This is a translation that exists not only to inform - to provide the core material that the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation requires knowledge of as part of the tests to successfully receive residency permits and citizenship - but also to, in a certain sense, provide the necessary interpretation of that history to succeed in today's Russia in terms of interactions with government agencies, with academia, and with society at large. It is, again, a direct translation. The original text is brisk, clear, and written in such a way that facilitates quick absorption of the material, while nevertheless familiarizing the reader with a great deal of specific, relevant historical vocabulary. In the years following the reorganization of the states that previously formed the Soviet Union, certain countries have chosen to disagree on various points of history and geography. Sometimes these differences are politically and/or ideologically motivated and therefore relatively transitory; other times they are more reflective of longer-term ideological differences that define civilizational borders to some degree. Again, this translation does not exist to address these in any way; it simply reflects the material that the Russian Federal Migration Service has made available.

I hope that this translation is useful to you, whatever motivates your study of it and wherever it may find you in life.

Yours sincerely,

James W. Meng

DEFUNCT - 14 FEBRUARY 2026

I am no longer maintaining this translation, and now, after extensive contemplation, I have decided to remove it from the web. This was not a decision taken easily: I normally feel that cultural exchange on the order of something like this material is very helpful.

However, in light of more recent events, I have personally made the decision to take a different path. As someone who is descended from some various Russian and Polish nobility, I believe that there is some degree to which I still have a responsibility to protect Slavic people. And unfortunately, the Russian government has taken a route with their immigration programme that I do not feel is advantageous to the longer-term success of Russia: they have begun to tip the scales drastically in favor of immigrant populations who have no historical connection to Russia at all, first with migrants from central Asia, and now with predominantly Anglo and Germanic peasant populations from Europe and America who are allegedly fleeing "LGBT propaganda". Meanwhile, the Russian government still refuses to offer heritage citizenship to anyone whose Russian roots predate the Soviet Union and it is likewise absolutely crystal clear, as it has been for two decades already, that no restitution for those whose property was stolen by the Bolsheviks will ever occur. Nor is it at all safe in Russia today for legitimate persecution victims of Western governments.

In my opinion, and in the best interests of the Russian public, it is now time to invite open discussion of how this situation has arisen in Russia - unfortunately, and in stark contrast to the legacy reputation of the Russian security and intelligence services, it is time to discuss how diplomatic back-channels, most significantly between Russia and the USA, have been abused to advance the interests of the American CIA and the Puritan Anglo-peasant ethno-state that runs it.

Edward Snowden, in my view, was the first wave of a strategic Anglo-peasant subversion mission by the Anglo-peasant ethno-state at the CIA. At its core, his rhetoric centers on the use of surveillance techniques against the USA's general population. Unfortunately, the USA's general population is significantly predisposed to a vast amount of criminality, much of which goes totally unprosecuted because the perpetrators are of Anglo ethnicity. And thanks to advanced surveillance in the USA, we can now very easily identify and accumulate evidence on these criminals. But Edward Snowden does not think that the US Government and its law enforcement community should even be so much as able to accumulate evidence - even when totally corrupt law enforcement, prosecution, and court apparata refuse to arrest, prosecute, and imprison these criminals, in fact, he feels that they should not be able to use any surveillance techniques whatsoever without a specific warrant. Tim Tebow, another American of continental European heritage who matriculated and graduated from the University of Florida at the same time as I did, has advanced the issue in the US Congress and in the press somewhat, as it pertains to child abuse and particularly child sex abuse, but the issue is significantly more broad:

So, the current programme for Anglo-Saxon homophobic peasants to gain access to Russia merely stipulates some money and some medical clearances, after which one gains a three-year temporary residency permit (no language, culture, or history exam required.) If one wishes to obtain permanent residency and/or citizenship after the three years are up, then one does indeed still have to pass the exams.

I will say it - I think this is very bad for Russia. To have cast their lot with the likes of Edward Snowden and some homophobic Germans and useless disaffected Anglo peasants, instead of with the real victims of the West's criminality and with the victims of the Bolsheviks - this shows a total lack of care, a total lack of vision, at the highest levels of Russia's leadership class, for the peoples of Russia. And there is quite a great deal of analysis of this matter that one could expound upon, but this is not the place for it. Nevertheless, if you would like to earn Russian permanent residency or citizenship and are preparing to take the exams required to do so, I am unfortunately no longer willing to help you. In my best estimation, it is now highly likely that you belong to an immigrant cohort that will be enormously detrimental to Russia, and I want no part of it.

"Good night", as they say, and good luck.