The next issue of The Russian Journal of Seismology (Vol. 7, No. 2) has been published. The issue includes articles written by research fellows from numerous Russian and foreign scientific organizations.

The first article in the issue, “Assessment of the seismicity level of the Baikal and Transbaikal regions in 2020-2022” (authors: D.P.‑D. Sanzhieva, Ts.A. Tubanov, E.A. Kobeleva from the Buryat and Baikal Branches of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Dobretsov Geological Institute of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) informs readers of the journal about the results of zoning the Baikal and Transbaikal regions based on geomorphological and seismological data. The summary graphs of conditional elastic deformation release were analyzed for the selected regions. As a result, the seismicity level in 2020–2022 was determined as background elevated for the entire study area and the Khubsugul-Tunkinsky and South Baikal regions, and background average for the remaining parts of the study object.

The next article in this issue is titled “Near real-time felt earthquakes loss simulation” (authors: N.I. Frolova, N.S. Malaeva, S.P. Suchshev, A.N. Ugarov from the E.M. Sergeev Institute of Environmental Geoscience of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Civil Defence and Emergencies of the EMERCOM of Russia and the Bauman Moscow State Technical University). This article presents the results of an operational calculation of the consequences (possible intensities of shaking and damage) of a significant earthquake on January 24, 2024 with m_b=4.3 near Krasnodar using simulation models of the Extremum geographic information system.

The tandem of authors Yu.F. Kopnichev (Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences), I.N. Sokolova (Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences), who have long been publishing in the Russian Journal of Seismology, presented their new article “Some characteristics of ring-shaped seismicity structures forming prior to large and great earthquakes”. It reports on the identification of shallow ring structures of seismicity formed before 23 strong and strongest earthquakes in various subduction zones. At the same time, in many cases, immediately before such events, a significant increase in the total energy of earthquakes forming ring structures is observed. The obtained correlation dependence allows us to specify the expected time of such an event.

The short article “Earthquake on February 12, 2025 at 13:40 in the Black Sea (near Tuapse city) with Mw=3.3, I₀=4 points” prepared by research associates of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.S. Zvereva, A.I. Klianchin, A.V. Mikhailova provides instrumental and macroseismic data on the title event. Focal parameters were calculated and spectral parameters of the focal point were determined: seismic moment, magnitude of the released stress and rupture radius.

In the same style as in the previous article, but in much more detail, another tangible event is described in the article “Earthquake on April 13, 2025 with MS=5.9, I₀=8 in Tajikistan: urgent and updated data” by an international team of authors: N.V. Petrova, M.I. Ryzhikova, I.N. Sokolova, (Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and T.R. Ulubieva (Geophysical Service of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan). It was established that the earthquake epicenter is confined to the northeastern-trending Yafuch fault, with the orientation and dip of which one of the nodal planes of the focal mechanism coincides.

Another short article “Features of perceptible earthquakes that occurred in the Khabarovsk region in April 2025” by authors from the Sakhalin Branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (N.V. Kostyleva, D.V. Kostylev, M.A. Shchukin) conducts an express analysis of two felt earthquakes that occurred in April 2025 in Khabarovsk Krai. The epicenters of both earthquakes are confined to the Middle Amur and Coastal Primorsko-Priamurskaya zones of the Sikhote-Alin district of Primorye and Priamurye. The focal mechanisms of both earthquakes are constructed. Macroseismic data are collected and a map of earthquake manifestations is compiled.