In his keynote speech to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept. 7, which conference theme was “On the Path to a Multipolar World,” Russian President Vladimir Putin placed emphasis on the development of Russia’s Far East District, laying out several specific projects.
The fundamental problem is that Russia’s Far East land mass is enormous: 6.95 million square kilometers (2.7 million square miles), which, if it were a country, would be the seventh largest country by land area, exceeded only by Russia, Canada, China, the United States, Brazil, and Australia. Yet, the challenge is the area’s development. A large problem is the climate. The northernmost portion of the district is above the Arctic Circle, and is harshly cold. Even the portion south of the Arctic is more than 65% permafrost, which, to develop, involves very challenging science. Yet the Far East is so large that its southernmost portion has a monsoon-type climate. Reportedly, as of 2021, it has only 8.1 million people
Russia’s involvement with the development of the Far East sector is a long-term proposition, going back to the seventeenth century czarist period.
Putin’s far-reaching and optimistic approach forwards several policies for the Far East, some of which are built upon earlier programs, and are tied into Russia’s national development plan:
• Putin stated, “The Government has approved a development plan for the Northern Sea Route until 2035 with plans to allocate 1.8 trillion rubles from various sources to implement it. As forecasted, the cargo traffic along this corridor will go from the current 35 million tons per year, to the targeted 220 million tons per year,” a significant sixfold increase. The Northern Sea Route, which courses from Rotterdam through the Kara Sea to the Bering Sea, and then down to Dalian, China, transits for a good portion of its route through the northern tier of the Far East District, creating development possibilities.
• Putin stressed that the government would develop cities, universities, and manufacturing in the Far East, including implementing plans, first raised in 2021, “to develop master plans for the development of the largest Far Eastern cities. These include all administrative centers of the regions, and cities with a population of 50,000, as well as Tynda and Severobaikalsk, the key stations on the Baikal-Amur Mainline railway.”
