TERRITORIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF RUSSIA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Interregional differentiation in modern Russia is manifested in significant differences between poor and fairly wealthy subjects in terms of gross regional product, investments and the standard of living of the population. The study conducted by the authors confirms that the stratification of regions according to the level of socio-economic development observed in Russia is caused by objective reasons. The strategic orientation of the state's economic policy to the priority development of resource-extracting industries, the destruction of the centralized management system and centrally regulated logistics of interterritorial cooperation schemes are the factors that led to the gradual separation of the subjects of the federation, their division into "donors" and "recipients". The trends of spatial development that have taken shape in the past 15 years have proved to be resistant to external factors. During the period under study, a high level of interregional differences persisted in such indicators as gross regional product per capita, average income, investments in fixed capital, budgetary security. Ensuring a balanced socioeconomic development of the regions is impossible without an active state policy. However, despite the efforts undertaken by the state authorities with the aim to level up the pace of territorial development, it has so far not been possible to provide any noticeable reduction in socio-economic disproportions. Nonlinearity and imbalance of territorial and sectoral development necessitate the development of innovative methods and tools to restore business activity in the real sector of the economy in depressed regions. (c) 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK