The history of studying the Russian intelligence industry against the background of the current difficult international situation is more relevant than ever, including
in the context of the evolution of Russia's foreign policy cooperation with Western countries and the United States. And one of the central positions in this regard at the beginning of the XX century was played by the institute of military agents. The purpose of this article is to analyze the activities of the Russian military agent in the United States, N.N. Raspopov, and his reports on the state of the American land army in the early twentieth century, which he compiled during his personal presence at military maneuvers at Fort Riley in 1902. The novelty of the research lies in the first attempt in Russian historiography to widely refer to N.N. Raspopov's
reports as a source for studying the military potential of the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as in introducing into scientific circulation a wide range of previously unpublished documents of the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA). In the reports, N.N. Raspopov describes in detail the history of the preparation of the maneuvers, their description and results, and cites the number of troops who took part. The military agent analyzes the shortcomings during the maneuvers, evaluates each of the branches of the armed forces and predicts the importance of maneuvers for the future modernization of the US army as a whole. The author concludes that a detailed analysis of N.N. Raspopov's reports demonstrates a serious level of his professionalism as a military agent in the United States.
For citation: Nikitenko S.D. Military maneuvers of the American troops at the Fort Riley in 1902 in the reports of military agent N.N. Raspopov, Ivanovo State University Bulletin. Series: Humanities, 2025, issue 2, pp. 102—111.