COVID-19, followed by unprecedented sanctions and the Special Military Operation, has had an impact on all processes taking place within the borders of the Russian Federation. While the long-term consequences are still unclear, it is possible to draw cautious conclusions about the direction of some of these processes. These include the economic and social development trends in Russian regions. In an attempt to overcome the negative consequences of COVID-19 and sanctions, the Russian government has provided assistance to the regions through two strategies. In response to the pandemic, the government has focused on supporting the social sector. By helping to overcome the negative consequences of economic sanctions, we are increasing the economic activity of enterprises that are providing import substitution and fulfilling government orders to support the Special Military Operation. These two policies, which have different objectives, have had different effects on the socio-economic processes occurring at the regional level. The article attempts to provide an author’s description of these processes, to show their impact on the direction of state regional policy, and to group the tasks that need to be addressed in order to implement the requirements of regional policy in the new economic realities, including financial control and audit of expenditures from the federal budget.

In Russia, the issues related to strategizing spatial development, including setting its priorities, are fundamental and remain consistently relevant. The article examines the critical analysis of the concept of “Sibirization” of Russia and justifies a strategic approach to achieving a balanced multi-vector spatial development of the country, considering the potential and interests of not only Siberia itself but also all Russian territories. The paper highlights the diversity of past and present perceptions of Siberia within the domestic academic discourse, emphasizing territorial socio-economic transformations and interregional disparities that preclude equating the entire Asian part of the Russian Federation with Siberia. It is underscored that the required compensatory measures for these territories (given the unfavorable trend observed in the first quarter of the 21st century) in the economic, infrastructural, and socio-demographic spheres should be: adaptive, accounting for local conditions; localized, relying on a network of key settlements, resource extraction hubs, the Trans-Siberian Railway, and other critical communication corridors; oriented toward low-population technologies; grounded in the human resources and institutional capacities for scientific and technological advancement found in large agglomerations; and aligned with the overall spatial development of Russia.

The decline in birth rates is one of the most serious challenges facing the Russian state. Since the mid-2000s, the Russian authorities have pursued an active federal policy aimed at increasing fertility, including the introduction of the maternity capital program, higher child support payments, and the provision of subsidized mortgages and land plots to large families. However, elements of federative policy associated with increasing heterogeneity among the constituent entities of the Russian Federation largely offset these federal efforts. In education, this is reflected in the establishment of a hierarchy of federal, research, and flagship universities; in industry, in the creation of various zones with preferential legal regimes; in culture, in the concentration of performing arts organizations in Moscow and St. Petersburg; and in the social sphere, in fundamentally different levels of social benefits provided to vulnerable population groups across regions. The result is a phenomenon of over-centralization, whereby young people concentrate in the capitals with high housing costs, postponing childbirth indefinitely. Consequently, federal pronatalist measures fail to achieve their intended objectives. This hypothesis was tested using econometric models that included, as significant factors, the share of the population aged 65+, the level of urbanization, housing prices in the primary and secondary markets, regional characteristics, and the maternity capital program. The findings confirm the proposed hypothesis and outline directions for further research.

The strategic objective of Russia’s socio-economic development is to increase the country’s population. Various demographic policy measures are aimed at its solution. However, the trend of population decline in general and the rural population in particular has not been overcome to date, which actualizes the search for new measures to stimulate demographic growth. Given that the total fertility rate in rural areas is traditionally higher than in urban areas, the author suggests considering rural development measures as an effective demographic policy tool. Among these measures are: improving rural settlement and the formation of a network of support settlements; stimulating the development of family peasant (farming) farms; diversifying the rural economy and reducing waste among the rural able-bodied population.

In the context of intensifying modern challenges associated with growing geopolitical confrontation and the global economy’s transition to a new technological order, achieving technological leadership is one of Russia’s most important strategic development priorities in the context of ensuring national security. Implementing this priority requires addressing key issues and developing public policy measures aimed at developing the potential of regional innovation systems. The aim of this study is to identify the key characteristics and challenges of developing Russia’s regional innovation systems in the context of ensuring national security amidst growing challenges. The information base includes the works of leading foreign and Russian scholars on scientific and technological development, data from Rosstat, and the results of monitoring the scientific and technological potential of regions conducted at the Vologda Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Based on international and interregional comparisons, this study assessed the scientific and technological development of Russia and its regions from 2000 to 2023. Negative development trends were identified, including the fragmentation of national innovation chains, insufficient R&D funding, a certain loss of human resources, and high interregional disparities in the development of potential in this area. Therefore, a set of measures was justified at the federal and regional levels aimed at developing national innovation chains based on the use of the potential of interregional partnerships and the formation of a segment of participants whose activities are aimed at overcoming the “valley of death” in the innovation process. 
 

In the context of a persistent labor shortage, the potential labor force (PLF) represents a key internal reserve of the labor market. However, its regional specificities and structural characteristics remain insufficiently studied. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the PLF in the Central Federal District, based on microdata from the 2024 Sample Survey of the Labor Force conducted by Rosstat. The Ryabtsev index and the χ² criterion were employed to assess structural gaps. Empirically, the hypothesis of a gradient distribution of the PLF was confirmed: in Moscow, an “educational reserve” is forming, while in peripheral regions, a “compulsory reserve” of mature-age workers emerges. A subgroup known as the “rapid reserve” (job seekers awaiting employer responses) was identified, characterized by minimal structural gaps. The findings underscore the need to shift from universal measures toward specialized, profile-oriented employment programs. For the metropolitan core, the priority becomes the integration of education and employment; for the periphery, the focus should be on job creation and enhancing labor mobility.

