What are the main stages in the formation of Russian territory? Territory and borders as a factor in the development of the Russian state

>>State territory of Russia

Borders and administrative-territorial

structure of Russia

§ 5. State territory of Russia

State territory- this is the part of the planet’s surface over which the power of a given state extends. It includes airspace territorial waters(water area) and subsoil located below the surface (including under the water area) with all their resources.

When assessing a state territory, an assessment of the historical changes that have occurred with it over the centuries is used. As V. O. Klyuchevsky noted*, Russia’s position in the northeast Eurasia is connected with long-standing historical reasons: “Once upon a time, some enemy drove the Slavs, namely our ancestors, from the Danube, driving them to the virgin North-East, from the best country to the worst. So stepmother history forced them to inhabit a country where nature is a stepmother for people.”

Formation and development of the state territory of Russia. On Upper Volga and between the Oka and Volga rivers it was formed Russian people. The bulk of the Eastern Slavs were concentrated here. In the center of their settlement area was the small Principality of Moscow. It began to form around him Moscow state, absorbing the weaker principalities surrounding it. The advantages of Moscow over Suzdal, Ryazan, and then Tver were associated with the benefits of its economic and geographical position (the intersection of important transport routes: water-float and land), with the development of crafts and trade. During this period, the most important direction of Russian colonization was the north. Initially, Novgorod colonization prevailed, which was then supplemented by Moscow. Back in the 12th century. Russian settlers developed the coast of the White and Barents seas. Their descendants - Pomors (sailors and fishermen) - reached Grumant on small ships (Spitsbergens founded their settlements and shopping centers along the entire coast of the European North. The most important role Monastic colonization played a role in the settlement of areas of the European North. Along the banks of rivers, lakes, on islands White Sea Initially, deserts (small refuges of monks) were created. Many of them turned into the largest fortress monasteries (Kirillo-Belozersky, Solovetsky). Peasant settlements grew near their walls.

* Klyuchevsky Vasily Osipovich(1841 - 1911) - Russian historian, expressed the idea that “the history of Russia is the history of a country that is “colonized” (that is, settled and developed), and the “area of ​​colonization” in it expanded along with its state territory” .

After the weakening of the Golden Horde and the break with it, the Moscow state begins to consistently expand its borders (Fig. 7). The northern direction of colonization is replaced initially by the south, and then by the east and northeast. In the south, the Wild Field is being developed - an area bordering the steppe expanses, through which nomads raided Rus' for hundreds of years. To protect against them, “notch” lines were created 1.

By the middle of the 16th century. the regions of the Volga region, and previously the Kama region, inhabited by numerous peoples(Tatars, Bashkirs, Udmurts, etc.). WITH late XVI V. the settlement and development of Siberia by Russians begins. At the same time, the consolidation of a huge territory to the east by Russia happened extremely quickly: from the campaign of the legendary Ermak to Western Siberia(1582) less than 60 years passed before Ivan Moskvitin’s detachment reached the Pacific Ocean (1639).

So Russia turned from a Russian state into a Russian state, as it included territories inhabited by different peoples.

Then the military direction expansion of the Russian state changes to the west, and then again to the south. Already in the middle of the 17th century. (1654) East End Ukraine voluntarily joins Russia. Central and Western Ukraine, as well as Belarus and Lithuania, were annexed to Russian Empire after the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century.

An important stage in the formation and settlement of the state territory was the annexation of the coast of the Gulf of Finland to Russia under Peter I and the creation of St. Petersburg here (1703).

At the beginning of the 18th century. Russia already includes the Ciscaucasia, northern regions modern Kazakhstan, and at the end of the century as a result of the victory over Turkey - the coast of the Black and Azov seas(Novorossiya) and Tavria (Crimea).

1 "3-section" lines consisted of "notches" (fences of trees, felled crosswise), ramparts, ditches, palings and natural obstacles (ravines, rivers). Strong points were created on the cutting lines - forts, and then fortified cities. Cossacks also built forts during the exploration of Siberia.

