Russia as a Сountry-Сivilization in the Dialogue of Cultures

The article examines the current geopolitical situation of Russia’s confrontation with the “collective West” in the light of a Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine, in historical, political and cultural aspects. The relevance of the article is due to both the intensity of hostilities directly in the SMO, as well as rapid changes in the system of international relations and the position of Russia in connection with the conduct of the SMO. There is an accelerated reorientation of Russian economic, financial, military and – what is considered in this paper – historical and cultural ties, previously prioritized to the West, but now increasingly unfolding to the East. The novelty of the article lies in the application of the civilizational approach as a methodological key to the analysis of Russia’s conflict with the “collective West”, its rapprochement with the powerful states–civilizations of the East – China and especially India; in this “optics”, the optimal positioning of Ossetia in the intercivilization is rethought in a new way. Great importance is attached to the domestic, Russian tradition of relevant scientific research; it is emphasized that it was in Russia that the pioneering results on the subject under consideration were published, starting with the work of N.Y. Danilevsky, and today it is in Russia that A.G. Dugin has carried out an unprecedented research program on the philosophical and historical analysis of early and current civilizations. In Russia, A.D. Panov made the most important general scientific discovery of the twenty-first century about the singular limit of universal history, received the name “Panov – Snooks vertical” in the scientific literature. The conclusion of the work consists in summing up the results of the review and indicating the specific prospects and directions of the inter-civilizational dialogue and participation of Ossetia in it; at the same time, the first results have already been obtained.