The diverse problems of urban agglomerations development over the past 25 years have been the subject of continuing multifaceted and intense scientific and applied interest. Contrary to expectations, the long-term study of processes and phenomena in this area has not led to the exhaustion of this issue. There are still a considerable number of theoretical and practical issues that have not been fully clarified, on which broad public agreement has not been reached and controversial points of view remain. We are talking about the remaining and newly emerged disagreements in the essential aspects of the interpretation and genesis of the phenomenon of agglomerations, their development and government regulation in modern Russian realities, namely, in the course of the formation and reform of federalism, local government, and the market economy. The article identifies, formulates and discusses controversial scientific and applied issues: the concept and emergence of agglomerations, the causal relationships between the development of agglomerations and regional development, the relationship between the state and agglomerations, the role of local government in the development of agglomerations, the organization of agglomerations, and the legal support for their development. For each of the issues, the main alternative points of view are presented and their comparative analysis is carried out with the presentation of the author’s comments and assessments. 

The decline in research interest in fiscal federalism in recent years may be due to a shift in the focus of economic policy, as the issue of financing public services has taken precedence over the distribution of tax powers. The emerging trend towards centralization is observed in all key areas of intergovernmental relations: the distribution of tax powers and the generation of tax revenues, the formation of regional development priorities, and the management of sub-federal and municipal debt. In the tax sphere, this is expressed in the hidden or explicit redistribution of revenues in favor of the federal center and in the strengthening of the regions’ focus on federal priorities. Federal objectives begin to prevail over regional objectives in the tax policy of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The reduction of non-targeted transfers and the increase of subsidies, including those linked to the implementation of national projects and federal programs, are aimed at achieving federal objectives. This increases the dependence of regional policy on federal decisions. The procedure for forming and servicing the state debt of the subjects of the Russian Federation has a similar effect. The increasing centralization of decision-making on the production and financing of public goods raises questions about the potential loss of public welfare and the effectiveness of their provision in the current model of intergovernmental relations. 

Local self-government is the level of public authority closest to the population, ensuring the normal functioning of citizens’ daily lives. Accordingly, the well-being of citizens largely depends on the quality of the activities of local self-government bodies. In turn, the effective exercise of powers by local self-government bodies is impossible without sufficient financial resources for municipalities. Therefore, issues concerning the financial support of local selfgovernment bodies’ activities are among the most pressing. Underfunding of municipal powers is evident, yet its scale remains extremely difficult to assess. The author attempts to take a comprehensive approach to the issue of the financial foundation of local self-government by analyzing legal and economic aspects. The current state of municipal finances is examined in detail, and measures to strengthen them are proposed. Additionally, a proposal for regulating interbudgetary relations is put forward in the context of the implementation of Federal Law No. 33-FZ dated March 20, 2025, “On General Principles of Organization of Local SelfGovernment within the Unified System of Public Authority”.

The issue of monitoring the damage caused to the Russian Federation, its subjects, municipalities, citizens and organizations by foreign sources during a Special Military Operation is one of the urgent and little-explored problems. The key to this monitoring was
Decree No. 335 of the President of the Russian Federation dated May 19, 2025, which charged the prosecutor’s office with organizing, collecting, verifying and systematizing information about the specified damage, as well as maintaining an appropriate Register. The new monitoring mechanism is aimed at solving the problem of centralized damage control. However, it is unclear from the Decree what actions the state intends to take after determining the extent of the damage caused. The foreign policy orientation of the new monitoring mechanism is not excluded. The register will make it possible to appeal to documented information about the damage caused during the international dialogue. Monitoring is carried out at all levels of public authority, while the significant burden of assessing and compensating for damage falls precisely on the subjects of the Russian Federation that have been affected by military operations and terrorist attacks. The article analyzes the regulatory, methodological and judicial aspects of damage assessment and compensation, which led to the conclusion that the state is building a systematic work in the field of monitoring damage caused to the Russian Federation, its subjects, municipalities, citizens and organizations by foreign sources. At the same time, the subjects of the Federation have not yet developed a uniform approach to determining such damage. The differences in its assessment and the procedure for compensation are due to the different scales of the damage suffered, as well as the different levels of socio-economic development of the regions and the sustainability of their budgets. In this regard, there is a need to improve the regulatory and organizational aspects of monitoring and compensation for damage caused by foreign sources, as well as to increase the coverage of this process in the public information field.

The implementation of a strategy to ensure technological sovereignty increases the relevance of studying the accounting and disclosure of intellectual property rights in financial statements at the federal and regional levels. It is important to identify the challenges and prospects for legislative development in this area, which is driven by the need to comply with accounting standards, tax regulations, and international legal requirements. Regulating the registration and valuation of intellectual property is of particular importance. Another challenge is the harmonization of national laws and international agreements aimed at balancing the interests of intellectual property rights holders and users. This article examines the mechanisms for accounting, legal support, and taxation of intellectual property in the Russian Federation. Proposals are formulated for improving the legislative framework and the practical application of rules and requirements in the current context.