The Russian people in the 17th century, their occupations. Russian people: culture, traditions and customs

External debt problems have become acute in last years existence of the Soviet Union, in 1987-91, when in order to saturate the domestic consumer market with imported goods, the USSR government was forced to resort to massive external loans.

In the 70s and early 80s, during the so-called “oil rush,” ultra-high world prices for petroleum products ensured a significant positive trade balance for the USSR, which allowed the Soviet leadership to carry out massive import purchases to cover the internal shortage of quality goods.

However, by the mid-80s the situation had changed diametrically. Firstly, countries with market economies have managed to introduce energy-saving technologies into production, which has made it possible to sharply reduce the consumption of petroleum products. Secondly, OPEC countries and other oil exporters, attracted by the sharp rise in prices, significantly increased export quotas, as a result of which a serious excess of oil formed on the market and its prices rapidly fell.

Finally, serious changes took place in the Soviet Union. The quality of domestic goods continued to fall, and the demand for them changed accordingly. Unsecured money issue, which patched up budget deficits, caused suppressed demand-side inflation and inadequate growth in savings, which, in essence, was deferred demand.

To prevent a commodity shortage, the Soviet leadership increased import volumes, which, in the face of falling export revenues, forced them to increase external borrowing. Although the real solvency of the country was impossible to assess due to the confidentiality of statistical information, it was believed that it was quite high, so the creditors of the USSR were willing to lend. Loans were given both through interstate agreements and through private banks.

However, in reality, the USSR's trade balance continued to deteriorate and in recent years became deficit. The situation was aggravated by the actual bankruptcy of Vnesheconombank of the USSR, on whose accounts the funds of resident legal entities (later re-registered as OVGVZ), as well as of Soviet citizens, were stuck. As a result, inheritance Russian Federation the ex-USSR inherited an unsettled debt burden of $80 billion. (Analytical service of IC "Region", 01/15/1999-01/21/1999).

In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, it was initially assumed that each state would bear its share of responsibility for external debt, as well as have a corresponding share in assets former USSR. However, it turned out that only Russia was able to service its obligations on external debts. Therefore, it was soon agreed that Russia would assume the debts of all the former republics of the USSR in exchange for their renunciation of their due share of assets (the so-called zero option). Such a decision was expensive, but allowed it to maintain its position in foreign markets. financial markets, foreign infrastructure, ensured the trust of potential partners.

Table 1. Estimated shares of the former Soviet republics in all-Union indicators, %

Note: Group 1 includes countries that, as of the end of December 1991, had signed both agreements - the Memorandum (dated October 28, 1991) and the Treaty (dated December 4, 1991); in group 2, Moldova and Turkmenistan, which signed only the Memorandum and Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, which by that time had not signed any of these documents; Group 3 includes countries that do not intend to join the named documents.

Source: Shokhin A.N. Russia's external debt. M., 1997. P 118

The first “zero option” agreements were signed in the summer of 1992 with Belarus, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

In October 1992, at a meeting of the heads of the CIS in Bishkek, a document was adopted that essentially meant a rejection of multilateral forms and mechanisms for managing the external debt and assets of the USSR. In November 1992 an agreement was signed with Uzbekistan and protocols on the “zero option” with Armenia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine, which differed from the agreements in that debts and assets were transferred to Russia for management for an indefinite period. It was understood that full-fledged agreements would be signed later.

The transition to a new debt servicing scheme of the USSR made it possible, at the end of 1992, to abandon the Interstate Council for Supervision of Debt Servicing and the Use of Assets, the functions of which began to be performed by the Russian government. Thus, during this period, a mechanism for managing external debt and foreign assets in Russia began to emerge.

It is very difficult to assess the real value of state financial assets in the form of state loans provided by the Soviet Union mainly to countries of the so-called socialist orientation. It is no secret that a significant part of these loans was allocated on the basis of political decisions for the supply of special equipment (to put it simply, weapons), while the loan amounts were recorded mainly in transferable rubles. This raises a number of problems.

First, since regimes have changed in many debtor countries to the USSR, negotiations are needed to get the new governments to recognize the debts.

