from the plains and lowlands to highlands), climatic zones (from temperate continental to subtropical) and native zones (from the steppes to the semi-desert and glaciers). Various natural conditions had different effects on the course of military operations. Analyzing combatant operations in the south of the country it became evident that the Soviet military commanders didn’t always take into account the influence of natural factors. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary soldiers and commanding officers with much effort and loss of their lives had to correct the errors of the military commanders in order to improve the situation. Only after the radical turn in the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet tactics underwent major changes. For instance, when planning offensive and defensive operations, one took into account natural factors. In particular, terrain models were studied to present the features of the upcoming battles in detail. This was one of the most important conditions for the victory, the beginning of which was laid in the battles of 1942-1943 in the south.

According to the analysis of the study, among a large number of female military specialists of the South of Russia during the Great Patriotic War there were more than 30 thousand women involved in medical units - hospital nurses, sanitary officers, women medical orderlies, medical assistants, doctors. The personnel of casualty clearing stations, medical and sanitary battalions, evacuation receiving stations, military infirmaries, hospital trains, evacuation hospitals consisted mostly of women. Servicewomen were predominantly sent to serve in the nearby fronts: the North Caucasian Front, the Stalingrad Front and the Caucasus Front. From the first months of the war, the South of Russia became the largest hospital base of the country, where for the entire period of the war up to thousands of hospitals were located. In the summer of 1942 among nearly 52 000 physicians two-thirds of whom consisted of women, worked in the evacuation hospitals of the North Caucasus Military District. More than two million Red Army soldiers underwent medical treatment in regional hospitals. In spite of the wartime, the scientific activity of medical staff was not interrupted. Inside the hospital walls they conducted extensive researches, held scientific and practical conferences. Owing to the doctors’ efforts soldiers could return to the army ranks. Among the active participants of donor movement in the region there were 90% of women. 25 tons of blood was delivered to the medical-sanitary battalions of the North Caucasian Front alone. A lot of female physicians served in the Soviet Armed Forces were awarded orders and medals for their dedicated work during the war. For instance, a nurse from Essentuki evacuation hospital M. Alekseenko (Stavropol region) and a military physician S. Salamova (North Ossetia) were decorated with Orders of Lenin. And Galina Petrova (Krasnodar region) received the Soviet Union’s highest award, the Hero of the Soviet Union who for the short period of her military service (a year and a half) managed to save hundreds of soldiers’ lives. Women of the South of Russia made an invaluable contribution to the preservation of the health of the nation during the Great Patriotic War.

The article deals with the letters of deportee ethnicities’ representatives to senior public authorities, which are considered as sources for the nationalities policy of the USSR during the War of 1941-1945. They represent the environment of those times and the urge of ethnic groups to develop ethic identity and return to their native place of residence. The discharge of civic duties was seen by everyone as showing personal interest and anxiety regarding their ethnicity, and expressing sympathy regarding the shared tragic experience. Many letters sent to government institution and directly to J. Stalin, L. Beria and others during the 1940s were charged with these particular concerns. Brief analysis of the contents and subject matter of the special settlers’ letters shows that their rich material expresses people’s concern about their difficult situation under the supervision of ‘spetskomandatura’ (special labour brigade). The priority issues of many letters were the interests of the state, its preservation and economic development. The authors paid interest to future organization of life after their release from special settlements, improvement of life conditions in state national autonomies, establishment of public authorities and parties, and youth associations. They were concerned about the improvement of education system, including in national languages, as well as the consolidation and reunification of special settlements’ families separated due to a variety of reasons. Of special interest is the level of interrelations and interperception between the ethnic groups who went through forced deportation. By communicating in the challenging conditions of special settlements they learned more about themselves in terms of culture, customs, traditions, and production skills. Without any doubt, this was beneficial for the ethnicities, making the society morally wealthier and more consolidated.

