The year 2021 was quite favorable for the consolidated budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The revival of economic activity in the regions and positive trends in the world commodity markets have led to an increase in tax and non-tax revenues of regional budgets. The most significant increase in revenues to the consolidated budgets of the RF subjects was provided due to the recovery of wholesale and retail trade. The growth of its own revenues allowed the federal budget to reduce the total amount of financial assistance to the subjects of the Russian Federation. At the same time, there was a pronounced increase in targeted types of support while reducing non-targeted ones. The volume of equalization subsidies in real terms has decreased. The shift in emphasis in financial support to targeted transfers has led to a pronounced trend towards an increase in the share of federal funds in the structure of expenditures on key sections of the consolidated budgets of the RF subjects within the framework of joint competence. The growth of expenditures of sub-federal budgets in 2021 significantly lagged behind the increase in revenue receipts, but was higher than the rate of inflation. Financing of housing and communal services, the national economy and education grew most dynamically. The result of the execution of consolidated budgets in 2021 was a surplus. At the same time, a number of RF subjects budgets were executed with a deficit. Some regions were forced to resort to deficit financing to maintain spending at the level of last year’s values. Although the total amount of state and municipal debt slightly decreased, there was an increase in debt in some regions.

Constitutional innovations required revision of a large part of legislation, first of all, the “basic” federal laws of October 6, 1999 No. 184-FZ “On general principles of organization of Legislative (Representative) and Executive state authorities of the Subjects of the Russian Federation” and of October 6, 2003 No. 131-FZ “On general principles of organization of local Self-Government in the Russian Federation”. Currently the process of transformation of public power in Russia has started. The recently adopted Federal Law No. 414-FZ of December 21, 2021 “On the General Principles of the Organization of Public Power in the Subjects of the Russian Federation” is being implemented in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the reform of public authorities at the local level is being developed. Consideration of the project of Federal Law No. 40361-8 “On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in the unified system of public authority” has been postponed. Because of the difficult political and economic situation, the creation of a new organizational management system for regions and municipalities will ensure the development of territories, promptly correcting the process using modern information technologies.

Currently, one of the tasks of the state socio-economic policy in Russia is to increase the role of regional authorities in the scientific and technological development of regions. One of the tools for solving this problem should be the development of a national rating of scientific and technological development of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The Russian Academy of Sciences initiated the development of the index of scientific activity of the regions. This article suggests methodological approaches to the development of such an index, the main innovations of which should be an emphasis on the scientific development of regions (as opposed to the indices of innovative development), a separate assessment of the current level of development of science and its potential, an assessment of the scientific policy of regional authorities, an expanded range of indicators for training personnel for science, and starting from additional education of children. The possibilities of improving the indicators traditionally used to assess the scientific and technological development of regions are discussed, including in terms of more correct accounting of the activities of universities. It is proposed to develop a regional standard for scientific policy.

The relevance of the topic is due to the pronounced weakness of the influence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the spatial development of the country. The purpose of the article is to advance in the systematization of the functions of SMEs in the spatial development of our country, to systematize the causes of weakness in the implementation of these functions. The most important of the reasons is due to the fact that the system of SME support created in Russia is inadequate to the needs of this sphere. This is confirmed by the fact that in a number of Russian regions, and in the country as a whole, since 2017, there has been a decrease in the number of people employed both in small (the main group of SME employment) and in medium-sized businesses. The decline is taking place against the background of a significant increase in financial volumes and an expansion of the organizational diversity of support for SMEs. The novelty of the article is the advancement in the systematization of assessments of the implementation of the potential functions of SMEs in the spatial development of Russia; assessment of the spatial dynamics of small and medium-sized businesses in recent years in terms of employment parameters from the point of view of the ability of SMEs to really influence the development of territories; assessment of the state and effectiveness of state support for SMEs at the federal and regional levels; analysis of the relationship between the real possibilities of SMEs and the structure of the Russian economy. As the reasons for the weak influence of SMEs on the development of regions, it was noted that large monopolistic enterprises do not need cooperation with SMEs. In the process of choosing measures and directions of support for SMEs, the position of officials-actors, often irrational, dominates. In the current Russian system of fiscal federalism, regional authorities have little interest in promoting the development of SMEs on their territory.

