Interregional gap of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in foreign trade as one of the consequences of the administrative-territorial structure

The article analyzes a large interregional gap between the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in terms of the volume of their foreign trade, which is one of the important indicators of socio-economic development. The author's thesis is put forward that interterritorial inequality of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is more a consequence of the imperfect system of the existing administrative-territorial structure of Russia, rather than a consequence of problems in the socio-economic sphere of Russian regions, which predetermines the relevance of this study. The goal and objectives of the work are to identify the main causes of interterritorial inequality that impede the successful socio-economic development of Russian regions on a competitive basis, as well as to find possible ways to overcome them. The study makes the case for reforming the system of the administrative-territorial structure of Russia, which will shift the focus in the consequences of interterritorial inequality from the problem to the driver of the socio-economic development of regions, and most importantly, will reduce the risk of strengthening centrifugal aspirations and trends in their territorial development.