Owing to patriotism, solidarity of the people, scientific and economic potential, the Soviet Union not only withstood the attack of Nazi Germany but crushed the Nazis seventy years ago. In order to protect the freedom and independence of the country, the multinational Kalmyk ASSR (Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) along with the entire country and the population, rose to the defense of Russia from the earliest days of World War II. In the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War, almost 34.5 million people (including 21.2 million of Russians) put soldiers’ overcoats to fight the enemy. Among them there were 43,210 citizens of Kalmykia. The peoples of the Kalmyk ASSR participated not only in the fighting on the front lines of the war and partisan detachments but also worked selflessly in the rearward, assisting the Red Army. As a result, at the cost of thousands of lives the Soviet people defended their territory and state sovereignty. In July 1942 in conjunction with other compounds of the 51st Army, the 110th Kalmyk Detached Cavalry Division successfully completed its mission on the Don, repulsing an attack of superior enemy forces. According to the manual of the General Staff of the Red Army, Marshal A.I. Yeremenko, the fighting on the Don prepared the ground for a fundamental turning point in the Second World War at Stalingrad.

The article deals with the analysis of World War II in the interpretation of Western and Russian researchers. Particular attention is paid to the two trends in historiography: right-wing (conservative) and revisionist. According to the first trend, J. Stalin was preparing well in advance for an attack on Germany, and A. Hitler knowing it started the war to contain Soviet expansion. Under the second trend, Germany acted as a barrier to the spread of Bolshevism in Europe, becoming its protector. The author concludes that, some politicians in the western historical research condemning the violent deportation of peoples, proposed to revise not only the results of both the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War, but also to revise state decisions of the two periods in history of Russia: the USSR’s epoch and the epoch of the Russian Federation. In connection with the events taking place in Ukraine, increased attacks on Russia’s foreign policy, revisionist ideas to revise the results of the victory over Nazi Germany and the key role of Russia in it are gaining new momentum. As a result, there is an urgent need in in-depth scientific research on the events of World War II as well as the role of the Soviet Union and its people in the victory over the enemy.

The article considers scientific opinion addressing the processes of society modernization in transition period, a complex and painful but historically significant for the country. The author describes the results of researching the history of social and economic development of the Republic of Kalmykia in the context of changes in the country. The analysis allows the author to conclude that the economy of Kalmykia in the transition period was actually characterized by a commodity orientation. Socialist reorganization of agriculture has transformed the republic into a zone of ecological disaster. The most painful results of a «liberal» revolution «from above» in Kalmykia have been a sharp decline in living standards, deterioration in social well-being of the population and migrations.

The article is based on the materials of field investigations conducted by the authors in Kobdo and Bayan-Ulgii aimags of Mongolia and devoted to the traditions of nature management of ethnic Tuvans from North-western Mongolia. The peculiarities of the traditional economy, the territory of nomadism, the customs associated with the ethnic traditions of nature management are considered in the article. The authors come to the conclusion that rational use of natural resources is necessary for the preservation of modern ecosystems which is impossible without studying their characteristics. Since breeding has been the main occupation of the Tuvans from North-western Mongolia, each tribal group knew their place in the overall scheme of nature conservation. Rituals, traditions and experience of farming were passed down from generation to generation. These places were marked by the so called 'ovaa' signs as they were primordially considered native and sacred. The Tuvans living in North-western Mongolia, over many decades have adapted to living in the area, maintaining the tradition of land use without disturbing the natural balance in accordance with the environmental capabilities of the developed environment.

The article considers the existence in the traditional culture of Oirats of Mongolia and Kalmyks of Russia a specific type of shoes - felted boots, now called “tohoku”. On the basis of new data it is concluded that this type of footwear had been spread among the Altai Uriankhai, the Torghuts, the Zakhchins and also Kalmyks. This type of footwear was perceived as one of the ethnic markers of the Oirats and Torghuts of Mongolia and China. The features of the piston type pattern of the leather part of the boots - tsarag - and customs of using such boots suggests an ancient origin of this type of footwear and its connection with the culture of hunters. The common name of these peoples, characterized by a specified type of shoes was actually the name of felt boots (or stockings) oims that appeared, probably with the spread of pastoralism.