In the most appropriate (i.e. systematic and relatively concise) form, the material is presented in: Simagin Yu.A. Territorial organization of population and economy. M., 2011. pp. 23–39.

First of all, it is necessary to point out that the most important condition for the development of modern Russia is its historical past. Over the course of the thousand-year history of our country, its name has changed several times, ethnic composition, occupied territory, geopolitical characteristics and government structure. It is necessary to name and briefly describe the main periods of historical and geographical formation and development of Russia.

1st period – formation and development of the ancient Russian state of Kievan Rus (IX–XII centuries). The state developed along the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” It had two main centers: Kyiv and Novgorod. Complex ties are aimed at Europe, but in parallel there was territorial development in the northern and eastern directions. Ethnic basis of Kievan Rus – East Slavic tribes. Assimilation of local peoples and the gradual formation of the Great Russian ethnic group. By the end of the period, the territory of the state was about 2.5 million km 2.

2nd period - the collapse of Kievan Rus into separate principalities and Mongol-Tatar conquest (XIII–XV centuries). Kievan Rus began to disintegrate into separate appanage principalities that were at war with each other. As a result, they fall under the rule of the Mongol-Tatar conquerors. Later, the western and southern principalities became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Cultural and political connections with eastern nomadic peoples slowed down the socio-economic development of Russia for a long time.

3rd period – formation and development of the Russian centralized state (XVI–XVII centuries). The Moscow Principality plays a special role among the Russian lands - leadership in economic, political and religious relations. Rapid territorial expansion in all directions. The unification of all Russian principalities. The annexation of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, significant transformations of ethnic and religious composition population. An unsuccessful attempt to expand the state's territory to the west. The Time of Troubles and the preservation of independence. The direction of the development vector is to the east and south; further development of the Volga region, Siberia and the Far East. By the end of the period, the area of ​​the state reached 7 million km 2.

4th period – formation of the Russian Empire (XVIII – early XIX centuries). The vector of Russian geopolitics is unfolding in westward. Russia's return to the Baltic Sea, the creation new capital, strengthening connections with European countries. Entry into the state of the lands of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, as well as Novorossiya. Later annexation of Finland, part of Poland and Bessarabia to the Russian Empire. By the end of the period, the area of ​​the state exceeded 16 million km 2.

5th period – development and collapse of the Russian Empire (mid-19th – early 20th century). The vector of Russian geopolitics is once again becoming southern, southeastern and eastern. Inclusion of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan into the state. Expansion of territory at the expense of Central Asian lands. Annexation of Alaska and the lands bordering China. However, the Russian economic, demographic and military potential of the country turned out to be insufficient to develop all the occupied lands. The area of ​​the state reached 24 million km2. Collapse of the Russian Empire; significant territorial losses.

6th period – Soviet (1917–1991). Formation of the RSFSR, later proclamation of socialist republics in Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia. Their unification in the USSR. Administrative-territorial reforms and the separation of several national republics from the RSFSR. Significant territorial transformations of the state as a result of the Second World War. At the end of the period, the area of ​​the state was 22.4 million km 2.

Period 7 – modern development of the country (since 1992). The collapse of the USSR into 15 independent states, the emergence Russian Federation. The area of ​​the country is about 17.1 million km2. There were and are various territorial claims against the Russian Federation from other states (China, Japan, newly independent states).

Geographical position countries includes physical-geographical And . An important characteristic is also administrative-territorial division countries.

Characteristics must follow physical-geographical location. Russia - largest state world by area - 17,098 thousand km 2, or 1/8 of the land. Extent from east to west and from north to south. Number of time zones. High-latitude position on the Eurasian continent, Russia is one of the most northern countries in the world. Northern zone and its natural resources. Low agroclimatic and recreational potential. Negative influence FG provisions for socio-economic development. Most of the eastern and northern borders are maritime; poor use of the benefits of the coastal location. Total length borders of Russia, sea and land borders. Russia's neighboring states by land and sea. Borders of a country as a factor of its development.

