Problems of studying terrorism in the USSR in the second half of the 20th century: from denial to understanding

The study deals with the problem of studying terrorism in the USSR. It describes the negative tradition of Russian social and humanitarian knowledge of concealing this issue. The situation involved both the methodological legacy of the Soviet period and the uncritical perception of international theoretical constructions. Based on published documents, the authors substantiate the existence of terrorist activities in the USSR, reveals the trends in and the main areas of the spread of terrorism in the USSR. The research attempts to analyze terrorism in the USSR from the standpoint of ideological and tactical specific nature. It examines the existence of relationships between the tactical priorities of terrorism actors and the cultural context of the regions of terrorist manifestation. The importance of the state of the national issue with growing terrorist activities is shown.