The article considers Kalmyk tamghas in terms of studying ethnic markers and clan structure of Kalmyks as well as transformation processes in management forms. The topicality of the research is relevant in connection with the processes of ethnocultural revival and the fact that Kalmyk tamghas and the issue of studying ethnic markers have little been studied. The purpose of this article is to examine the Kalmyk tamghas as a clan marker and a sign of ethnogenic relations in the past. In this connection, we have studied forms of tamghas and their marks, their application methods, types and values, and carried out their comparative analysis with those of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples. The analysis of the Kalmyk tamghas allows to conclude that they continue to perform a unifying function for all of the clan representatives and a definitive, distinctive function for the representatives of other clan. Though socio-historical processes in the last hundred years have contributed to a significant loss of knowledge about tamghas, however, interest in them has increased due to the revival of ethnic culture in modern Kalmyk society. There is also a trend to change the status of tamghas as a sign of ownership (brand) to the multifunctional symbol associated with heraldry, and the sacred sphere (symbol containing amulet functions). Besides, there is a decline in the status of tamghas: those which were common for the whole clan became common only for one family which is connected primarily with the change process within the forms of management. On the basis of comparative analysis of tamghas it is possible to trace the ethnogenetic ties of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples in the past. Materials on Kalmyk tamghas can be used in compiling a catalogue of Kalmyk clans.

The article is devoted to the study of the tradition of home prayers of Kalmyk Buddhist laymen. On the basis of the data on the traditions of Theravada and Mahayana, the author comes to the conclusion that the laity’s tradition of prayer on special days three times each lunar month dates back to the ancient period of the history of Buddhism. Though the tradition is still preserved in Kalmyk Buddhism it has some specific features. Of particular importance are the texts, read by Kalmyk believers in Kalmyk and Tibetan languages during the days of fasting which are called Matsg. The author identifies 4 groups of texts and gives their examples. Further research will probably be connected with the identification process of all the texts included in the collections of the prayers of fasting days.

The article describes chronological characteristics of the written monuments in «Сlear Script». The development process of the peculiar Oirat (Kalmyk) literature, written in «Clear Script» can be divided into two periods. The 1st period is from 1648 to 1771. The second period is divided into two parts which is connected with the fact that the major part of the Kalmyk people left for Dzhungaria in 1771 and the unified Oirat-Kalmyk written language continued to evolve in different geographical and ethno-political conditions. On the territory of the Lower Volga region the old Kalmyk written language began to develop, the graphic system of which was replaced in 1924 by the Cyrillic alphabet. A conventionally «Oirat» written language has been further developed in Xinjiang which continues to be used at the present time. While studying the chronological characteristics of written heritage in «Clear Script» original works of the authors of the XVII-XIX centuries, primarily historical essays, formal written documentation, as well as works created on the basis of works of folklore will be selected as text sources for the subcorpus of «early texts». These works convey a vivid world of the Oirat and the Kalmyk people’s way of life in the XVII-XIX centuries. Handwritten historical essays, business letters, namtaru and other works of original genres, despite their brevity, are of special cultural value, as they reflect, albeit in a limited way, the state of the Oirat-Kalmyk language of the time and carry information about the grammatical system of the Kalmyk language.

The article considers the issues of Oirat and Kalmyk lexical specificity in relation to the lexicon of ancient and modern Mongolian languages.While considering phonetic, lexical and derivational dialectisms of the Kalmyk language (Derbet, Torgut, Buzava dialects) referring to the contemporary “Kalmyk-Russian dictionary,” the authors came to the conclusion that the differentiated lexicon of these dialects appeared much later, partly, because of the early Russian borrowings. Lexical study of the Oirat dialects of Mongolia revealed a significant number of non-trivial and irregular phonetic correspondences of the Oirat words and the words of other Mongolian languages. It also revealed a number of archaisms preserved both in Oirat dialects and in the Kalmyk language. The specificity of the Oirat and Kalmyk lexicon in relation to that of the other Mongolian languages, presented in the article for the first time, creates the basis for future comparative and historical research in Oirat Studies.