Secondly, it is necessary to fix the real value of the debt by agreeing on the exchange rate for recalculating the debt amounts. Of course, on the one hand, there was a sharp devaluation of the ruble and its depreciation against the dollar, but on the other hand, real goods were supplied, and when we're talking about about oil and other raw materials, at prices, as a rule, below world prices. Therefore, Russia’s demand to use the official exchange rate ruble at the time of the collapse of the USSR. Of course, many of our debtors do not want this.

Thirdly, the majority of our debtors are weakly solvent, many have already accumulated large overdue debts. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the forms of debt repayment (money, goods, property, investments), and in many cases, preferential terms for installment payments.

Analysis of the dynamics of Russia’s “new” debt

In the 90s during the transition to a market economy Russian state itself began to resort to external borrowing. At the beginning of 2000, the external debt incurred by Russia itself, or “new” debt, amounted to almost $50 billion, and the total volume of external debt exceeded $158 billion.

The main reason for the growth of Russia's external debt was the imbalance of state budgets in 1992-1999. The budget deficit of the Russian Federation was largely financed through internal and external borrowings. The growth of Russia's debt was due to the need to service the debt obligations of the former USSR and its own accumulated debts.

The largest increase in public external debt - $22 billion - occurred in 1998, when Russia's balance of payments on the current account turned from active to passive due to a sharp drop in energy prices on world markets. External loans this year were also used to pay off the enormously increased domestic debt. Russia's external debt at the beginning of 2000 also increased due to the inclusion in its composition in 1999 of domestic government foreign currency loan bonds (OVGVZ) in the amount of $11.1 billion (see Table 3)

Since 1992, Russia began to use significant loans from the International Monetary Fund in convertible currency to financially support economic reforms, to finance the budget deficit, and to replenish the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank. (see table 4) Since 2000, Russia has not borrowed from the IMF, but only repaid loans and paid interest on them. One of the most important aspects of interaction between Russia and the IMF was the possibility of transforming the Russian economy from a non-market to a market one.

Since the early 90s, the Russian government has received external loan and guarantees from the World Bank, while it mainly cooperated with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the parent bank of the World Bank Group. Over the period from 1992 to 2002, the IBRD provided Russia with loan guarantees amounting to more than $11 billion, including $6 billion in budget-replacement loans and $5 billion in loans for the implementation of investment projects and technical assistance projects for structural reforms, of which about $8 billion were actually used.

In 1992-2000 in Russia, the IBRD financed investment projects in energy, transport, communications, agriculture and others. (see table 5)

After August 1998 (default), due to the crisis in Russia's credit relations with the IMF, the IBRD began to assist Russia in achieving financial stabilization.

IBRD loans provided to Russia were issued for a period of 17 years. Five projects were provided on very preferential terms - at 3.5 percent per annum.

After the crisis of August 1998, the Russian state began to pursue a new economic policy aimed at strengthening the balance of the budget and increasing its revenues, which created more favorable conditions to pay interest and repay principal. Russia reduced the level of new external borrowings, since after the default the cost of foreign currency loans for Russia increased due to the sharply decreased sovereign credit rating of the country.

The Russian government is expanding domestic government borrowing by issuing federal loan bonds (OFZ) and government short-term obligations (GKO) with rates of return at the level of expected inflation. Replacing external borrowings with internal ones reduces the foreign exchange burden and the cost of debt servicing.

One of the ways to reduce the debt burden was to stimulate the repurchase of state debt obligations by non-state entities. In 1998-2001 enterprises and organizations were given the right to repay debt on payments to the budget with Russian debt obligations (OVGVZ or Eurobonds), which were purchased on financial markets at a price below the offset.

Currently, Russia's external debt is largely settled, with a large share of debt to developed countries, as well as market debt denominated in Eurobonds.

Due to the increase in world prices for oil and other energy resources in 2001-2006. There was a significant improvement in Russia's payment positions and currency position. If at the beginning of 2001 Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves provided less than 22% of the volume of government external debt, then by the beginning of 2005 the coverage ratio rose to 124%, and by the beginning of 2006 it amounted to 221%.

State external debt of the Russian Federation, including debts of federal government bodies. Subjects of the Russian Federation, monetary regulation authorities, decreased over the period from the beginning of 2001 to the beginning of 2008 from 139.3 to 44.9 billion dollars.

