On August 21, 2010, after a short serious illness, a prominent Oriental scholar, a well-known Mongol scholar, a rare expert on a wide range of problems of the history and current situation of Mongolia and Northeast Asia, a chief researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Political Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences, member of the Russian Academy of Humanitarian Studies, Associate Professor, translator, literature Galina Sergeevna Yaskina (Matveeva). G. S. Yaskina devoted her entire adult life to studying the Mongolian language, history, economy, culture and literature of Mongolia, which she loved and knew very well. Russian Mongolian and Oriental studies have suffered a heavy loss.

Galina Sergeevna was born on January 2, 1932 in Slavyansk, Donetsk region of the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). After graduating from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies in 1954, she worked at the Central Komsomol School under the Central Committee of the Komsomol, first as a translator of the Mongolian language (1954-1957), and then as a teacher of political economy (1966-1969). In 1957, she joined the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences / RAS, where she worked with a short break for almost 50 years.

She published more than 200 scientific and other publications, including 14 monographs, sections in collective monographs, dozens of articles on topical issues of history, economy, culture, foreign policy and the current situation of Mongolia in the XX-early XXI centuries, as well as political and socio-economic problems of the development of the Republic of Korea and China Vietnam, North Korea, Malaysia, international political and economic relations in the Asia-Pacific region and NEA.

Her first major independent scientific work, the monograph "Socialist Transformations in the Agriculture of the Mongolian People's Republic "(1960), served as the basis for

for the defense of his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences (1961). In those years, this was the first work in the USSR that attempted to study and generalize the experience of implementing the "Leninist cooperative plan" in the specific conditions of the predominance of nomadic pasture cattle breeding in Mongolia from the standpoint of the prevailing ideology of Marxism-Leninism and the "theory of the non-capitalist path of development". In the late 1950s, the completion of the cooperation of individual Arat (cattle-breeding) farms in the MNR was considered in the leadership and in the social sciences of the USSR and the MNR as a great achievement in building socialism "in a non-capitalist way". Over time, G. S. Yaskina gradually and consistently expanded and deepened the study of the problems of modernization and development of agriculture, improving the social living conditions of the rural population in Mongolia, as well as in other Asian countries.

Agricultural topics continued to be one of the main areas of her research activities for 50 years, both before the beginning of radical transformations in the USSR and the MNR in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and in subsequent years. This is evidenced, in particular, by her monographs published after 1990, including " Development of productive forces in the agricultural sector of Mongolia in the last quarter of the XX century (Main trends and prospects) "(1994), " Asian Agriculture to the beginning of the XXI century: Part 1. Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Taiwan" (1996), " The agricultural sector of the Mongolian economy on the approaches to the market "(1999), etc. These works were written in a new way, taking into account new approaches, the radical changes that took place in the socio-political and socio-economic system in the USSR and the MNR. Among the works of G. S. Yaskina on agricultural topics published after 1990, we should mention a major study " Agriculture of Asian countries to the beginning of the XXI century. Part 1. Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Taiwan", in which she analyzed the main trends in the development, transformation and modernization of agriculture in these countries at the end of the XX century. Judging by the title of this monograph, it can be assumed that in the mid-1990s she intended to continue working in this direction and write the second part of the book, but then changed her creative ideas.

G. S. Yaskina was distinguished by a wide range of scientific interests: history, agriculture, economics, politics, political science, international relations, globalization, culture, literature, etc. Starting her research activities with the study of the history of the socialist transformation of agriculture in the MNR in the late 1950s and early 1960s, G. S. Yaskina gradually and consistently expanded the range of her research interests in the following years, including problems of industrial development and the economy of Mongolia as a whole, and by the early 1990s she had moved to writing large, generalizing works about Mongolia. Her comprehensive monograph "Creating the Material and technical base of Socialism in the MNR" (1978) was translated into Mongolian and published in an expanded form in Ulaanbaatar (1980). She wrote chapters in such major collective works as " Essays on the Economy of the Mongolian People's Republic "(1969), "History of Soviet-Mongolian Relations" (1981), " History of the MNR "(3rd ed., 1983), " History of the Socialist Economy of the MNR "(1987), " History of Mongolia. XX century" (2007), " Russia and Mongolia on the path of strategic partnership "(2009, manuscript), etc. It is worth noting the great contribution of G. S. Yaskina not only as a co-author, but also as a responsible editor of the monograph " History of Mongolia. XX century", member of the editorial board of the international collective monograph "Russia and Mongolia on the path of strategic partnership", etc.