Further evaluated economic-geographical location. A definition of EGP is given and its essence is characterized. Macro position, meso position and micro position. Components of the integral EGP: transport-geographical, industrial-geographical, agro-geographical, market-geographical, demogeographical, recreational-geographical, natural-geographical, political-geographical position. This is followed by an assessment of the macro-, meso- and micro-position of the Russian Federation.

In addition, it is necessary to characterize state structure of Russia and her administrative-territorial division. Historical changes state structure of Russia to the present day. Administrative division of the Old Russian state, the Muscovite kingdom, the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation. Number and diversity of subjects of the Russian Federation. Federal districts in Russia. Micro level administrative division countries.

One of the most important conditions The development of modern Russia is its historical past, in particular the historical and geographical features of the formation of the country. Over the long period of the country's existence, the name, ethnic composition, occupied territory, main geopolitical vectors of development and government structure have repeatedly changed. As a result, we can distinguish several periods of the historical and geographical formation of Russia.

The first period is the formation and development of the ancient Russian state of Kievan Rus (IX-XII centuries). This state developed along the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” which was the easternmost “link” between the states of Baltic, or Northern, Europe (Sweden, etc.) and Mediterranean, or Southern, Europe (Byzantium, etc.). Accordingly, it had two main centers: Kyiv, through which the main trade with Byzantium took place, and Novgorod, which was the main center for connections with Northern European countries. Naturally, the main ties (not only economic, but also cultural, political, etc.) of Kievan Rus were directed towards Europe, integral part which she was. But the territorial development of the state went in the northern and eastern directions, since there were territories inhabited by small and peace-loving Finno-Ugric peoples (Muroma, Merya, Chud, etc.). In the West at that time there were already relatively densely populated territories European countries(Poland, Hungary, etc.), and in the southeast - steppe territories inhabited by warlike nomadic peoples (Pechenegs, Cumans, etc.), against whom it was necessary to build defensive lines on the border of steppes and forest-steppe.

The ethnic basis of Kievan Rus was made up of the East Slavic tribes of the Polans, Severians, Radimichi, Ilmen Slovenes, etc. Already from the end of the 9th century. Eastern Slavs began to actively develop the Volga-Oka interfluve. The Krivichi from the north-west (from Novgorod) and the Vyatichi from the south-west (from Kyiv) moved here to the lands of the Finno-Ugric tribes. Local peoples were assimilated by the Eastern Slavs, but at the same time became an important component of the emerging Great Russian ethnicity . In the 12th century It was to the northeast of Kievan Rus that the main economic center of the state moved (the cities of Suzdal, Ryazan, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Vladimir, etc.), tied to the new important trade route between the countries of Europe and Asia, laid along the Volga with its tributaries and further along the Caspian Sea. In 1147, the city of Moscow was mentioned for the first time in chronicles on this territory. By the end of the period, the territory of the state amounted to about 2.5 million km 2.

The second period is the collapse of Kievan Rus into separate principalities and the Mongol-Tatar conquest (XIII-XV centuries). Already in the 12th century. Kievan Rus began to disintegrate into separate appanage principalities that were at war with each other. The main (capital) of them was initially considered Kiev, then Vladimir-Suzdal, but this was only a formal supremacy. In practice, appanage princes, as a rule, did not submit to the main (great) princes, but, if possible, tried to capture the capitals (Kyiv or Vladimir) and declare themselves on this basis the great princes of all Rus'. A special situation arose in Novgorod and nearby Pskov, where not principalities were formed, but “veche republics”, where all important issues were resolved by the wealthiest merchants, but with the formal consent of the majority of citizens, expressed at a general meeting (veche).

