Strategy for Russia's spatial development and prospects for Russian space transformation

Due to some objective economic, social and political reasons, the economic space of modern Russia is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity and imbalance. As a result, a whole complex of negative effects has been formed, consisting primarily in the significant superiority of some regions over others, both in terms of economic capacity and key indicators of social development, which at this stage of productive forces evolution creates stable prerequisites for widening the gap in the uneven socio-economic development of regions and municipalities and reaching the level threatening the country’s national security in the medium and long term. In accordance with this, the top leadership of the country initiated the development of the Strategy for Spatial Development of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2025, which was approved in February 2019. The purpose of this article is to analyze key provisions of this document, taking into account the expert community’s opinion and the author’s personal position, as well as the rationale for priority areas of spatial policy improvement. The study results shows that the stateonly focuses on developing the largest agglomerations identified in the Strategy; it will lead to further fragmentation of the economic space. In this regard, the necessity of making adjustments to the regional policy in terms of creating conditions for self-development of other territories (small and medium-sized cities, single-industry towns, rural areas), which in the future may act as growth poles and ensure the coherence of the country’s economic space. The article proves the need to improve the system of space organization, which is more appropriate to current conditions and development goals and involves balanced development of large and small settlements, as well as a high level of inter-regional cooperation.