The Accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO: Geopolitical implications for Russia’s position in the Baltic Sea region
... steer clear of uncontrolled escalation of tensions with NATO, as it entails the risk of a military clash.
Introduction
The decisions of Sweden and Finland to join NATO were an eloquent manifestation of increased tensions between Russia and the West. The two Nordic countries for a long time (the former for more than two centuries, the latter for the entire period after World War II) adhered to the policy of military non-alignment. In May 2022, they submitted applications for accession to NATO,...
Three Russian Baltic regions in the context of confrontation between Russia and the West
... study examines the features, limitations and development prospects of three Russian territories bordering the Baltic Sea — St. Petersburg, and the Leningrad, and Kaliningrad region — amid the sharply heightened confrontation between Russia and the West, which has affected the Baltic region. The time frame spanning from 2014 to 2023 was chosen for the study. This period encompasses the sanctions imposed by Western countries and their associations, primarily the EU, in response to the return of Crimea ...
Population change and the settlement system transformation in Poland, as revealed by the 2021 census
... be attributed, in part, to the historical process of the country’s territorial formation during and after World War II. The country lost a large part of the Second Polish Republic (interwar Poland), while it obtained some new lands in the north and west (the so-called Recovered Territories, Pol. Ziemie Odzyskane), where a large share of the population was displaced both from the central regions severely damaged during the war and from the former eastern outskirts of the Second Polish Republic, which ...
Models for countering the segregation of ethnoreligious immigrant areas in Denmark and Sweden
The article explores the immigration and integration strategies of Denmark and Sweden while assessing their efficacy. The two countries, sharing historical, cultural, social and economic similarities, face a common challenge: the formation of ethnoreligious enclaves primarily inhabited by individuals with a Muslim background. Due to the recent European migrant crises, there has been a notable increase in the number of migrants, leading to stricter integration policies in the Scandinavian countries...
Confiscation Estonian style: legal and political aspects of potential seizure of Russian assets in EU countries
The possible confiscation of Russian assets by Western countries is one of the serious challenges to modern international law and the system of international relations. Since the greater part of the frozen assets is under the jurisdiction of EU countries, special attention should be paid to studying mechanisms for the use of Russian assets within the EU. The purpose of this article is to identify the key characteristics of the EU’s approaches to the use of frozen Russian assets, determine their...
Cultural and landscape zoning in the North- West Russia
This research was conducted in the framework of cultural geography — a relatively recent field of geography. This article considers the problems of geographical study of cultural landscapes of the North-West Russia, which includes Saint Petersburg, the Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, and Kaliningrad regions. This article sets out to develop and test the methodology for historical and cultural zoning at the mesogeographical level. The research and practical significance of the work lies in the identification...
Evangelical Lutheran church of Denmark: socio-economic and territorial-organisational aspects
The study exemplifies the use of an institutional-territorial approach for a comprehensive description of a national denominational landscape. The article aims to provide such an account by analysing relevant official data and performing statistical processing using computational tools. The focus is on the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark and its administrative-territorial structures. The study places emphasis on the financial aspect, one seldom discussed in academic discourse. The denominational...
Coastal and western border centers in the system of large cities of modern Russia: socio-economic and innovation development.
The article reflects the results of a study of large Russian cities (with a population of more than 100 thousand people, as well as smaller cities with the status of regional capitals), emphasizing two strategically important groups: coastal centers and cities of the Western borderlands of Russia. Having applied economic-statistical analysis for 6 indicators (average salaries and per capita measures of the number of organizations and enterprises, retail trade turnover and public catering, commissioning...
Geopolitical regionalisation of the Baltic area: the essence and historical dynamics
... Conference, launched foundational geopolitical processes manifested in the confrontation between the capitalist and socialist systems. They shaped a bipolar structure with two opposing core-periphery geopolitical subregions of a generative type: the West Baltic (capitalist) and the East Baltic (socialist). West Germany, supported by Western allies, and the USSR became the integrative geopolitical poles in the Baltic space. The Baltic region underwent a military-political and geo-economic division,...
Economic development of Russia’s north-western regions and migration to the St. Petersburg agglomeration
This article aims to analyse the development of Russia’s North-Western Federal District (NWFD) regions between 1998 and 2021, based on data from Rosstat. It focuses on how the territories responded to migration to the St. Petersburg agglomeration in the early 21st century and compares their progress with the cores of the St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Helsinki agglomerations. For building the models, regions with similar development dynamics were divided into four sectors: St. Petersburg, the Leningrad...