The article considers two Mongolian manuscripts under the same heading “Urida bolson üges-ün tuuli / čikin-ü čimeg neretü bodisadu qaγan Norsan kiged / ökin tngri Yidbrogma-yin qarilčan ögülegsen-e anu sayin bolumui” (“The story is about what had happened before - a good talk of Norsan, the King Bodhisattva with the name “Decoration of the hearing” and Idprogma, the Heavenly Maiden”) taken from the storage of one of the libraries in Ulaanbaatar. These manucsripts are a translation of the Tibetan “The Jataka tale about the Prince Norsan”. This Jataka is of Indian origin (in the Indian tradition - “Jataka or avadana about the Sudkhan Prince”) and it is well known in the literary traditions of Tibet and Mongolia. In Mongolia, “The Jataka tale about the Prince Norsan” became well-known after its translation by Kangyur (“translated words”, consists of works supposed to have been said by the Buddha himself) but originally it existed in the form of separate manuscripts and was popular in the oral tradition of the Mongols. However, despite its popularity in Mongolian literature, “The Jataka tale about the Prince Norsan” has not been studied yet. The article gives a brief summary of the text of both manuscripts. After studying the manuscripts and revealing small differences in spelling and lexis, we came to the conclusion that they are the copies of the same translation of a Tibetan version of “The Jataka tale about the Prince Norsan”, still unknown to the contemporaries. Besides, the author analyzed some peculiarities concerning orthography, lexis and syntax of the given texts. Among the peculiarities found within the spelling of the manuscripts there were phonetic transliteration used by the unknown author for the translation of Tibetan proper and geographical names, and the Tibetan glosses which were written between the lines of the text. Some of the described peculiarities, in particular, postpositive attribute in relation to the attributive word, which is not typical for the Mongolian language, as well as the use of the verb üiledkü (‘do’) used in an unusual function, the function of an auxiliary verb, more typical for a Tibetan verb byed pa of the same meaning, refer this version to the literal translation, which is characterized by a strict adherence to the original Tibetan text. Thus, on the basis of the textual analysis we can conclude that there were different translation techniques used by the Mongols in their translation from Tibetan.

The article deals with the analysis of the characters in the frame story of the Kalmyk fairy tale in terms of computer technologies. On the basis of the folklore material recorded by G.I. Ramstedt, the authors consider nominations and characters’ names from the point of view of the frequency of their occurrence in fairy tales. As a result of the authors’s attempted analysis to construct the first stage of the frame story of the folklore text characters, one can establish cultural significance not only of this or that character but of the Mongolian folklore tradition as a whole. Thus, the most frequent character that appears in almost every story (in 14 out of 15 texts), is ‘a man (kyn)’, then ‘a boy’ (kovuyn) and ‘an old woman’ (emgn), with the frequency of occurrence 13 out of 15 tales. Then follow such characters as: ’a girl’ (kuyykn - 12), ‘a horse’ (morn - 11), ‘khan’ (11), ‘an old man’ (ovgn - 10). Whereas the frequency of occurrence of other characters is not so high.

The article describes the grammar of order of inflectional affixes of nominal parts of speech in the Kalmyk language on the example of the noun word forms. Under the model of inflectional affixes we understand an abstract scheme under which a real inflectional chain with respect to the laws of morpho-phonological compatibility and semantic rules is formed. The research is based on the data of the National Corpus of the Kalmyk language (kalmcorpora.ru), the volume of which is nearly 9 million tokens which allows to obtain objective information on modeling inflectional chain. The importance of the research lies in the necessity of the classification and the systematic descriptive analysis of associative properties of morphemic units (in this case - stems and affixes, affixes and affixes) in the synthesis of lexical units (in the broadest sense of the word forms) of the Kalmyk language. During the analysis of the material of the National Corpus of the Kalmyk language we identified 33 models of inflectional affixes within the nominal parts of speech of the Kalmyk language. A number of these models is dialectal in nature, as, for example, the plural form is based on two plural affixes: Base + Pl + Pl; Base + Pl + Pl + Case; Base + Pl + Pl + Per; Base + Pl + Pl + Pos; Base + Pl + Pl + Case + Pos; Base + Pl + Pl + Refl. The list of models includes both well-known and frequent schemes, as well as those which haven’t been described in the scientific literature (for instance, a model Base + (Inter) + Pl + Equ; Base + (Inter) + Pl + Gen | Ass + Case; Base + (Inter) + Pl + Gen | Ass + Case + Pos; etc.).

