Scientific Supervisor’s Reference of MA Thesis by Ali Emre Sucu, student of the Master program “International relations”, Saint-Petersburg State University Title: Russian Compatriots as an Actor of Russian Politics in Central Asia  1.	Quality of MA Thesis №  	Assessment Criteria	Marks:  •	excellent (5) •	good (4) •	satisfactory (3) •	unsatisfactory (2)	Comments 1.	Relevance of study (АОМ: ОКМ-13, 22; АМ: ОКМ-8,16, ПК-36; ПОМ: ПК-6)	excellent	 2.	Scientific novelty (АОМ: ОКМ-13, 22; АМ: ОКМ-8,16, ПК-36; ПОМ: ПК-6)	excellent	 3.	The correctness of objective setting, the interconnectedness of goals and objectives (АОМ: ОКМ- 9, 13, 32; АМ:  ПК-10, 11; ПОМ: ОКМ-12)	excellent	 4.	Relevance of the sources and quality of criticism  (АОМ: ПК-17; АМ: ОКМ- 24; ПОМ: ОКМ-18, ПК-13)	excellent	 5.	Completeness and diversity of the list of used literature (АОМ: ПК-17; АМ: ОКМ- 24; ПОМ: ОКМ-18, ПК-13)	good	 6.	Correspondence of methods of research with the set goals and tasks  (АОМ: ОКМ-2; АМ: ОКМ- 10, ПК-26; ПОМ: ОКМ-11, 14) 	good	 7.	Correspondence of the results with the objective and goals (АОМ: ОКМ-1,7, ПК-33; АМ: ОКМ- 17, ПК-12, 37; ПОМ: ОКМ-14, ПК-14, 17)	excellent	 8.	Quality of text formalization (АОМ: ОКМ-1; АМ: ОКМ-8; ПОМ: ОКМ-7)	excellent	 9.	Responsibility and efficiency of the student (АОМ: ОКМ-23; АМ: ОКМ-19; ПОМ: ОКМ-13, 23, 27)	excellent	 Average Mark:	excellent    2.	Conclusion: The student has drawn on a wide range of sources and literature, accessible to him. I would like to note that this work was done absolutely independently, there were practically no questions to the supervisor. The marks for the used literature and methods of research were reduced, since the student does not speak Russian well enough, so he could not yet use in the research a number of publications in Russian. The methodology could also be more clearly defined. The formulation of the problem in the title allows to consider the topic of research in the framework of the definite theory of international relations or political science. These comments do not reduce the high level of research.  3.	Recommended Mark: excellent   May, 30, 2017.  Associate Professor of the Department for Post-Soviet Studies, PHD (History) Vladislav G. Sobolev