Putin: Development of Far East Is ‘A National Priority for the 21st Century’

Aug. 19—Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the development of Russia’s immense Far East “a national priority for the 21st century.” A statement by Putin, placed prominently at the front of the website of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will hold its conference September 3-6 in Vladivostok, identifies the development of the Far East as an assertion of Russia’s national and international intent:

“We have identified the development of the Far East as a national priority for the entire 21st century. The importance and correctness of this decision has been confirmed by life itself, by the challenges we have faced recently, and, most importantly, by the real trends that are gaining momentum in the global economy, where the key business ties, trade routes, and in general, the entire vector of development are increasingly reorienting toward the East and the Global South.

“In essence, today the Far East has, without exaggeration, become the most important factor in strengthening Russia’s position in the world, and our standard-bearer in the new global economic reality. And to a great extent, the future of our entire country depends on how the Far East develops.”

Russia’s Far East is immense: 2.7 million square miles (6.2 million sq km). The continental lower 48 U.S. states have 3.1 million square miles (8 million sq km). So, the Russian Far East is 86% the land area of the continental or contiguous United States. The population density of the Far East as a whole is minuscule: 0.42 persons per square mile (or 1.1 persons per sq km). The Russian government has spent an enormous sum to develop the Far East over the last two decades, in infrastructure, and also trying to keep Russians from moving to the western part of the country.

Building in the Far East at times requires special techniques for building on soil that is permanently frozen, or on soil that is permafrost, which can be frozen for two more years, and then thaws and turns into mud. The weather can be bitterly cold. This must be taken account of in all infrastructure programs, but especially in building railways. More than 290 projects are currently in the building phase in the Far East. The Russian government currently has over 200 billion rubles invested in roads, bridges and utility networks. It is also creating a nuclear-powered ice-breaker fleet for the North Sea Route, which stretches from the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait. There are also private as well as mixed ventures, such as Russian building new ports at Utrenny (in the Tyumen Olbast) and Sabetta (in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), and upgrades for six existing ports. There is the construction of the New Land Grain Corridor to establish the world’s first specialized railway grain terminal in the Russian Far East. It is significantly financed by the Chinese, giving China a steady food supply, and Russia a market for agricultural produce. China is playing a significant role in the financing of Far East development projects.