The article focuses on the scientific and practical problem of aligning the practice of innovation management in the fuel and energy complex to the interests of its sustainable development in Russian regions. The purpose of the article is to identify the prospects for improving the practice of innovation management in support of the sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex of regional economic systems in the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia. The authors determine the contribution of innovation management to the sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex of regional economic systems in Russia, based on the official statistics of Rosstat for 2021 and the method of correlation analysis. The study is conducted on the example of the top 10 regions of Russia with the largest share of the fuel and energy complex in the structure of gross value added in 2021. The results obtained led to the conclusion that the existing approach to innovation management in the fuel and energy complex does not fully correspond to the priorities of sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex of regional economic systems Russia in the Decade of Science and Technology. This approach provides benefits only for the region (maintaining market balance in the fuel and energy complex), while benefits for other stakeholders – responsible communities (environmental friendliness of the fuel and energy complex), employees of fuel and energy organizations of regional economic systems in Russia (supporting employment in the fuel and energy complex) and owners of fuel and energy companies (break-even of these organizations) are weakly expressed. To solve this problem, the authors propose to utilize an ESG approach to innovation management for the sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex of the regional economic system. The author’s approach includes universal principles, targets and management measures suitable for all Russian regions. The advantage of the new approach is that it makes it possible to align the practice of innovation management in the fuel and energy complex in line with the interests of sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex of regional economic systems in the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia.

The matter of import substitution of high-tech equipment for the development of Russian industry plays a crucial role for the national economy in conditions of severe sanctions pressure. The introduction of sectoral sanctions and trade restrictions in 2022 revealed industries that are most dependent on foreign supplies, it also significantly increased the cost of previously freely imported goods and services, as well as destroyed the system of international industrial, technological and scientific cooperation. At the same time, the external factor has become a powerful impetus for mobilization of national resources and consolidation of efforts of the state, enterprises and science in order to develop national advanced technologies and equipment. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the major substitution measures for the most critical technologies for the Russian economy in the fuel and energy sector. Special attention is paid to the Concept of technological development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030, approved in May 2023, which proposes a new agenda of scientific and technological development of the country for the coming decade. The authors identify the main problems on the way to achieve technological sovereignty of Russia in the context of geopolitical crisis.

The article explores energy diplomacy as a conceptual tool of foreign policy and describes methods and directions of energy diplomacy. It analyzes the application of the concept of energy diplomacy by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the oil and gas sphere taking into account the geopolitical position of Iran and historical development of the fuel and energy complex of the country. The authors highlight difficulties hindering the successful performance of Iran’s energy diplomacy in the Persian Gulf subregion. The untapped potential of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s energy diplomacy at the subregional level is also examined. The article presents scenarios regarding future of the country’s energy diplomacy in the Persian Gulf in the context of possible domestic reforms and subregional political transformations.

The paper discusses the structural features of mutual trade and economic relations of the Caspian states in the context of the formation of the Caspian region. The main factors of the development of intra-regional trade of the countries of the Caspian Sea are analyzed, taking into account the changing situation in the world fuel and raw materials markets. Based on the analysis of the connectivity of the Caspian states, it has been established that the formation of the Caspian region is at an early stage. Perspective directions of trade and economic cooperation between the countries of the region are considered.

The paper raises the crucial for the modern Russia issue of the influence of the position of the country at the world market for its economic development. Methodological framework of analysis is based on the world-system theory, which puts emphasis on domination of the developed countries (the core) over the developing countries (the periphery). Basing on a large body of empirical data the authors demonstrate such negative repercussions of the semi-peripheral position of the country in the world economy as: structural shifts in favor of extracting industries at the expense of the manufacturing, low scale and quality of the productive investments of the Russian enterprises, weak interest of the Russian business in innovations and digitalization of economy. The authors conclude that in conditions of unprecedented pressure on Russia through sanctions there are prospects for our country to break free from the shackles of unfavorable external economic ties.

