The Southern Vector in the Spatial Development of Post-Soviet Russia: the Main Factors and Manifestations

Abstract

Modern geopolitical and geo-economic processes are accompanied by a radical transformation of the determinants and trends of the spatial organization of Russian society, initiating a revision of the previously established system of regional balances and priorities, sometimes interpreted and discussed as geographically oriented (in the logic of the rhumb approach) vectors of the country’s development. The article is devoted to the southern vector, its dynamics, as well as multidimensional factors and manifestation characteristic of the post-Soviet period. The geopolitical (including ethnopolitical) and foreign economic (transport, logistics and agro-industrial) prerequisites for the growing importance of the territories of its south (South of Russia) for the Russian Federation are identified. The scale is revealed and the specific territorial effects (and problems) of the trend shift of demographic and partly economic potential in favor of the southern regions of the country (in fact, three dozen of the largest southern Russian cities and agglomerations formed on their basis) are evaluated. The steadily continuing importance of the southern vector in the system of federal regulation is emphasized (with a relay race of focused priorities: the Chechen Republic – Krasnodar Krai – the subjects of the Crimea – the new regions of the Russian Federation).