Changes of the main climatic indicators of the western part of the East-European taiga (boreal zone) for the period from 1991 to the present time in comparison with the same indicators for the period 1960–1990 are considered, according to 35 meteorological stations data: mean monthly air temperatures of January and July, annual precipitation, annual sums of average daily air temperatures exceeding +10°C, number of days per year with average daily temperature above +10°C. For all the indicators under consideration, changes of the values for the period since 1991 compared to the base period were calculated; linear trends and average rates of change of indicators in the base and current periods are established. Changes in climate indicators are considered in the context of three main subzones of the taiga of Eastern Europe – northern, middle and southern. A significant increase in air temperatures over the entire territory under consideration for the period after 1991 compared to the period 1960–1990 was revealed, and the increase in winter temperatures is significantly greater than in summer. The average annual sums of atmospheric precipitation in the considered territory varied in different directions: in the northern and western parts, they mainly increased over the past 25 years, and in the south-eastern part, they mainly decreased. On the whole territory, the sum of average daily temperatures exceeding +10°С increased significantly and the number of days with average daily temperatures above +10°C as well. Comparison of the ranges of heat supply indicators established for the subzones of the western part of the taiga of the European Russia based on meteorological data obtained before the middle of the XX century and calculated for the last 25–29 years allows us to draw conclusions about the existence of climatic prerequisites for shifting the boundaries of the taiga zone and its subzones in the northern direction.

The paper considers the analysis of the ancient hydrographic network of the adjacent territories of Tuva and Mongolia. The Ulug-Hem River has cut the Western Sayan ridge during the Eopleistocene as a result of the rise of the Tannu-Ola ridge according to the published data and the field materials collected by the authors. Up to this date, starting from the relatively wet Jurassic, the Paleo-Ulug-Hem valley had been directed from the southwestern part of the Tuva to the south into the Great Lakes Basin of Mongolia from where the river flowed southeast and east through the Gobi depressions into the Amur basin. The evidence of the transformation of hydrographic network are presented by data from paleogeography, lithology, paleontology and zoogeography. Studies have shown that there are a series of controversial and insufficiently developed issues in the problem and further work in this direction can provide certain material for a more complete explanation of the formation mechanism of the ancient regional hydrographic network.

The landscape structure of the Zaonezhsky peninsula (2000 km2) of the Onega Lake (Republic of Karelia) is studied on the basis of the analysis of the landscape map (scale 1 : 200000), compiled on the principles of the landscape-dynamic approach. 32 types of landscape sites were identified, including 16 of their combinations (combinations are mapped when the scale of the map does not allow to display fine-contoured sites alternating with certain regularity). Along with natural landscape sites, the map shows 14 types of anthropogenically modified sites that have been formed due to long-term agricultural use and/or drainage of the territory. Three types of technogenic landscape sites are examined as well. Dominant plant communities and soils are characterized for each type of landscape sites. Map reconstruction of landscapes for the period of maximal agricultural development of the territory (second half of the 19th century) is carried out. It is established that 30% of the territory was cultivated in the past. Areal ratios of main types of present long-term landscape states and main trends of long-term dynamics of the landscapes are determined.

The current trends in the socio-economic development of the Ural-Siberian sector of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Russia are studied. Cluster differentiation of municipal districts was carried out on the basis of indicators of the volume of agricultural and industrial products, retail trade, investments. Depending on the prevalence and combination of indicators, the studied area was divided into 8 clusters: highly developed industrial areas, highly developed commercial, industrial and agricultural areas, commercial and agricultural areas, trade and logistics areas, agricultural and industrial areas, agricultural areas, depressed underdeveloped areas and one large oil-producing area. According to the results of cluster differentiation, certain features were identified: more highly developed areas gravitate towards administrative centers and major transport arteries. Two axes of advanced development have been formed in the west and east of the meso-region: the South Ural and Altai-Siberian axes. Depressed areas are concentrated in the center of the meso-region in Kurgan region (oblast) and in the north of the Omsk region (oblast), and also gravitate towards the state border with Kazakhstan.

The issues of the development of geographical science in the historical conditions of the postmodern and post-structuralism era are discussed. It is shown how the concepts of philosophical postmodernism and poststructuralism “complexity”, “deconstruction”, “arrangement” can be used in the method and methodology of geography (mainly physical geography). Deconstruction creates new historical conditions for the functioning of the scientific method in general and the work of the geographer in particular. Complexity gives rise to such objects of research that were methodically inaccessible for the geographical science of modern times. The “arrangement” represents them as a subject of research. Examples of interpretation of well-known geographic objects from methodological and methodological positions, different from those adopted in the epochs of Enlightenment and Modernity, are given. The relevance of the philosophical and methodological search in geographical science, which seeks to explore phenomena of complexity, is shown. The concept of deconstructive geography is introduced and its relation to such areas as radical and constructive geography is considered.

Two research publications devoted to internal and external factors of geopolitical position of the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) are reviewed. Both books were published in Serbian in 2020 under the auspices of the Geographic society of Republika Srpska; the author is Igor Zekanovic, a professor at the University of Banja Luka. The advantages and disadvantages of these works are examined; the author of the review argues that their possible translation into Russian, even in an abbreviated form, can contribute to a better understanding of trends, problems and prospects for the development of the Republika Srpska among Russian geographers.