France’s strategy in the Baltic region: military and political aspects
... France in the Baltic region. This area has not traditionally been among the main priorities of French diplomacy. However, under President Emmanuel Macron, France pays closer attention to the Baltic Sea due to the growing tension between Russia and the West. According to France’s key strategic documents, the government assesses the present-day situation mainly in a negative way, considering Russian actions as the main reason for the militarization of the region and expressing its readiness to show ...
Typology of small towns in the western borderland regions of Russia
Recognizing the leading role of large urban agglomerations in the development of any region, it should be noted that small towns perform their equally important function as reference points in the regional framework of the settlement system. In strategic regions, like the ones of the Western borderland, small towns, inter alia, become significant for ensuring national interests along the state border of Russia. The article presents the author's version of the typology of small towns in the...
One Belt - One Road Initiative: A Window of Opportunity for Russia’s Western Border Regions
In recent years, global geo-economic transformations have been considerably affected by the development of the People’s Republic of China, its reviving leadership and ambitions, and its increasing efforts to reformat and integrate the Eurasian space. The One Belt — One Road Initiative is a manifesto and a tool to advance China’s long-term geostrategic interests that spread to the bordering states and regions and to the prospects of their socioeconomic development. The initiative encompasses...
Western border regions of Russia: delimitation, structure, typology
This article is devoted to the western border regions of Russia, which play an important role in terms of history, geopolitics, geoeconomy, culture, and mindset. Relying on the interpretations of ‘border’, ‘frontier’, and ‘borderlands’, which are traditional for Russian limnology, I outline the geo-concept of ‘western border regions of Russia’ and provide a rationale for its understanding as a continuous-discrete, dynamic, multi-scale, transboundary socio-geographical...
Cross-Border Tourist Routes: The Potential of Russia’s North- West
Developing cross-border tourist routes is an effective way of developing cooperation between border regions of Russia and the neighbouring countries. The author presents an approach that interprets cross-border tourist routes as an instrument for the conservation, reproduction, and promotion of natural, cultural, and historical potential and as a means to boost business activities in border regions. This article summarises international practices and presents the theoretical and practical aspects...
Islamic Diffusion in the Baltics: The Fruit of European Multiculturalism
This article considers Western Europe as a principal centre that has been attracting migrants over recent decades, primarily, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. The Baltic region states are chosen for demonstration. Although they have different proportions of Muslim immigrants, Muslim diasporas are the most numerous and rapidly growing ones in the Baltics. Undoubtedly, Muslim communities across the region enjoy certain similarities. The differences they have are explained, among other factors,...
Between nation and gender: History of beards in Western Europe and Russia, 1830—1880
This article focuses on the increasing popularity of beards in Western Europe and Russia in the 1830s—1880s. The main hypotheses explaining this phenomenon in Western Europe are analysed and the Western and Russian practices compared. It is concluded that, from the mid-19th century, the beard was a symbol of national unity – the unity of peasants and the educated class in Russia, whereas it emphasised gender inequality and the exceptional status of men in the society and politics in Western Europe...
The territorial structure of productive forces of Russian North-West in the 2000—2010s
A number of researchers are studying regional specifications of Russia from a variety of different perspectives. Economic geography has developed its own methods of approaching the study of territories, and looks, in particular, at geographical distribution of labour. In this article, we use the framework provided by this discipline to describe the changes in the economy of the Russian North-West in the first decade of the 21st century. We combine publicly available data to propose new methods of...
Sanctions risks and regional development: Russian case
Economic sanctions and countersanctions are expanding worldwide, posing spatially heterogeneous threats to most countries. The study aims to develop and test a methodology for assessing regional exposure to sanctions risks using Russian data. The share of foreign trade with the countries that introduced restrictions can be used to evaluate the exposure to new trade barriers. In several cases, this share exceeded 50 %, necessitating a rapid reorientation of product flows in Nenets, Khanty-Mansiysk...
Priorities for the development of manufacturing industries in the Kaliningrad region
The Kaliningrad region is a socio-economically developed area with a steadily increasing population. Its economy is predominantly influenced by manufacturing industries, whose growth is supported by the region’s strategic geographic position on the Baltic coast and the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) regime. However, the region’s exclave status, which makes it reliant on external factors, hinders its development. Any change in these external factors could necessitate a restructuring of manufacturing...
