The study is devoted to the analysis of Belarusian-Russian political, economic and military relations in the context of a Special military operation. How did SMO influence on the bilateral relations of the partners in the Union State and in which direction. The analysis was carried out using a large factual material.

Modern weapons of mass destruction make direct military confrontation pointless. At the same time, geopolitical rivalry not only does not cease, but acquires new forms. In the current information and digital reality, one of the main tools of rivalry is information and psychological operations. The article considers the evolution of the concept of «hybrid warfare», analyzes the role and place of its information component, identifies the main techniques of information confrontation.

Previously, the concept of «war» covered only various forms of the use of armed forces in resolving interstate conflicts, which defined them as traditional (conventional). In the twentieth century, it became possible to conduct special operations and achieve military objectives by nonmilitary means, which received the name «hybrid»: all state mechanisms (economic, political, ideological, informational, etc.) are under attack simultaneously. The most used and proven to be effective are the socalled color revolutions, which have become the main destabilizing factor of the «soft power» model used by the main actors of world politics.

The article characterizes the priorities of Russia’s presidency in the CIS in 2024: it considers the plan of measures to implement the relevant concept of Russia’s presidency in the CIS; the prospects for the implementation of the Greater Eurasian Partnership initiative, as well as the forecast of the CIS development taking into account Russian initiatives. Russia’s chairmanship will be used primarily to deepen integration in the economic sphere and to develop humanitarian contacts with the CIS countries.

The author examines the activities of the USSR to ensure national security in the Arctic zone and concludes that the approach to military construction in the Soviet Arctic was comprehensive.

The principle (criterion) of just cause, in conjunction with five other principles, constitutes the concept of jus ad bellum, which defines the right to go to war within the framework of the just war theory. At present, the just war theory has a significant impact on the policy and law of the world community.

The article substantiates the expediency of flexible economic planning in a market economy and democracy based on the theory of F. Oules. In the 20th century the structure of the economy, the interdependence of states and industries became so complicated that the laissez-faire principle lost its original relevance; now a large-scale application of democratic tools for forecasting, coordination and planning of economic activity is required. None of the widely known modern methods of assessing the level of democracy includes criteria related to the democracy of the economic planning and control system.

The concept of modernization of political governance is one of the most controversial in domestic and foreign political science. This article is devoted to the basis on which the theory of modernization of political governance developed, which put the issue of legitimization of a democratic regime with high involvement of citizens in governance in the center of attention.

The article presents one of the aspects of negative Russophobic trends in the West’s perception of Russia, fueled by nationalist political elites, while the Ukrainian issue has persisted actually throughout the twentieth century. The conclusions are presented on the basis of historical analysis of the opposing ideologies within the Russian World.

The article provides a statistical and legal analysis of the state of delinquency of the most dangerous manifestations aimed at undermining state sovereignty from the perspective of national legislation.

The article-review is devoted to the consideration of the current state and prospects of the impact of scientific and technological progress on international relations and diplomacy in the context of increasing risks of digital nature. Special attention is paid to the total hybrid war of Western countries against Russia. These issues are considered in the monograph «Information and Communication Technologies for the Global World» prepared by scientists and experts from Russia and China.