Figure 1. Dynamics of government external debt of the Russian Federation

Thus, over seven years, the external debt of the public sector decreased by $94.4 billion, and that of the non-state sector increased by $396.5 billion. As a result, the total amount of the external debt of the Russian Federation increased by the beginning of 2008. up to 463.5 billion dollars against 161.4 billion dollars in 2001

Figure 2 The ratio of the public and private sectors in the structure of the external debt of the Russian Federation

Until recently, Bosnia and Herzegovina remained the only creditor of the Soviet Union that had not yet received its money. The amount of the debt - $125.2 million - was determined by an agreement to settle the obligations of the former USSR in settlements with the former SFRY (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - TASS note). And now the Ministry of Finance announced that this entire debt was repaid in a single payment on August 8, 2017.

TASS looked into where the debt came from, how much it was, why Russia decided to pay it, and what happened to its financial obligations to the Soviet Union.

Where did the USSR's debts come from?

In general, debt obligations of different countries - normal phenomenon. Even large countries with relatively strong economies have obligations to other states. For example, the external debt of Germany, as of September 2016, exceeds $5 trillion 10 billion, Japan - $3 trillion 240 billion. The external debt of the United States has long been the talk of the town - as of February 1, 2017, it is equal to $19 trillion 976 billion. At the same time, Russia’s public debt was much more modest - $52 billion.

In 1985, the external debt of the USSR amounted to $31,000 million. During this period, the country’s authorities actively attracted both interstate loans, bank loans, intended to finance the purchase of imported equipment, food, medicine and other goods necessary to ensure the livelihoods of the country's population, as well as available funds to cover current budget needs in the form of financial loans and external bond loans. As a result, by the end of 1991 the country found itself deeply in debt.

In addition to debts to other states Soviet Union had obligations to commercial enterprises and banks that were members of the so-called London Club of Creditors. In addition, in exchange for some resources, Soviet enterprises paid with debt securities - bonds of Vnesheconombank (VEB). This burden also fell on the shoulders of the state.

How much was the external debt of the USSR at the time of the collapse of the country?

According to data provided by the head of the analysis and planning group under the Chairman of the Russian Government (1993-1994), Andrei Illarionov, with reference to the World Bank debt tables, the Soviet Union owed $67,800 million at the time of its collapse.

In 2007, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Sergei Storchak in an interview " Rossiyskaya newspaper“said that by the end of 1991, the Union’s public external debt amounted to $96,600 million. different sources meet again big numbers- up to $140 billion. Official Russian departments do not provide data for that period - the first data from the Central Bank date back to 1994. Then, including interest, the liabilities amounted to $104,507 million.

Why did all this burden fall on Russia? The USSR included 15 now independent states, why not share the obligations?

Initially, the plan went something like this: in October 1991, 12 former Soviet republics (all except Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in which they declared joint responsibility for the debt of the former USSR. The liabilities were distributed in proportion to the economic strength of the republics at the time of the collapse of the Union - Russia, as the successor of the RSFSR, received a share of 61.34% of the debt, and, for example, Kyrgyzstan - only 0.95%, Tajikistan even less - 0.82%. The assets of the former Union were to be divided in the same proportion, both on its territory and abroad.

However, on April 2, 1993, the Russian government announced that it would assume all obligations of the former Soviet republics to repay the external debt of the USSR in exchange for their renunciation of their share in the foreign assets of the USSR. The deal was called the "zero option". So Russia received the entire external debt in the amount of $96.6 billion. This amount included loans from other countries and commercial obligations to members of the London Club of Creditors, holders of VEB bonds and domestic government currency loan bonds (OVGVZ).

How did Russia pay off the USSR's debts to other states?

Note that such financial obligations are divided into three parts:

• Debts to the Paris Club countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, USA, Denmark, Israel, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Finland, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan). Russia is also a member of the Paris Club.
• Obligations to socialist states: Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany (due to the German Democratic Republic), countries of the former Yugoslavia.
• Loans from other countries (Kuwait, United United Arab Emirates(UAE), Türkiye and others).

Russia paid off its debts to the Paris Club ahead of schedule - in 2006. Due to early repayment, our country was able to save $7,700 million - due to interest.

Which countries were paid how much?