The article deals with the semantics of the hero’s image and his functions in a Kalmyk heroic tale and the epos Dzhangar. The author reveals specific and universal features of the hero’s image by reconstructing the transformation process of the heroic tale into the heroic epos. The author comes to the conclusion that the universal in the image of the hero is associated with the syncretic nature and interpenetration of genres of both the heroic tale and the epos. The most important source of the formation of both the heroic epos and the heroic tale is a myth through which one can trace the transformation of the heroic tale into the heroic epos which is caused by the development of peoples themselves, their transition from the patriarchal and tribal system to the feudal society. The myth had influenced the formation of the heroic tales and heroic epos primarily through the image of a cultural hero. In this connection, the author makes an assumption that this image served as source material contributed to the creation of fabulous and epic heroes’ models. Specific features of the image are caused by socio-historical factors of the patriarchal-patrimonial and feudal systems that influenced the creation of the image of the hero both in the tale and the epos.

There is a significant number of texts containing such calendar festivals as Tsagaan Sar, Urs Sar, Zul, Myadr, Ova and others in Kalmyk folk tradition. Several texts of the Kalmyk Legend of Okon Tengri, a celestial maiden who saved people from mythical creatures - Manguses as well as the legend about the Zul festival were preserved there. The comparative study of the Oirat legends that are popular among the Oirats from Xinjiang and the Kalmyks from Russia showed that these legends have both common motifs and distinctive elements. The theme of such religious holidays as Tsagaan Sar, Zul and Myadr reveals the beauty of the Buddhist world which fills up souls of people with joy and warmth. According to the Buddhist canons there are anguish and happiness that follow together, they are inseparable fellows of a man. There is also a popular belief that the origin of the Victory Day comes from the legend about Okon Tenger, who won the battle against evil Mangus and brought happiness and victory to people who afterwards called this day - the Day of Victory. Nowadays it is commonly known to all Mongol-speaking peoples as Tsagaan Sar, a holiday that celebrates the end of winter and arrival of spring. The legends about this holiday are prevalent in the areas inhabited by the Oirats. Along with the legends on Tsagaan Sar, there are some other legends devoted to such Oirat holidays as Zul, Myadr and Ova. Though these legends have much in common, they differ by their locality of traditions. For instance, Mongol-speaking peoples have different ways of celebrating Zul, regarding time and ritual observance. The legends associated with the celebration of Zul can be heard from older-generation representatives as well as from the clergy of Kalmyk Khuruls. At the same time, it should be noted that the legend of the «Urs Sar» holiday is not known in Xinjiang. Thus, the legends are a unique folklore stratum of Mongolian peoples.

The study of the written heritage of Mongolian peoples has a long tradition. The largest collections of manuscripts and xylographs in Russia are concentrated in St. Petersburg, Ulan-Ude, and some of them are in Elista and Kyzyl. In Mongolia the richest manuscript collections are held at the State Public Library and the Institute of Language and Literature of Mongolia in Ulan Bator. Recently researchers from different institutions: the Institute of Language and Literature of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of History of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Center for the Study of Oirat History and Culture «Tod nomyn gerel», Mongolian State Pedagogical University, and others have been actively involved in the field research within the complex ethnological, linguistic, historical, ethnographic, folklore and other expeditions. The article is based on field research which was conducted during the scientific expedition held in Khovd (in Russian - Khovdosky) aimag of Mongolia. Materials on the written heritage of the Western Mongols were gathered by scientists of Khovd State University and stored electronically. The collection of manuscripts consists primarily of the Oirat sources. The manuscripts were translated by an outstanding Oirat educator, politician, and founder of the Oirat writing «Clear Script» (1648), Zaya Pandita Namkhai Gyamtso (1599-1662). Thus, the manuscripts are mainly presented by religious, ritual, ethical and edifying writings also related to household activities of Khovd aimag. Further the research will be connected with the description of the written heritage of the Western Mongols.

