Dagestan as part of Russia: the main stages and experience of political, economic and cultural integration

The article highlights the economic and political consequences of Dagestan's entry into Russia, starting from the end of the Caucasian War in the North-Eastern Caucasus and up to our time. This event had great progressive significance for the destinies of the Dagestan peoples. The peoples of Dagestan, who were at the stage of feudalism, were drawn into the economic, legal and cultural field of capitalist Russia, which predetermined the rapid development of bourgeois relations in the region in industry and the agricultural sector. Being part of the Russian Empire, and subsequently the USSR, Dagestanis took an active part in all significant socio-political events in the country. A particularly great flourishing of the economy and culture of Dagestan was observed in the 1960–1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and a paradigm shift in the state and social structure of Russia, the peoples of Dagestan expressed their desire to remain part of it. In the new geopolitical situation, Dagestan turned out to be the southernmost outpost of Russia, through which the Russian Federation protects its geoeconomic and geostrategic interests in the region.