Let's give a few examples. According to official agreements of the Russian Federation regarding the settlement of debts with different countries, Russia paid, for example, $1.2 million to Uruguay, $352.5 million to the Czech Republic, $38.5 million to Bulgaria, $129.2 million to Slovenia, $580 million to the UAE. Part of these debts was paid not with money, but with the supply of goods or services (mainly construction). Debt to China People's Republic repaid in 2015, paying 400.97 million Swiss francs. In 2016, Russia finally settled with Kuwait - the principal debt in the amount of $1,100 million was paid in cash, and $620 million in interest was paid with supplies of Russian high-tech products. Also last year, the Russian Federation paid off its debt to Macedonia - $60.6 million. As a result, Russia only owed money to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this debt was repaid on August 8.

Of course, the USSR had borrowers. But for the most part these were rather poor African and Latin American countries. As part of assistance to developing countries, their debts were written off. In addition, Russia forgave some of its obligations to its political and economic partners: in some cases, agreements were reached that in exchange for writing off the debt, the country would enter into a major trade contract with the Russian Federation.
There were, of course, cases of “charity”, but Russia is far from the only such philanthropist: for example, in 1999, the countries of the Paris Club, in which Russia was not only a debtor, but also a creditor, signed an agreement to write off more than half of the debt of the poorest African countries. Thus, Russia renounced its claim to the assets of Tanzania, Benin, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Guinea, Chad, Yemen, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Moreover, it is pointless to demand repayment of debts from these countries - they still have no money, and there is simply no way to fulfill their obligations.

For other examples of calculations by Russia and developing countries, see the chart.

Dmitry Romanov

It is known that Russia has forgiven its debtors about $140 billion over the past 20 years. But few people know that our country, having taken on the obligations of the USSR, itself became a debtor to most countries of the former socialist camp.

Touchy topic

Experts say that researching the topic of USSR debts is often more difficult than dealing with debt issues Russian Empire. This is due to the fact that there is no book of accounting and registration of external obligations of the USSR in the public domain, balances of payments have not been published, and there are other reasons. But some facts are still known.

The lion's share of the Soviet Union's debts are obligations to the Paris and London clubs of creditors. In addition, there were debts for non-payment of supplies and services under contracts of Soviet foreign economic organizations with foreign suppliers and, of course, debts to the member states of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) - former socialist countries.

On December 4, 1991, an agreement was signed between the republics of the Soviet Union on the succession of the external economic debt of the USSR, according to which the RSFSR received 61.34% of the total debt - approximately $57 billion. However, on April 2, 1993, the Russian government announced that it assumes all obligations former union republics to repay the external debt of the USSR, amounting to $96.6 billion (in return, the republics renounced their share in the foreign assets of the USSR).

Germany

During its formation Soviet state needed large cash injections. Germany then became the main source of financing for the country. From 1925 to 1931, the total amount of German investments in the supply of Soviet industrial goods amounted to 700 million marks. Another loan on the same terms was received in 1939. The first loan was repaid only by 25%, the return of the second loan was known reasons it was impossible. It is clear that the issue of the USSR’s pre-war debt to Germany was never returned to.

USA

During the Second World War, the volume of imports to the USSR increased sharply. Raw materials, food, medicines, civilian and military equipment. Part of the imports came from Great Britain and the United States as Lend-Lease supplies. Unfortunately, it is impossible to accurately calculate the debt of the USSR at the end of the war due to the disputes that arose and the lack of open information does not seem possible.

Back in October 1941, when concluding a loan agreement with Great Britain, more than 100 tons of gold were transferred to its banks as a deposit. A similar agreement was concluded with the United States. Immediately after the end of the war, the Americans provided two more small loans. It is known that in 1972 the Soviet Union and the United States determined the debt in the amount of $722 million and at the time of the collapse of the USSR it was not liquidated. The debt was fully repaid by Russia in 2006.

Debts are growing

In the post-war period, the country's restoration proceeded mainly from internal resources. An active return to the external borrowing market began in the 1960s. As a rule, these were loans from private Western banks for the implementation of joint projects.

A sharp increase in the debt obligations of the Soviet Union was noted from the mid-1970s and lasted until the collapse of the country: 1975 - $15.4 billion; 1980 – $25.2 billion; 1985 – $38.3 billion; 1990 – $62.5 billion; 1991 – $67.9 billion.

