Frontier and peripherality as factors of socio-economic development of Russian-Belorussian border regions

Russian Federation is one of the countries in the world where concentration of decreasing areas is the highest. Vast majority of such territories is located in the European part of the country. At the same time the state policy in the field of regulation of socio-economic development still has unidirectional character and is expressed only in formation of the stimulating measures adapted for the most perspective areas (large cities, suburb, transport knots, seaside areas). Regions with uncertain prospects receive less not only private investments, but also the state measures for providing normal level of social and economic development. The identification of genetic factors of depression on an example of one of decreasing territories in the European part of the country - Russian-Belarussian borderland - was made in the given work. Quiet negative situation in Russian-Belorussian border region calls into question its future development even under the influence of the integration effect of the union state creation. The social and economic depression of these areas can be explained by the different reasons. One of the major factor of negative dynamics is population decline. In some areas the economic decrease is connected with closing of city-forming enterprises. Areas near the large cities can apply for positive influence of agglomeration effect (occurrence of the new industrial enterprises, logistical complexes, recreational objects). For the areas which are not possessing resources of growth the most actual are preservation of social guarantees for the population, stimulation of moving of the most active population in other regions, etc. The results of the study proved that the main lines and nodes of the territorial structures of the border areas are at the same time the «corridors» and «centers» of transborder links. In other areas low intensity of communications doesn't allow to gain additional positive social and economic effect. The development of the differentiated mechanisms of regulation of social and economic development is based in the given work on the statistical analysis of socio-economic indexes and empirical researches in key areas. The research provides the typology of the border regions between Russia and Belarus (taking into account the influence of frontier and peripherality on socio-economical development and perspectives of transborder cooperation).