Desovetization of urban toponymy is understood in the paper as a process of abandoning the unified “matrix of urban names” that formed a common Soviet identity, and as an indicator of the transition of Russian society from the unification of identity to its diversity. The paper proves that the practices of desovietization of urban toponymy in Russia differ significantly, and such differences are associated with regional combinations of political orientations of the population and the political orientations of the ruling elite. Poles of geographical electoral cleavages, types of electoral cultures (according to R.F. Turovsky) describe geographical differences in the processes of desovietization of toponymy. It is shown what influence the organizational and political features of regional and city administrations had on the features and course of desovietization during the periods of renaming. In addition to the general trend of transition from a single Soviet matrix of urban names to regional diversification of toponymic approaches, there is a tendency to “deideologization” and “regionalization” of toponymy through the consolidation of regional historical memory, for national republics – minimal “deideologization”, replaced by “decolonization”, accompanied by “nationalization” and the same “regionalization” of toponymy.

Historical-geographic zoning is of important tool for analyzing the development of a territorial organization of the population and economy in a certain historical period. Carrying out historical-natural-economic zoning allows to reveal spatial features of a course of development process. The latter is considered as historical process of interaction of the changing natural environment (landscape) and developing human society (population) expressed in change of types of nature management and characteristic for each specific region. On the basis of peculiarities of traditional nature use in Karelia in the XIX–early XX centuries three historical-natural-economic provinces divided into nine regions were identified. Each historical-natural-economic region of Karelia is characterized by distinctive natural features and ethnic composition of the population, specific features of traditional land use and settlement1 system. In the XX century, there was a gradual transition to a unified land use with the dominance of forestry activities with the presence (especially in the Southern province) of agriculture. The conservation of traditional land use features is typical of Belomorian and Belomorian-Karelian regions of the Northern province, Zaonezhye and Pudozh regions of the Southern province.

Ethnocultural and landscape diversity of the Pskov region territory is of scientific interest from the cultural geography standpoint due to the specificity of the cultural and geographical location of the area. Located on the border, the Pskov region is characterized by the presence of internal cultural boundaries that create a complex ethnocultural mosaic, reflected in the modern cultural landscapes of the region. The project “Ethnocultural and landscape atlas of the Pskov region”, supported by the Russian Geographical Society, is aimed at revealing the ethnocultural diversity of the territory and the specificity of the cultural landscape. The article substantiates the choice of the cultural geography concepts, serving as the scientific basis for the development of this thematic atlas. These are the concepts of the cultural landscape and geocultural space that determine the structure and content of the atlas. Thus, in some sections of the atlas, the layers of the geocultural space of the region are reflected in dynamics: political-administrative, ethnic, confessional, linguistic, etc. A significant part of the atlas maps is devoted to the cultural landscapes of the region, considered from the position of the information-axiological approach.