The border as a barrier and an incentive for the structural economic transformation of the Kaliningrad exclave
... as a separate stage distinct from the period starting in 2016, when Poland terminated the SBT: the ‘temporary’ border closures during the pandemic quickly transformed into formidable barriers due to the subsequent rupture between Russia and the West.
The study uses three groups of sources. The first includes statistics from Rosstat, the Federal Customs Service, and executive bodies. Analysing this data is complicated by changes in the methodology for treating socio-economic indicators. For ...
The geopolitical effect of the maritime factor on the spatial development of post-Soviet Russia: the Baltic case
... six months of 2023, followed the crisis of 2008 — the starting point of a radical change in global economic and geopolitical trends [32], [33]. The increase continued in the post-Crimean period, which witnessed the dismantling of the Russia — the West system that emerged over the previous quarter century.
Provoked by the growing activity of the EU and NATO, Russia’s aspiration to maintain and extend the security perimeter in the Baltic Sea area led at first to the virtual geoeconomic blockade ...
Spatial differentiation of rural territories in the Kaliningrad region: implications for socio-economic policies
The article analyses the challenges associated with the development of rural areas in the Kaliningrad region. The author analyses trends in the development of agriculture, population dynamics, and settlement patterns, while also exploring their interconnectedness and external impacts. The research draws upon comparative-geographical, economic-statistical, and cartographic analyses utilizing official statistical data. The study reveals that since the early 2000s, agricultural production in the Kaliningrad...
Typology of the dynamics of nature management systems in the North-West of Russia and the Baltic countries
Environmental and land management systems at the regional level are the main object of management at large. The scripts for developing management programs include analysis and assessment of the regional environmental management system and the history of its setup, identification of the main trends, development of the most rational scenarios for its development and correction based on monitoring.
The article considers the main provisions of the concept plan of regional nature management systems...
Center-peripheral dimension of innovative security in the Western border regions of Russia (the case of the Rostov region)
The article is devoted to studying the territorial patterns of the formation of an innovative space and ensuring innovation security at a municipal level. The geography of the study covers the municipalities of the Rostov region. The analysis of some indicators of innovative activity characterizing the level of provision of residents and small and medium-sized businesses of municipalities in the region with financial and information and communication services, supporting the entrepreneurial infrastructure...
Some features of external migration processes in the coastal regions of the Western borderlands of Russia
The combination of two major economic and geographical factors — the presence of the border and access to the sea — largely determine the features of socio-economic development of the coastal regions of the Western borderlands of Russia and, as a consequence, the migration processes here. The purpose of the article is to identify the importance of these factors for migration in the coastal regions of the Western borderlands of Russia. The study showed that almost all the studied regions use their...
Identifying Key Stakeholder Groups for Implementing a Place Branding Policy in Saint Petersburg
Regional brands have become a valuable intangible asset and a crucial competitive resource for forging partnerships. An effective place branding policy is impossible without a precise understanding of the interests of stakeholder groups. It is essential to realize that each region is unique in its own way. Territories differ in the structure of stakeholders, their influence on regional development, and the range of leverages over regional decision-makers. This study aims to give a more precise definition...
History in Transcription and Transcription as History: Charles Bally in Soviet Linguistics
... Vinogradov, and others. The author argues that the gradual codification of the Балли variant was a result of ideological discussions in Soviet linguistics held in the 1920—1950s.
1. Admoni, V. G., 1956. Development of the syntactic theory in the West in the ХХ century and structuralism. Voprosy yazykoznaniya [Questions of linguistics], 6, pp. 48—64.
2. Balli, Sh., 1995. Obshchaya lingvistika i voprosy frantsuzskogo yazyka [General linguistics and questions of the French language]. Moscow....
Changes in the ethnic composition of the population of North- West Russia in the 18th -19th centuries
The launch of the ‘Historical Geography of Russia’ project in Russia’s larger historical and geographical regions necessitated the development of new research methods and the evaluation of traditional ones. The article considers the use of the time slicing method in the historical geography of Russia’s North-West. The temporal scope of the study is the early 18th — late 19th century. The article describes changes in the selected ethnic groups in North-West Russia (Ozernaya oblast’) and...
Foreign direct investment in North-West Russia
This article considers the socioeconomic characteristics of foreign direct investment and identifies the features of investment activities with foreign capital participation in the exclave region. The author analyses the dynamics of foreign direct investment inflow to the regions of North-West Russia and the industries preferred by foreign investors and identifies the position of the Kaliningrad region among the regions of North-West Russia
1. Официальный сайт Правительства...