Since its publication and especially after the release of “Journey to Erzurum…”, A.Pushkin's address “To a Kalmyk Maiden” has belonged to several most essential spheres of Pushkin’s literary system, appearing in most complex correlation with both his poetry (being a part of set of poems “Travel poems (1829)”) and prose (integrated into travel notes and entering into a dialogue with the text of “Travel…”). The poem is included into the system of Pushkin’s literary esthetic critics formed by the 1820s in context of the poetry of reality thanks to mentioning the passion of ladies to «Cinq-Mars» by Alfred Victor de Vigny and slight appreciation of Shakespeare. The poem “To a Kalmyk Maiden” has something in touch with the art of Pushkin's oral story telling as well as reminds an epistolary novel. Thus the address “To a Kalmyk Maiden” presents a complex historical-literary problem stating the aim of the article to depict its most important aspects.

Purpose: The social and economic stability and development of any region in many respects depend on the effective realization of social policy in the field of social and labor relations. In this regard, the special importance is gained by legal aspects of regulation in the field of social and labor relations at the level of the territorial subject of the Russian Federation. The legislation of the Republic of Kalmykia is given as an example. Methods: The research is based on the following scientific methods: historical, system analysis, comparative and legal. Results: The issue of the division of powers between the Federation and its subjects in the field of social and labor relations has been analyzed, the importance of the basic law (Constitution) of a territorial subject of the Russian Federation as a source of labor law has been underlined, the competence of the subjects of the Russian Federation has been identified, issues of regional legislation in this area have been examined. Discussion: Legal regulation of social and labor relations in subjects of the Russian Federation applies only to a number of certain issues within the framework of federal legislation. These are, first of all, those issues which are not under the jurisdiction of federal authorities and haven’t been regulated by them. It appears that the powers of the subjects of the Russian Federation are more focused on the regulation of the so-called other issues directly connected with the labor relations, but again only on certain issues mentioned above. In this regard, the division of powers in the field of social and labour relations between levels of public authorities (federal, regional and local government) requires further improvement.

One of the main concerns is difficulty of assessing labour market situation and determining perspectives of its development in quickly changing environment. In scientific literature there is no comprehensive analysis of the Russian labour market facing economic and “geopolitical crisis» because of non-typical situation. As a result of expanding world economic relations, large-scale globalization stable international economic and industrial links are destroyed by means of artificial sanctions aimed at isolating a significant subject of world economic relations. In such conditions comprehensive analysis of labour market becomes more and more actual. It can be carried out with the help of different economic and scientific methods including factor analysis and PEST-analysis. Analyzing factors dynamics for a definite time period enables us to reveal key features of the analyzed market, explain tendencies of its development and to develop a forecast for the future period. At that it is important to highlight those factors the influence of which will be dominating for this particular labour market. Efficiency of labour market control depends to the larger extent on the chosen measures. PEST-analysis is considered to be the most reasonable for this purpose. For researching the labour market the following factors are considered to be actual: demographic; political and geopolitical; economic; social and cultural tendencies; technological innovations. Because of structural changes in market economy there is a necessity of proportional development of production factors including labour force. Modern labour market is characterized by high labour force turnover. Among young employees there is a stable tendency to change jobs with acquiring professional experience. Regional labour markets are subject to migration processes that in its turn can affect the balance of supply and demand of labour force. Structural unemployment is exacerbating as a result of production modernization in regions that lack qualified labour force, and is worsening being affected by risks of closing or cutting some manufactures. Inter-firm or inter-industry transfers of labour force will be increasing as a result of restructuring of economic environment. High school graduates cannot realize their career potential and find job according to their specialty. Geo-political state of Russia is likely to worsen world position of the country than to strengthen it, that in its turn negatively influence the labour market. In the light of Russia’s implementing retaliatory import sanctions there will be a necessity to expand domestic production that can stimulate additional job creating in the country and provide part of working population with jobs.

