From the chief editor

The results of polls can be found on the site

Figure 1. How do you assess the current activities of the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev? * (the answer is “completely and largely approve”)

□2000 - 2006 (at an average) □ 2007

□ 8 months of year 2008     □ Dec. 2008

□ Feb. 2009                □ Apr. 2009

* In 2000 – 2007 there is the assessment of the RF President

V. Putin activities, from October 2008 – the same of D. Medvedev.

Figure 2. How do you assess the current activities of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin? (the answer is “completely and largely approve”)

Figure 3. How do you assess the current activities of the Governor of the Vologda region?

(the answer is “completely and largely approve”)

□ 2000 - 2006 (at an average) □ 2007

□ 8 months of year 2008 г.   □ Dec. 2008

□ Feb. 2009                □ Apr. 2009

The same idea is expressed in the analytical summary of the Institute of Eco- nomic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, published in 23.06.2009:

“Rosstat (Russian Federal Service of State Statistics) published preliminary data on the dynamics and structure of Russian GDP in the first quarter, as well as data on the dynamics of industrial production for April – May indicate that the crisis was much deeper than might be expected, and than we expected three months ago. At the same time the effectiveness of anti-crisis measures to support the economy especially in sectors such as construction and automobile industry is possible to recognize extremely low”.

There was the collapse of General Motors (GM) on the American market, one of the largest employers in the world, which produced more than half of American cars. Now this “American Icon” is a bankrupt. The stock exchange threw General Motors out of its indices from June 8.

In Russia there were protest actions of the people of Pikalevo against the indifference of business, regional and federal authorities to the plight of people living in monotowns. The Prime-minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin had to sort out the situation, that he outwardly impressively did.

Of course, the examples are not equivalent, but these tragedies both American and Russian are united, in our view, in the origins.

Melor Sturua quite accurately identified the root causes of the incident 2:

“The bankruptcy of GM is not only the part of the bankruptcy of the USA. It is also the evidence of the bankruptcy of the whole system of the unbridled, uncontrolled free enterprise, the market... that to fight with global financial and economic crisis is impossible without curbing its fault – the free market and its priests. Only the State can protect its citizens from moneychangers who seized the temple and turned it into the trough and the barn”.

Unfortunately, in Russia “moneychangers” also has ruled. But the President and the Chairman of the Government have not still taken effective measures to exile “moneychangers” from the “Russian temple”.

In an interview to the newspaper “Vedomosti” from 4 June, 2009 Minister of the Russian Federation for Economic Development and Trade E.S. Nabiullina gives in detail and specifically her view on the dire state of economic sphere in Russia in the

Indicator

Table 1. The number of personnel engaged in research and development, per 100 thousand people , per.

№	Federal District	Year of 2000	Year of 2007
1.	Central	1 194	1 118
2.	North-Western	823	769
3.	Volga	476	420
4.	Urals	407	389
5.	Sibirian	307	289
6.	Far Eastern	208	218
7.	Southern	164	161
Russia		607	569

Country	Indicator
	Year 2000	Year 2006
Finland	1 012	1 099
Sweden	810*	865
Japan	707	732
Germany	590	594
Netherlands	553	581
United Kingdom	508	552
Spain	299	429

* Data for year 2003.

Source: Regions of Russia. Socio-Economic Indicators of

2008: stat. digest / Rosstat. – M., 2008. – P. 56-57, 796-797, Russia and the countries of the world. 2008: stat. digest / Rosstat. – M., 2008. –

P. 30, 305.

Table 2. Internal research and development costs , in % of GDP

№	Federal District	Indicator
		Year of 2000	Year of 2007
1.	Central	2,08	2,00
2.	North-Western	1,86	1,72
3.	Volga	1,30	1,17
4.	Sibirian	0,70	0,79
5.	Southern	0,62	0,59
6.	Far Eastern	0,53	0,57
7.	Urals	0,58	0,50
Russia		1,05	1,12

Country	Indicator*
	Year 2000	Year 2006
Sweden	3,86**	3,73
Finland	3,34	3,45
Japan	3,04	3,39
USA	2,74	2,62
Germany	2,45	2,53
France	2,15	2,11
United Kingdom	1,85	1,78

* Internal research and development costs, in % of GDP.

** Data for year 2003.

first half of 2009. How does the Minister see the way out of the situation? «For us it is very important to focus on those areas that will reach out our economy. And this is not simply the development of specific sectors and industries, but an innovative behavior, innovative consumption, the demand for innovation, human capital development, improving productivity, efficiency. And it is not just a declaration».

But the facts show that since 2000 numerous appeals from the State (with one center of power) on the need for major investments in the country's future – R&D, science, education – in reality were simply a declaration (see tables 1 and 2 ) .

Frozen for seven years the level of domestic spending on research and development, which has been and remains 2-2,5 times as lower than in developed countries, spoke about the lost years to transfer the country's economy from export-oriented to innovative path of development.

Now, when in the country two centers of power are more observed, it is more difficult in the face of ongoing crisis to refocus the strategy of national economy of the rough export structure to the best one – the organic union of science and innovative production and vertical integration of the corporate sector of the economy.

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Dear readers, I tell you about changes that have taken place in the journal since the release of its fifth issue.

Victor Ivanter , RAS academician, Director of the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences became a member of the editorial board.

Now we have an English version of the fifth issue on our site. The creation of the English version was made possible through the combined efforts of the organizers of the issue – the economic institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences of North-West Russia. Editorial Board expresses special thanks to RAS corresponding member V.N. Lazhentsev , Doctor of Economics, Professor F.D. Larichkin , Doctor of Technics, professor A.I. Shishkin and Doctor of Economics, Professor V.E. Toskunina .

The preparation of English version of the journal took two and a half months. In future we plan to reduce the term of translating journal into English. Open access in the Internet to both versions of publications (English and Russian) will allow to get acquainted with the materials of a wide range of readers. We hope that this will increase the level of citation of our authors.

According to the decision of the Editorial Board by 1 September of this year, we shall apply for placing our journal in the prestigious international journal database Scopus. Now we are working hard in this direction.

As we planned, a large portion of publications in the sixth issue of the journal is devoted to the problems of small business development. In the familiar to readers “Opinions, assessments, comments” section we offer interesting material, which was kindly provided by Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor V.G. Naymushin .

The seventh issue will be devoted to food security and agro-industrial complex.

The eighth final issue of the year is planned to be dedicated to problems and prospects of the development of mechanical engineering in North-West Russia.

According to the established practice journal does not publish articles only on the given subject matters. In this difficult time much of the country depends on what will shape the socio-economic situation in the regions. Dear readers and colleagues, we look forward to hearing from you new interesting materials about the dynamics of regional life, its problems and prospects.