Motivations of Russian firms to invest abroad: how do sanctions affect Russia’s outward foreign direct investment?
... one should consider their indirect impact, such as the tumbling rouble exchange rate and Russian banks’ increasing interest rates, which decrease Russian firms’ capability to invest abroad. Moreover, a less amicable politic al atmosphere in the West may push some Russian corporations out of the Western markets and diminish the enthusiasm of new ones to enter them. Today, Russia’s counter-sanctions do not directly restrict the country’s OFDI, but Russian state-owned enterprises may reach ...
The potential for expanding inter-cluster cooperation between the ship-building industries of Estonia, Finland, and North-West Russia
The shipbuilding industry clusters in the Eastern Baltic Sea region, i. e. Estonia, Finland and North-West Russia, may benefit significantly from increased mutual cooperation; however, the international networks between the clusters are still poorly developed. The aim of this article is to analyse the preconditions for cluster internationalization between these clusters, which are rather different but complementary in terms of skills. The research material for this desk study was collected from various...
The modern economy of Russia’s Baltic regions in the municipal context
... assessing the impact of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the events of 2022 on individual territories at a regional level [36], [37], this article adds value by providing a more in-depth understanding of the overall situation in the regions of North-West Russia.
An important aspect highlighted in this research is the higher dependence of these regions on international trade relations [38], particularly with European states that are currently referred to as unfriendly to Russia. Consequently, the ...
The adaptation of Russian regions’ economies to the rupture of relations with Europe: the case of Baltic Sea ports
... introduced for the Russian air fleet, etc. EU countries have essentially abandoned imports from the Baltic ports of both large cargo consignments (oil cargo, coal, fertilizers, timber, etc.) and goods exported in small consignments.
Many experts, both in the West and within Russia, anticipated that the implementation of extensive sanctions would deliver a significant blow to the Russian economy, potentially causing a substantial setback. As subsequent events showed, the blow was indeed strong [12], [13]. ...
The peaks and troughs of Russian-Estonian relations
The world is witnessing the most profound changes of recent decades: a severe economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the bitter confrontation between Russia and the West, to name a few. At the core of Russia’s foreign policy is indubitably the conflict with the West, centred around Ukraine. The member states of the EU and NATO that share a border with Russia adopted the most hard-line position, and Russia’s relations ...
Geopolitical Security of Russia: Remarks on the Problem Statement
... geopolitical security of modern Russia, I would propose a threefold scheme for considering threats and vulnerabilities.
The main threats are:
1. In geographical space: military aggression of NATO countries and, more broadly, the countries of the “collective West” against our country, expressed in military actions in Ukraine using western weapons, western instructors and western PMCs, as well as possible NATO’s military expansion to the Union State of Russia and Belarus [27], [28].
2. In the economic ...
Demographic development processes in the history of the Kaliningrad region: national trends and regional specifics
This article aims to identify the main demographic development trends and features observed in the Kaliningrad region from a historical perspective and assess the extent to which the region’s demographic development corresponds to the national model accepted in contemporary historiography. The empirical sources used in this study include demographic statistics from published and archival materials; theoretically, it draws on the concepts of demographic and epidemiological transitions. Analysis...
Cross-border digitalization of the western border of Russia: potential and prospects
Border regions are significant geostrategic territories, which long-term sustainable development is one of the priorities of Russia’s national security. The specificity of their economic-geographical position necessitates the development and implementation by the authorities of special governance approaches aimed at finding a balance between the openness and barrier function of the state border. One of the most common tools for the spatial development of border areas is the sustainable cross-border...
Migration attractiveness of the coastal zone of Russia’s North-West: local gradients
A well-acknowledged driver of change, population movement intensifies the development of coastal territories. The Russian North-West holds a vast coastal zone. Granting access to the Baltic, the White, and the Barents Seas, it is an area of geostrategic importance where much of the country’s coastal economy — one of the national priorities — is located. Push and pull factors are enormously diverse in the area, as are migration flows forming attraction poles for migrants. There is little research...
Geopolitical turbulence and its economic and geographical projections: the case of Russia’s western border regions
The socio-economic development of countries and world regions during recent decades has been affected by the confrontation of global and regional centres of power, their growing geoeconomic and geopolitical rivalry, accompanied by increasing geopolitical turbulence. The article aims to substantiate the concept of geopolitical turbulence in its socio-geographical projection. Special emphasis is made on its manifestations in the territorial organization of society and its structures. The author...
