In his presentation at the International Conference «History of the New Russia: Twenty Years Later (1991-2011)» (Moscow, 19 October 2011), Sergei Mikhailovich SHAKHRAI, Doctor of Legal sciences, Professor, Honoured Lawyer of the Russian Federation, analyses the role of the institution of presidency and constitutional justice as the key mechanisms ensuring both the preservation of the country’s integrity during the difficult transition period and the consistent implementation of the «plan of future» embedded in the 1993 Constitution.

Professor Richard SAKWA from the University of Kent analyses the meaning of 1991 in the history of the USSR and contemporary Russia. In his opinion, the most important event in 1991 was not the collapse of the Soviet Union although the Communist order was, indeed, formally dissolved in the tumultuous days following the failed coup of 18-21 August 1991. However, the signing of Belavezha Accords in December 1991 was but the final act in the disintegration of the USSR that had started long before this moment and had already been presaged by a qualitative change in the nature of the country. According to the British scholar, the meaning of 1991 constitution is reflected in Russia’s attempt to once again meet the civilisational challenge of modernity and adapt to it — primarily by finding a way to combine Russia’s unique features with the general requirements of modernity.

According to Professor Mark KRAMER, Director of the Cold War Studies Program at Harvard University, one of the hallmarks of the Yeltsin era in Russia was the government’s effort to facilitate a more accurate and thorough understanding of the Soviet past. This effort had begun under Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Soviet historians, journalists, and public commentators were allowed, for the first time, to discuss sensitive topics in Soviet history, including the Stalinist terror, the «thaw» and de-Stalinization campaign under Nikita Khrushchev, and the stifling conformity of the Brezhnev era. Subsequently even foreign policy issues were coming under renewed scrutiny and the Soviet government acknowledged certain «mistakes» and misdeeds of the past.

Nevertheless, the historical reassessments under Gorbachev had their limits, and nearly all of the relevant archival sources remained off-limits. The situation changed fundamentally after the Soviet Union broke apart and Boris Yeltsin became the president of the independent Russian Federation.

In his paper Professor Markku KIVINEN, Director of the Aleksanteri Institute (University of Helsinki), introduces the reader to the new Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies, funded by the Finnish Academy of Sciences.

According to its director, the Choices of Russian Modernisation Centre was created to meet a number of prac¬tical and theoretical needs of the academic communities worldwide. The practical need is to better understand and explain the Russian modernisation. This is a crucial task for contemporary Russia, its development needs and the related global implications. The theoretical need is to gain a better understanding and explanation of modernisation on a more abstract level.

The International Conference «History of Contemporary Russia: Twenty years after (1991 — 2011)» will be held in Moscow on October 19, 2011.