From the late 1940s to the late 1980s, European socialist states became the main foreign trade partners of the USSR. The USSR purchased trams and locomotives, clothes and shoes, food and medicine from its neighbors.

It is important to note that all payments between countries were carried out in transferable “Sev” rubles, which served as units of account for natural exchange at prices that did not coincide with market prices. Hence the billions of dollars that the USSR owed to partners from of Eastern Europe. Of course, no one was going to forgive such debts to the legal successor of the USSR.

Yugoslavia

Ex's debt situation Federal Republic Yugoslavia is the most confusing. The fact is that at one time the republics that were part of the Yugoslav Federation did not agree on legal succession. The total debt of the USSR, according to various estimates, ranged from $500 million to $1.3 billion. It arose due to the difference in the volume of mutual supplies: the USSR supplied products to Yugoslavia defense industry for one amount, but received consumer goods for another.

Russia has singled out the shares of Slovenia ($206 million), Croatia ($187 million), Serbia ($288.8 million), Montenegro ($18 million) and has already paid for them mainly with supplies of domestic industrial products, but partly with money. Macedonia's debt is estimated at approximately $60 million, Bosnia's at $125 million.

Romania

The Soviet debt to Romania in the amount of just over $200 million arose as a result of the participation of Romanian specialists in the construction of a mining and processing plant in Krivoy Rog. Now this is the territory of Independent Ukraine, and it is Russia that has to pay off the debt.

Bulgaria

The story of Bulgaria's debt is one of the strangest. Bulgaria was among the close allies of the USSR; almost all of our neighbor’s industrial enterprises, as well as large infrastructure facilities, were built with the assistance of the USSR, such as, for example, factories in the ports of Burgas and Varna, as well as the Kozloduy nuclear power plant. Nevertheless former friends They calculated us a debt of $100 million.

Poland

The USSR helped Poland less than Bulgaria, but there was still help. Thus, from 1980 to 1986, during the economic crisis, the Soviet Union provided the Poles with gratuitous assistance in the amount of approximately $8 billion. Moreover, the Soviet government decided to buy coal from Poland when there was an abundance of its own. The Poles are not going to repay their own debts, but they are waiting for the Soviet debt in the amount of $500 million. Is this really the price of Polish clothes and cosmetics?

Hungary

The USSR's debt to Hungary is $1.8 billion. Experts suggest that this amount could have accumulated due to the supply of heavy industrial goods. Hungarian machines worked in Soviet factories, Hungarian combine harvesters processed the fields, and Hungarian Ikarus cars drove and still drive on the roads.

On the other hand, before Hungary entered the socialist camp, it was a backward agrarian country. Automobile, metallurgical, chemical and oil refineries were built with the help of the Soviet Union. Thanks to the efforts of Soviet specialists, a nuclear power plant was put into operation in the city of Paks. All of these are multi-billion dollar assets. In this aspect, what is curious is not how much the USSR owes to Hungary, but who owes whom.

Czechoslovakia

The USSR began financial relations with Czechoslovakia even before World War II. So, in 1935, the Soviet leadership took a loan from the Czechs in the amount of 250 million crowns. Due to the liquidation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the loan was only partially repaid.

The post-war debt of the USSR to Czechoslovakia was $5.4 billion. Perhaps this is one of the few cases when the USSR was actually seriously in debt. The Soviet Union's investment in Czechoslovakia was minimal. The USSR mainly purchased industrial products there - machine tools, trams, trolleybuses, locomotives. Czechoslovakian locomotives, produced in the 1980s at the Skoda factories, are still in use in Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, Russia paid the Czech Republic about $3.6 billion and Slovakia - $1.8 billion.

GDR

What was called the Soviet debt to the GDR was formed in the course of mutual supplies of the two countries. Mainly raw materials went from the USSR to East Germany, and final products went back. In the early 2000s, the authorities of the united Germany announced the amount of debts to Russia amounting to $6.4 billion.

The Russian government argued that the amount of debt had not been verified, since the exchange rate of the “transferable ruble” in relation to world currencies was unknown, but if we recalculate the supply of raw materials at world prices, the debt of the GDR would even exceed the estimated debt of the Soviet Union by $4.2 billion. The end of this controversy is not clear. On this moment All that is known is that all debts of the USSR towards the GDR have been repaid.