The problem of attracting foreign investment in the domestic economy has existed for many years and continues to retain its significance to this day. Despite the active work of foreign investors in the Russian economy, it loses competition to many states in terms of the amount of foreign capital attracted. This problem is relevant at the present time, due to the aggravated foreign economic disagreements and contradictions, since investments are extremely important for financing economic growth and ensuring economic security and protection. The need to study the problems of attracting foreign investment is also determined by the fact that Russia, having a huge investment potential for foreign investors, still has some risks that are a barrier to attract capital in the form of foreign investment in the Russian economy. The study focuses on the structural and dynamic component of attracting foreign investment in the national and regional economy of Russia, contributes to the disclosure of the reasons that affect the decline in global investment in the Russian economy and allows you to identify prospects for attracting foreign investment and investment activities in the Russian Federation with the participation of foreign investors.

The adoption in 2021 of the updated version of the National security strategy of the Russian Federation gives grounds to assess how the problems of Russian federalism have been reflected in a series of documents of this kind over the past quarter of a century, primarily in the context of the development of its legal and economic foundations. The article argues that the constant improvement of these foundations is of great importance for the formation of prerequisites for the sustainable and safe development of the country’s economy and the Russian statehood as a whole. Both economic and non-economic factors closely interact in this component of national security. Here, the adequacy of the legal and institutional framework of the state policy in the field of security is fully manifested. Moreover, as it’s shown in the article, the economic and legal mechanism of federal relations is not only an object of security provision policy, but also acts as an instrument of this policy by ensuring the coordinated participation in it of all levels of public power – state federal and regional administration, as well as the system of local self-government. The main purpose of the article is to show that the updated version of the National security strategy has not yet found enough space for the systematic reflection of the relationship between the sustainable, secure development of the country with constant work, aimed to improve federal relations, where risks for the effective functioning of the state and municipal management system are really possible.

The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 had a negative impact on the state of the Russian economy and the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the budgetary system of the Russian Federation is sufficiently resilient to such external shocks. In 2020, borrowed funds from the domestic market were used to finance the budget deficit, partly from the Sovereign Fund, the amount of which, however, did not change by the beginning of 2021. Despite the spread of new strains of coronavirus infection and the relatively low level of vaccination in Russia, the recovery of the global economy and rising commodity prices contributed to a significant increase in consolidated budget revenues. At the same time, a policy of budget consolidation was pursued – those items of federal budget expenditures that unexpectedly increased in 2020 (primarily healthcare spending) were subject to reductions. The beginning of 2022 was marked by the emergence of new external shocks that significantly destabilize the economic and financial sphere of Russia. Now a certain level of budgetary stability has been achieved, which, among other things, will make it possible to solve new targets of the population and businesses support, but this is not enough in the medium term. Directions for operational measures of fiscal policy to restore the sustainability of public finances in the current environment are proposed.

One of the key aspects that reveals the essence of the uneven distribution of social benefits in economically developed countries is the dynamics of spatial inequality that has been characteristic of the US healthcare sector for many decades. The results of an empirical study of this inequality as a dynamic process with the properties of historicism, carried out by decomposition of the Theil index according to the intragroup and intergroup characteristics of the corresponding groups of indicators, indicate an increase in the polarization of territories in terms of the provision of the population with medical benefits. Given the organizational and economic inconsistency in the health care of American citizens and the predominance of the spontaneous and commercial nature of free pricing in the relevant markets of American medical goods and services, the center-peripheral spatial structure of inequality in the development of US health care, traditional for capitalist reproduction, is confirmed.

The objective nature of the long-term formation of such a structure is complemented by the subjective factor of state regional regulation of health care in the subregional and transregional sections, through the implementation of differently directed typologically relevant policies – from traditional and proactive to selective. It is shown that not only the economic situation, but also the socio-political and ideological expediency are the subjects that determine the tools for activating, polarizing, stimulating or restraining the development of healthcare in specific areas of the United States.

The Russian ruble depreciated sharply in 2014 after the US embargo was imposed, in just one day it lost 19% of its value, which was the biggest daily drop in the previous 16 years. Inflation has reached a three-year high. The reasons for the sharp decline in the indicators of the Russian economy were the factors of a sharp drop in oil prices, sanctions against the country and insufficient effective management. The article discusses Russia’s anti-sanctions actions at the federal and regional levels of government. It is concluded that the following measures have become the most effective in responding to sanctions: the introduction of import sanctions against countries subject to the embargo, reducing dependence on the dollar and euro in foreign trade (de-dollarization) by concluding bilateral currency agreements, changing export directions, introducing a national payment system, adopting import substitution plans within federal and regional policies, as well as a plan to support firms affected by sanctions. It is noted that the sanctions posed threats not only to the economy of Russia and its regions, but also to the economies of European countries and, ultimately, to the stability of the global financial system.