The Far Eastern Arctic: The Role of Infrastructure in the Economic Development and System Formation of Support Zones

The key mechanisms of realization of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) development program in the Far Eastern Federal District are support zones of development (North-Yakut and Chukotka zones) that represent complex projects aimed at considerable reinforcement of the economy of arctic zone, achievement of strategic interests, and provision of national security in the eastern sector of the Arctic. The article presents proof that successful realization of the projects, especially in the initial stages, depends heavily on the dominant role of the regional infrastructure. When creating said infrastructure, it is important to apply the tools of territorial and industrial development synchronically, as well as the mechanisms of realization of investment projects, including those based on the principles of state-private partnership. It is shown that the territories and water areas of the Far Eastern Arctic represent a very important second ‘support zone’ of the Russian Arctic, together with the developed first, western ‘support zone’ – the European part of the arctic shoreline of Russia that has close ties with arctic European countries and a system of cross-border scientific and political treaties. In the next decades, the Far Eastern sector and its foreign neighbors – Alaska and northwest parts of Canada – will transform into the largest intersection of the sea roads of the Arctic thanks to the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the Northwest Passage, and the growth of sea shipping along the Northwest coast of the USA and Canada. This intersection will also become the center of important political and economic issues that will determine further scientific, technological and economic development of the Arctic