The paper analyzes the works of the English- and German-language researchers who studied the history of Russia’s Far Eastern policy at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. According to these scholars, a striking feature of that policy was the inseparability of the foreign and internal political tasks, while its main result was Russia’s involvement in the war against Japan. However, Western authors focused not only on the foreign policy and military aspects of the “Russian eastward expansion” (analyzed by C. von Zepelin, A. Malosemoff, S. Marks, R. Quested, J. Stephan) but also on the geographic, demographic, social and economic aspects (B. Sumner, A. A. Lobanov-Rostovsky, R. Quested, D. Geyer, J. Lensen et al.). The ideological component of the Far Eastern policy (associated with the ideas of Russia’s historical civilizing mission in Asia and the need to oppose the “Yellow Peril”) was considered in the works by A. Malozemoff, D. Schimmelpenninck van der Oye. The economic reasons for the development of the region were discussed by the authors who studied processes of “modernization” and S. Yu. Witte’s policy of “peaceful penetration” (B. Sumner, A. A. Lobanov-Rostovsky, R. Quested, D. Geyer, J. Lensen et al.). Sociocultural processes that led to the formation of “national identity” and “regional identity” were analyzed by J. Stephan, Ch. Y. Hsu, D. Wolff, Sh. Corrado. Despite the diversity of conceptions proposed by the Englsih- and Germanlanguage researchers it is possible to identify the two key trends in the study of the topic. The majority of works emphasized the expansionist intentions of Russia as one of the “imperialist powers” who participated in dividing spheres of influence in the Asia-Pacific region. However, many authors acknowledged Russia’s objective need to strengthen its position on the Pacific frontier, to protect its Far Eastern territories, to settle them and develop their economy.
RUSSIA’S FAR EASTERN POLICY IN THE LATE 19TH — EARLY 20TH CENTURY IN THE WORKS OF THE ENGLISH AND GERMAN-LANGUAGE RESEARCHERS