The article analyzes the adequacy of the cooperative form of socio-economic organization for the development of information technologies. Workers’ technological cooperatives were chosen as the subject of this study. The results of surveys of Stackoverflow.com site developers from 2015 to 2022 were used as the factual basis of the article. The sample size of respondents was 70 thousand developers, which made it possible to ensure the reliability of the author’s provisions and conclusions.
The methodological basis of the work was the modern neoinstitutional theory, which gives two directions for research logic. Firstly, the authors were guided by the conceptual representation of classical institutionalism (not denied by the neoclassics) about the systemic quality of institutions, which, when applied to a cooperative organization, makes it possible to determine its exclusive properties relevant for integration into the information mainstream. And, secondly, the theoretical provisions of neo-institutionalism about the active role of individuals in the formation and development of institutions (in our case, cooperatives) were taken into account. Cooperators, seeking optimal forms and types of functioning of their enterprises, thereby create their adaptive potential to innovations in the field of information technology.
To analyze the data of sociology, the authors used both general scientific and special research methods: static analysis and graphical visualization.
The purpose of the article was to determine the compliance of cooperative associations with current trends in the promotion of information technology. IT cooperatives operate in a variety of types and industries: from web development to graphic design, web hosting, design and final production of complex technological products.
Thus, the object of consideration of the authors of the article was the sphere of information and communication technologies, and the subject – cooperative processes in the IT sector.

As the result of the presidential elections in October 2022 Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva the founder of Workers’ Party of Brazil came to power again. His victory in the second round with 50.9 % compared to 49.1 % over incumbent President Jair Messias Bolsonaro on the one hand reflected the extreme polarization of society between supporters of the right and left political course. On the other hand, Brazilian society is tired of the ill-conceived social policy of ex-president in the fight against COVID-19 in 2019. As a result, more than 500,000 Brazilian citizens died. On top of an untimely fight against the pandemic and temporarily closed borders unemployment and inflation have increased. As a result, the socio-economic standard of living of the population has decreased.
The author emphasizes that taking into account the mistakes already made by J. Bolsonaro in social policy and together with the release of Lula da Silva from prison with the dismissal of all corruption charges by the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil created the conditions for restoring the trust and influence of the left opposition in the presidential race. Thus, the victory of the leftist president was predictable due to his popularity among the majority of the country’s population, a broad social agenda for the poorest segments of the population, especially those affected by the pandemic. In turn the economic situation in the country requires more state involvement and a stable federal government to curb inflation, further reduce unemployment and raise the socio-economic standard of living after the pandemic.
To ensure economic growth it is necessary to develop the energy sector, taking into account population growth (215 million people). Currently the country is in need of demand for primary energy, so the country is seeking to develop both renewable (RES) and non-renewable energy projects with the help of foreign investors from China, the EU, the US and Qatar. The author notes that in order to ensure energy security and reduce the debt burden, the right-wing government of J. Bolsonaro began the process of privatization of the leading state-owned energy companies in Brazil. However elected President Lula da Silva opposed the privatization of Petrobras and Eletrobras in his election strategy believing that privatization would not contribute to the country’s energy security and would further increase consumer energy prices. However, the successful implementation of transition to green energy and ensuring energy security will require not only the modernization of energy companies but also foreign investment.

The article assesses the consequences of the reduction in Russian energy supplies to the EU and the ensuing energy inflation for the development of the economy and the labor market of its member states. It has been established that the rejection of the «physical» economy at the stage of development of the post-industrial economy and the politically biased and thoughtless actions of the EU authorities in the period from 2014 to 2022 led to the development of a negative scenario in the economic development of the region. Rising energy prices have become one of the main factors destabilizing the economies of individual EU member states and leading to job cuts in a number of industries. At the same time, the efforts taken by the EU authorities to stabilize the situation are insufficient, especially in the face of growing competition from the US, which is the main beneficiary of the energy crisis in the EU. On the one hand, the United States offers more favorable conditions for European TNCs to work on their territory, and, on the other hand, it increases LNG supplies to the EU, effectively controlling electricity prices. Violation of the EU’s energy security could result in serious socio-economic consequences in the region.