The Sino-Russian Space Entente

Cooperation on space issues has been one of the elements of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership, and includes both technological and political dimensions. As a rising space power with an ambitious space exploration program, China has greatly benefited from proven Russian technology and knowledge. Additionally, Russia and China have united their voices on the issue of space weaponization, and have coordinated their efforts in the international fora. Through analyzing political and technical cooperation on space issues between the two nations, prospects for, and limits of, the Sino-Russian strategic partnership in space are assessed. The conclusion is reached that building on a Russian technological base, China is gradually transforming from a recipient of Russian technical assistance to an equal partner in complex scientific projects. The issue of technology transfer, however, is sensitive for Russia and places limits on cooperation. At the same time, a change in the United States approach to both states challenges the Sino-Russian space entente, both in its technical and political dimensions, and in the long-term viability of a strategic partnership.     

Mass terror and the court: The Military Collegium of the USSR

Apart from its role in the Moscow show trials during 1936 – 38, the Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court under V.V. Ul'rikh also tried some 40,000 ‘enemies of the people’ behind closed doors, sentencing most of them to death. These pseudo-trials of no more than a few minutes took place in prisons or NKVD offices in Moscow or (through the Collegium's assizes) provincial centres. There was no serious investigation of the evidence, and the court turned a blind eye to apparent cases of torture. The judges personally attended executions, occasionally even participating in them. The punishments had been determined beforehand by the political leadership under Stalin by way of lists, with the Military Collegium only ‘legalising’ the sentences. The defendants originated from the Soviet elite. The aim of this article is to throw more light on this side of the Collegium's activities, mainly based on archival sources. The article suggests that this quasi-legal procedure was adopted by the leadership under Stalin, in preference to purely administrative measures, because it was considered to be less likely to endanger the elite's loyalty.

We did not break the law, did not sign just like that. These are lies. Ul'rikh gave reports. There was a court, an indictment, there were sentences: everything as it should be, everything according to the law (Lazar' Kaganovich interviewed by G.A. Kumanev in Kumanev 1999 Kumanev, G. A. 1999. ‘Dve besedy s L.M. Kaganovichem’. Novaya i noveishaya istoriya, 2: 101–122.  [Google Scholar], p. 116).