Finland

By the time of the collapse, the Soviet Union owed Finland 600 million euros. In 2006, Russia was partially in in cash, partially by supplying goods and services, began to repay the debt. Russia transferred the last tranche in the amount of 5.7 million euros in the fall of 2013.

To the future with a clear conscience

As was said at the beginning, a significant part of the USSR’s debts (about $38 billion) had to be returned to the Paris and London clubs of creditors. The task of these structures is to regulate financial relations between the countries included in these organizations. The position according to which Moscow had to pay everything even with a delay was clearly formulated back in 1993.

Despite the fact that the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves at that time amounted to only $5 billion, Russia did not abandon its obligations and by 2006 had repaid all debts to the Paris Club. The final repayment period for debts to the London Club is 2030.

It is impossible not to pay attention to the desire of the Russian leadership to pay off debts ahead of schedule. In this case, as noted by the chief economist of the Eurasian Bank, Yaroslav Lisovolik, Russia receives significant savings on interest, this also improves the image of the Russian economy and can have a beneficial effect on the investment climate.

The specialist also noted “that compared to developed countries Russia has extremely low level debt. If in the USA and EU countries it reaches or even exceeds 90-100% of GDP, then in Russia the debt is no higher than 25% of GDP.”

According to the Bank of Russia, as of January 1, 2017, the external debt of the Russian Federation was estimated at $519 billion. The overwhelming majority is Russian debt itself, about a billion is the remainder of Soviet debt.

Life, public life and culture Russian people in the 17th century were characterized by a very uncertain vector of their development. In people's minds, antiquity is mixed with the active introduction of various innovations.

Old lifestyles began to gradually withdraw, but new ones were not yet fully accepted. IN early XVII century, when the state was shrouded in turmoil, culture was not influenced by either the church or state power.

Therefore, in this period, for the first time in the entire history of Russian culture, attempts to introduce freedom of speech and opinion were noticed. The Russian public gradually began to enter the New Age. The basis of art became the individual person, and not society as a whole.

Enlightenment and science in the 17th century

In the 17th century, the percentage of the literate population increased significantly. Business writing begins to emerge. Printed books gradually began to come into use, but they have not yet succeeded in replacing manuscripts.

The first printed manuals on arithmetic and grammar are published, which makes it possible to increase the number of literate people among the lower strata of society. During the period of confrontation between the Old Believer and Orthodox Church, primary schools begin to move away from the monastic beginning and acquire a secular character.

Families of boyars and merchants began to hire specially trained teachers for their children, sometimes foreigners, who taught classes at home. Scientific discoveries were also very significant. Medical knowledge, as before, was based on herbal treatment, but the process of exchanging experience with foreign doctors is beginning to emerge.

The first institutions for training doctors and pharmacists are opened. In the 17th century, significant attention was paid to the development of astrology: the Russian public learned about the teachings of Copernicus and began, on its basis, to develop their own views on the heliocentric system.

Literature in the 17th century

In the first half of the 17th century for literary process was a characteristic description tragic events Time of Troubles.

Historical thoughts were thoroughly imbued with patriotic feelings and calls for the fight against foreign invaders - they glorified the heroes who defended the Fatherland and the ordinary Russian people, who succumbed to severe oppression, but were still able to withstand the unequal battle.

Chronicles were also widespread in literature, which were created mainly by the clergy of the Old Believer Church. A striking example This is the “Life of Archpriest Avvakum” - the author’s biographical story about his own everyday suffering, provoked by a schism in the church. The literature is also beginning to include new genre- a realistic story, which would later serve as the basis for the emergence of journalism.

Architecture and construction in the 17th century

In the 17th century, architecture underwent very significant changes. Wooden buildings are being replaced by brick and stone ones. Baroque elements appeared in the temple architecture, which later became known as the “Moscow Naryshkin Baroque.”

Along with church buildings, active construction of public buildings begins: the Kremlin building can be completely reconstructed, huge retail premises in large cities.

Art in the 17th century

In the 17th century, Russia began to actively develop performing arts. Since the church authorities began actively persecuting buffoons (they were recognized by the clergy as servants of Satan), they were replaced by the first organized court theater troupes.