One of the undoubted and great achievements of G. S. Yaskina is that she was among the first Russian Mongolian scholars who, despite the numerous difficulties of the transition period in Russia and Mongolia, the collapse of the previous ideology and methodology, the lack of factual materials and information, actively took up the study of new, contradictory political, economic, social, cultural and cultural issues. international issues related to Mongolia's transition from the old model of development to a new model based on a multi-party political system, a market economy, democracy and an open foreign policy. This issue has been thoroughly developed in such monographs as "Mongolia: Changing the development model. Political and Economic Reforms "(1994), " Economic Reforms in Mongolia: Social Aspects "(1993), " Modernization of Productive Forces and Economic Reform in Mongolia "(1994), " Mongolia: Today (politics, Economy, culture) "(1997), " The agricultural sector of the Mongolian economy on the approaches to the market" (1999), " Mongolia and the Outside World "(2002), etc.

Among the listed works, first of all, the monograph "Mongolia: changing the development model. Political and Economic Reforms", which draws on a wide range of diverse sources and uses new approaches to provide an innovative, comprehensive analysis of the radical changes that took place in Mongolia's political system, economy, social sphere and foreign policy after its rejection of building socialism and transition to a new model of development in 1990.

This monograph served as the basis for the successful defense of G. S. Yaskina's dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Political Science in 1994 at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She became the first political scientist among Russian Mongolian scholars of her time. It wasn't an accident. The fact is that since the beginning of the 1960s, along with the agrarian theme, it has also dealt with the problems of democracy under socialism. In 1965, the young Mongolian scholar G. S. Yaskina co-authored with her more experienced colleague P. P. Staritsina the book "People's Democracy and the Construction of Socialism in the MNR". Using many years of experience working with representatives of the Mongolian youth, Revsomol members, G. S. Yaskina prepared and in 1983 published a detailed monograph " Mongolian Revolutionary Youth Union. History and Modernity", which is still the first and so far only study on this topic in Russia.

In the creative heritage of G. S. Yaskina, an important place is occupied by topics related to the international situation of Mongolia, its foreign policy, international relations in East Asia, relations in the" triangle " Russia-Mongolia-China, etc. For the first time, this topic was reflected in her monograph "The Mongolian People's Republic in the System of Socialist Economic Integration" (1987). This monograph was the first generalizing work on this topic in Russian historiography. Among the works on international issues published after 1990, first of all, the monograph "Mongolia and the External World" (2002), as well as a number of articles - "The Japanese factor in the development of Southeast Asian countries" (2002), "Russia-China-India: prospects for trilateral cooperation" (2003)should be mentioned, "On the Historical Fate of Socialism in Asian Countries" (2005), " Russian-Mongolian Partnership in the First Decade of the New Century "(2006), " Mongolia and the United States of America: on the Way to Rapprochement "(2008), etc.

In the monograph "Mongolia and the Outside World", taking into account the experience and lessons of the historical past, G. S. Yaskina thoroughly examined the history and current state of relations between Mongolia and Russia/the USSR, China, the USA, Japan and other Asian and European countries in the late XX-early XXI centuries. This work is the first comprehensive study of Mongolia's international law and foreign policy conducted by a Russian academic since 1990.

G. S. Yaskina's scientific works are well known and highly appreciated by specialists in Russia, Mongolia and other countries. It should be emphasized that G. S. Yaskina's research interests were not limited to Mongolia and Mongolian studies. Having rich experience and extensive knowledge as a general Orientalist, historian, economist, political scientist, and specialist in East Asia, G. S. Yaskina, in collaboration with L. A. Anosova, published a number of works on political and economic reforms in the Republic of Korea, China, and Vietnam, including the monograph " South Korea: A View from Russia "(1997), "Xiamen-China's Free Economic Zone "(1996), " Vietnam. History, Politics, Economics" (2000), etc.

