Russian Arctic Policy: Opportunities for the Development of the Siberian and Far Eastern Regions

Abstract: The research is devoted to an impact assessment of the role of the Arctic and state Arctic policy in the socioeconomic development of the Siberian and Far Eastern Russian regions. Today, state policy is largely based on the paradigm of development of the Arctic as a “thing-in-itself,” possessing great value, but institutionally, ideologically, and economically disconnected from all other Russian regions. The Arctic policy predominantly neglects the substantial industrial, research, technological, transport, and human potential of the Siberia and the Far East. Such an approach is fraught with aggravation of the continental curse of Siberia and some regions of the Far East, with the risks of unfulfilled potential of profit-oriented Arctic projects—not considering the possibilities of their integration into the economic-spatial system of added value generation in the country. Based on an analysis of domestic and foreign Arctic state policy, a number of implemented and scheduled infrastructure and energy projects in the region and scientific and public discourse on the regional development of Russia, this paper proposes a number of measures to improve Arctic strategic management. The paper highlights the need to revise the current paradigm of Arctic development and transform the Arctic into a zone of innovative resource and nature-saving development that generates multiplicative effects for the socioeconomic development of Siberia and the Far East.