Methodological aspects of use of countries experience in determining the directions of the strategic development of the Russian Federation arctic regions

The Arctic zone of Russia has an area of more than 9 million square kilometers (4.9 million sq. km continental part, 4.0 million sq. km—sea, 0.2 sq. km—islands). The land areas of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation include the Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets, Chukotka Autonomous Districts (hereinafter—AD), the Murmansk Region and most of the municipal entities of the Arkhangelsk Region, as well as coastal municipalities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Komi Republic and the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). About 2.5 million people live here (less than 2% of the country’s population, but about 40% of the population of the entire Arctic). Almost 15% of Russia’s gross domestic product (hereinafter referred to as GDP) is produced here. About 1/5 of Russian exports are being created in the Russian Arctic. The continental shelf of the Arctic Ocean contains approximately 25% of the world’s shelf reserves of hydrocarbons. According to the US Geological Survey of 2008, up to 134 billion barrels of oil (about 18 billion tons) and almost 47 trillion m3 of natural gas may be deposited in the northern regions. In 2017, the Russian Arctic accounted for up to 60% of all-Russian copper and oil production, almost 100% of natural gas, 100% of diamonds, barite, platinum, nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements, vermiculite, and apatite concentrate. However, to increase the potential of the land Arctic territories of Russia, it is necessary to implement large-scale projects for the extraction, processing and supply of hydrocarbon fuels, the development of energy and transport infrastructure, the formation of an innovative economy based on high technologies. This experience allows us to obtain new knowledge of the mechanisms for regional development of the Arctic territories, as well as to take into account the accumulated foreign experience in developing the decisions in the field of regional Arctic policy. A comparative analysis of the territories of foreign countries that are in comparable natural-geographical, socio-economic, geopolitical conditions, but differing in the level of economic development and social attractiveness, has been done the basis of identifying the main directions of development of the Arctic regions of the Russian Federation, defined in federal and regional strategic documents. The use of this experience of territorial development may be useful for the Russian Arctic regions.