The article considers some issues related to increasing the efficiency of agricultural production of the country as well as some measures for its sustainable development. For this purpose, the authors analyzed resources available in the country, assessed the level of food insecurity, and marked the threshold values. Besides, they provided a critical evaluation of certain actions and attempts undertaken by the state to work out and implement measures for the development of the agro-food complex, which, for a variety of reasons, have not given the desired results. In this regard, they stress the importance of adopting the food security act, underline the need for considerable investment into agricultural sector, make a suggestion to work out the program for the development of rural areas. In order to avoid a large scale social disruption, food deficiency and, eventually, loss of national sovereignty the country can face with, the authors propose to take timely measures for immediate settlement of urgent problems concerning the process of investment into the agro-industrial complex.

In recent years, the marital, sexual and reproductive behavior of Russians have undergone profound social changes. The major features of these changes are the rise of the average marriage age, the spread of cohabitation, the increase in the divorce rate, as well as high non-marital birth rate. Not surprisingly, Kalmykia as a subject of the Russian Federation is no exception here and has seen a number of changes in marital behavior. In this regard, on the basis of the statistical data analysis the author highlighted the main social trends in marital behavior of the population in Kalmykia. The first decade of the XXI century was marked by the increase in the number of marriages but in recent years the number of marriages has slightly declined. One of the modern trends popular nowadays is the increase in the age of marriage. According to the calculations made by the Civil Registrar’s Office of the Republic of Kalmykia, the average marriage age in 2013 was 29, 67 years for men and 27, 52 years for women. At the same time there is a growing number of international marriages and decreasing number of marriages between persons who have not attained their majority. Among the negative trends one can find the increase of divorce rates in the republic. As it is seen from the data of the Civil Registrar’s Office of the Republic of Kalmykia, the majority of divorces occur in families who have lived 3-10 years, and women more often become initiators of the separation than men. Another trend is the growth of unregistered marriages. As a result of the statistical data analysis, the author concludes that the main social trends in marital behavior of the population of Kalmykia are, in general, peculiar to those of Russian ones. The conducted in 2007 survey of young people shows a different attitude towards divorce, the birth of children out of wedlock, and sexual relationships of adolescents. A vast majority of respondents strongly disapproved of sexual relationships of adolescents, whereas their attitude towards children born out of wedlock as well as the divorce still remains ambiguous.

The article examines the main indicators of the standard of living of Kalmykia. On the basis of statistical indicators of the size of subsistence minimum, the average income per capita, the average monthly wage and the structure of money income the author has analyzed the dynamics of changes in the standard of living and income differentiation of the population. It is noted that since 2005 the size of subsistence minimum in Kalmykia has increased by nearly 59% and accounted 7750 rubles in the fourth quarter of 2014. In 2010, 48.5% of the population had an income of less than 6,000 rubles per month. Compared to 2010, in 2013 the proportion of people whose income was less than 6,000 rubles per month decreased by 10% and amounted 28.3%. The statistics show that the average wage of the region in the given period amounted 24,920 rubles. The population of the republic basically spends the money on goods and services (consumer spending). The analysis showed that the level of unequal access to income and other resources still remains high, as shown by the indicators of income inequality.

One of the main criteria for assessing the environmental well-being of landscapes is the degree of preservation of a useful gene pool in natural soils, controlling the necessary diversity of ecosystems. In order to preserve biodiversity and restore the natural balance it is necessary to expand and improve the network of specially protected natural territories (SPNT). A soil-ecological monitoring is of major importance in the system of measures for the protection and restoration of soils and ecosystems. Natural soils of such Federal reserves such as «Sarpinskiy», «Harbin» and «Mekletinsky» were taken into account when creating a new classification of Russia’s soils. Among the principles underlying the creation of a new classification of Russian soils and determining its theoretical essence, is the so called genetic principle, involving the division of soils, in connection with the assessment of their genetic profile which allows to consider in a unified classification structure all natural and anthropogenically transformed soils. One of the main problems in nature management and in ecology is the preservation of biodiversity, which is closely linked with the conservation of soil diversity. Therefore, to create ecological balance in the system of protected areas, soil objects should be taken into consideration. Thus, the author concludes that the search and selection of soils standards primordially in the existing network of protected areas are necessary to solve the problem. Reference soils from the point of view of global monitoring may be the only virgin soil, with minimal human impact.