Gratitude is expressed by the authors to the following for their much appreciated financial support for this project: the ESRC (grant number: RES -000-22-0985), the Leverhulme Trust (SAS/2005/0055) and the Leicester University’s School of Management. More broadly, the authors would also like to thank the various institutions (Leicester University’s School of Management, The Management School at the University of Sheffield, the University of Birmingham’s School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, the National Research University, Higher School of Economics’ Faculty of Sociology and Centre for Advanced Studies, and the Slavic Research Centre at the University of Hokkaido) for providing the time and the intellectual environments in order to facilitate the writing of this book.
Words of thanks are also given to the many participants in Russia and Ukraine, without whose generous contributions this book would not have seen the light of day. Special thanks go to Natalya Dmitrevna in Kiev, Sergei Viktorovich in Kharkiv and Emilia Kosterina in Moscow. John Round would also like to give great thanks to his partner, Irina Kuznetsova, and their daughter Anastacia, for their never-ending support during the writing of this book.