Maksim spent the month of July 2025 in London staying at the Trust’s house in Highgate.

I want to thank the Trustees of the Robert Anderson Trust for helping me with my research.

I came to London to carry out work in three areas. The first area was a study of the possibility of concluding a naval alliance between Russia and Britain in May 1914. Thanks to my work at the National Archives, I was able to discover interesting documents that demonstrate aspects of diplomacy hidden from the eyes of Russian agents. These aspects relate to the leakage of diplomatic correspondence to the press and attempts by the British to delay and sabotage the conclusion of the union while maintaining an outwardly friendly posture.

The second area of research was related to the work of Russian naval apprentices in Portsmouth. With the help of documents from the National Archives, I was able to complete the work that I started in the Russian archives, which consisted of rebuilding a network of Russian and British agents in London at the end of the 18th century.

The third area of work turned out to be the most productive, and as a result, I wrote a biographical article describing the studies, travels, and personal life of Robert Montague Poor, a native of Wiltshire, who came to Russia in the early 19th century. Thanks to my visit to England, I was able not only to visit the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives, which housed Robert Montague Poor’s personal documents, but also to see the places where he studied (Peterhouse College in Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, London).

Summing up, the Trustees’ support allowed me not only to visit historical archives, collect documents of interest to me and conduct research, but gave me the opportunity to encounter what was for me a completely new culture: a parallel world that can only be understood by seeing it with one’s own eyes and talking personally with the people one meets. Understanding this other world is the main thing that a trip to London with the help of Trustees provides. I am very grateful to the Trust for this.

For more information about the other students in the 2025 cohort please see here.