Russian economy in the context of structural transformation

The issues of structural transformation of Russian economy have been discussed by the government and business throughout the past ten years and became more acute in 2014 when sanctions were imposed on Russia. The problem becomes even more relevant due to necessity to meet the challenges of global economy especially with regard to development of new technologies and ecological sustainability improvement. The author of the present study provides her own interpretation of the identified periods of Russian economy transformation and highlights their main features. There is proposed a methodology for assessing the structure taking into account five economic sectors. The conducted corresponding analysis showed that Russian economy can be characterized neither as industrial nor as post-industrial one and the structural changes taking place in the economy are of negative nature. The study introduces the concept of economy at transition which means that if a rational industrial policy is pursued, Russian economy can become a post-industrial one and will develop according to the requirements of the sixth technological paradigm. The main obstacles of Russia’s transition to the sixth technological paradigm are indicated. It is concluded that the development of a machine-building complex is of crucial importance these days. The author shows possible ways of overcoming the problems of the existing economic structure and indicates factors limiting its development.