Russia’s Pivot to the Global South as a Factor of Its Regional Development

The article is devoted to the possible impact of Russia’s economic turnaround on the acceleration of the development of the Siberian and Far Eastern regions of Russia. It is shown that so far the intensification of the Russian foreign economic relations with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America has not had a decisive impact on the regional structure of the economy of the Russian Federation. The main focus of the analysis is on the study of shifts in the Russian foreign trade, foreign direct investment with the participation of Russia, as well as the export of educational services. An important conclusion is made that the turn to the global South can lead to the economic recovery of the Far Eastern and Siberian regions only with the accelerated development of the transport infrastructure necessary for foreign economic contacts. Special attention should be paid to cross-border cooperation. At the same time, it is emphasized that the acceleration of the development of the Asian part of Russia largely depends not so much on the turn of the country’s external relations to the East, but on a more active regional economic policy in Siberia and the Far East. At the end of the article, specific recommendations are given for the state economic policy, taking into account the objective obstacles to the rapid restructuring of not only geographical priorities in external relations, but also to the changes in interregional disparities within the country.