ON THE CONFERENCE “KUSKOVSKIE READINGS 2015” Moscow, 20—22 September 2015 It was a privilege to be present at this international conference, my first in Russia, guest of the Department of Foreign Languages at Moscow City University of Psychology and Education. <...> Themes of the conference were Russian language and literature, philology, pedagogy and linguistics. <...> There were many presentations by distinguished Russian scholars, on a variety of topics. <...> Attention was paid, in the presentations on Russian themes, to moral and spiritual questions in current and older Russian literature. <...> Marina Scherbakova, who headed a panel on problems of textual criticism, discussed St. Theophan, the giver of the library of the Greek theological school on the island of Halki. <...> Ludmila Silina, who headed a panel on the spiritual and moral foundations of current Russian literature, gave a talk on Athanasius of Brest in the context of the literary tradition of the XVII century. <...> Elena Konyavskaya headed the panel on moral searching in Old Russian literature, and gave a talk on the initial stage of the Old Russian book learning, in which she discussed the traditions established by V.V. Kuskov. <...> Vladimir Voropaev discussed the origins of certain prayers in the Russian orthodox tradition. <...> Another stimulating talk on Old Russian literature was given by Andrei Ranchin, who discussed the tale of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich’s campaign against the Polovtsians from the Laurentian chronicle. <...> Finally, Vladimir Kirillin discussed Isichasm and Russian literature of the XIV—XVI centuries. <...> Her own presentation covered the role of the concept in national political discourse. <...> She discussed the role of China in foreign affairs, arguing for the need to subject representations of the Asian giant to a closer analysis. <...> Natalia Bludilina then discussed images of Poland in the works of a Russian nobleman, B.D. Sheremetyevo, who travelled in Poland at the end of the 17th century. <...> Marinella Mondaini described the imaginary of Venice in Russian poetry, underlining the romantic but also fatal attraction for Russian authors of that particular Italian city. <...> Finally, Douglas Ponton discussed metaphors in British political discourse, arguing for the importance of a critical linguistic approach. <...> Metaphors are not neutral from the ideological point of view, he suggested, but rather tools inevitably involved in processes of political persuasion. <...> One of the special features of the conference related <...>