Methodological tools for assessing the level of sustainability of Russian regions

The UN World Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 presented the quintessence of scientific views, concepts, the- ories and methodologies related to sustainable development: socio-economic development of states, sustainable balanced development of regions, sustainable development of rural areas. Thanks to this international event, in Russia, a country with an extremely heterogeneous socio-economic state of territorial entities (Regions), an activation of the system of sustainable development took place. This was caused by the need for an objective assessment of the category of "sustainability", which was originally interpreted as an ecological term in relation to the Regions. Methods for assessing the level of stability have appeared in scientific works, and, as a result, the differentiation of the country's territory by zones of stability. The purpose of the study is to determine the level of sustainability of Russian regions through a quantitative assessment of their potentials. On the basis of mathematical methods, the constituent components of the sustainability (potential) of the regions are quantitatively determined by five sustainability factors: economic, political, environmental, social and institutional. Criteria for identifying the levels of stability of regions are established. A procedure is proposed for determining the upper limit values for the levels of stability according to the following criteria of indicators: "share in the structure", remoteness from the highest value, share from the unit, proximity to the average value. The upper limit "incremental" values for the elements of sustainability were calculated (economic development of the territory; potential for agriculture and industrial production; geopolitical position of the region; political valueof the region; level of ecologization of the region; social sphere of the region; development of democracy in the region); maximum integrated values of sustainability levels (high, medium, moderate, weak) according to the "unit increment" method for the number of regions 15 and 26. The level of sustainability was determined for the regions: medium - for 9; moderate - forThe most sustainable regions (subjects) of Russia were identified: Federal city of Moscow; Kabardino-Balkarian Republic; Tula Region; Moscow Region; Republic of Tatarstan. The results of the study contribute to the development of methodological tools for assessing the sustainable development of the region.