Positioning of the russian region in european regional space

The purpose of the research was to assess the position of the Russian region among the EU regions at the NUTS 2 level based on a comparative analysis of the regional development level and the sectoral structure of the economy. The structural similarity of economies was estimated on the basis of the Ryabtsev index. The positioning was carried out on the example of the Mari El Republic, a medium-developed agro-industrial region of the Volga Federal District of Russia. A group of European countries and regions comparable to the Mari El Republic was formed. This group included countries and regions of Central and Eastern Europe. Region's positioning maps among European countries and regions were constructed according to two criteria: the level of socio-economic development of the region and the growth rate. Similar Russian and European regions are agro-industrial; they are characterized by a low level of development, average growth rate, high shares of the rural population and agricultural production, as well as a tendency to peripheralization. The main drivers of European regions growth are EU financial support and institutional transformation. The positive experience of Euro-pean institutions can be adapted to Russian conditions and used in the development of regional strategies for such regions as the Mari El Republic.