Rural areas of russia’s north-west borderland: problems and development paths
This article focuses on the rural areas of Russia’s North-West borderlands, particularly, the municipal districts and towns that are closest to the national border. The study aims to identify problems in the development of these territories and provide solutions to them. The methodological framework employed is the neo-endogenous approach, which suggests the maximal multifunctionality-driven use of internal resources, bottom-up initiatives supported by the authorities, extensive use of innovations...
Demographic Situation and Demographic Security in the Regions of Russia’s Western Borderlands
In this study, I address the vast and complicated problem of population replacement in Russia’s border regions. Although both national and regional demographic indicators have improved in Russia in recent years, many issues relating to sub-replacement fertility, irrational migration, etc. remain unresolved. This lends an urgency to studying regional demographic security, namely, the problems of ensuring replacement fertility, regulating migrations, and overcoming a skewed age and sex structure...
The dynamics of agricultural land use in the North-West of Russia and the Baltic countries
The agricultural land dynamics is one of the central issues of land use in Europe and Russia. Each historical period is characterized by its own model of agricultural land use. The analysis of its dynamics in the North-West of Russia and the Baltic countries was based on the following parameters: the area of cultivated agricultural land and the rate of change, the grain yield and its dynamics. Database analysis from 1848—52 until 2015—18 allowed to identify the stages of the agricultural...
The origins of confrontation with Western countries and the “Munich speech” of Vladimir Putin
In February 2007 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin made a speech at the Munich conference on security. In his speech, Vladimir Putin criticized the dominance policy pursued by the USA and its allies and spoke about the need to form a new system of world order based on partnership and good neighbourly relations between countries. Only these relations can ensure security and prosperity for the whole world. Unfortunately, Western leaders failed to respond to Vladimir Putin’s proposal and continued...
Semi-Medium-Sized cities of North-West Russia as drivers for regional development
The article discusses the semi-medium-sized cities (with a population from 20 to 50 thousand people) and their functions in five regions of the North-West Federal District of the Russian Federation; the socio-economic areas formed by the semi-medium-sized cities are clearly represented. As an example, five semi-medium-sized cities of the Kaliningrad region are considered, the role of each city in regional development and regional settlement system is revealed. The author analyses participation of...
Typology of the geodemographic situation in the regions of the North-West of Russia
... according to sequential ranking, both for the average values for the period 2010—2016, and for the dynamics of their changes. The obtained results made it possible to propose measures to improve the demographic situation in the regions of the North- West of Russia.
1. Агафонов Н. Т., Голубев А. Н. Категории и факторы демографической обстановки (ситуации) // Народонаселение. Прикладная демография....
The Tourist and Recreation Potential of Historical Cities in North-West Russia
In recent years, the development of historical cities has been high on research agenda. This is explained by the growing role of tourism and recreation in socioeconomic development and the persisting problem of the national economy’s spatial organisation amidst the absence of a clear-cut regional policy. The authors stress the discrepancy between the distribution of economic activities and the established system of settlement. This is particularly true for many historical cities, whose economic...
Reflections on the history of the Kaliningrad region
... contradictions in identifying the subject of Kaliningrad regional history. Some researchers and media interpret the term ‘Kaliningrad regional history’ as the history of the region per se and others as the whole scope of local history. The ‘History of West Russia: The Kaliningrad Region’, a secondary school discipline taught since 2006, presents an interesting case. The subject of the Kaliningrad regional history has no single definition since it is a matter of politics rather than historiography....
Russia’s North-West Borders: Tourism Resource Potential
Being an area of development of Russia’s northwest border regions, tourism requires the extending of border regions’ appeal. A unique resource of the northwestern border regions are the current and historical state borders and border facilities. Successful international experience of creating and developing tourist attractions and destinations using the unique geographical position of sites and territories may help to unlock the potential of Russia’s north-western border regions. This article...
The apologia of reason in J. Chr. Gottsched’s classicistic system: On the 250th anniversary of the philosopher’s death
This article revisits the ratio-centric system developed by the prominent exponent of the German enlightenment J. Chr. Gottsched (1700—1766). The authors examine the problem of the ontological argument in the context of the current civilizational crisis of consciousness, which arose against the background of the 20th century crisis of objectivist methodology of modern natural sciences. Such a methodology is incapable of solving the problem of an accurate description of the reality, in particular...