The pinnacle of G. S. Yaskina's scientific work in the field of political science, without any doubt, can be considered her last major monograph " Political Processes in Asia. The experience of Democratization" (Part 1), 2nd, an expanded edition of which was published shortly before her death. In this fundamental work, G. S. Yaskina investigated a wide range of topical theoretical and practical problems of the development and democratization of political systems in Asian countries, including the problems of typologization of political processes and terminology, various modern theories and practices of modernization and democratization of political processes, the role of state sovereignty and national traditions in the process of democratization, the organic connection between economy and democracy, the place and role of property in the politics of a number of Asian states, etc. G. S. Yaskina proposed her own definition of Eastern democracy and its role in world history. She was very passionate about this exceptionally difficult and time-consuming job. I have collected a large amount of factual material on various Asian countries. She worked intensively on the second part of the monograph, in which she planned to analyze in more detail the specific experience of the development and democratization of political systems in individual countries

Asia. She had new ideas, plans, big plans, which, alas, unfortunately, are no longer destined to come true.

As a researcher, G. S. Yaskina was characterized by her dedication to her work, genuine interest and love for Mongolia and other Eastern countries, a wide range of scientific interests, deep and versatile knowledge, the ability to capture the spirit of the times, the academic mainstream and social order, to track and respond in a timely manner to real processes and changes in life, the desire to new, increasingly complex research tasks, relentless creative search for new, non-trivial approaches, exceptionally high efficiency and productivity, depth of analysis, validity of arguments, conclusions and proposals.

G. S. Yaskina took an active part in various international, Russian, inter-institute and institute scientific conferences in Russia, Mongolia, China, South Korea, Vietnam, etc., including many international congresses of Mongolian and Oriental scholars, conferences and symposiums of historians, political scientists, and economists. As a rule, her reports were distinguished by novelty and depth of statement or coverage of a specific problem, thoroughness of arguments and conclusions. For several years, G. S. Yaskina was a member of the Academic and dissertation councils of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Great and indubitable are the achievements of G. S. Yaskina in training national professional personnel for the national republics of Russia, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, etc. She had a talent for mentoring young people, was a scientific adviser and consultant for many graduate students, candidates and doctors of sciences, who later became famous scientists, state and public figures of their republics and countries.

It is difficult to overestimate the merits of G. S. Yaskina as one of the first and most qualified Russian translators of Mongolian fiction, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. Tudeva, S. Udwal, J. Pureva, D. Garmaa, B. Rinchen, C. Damdinsuren, S. Locin, S. Erdene, D. Tsedeva and others - became known not only in Russia, but also in other countries. According to G. S. Yaskina herself, in total she has translated over 60 mostly large-scale works, novels and collections of short stories by Mongolian writers. For her services to translation, she was the first Soviet translator to receive the award of the Mongolian Writers ' Union.

In Mongolia, G. S. Yaskina enjoyed great respect and authority among the scientific and creative intelligentsia, the country's leadership and the Academy of Sciences. She had many friends and colleagues with whom she maintained business and friendly relations for many years. G. S. Yaskina was a member of the International Association of Mongolian Studies, the Society of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Society of Mongolian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Societies of Soviet-Mongolian Friendship, Societies of Friends of Mongolia.

In a telegram sent in connection with the death of G. S. Yaskina, a well-known Mongolian scientist, General Secretary of the International Association of Mongolian Studies, acad. Sh. Bira, in particular, wrote:: "I am saddened to learn from you that Galina Sergeevna, a prominent Mongolian scholar who made an invaluable contribution to the development of Mongolian studies, has passed away. Her name is well known in Mongolia. We loved and respected her. Everyone who knew her in Mongolia will cherish her memory." Similar condolences were also received from the Director of the Institute of International Studies of the Academy of Sciences L. Haysandai, Director of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences S. Chuluun, individual employees of these institutes.

G. S. Yaskina's long-term and fruitful scientific, pedagogical and translation activities in the field of Mongolian studies have received well-deserved recognition and appreciation from the leadership of Mongolia. She was awarded government, academic and other awards of Mongolia, including the Order of the Polar Star, the Druzhba Medal, the Medal of honor "800th anniversary of the formation of a unified Mongolian state", the D. Natsagdorj medal, etc.

Russian colleagues and friends of G. S. Yaskina from the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Kalmyk Institute for Humanitarian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and others also expressed their sincere condolences.

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