As part of the implementation of the work plan of the grant-funded research project «The Specificity of Kazakh–Russian Relations in the Kazakhstan Ural Region: The Interrelation of Ideology and Practice in Historical Perspective» (IRN AP23487682), G.A. Shotanova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Leading Research Fellow of the Ch.Ch. Valikhanov Institute of History and Ethnology, and M.T. Moryakova, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, conducted a research visit to St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, from 17 to 30 July 2026. The primary objective of the visit was to collect archival and bibliographic materials related to the project.
1. Research Activities
Research conducted in the collections of the National Library of Russia (NLR) enabled the preparation of a comprehensive review of scholarly literature and periodicals covering the principal themes of the project and integrating historiographical, military-estate, environmental, and socio-cultural perspectives.
A central place in the study of Kazakh–Russian relations belongs to the historiography of diplomacy, the political elites of the Kazakh Steppe, and the role of the Russian Empire in the development of Kazakh society. The source base of the project was significantly enriched by fundamental eighteenth- and nineteenth-century publications, including the works of V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov, documentary publications of the Archaeographic Expedition, specialized collections on Russian–Central Asian relations edited by I.M. Vasilyev and A.M. Gaysin, as well as scholarly publications devoted to the history of trade and customs administration.
Contemporary academic interpretations of the interaction between the imperial administration and the Kazakh political elite are comprehensively presented in the monographs of A.Yu. Bykov, the doctoral dissertation of O.E. Gundova, and the studies of I.S. Igdavletov and V.N. Shkunov on commercial diplomacy. An important legal source for the study of administrative mechanisms is the Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire, together with its alphabetical indexes, documenting the evolution of Russian legislation throughout the nineteenth century.
Another important thematic area of the research concerned the military-estate institutions and the environmental-geographical characteristics of the Kazakhstan Ural region, which historically served as a frontier zone of continuous interaction between the Cossack population and the Kazakh nomads. The history of the Ural (Yaik) Cossack Host was examined through both classical and contemporary scholarship, including the works of A.M. Dubovikov, V.I. Dal, K.K. Abaza, V.S. Peshkov, S.P. Kurnoskin, and I.G. Rozner. Comparative perspectives were provided by the studies of F. Starikov, A.V. Venkov, O.O. Antropov, and A.V. Kuryshev devoted to the Orenburg, Don, Astrakhan, and Volga Cossack Hosts.
The environmental dimension of the Ural River basin, reflected in the works of A.A. Chibilev and the regional studies of S.I. Sokolov and E.A. Ageleuov, made it possible to assess the direct influence of natural and climatic conditions on economic activities and land delimitation processes.
Particularly valuable source materials were identified in the library’s newspaper collections, which contain numerous references to the Kazakh population in publications such as Turgayskaya Gazeta, Kirgizskaya Stepnaya Gazeta, Uralskiye Voyskovye Vedomosti, and other contemporary newspapers.
Alongside periodicals, archival documents constitute another significant source category illustrating the evolution of the legal status of the region and the Yaik (Ural) Cossack Host. In particular, documents from the collection of the Most Holy Governing Synod (Fond 796) provide valuable evidence of the confessional and administrative policies of the imperial government. These records range from local petitions for the construction of chapels in 1736 to the administrative reforms of 1775, when the Yaik River was officially renamed the Ural River and the Yaik Cossack Host became the Ural Cossack Host, reflecting both the restructuring of imperial administration and the deliberate suppression of historical memory associated with the Pugachev Rebellion.
Practical aspects of cross-border interaction were examined through the records of central governmental institutions. Documents of the Department of Manufactures and Internal Trade dating from the early nineteenth century reveal the regulation of frontier commerce, the activities of the Orenburg Customs Office, the development of Uralsk’s infrastructure, and fiscal reforms demonstrating the gradual integration of traditional eastern trade routes into the customs system of the Russian Empire.
Overall, the examined body of sources—including archival records of central governmental institutions, legislative acts, academic publications, environmental studies, source editions, and pre-revolutionary periodicals—constitutes a representative and comprehensive scholarly foundation for the implementation of the research project.
2. Academic Meetings and Exchange of Experience
During a meeting with A.V. Sirenov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Director of the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, key directions for the integration of historiographical approaches were discussed.
Academic consultations continued at the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University. The discussions involved A.Kh. Daudov, Doctor of Historical Sciences and Director of the Institute; A.I. Filyushkin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, and Head of the Department of the History of Slavic and Balkan Countries, and A.Yu. Dvornichenko, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, and Head of the Department of Russian History from Ancient Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century. The consultations focused on methodological approaches to the study of frontier regions and on issues concerning the source criticism and verification of historical documents.
In addition, a meeting was held with O.V. Starostina, Candidate of Historical Sciences and Deputy Director for Research at the Russian Museum of Ethnography.
G.A. Shotanova (Project Manager), M.T. Moryakova
