In the face of Western sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Putin has shifted the Kremlin’s focus toward Asia to stimulate Russia’s economic development. To aid in this process, he has prioritized developing the Russian Far East (RFE) by populating the region through multiple incentives, including a federal law granting a hectare of free land to those willing to relocate to the RFE. However, the plan has met several challenges, due to inadequate infrastructure to attract citizens from developed western regions of the country, limited employment opportunities, and a lack of domestic and foreign investment. These problems are closely related to one another and must be resolved simultaneously for development to succeed. Russian policy reforms, better incentives, more favorable immigration policies for foreigners (including neighboring Chinese), and a closer working relationship between the Kremlin and the local administration to decrease corruption will all be needed if Russia is going to have any hopes of deriving meaningful benefits from its pivot to Asia.

Subjects: Russia; Far East; Pivot to Asia; challenges of Far East development; Free Land Initiative; climate; out-migration; Trans-Siberian Railroad; environmental challenges; economic development