Due to disagreements between individuals ancient Russian principalities in the middle of the 13th century. They all relatively easily fell under the rule of the Mongol-Tatar conquerors who came from the east. And then (in the 14th century) the western and southern principalities (Polotsk, Kiev, etc.) became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, Mongol-Tatar domination turned out to be less dangerous than Lithuanian (later Polish-Lithuanian) in terms of preserving culture (but much worse for preserving material assets), since the Mongol-Tatars, after their raids and collection of tribute, like all nomads, went back to the steppes without interfering in the internal life of the Russian principalities. To some extent, they even supported the existing political and religious structure, since it made it easier to collect tribute. While the most important thing for the conquerors coming from the West under religious (Catholic) banners was to subjugate new people and territory forever to their ideas. Therefore, they largely preserved material values, but tried to change culture and religion. Nevertheless, cultural and political ties with the eastern nomadic peoples slowed down the socio-economic development of Russia for a long time.

The development of new territories during this period was possible only in a northern direction. This is where the Russian settlers moved, quickly reaching the shores of the White and then the Barents Seas. The people who moved to the coast of these seas over time became the basis for the formation of a special Russian subethnic group - Pomors. The territory of all Russian lands by the end of the period was about 2 million km 2.

The third period is the formation and development of the Russian centralized state (XVI-XVII centuries). Already from the 14th century. The Moscow principality began to play a special role among other Russian lands. Thanks to his geographical location(in the center of the most populated Volga-Oka interfluve) and outstanding rulers (Ivan Kalita and others), it was this principality that gradually became the main one in economic, political and religious relations among others subordinate to the state of the Golden Horde created by the Mongol-Tatars. In particular, it was the Moscow princes who received the title of Grand Dukes and the right to collect tribute from all Russian lands to transfer it to the Golden Horde. In 1380, the united troops of the Russian principalities under the leadership of the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich, later called Donskoy, defeated the Mongol-Tatar army for the first time in an open battle on the Kulikovo Field. After this, the rapid territorial expansion of the Moscow Principality began in all directions: to the north (Veliky Ustyug was annexed), east ( Nizhny Novgorod), south (Tula), west (Rzhev). As a result, 100 years later (in 1480), Russian troops under the leadership of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III on the Ugra River repelled an attack on Russian lands by the united troops of the Mongol-Tatar khanates, into which the Golden Horde disintegrated. This was an event that formally liberated the Russian principalities (Moscow Rus') from Mongol-Tatar dependence, and the beginning territorial expansion Russian lands to the east and southeast.

By the middle of the 16th century. Grand Duke Moscow's Ivan IV (the Terrible), who subsequently took the title of Tsar of All Rus', united under his rule all the Russian principalities that had previously been subordinate to the Mongol-Tatars, and began a further offensive against the remnants of the Golden Horde. In 1552 after long war he annexed the Moscow state Khanate of Kazan, and in 1556 - the Astrakhan Khanate. This led to the inclusion into the Russian state of territories inhabited by representatives of other ethnic groups and religions (Tatars, Mari, Bashkirs, etc.), which dramatically changed the ethnic and religious composition of the population of the previously mono-ethnic and Orthodox country. Although individual Tatar princes, together with their subjects, went over to the service of the Moscow principality before that (Yusupov, Karamzin, etc.).

After this, Ivan IV tried to expand the territory of the state to the west, attacking the weak German religious knightly orders in the Baltic states (Livonsky and others). But in the end, untied Livonian War the lands of the orders went to Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the country lost access to the Finnish Sea in the Baltic Gulf. The main reason for the defeats is that during the long Mongol-Tatar rule Russian state lost cultural ties with Europe. Therefore, the Russian army turned out to be weakly armed from a technical point of view, while it was the perfection of technology that decided the outcome of wars in Europe already at that time.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth launched a new attack on the Russian state at the beginning of the 17th century. (period of the Time of Troubles), first supporting the claims to the Moscow throne of False Dmitry I and II, and then starting direct military intervention. Almost all of Central Russia, including Moscow, was captured by the Poles and Lithuanians. It was possible to defend the country's independence only thanks to popular resistance to the invaders.

After defeats in the west, the vector of development of the Russian state headed east and south. In 1586, the cities of Tyumen (the first Russian city in Siberia), Voronezh (the largest Russian city in the Black Earth Region), Samara (the first Russian city in the Volga region), and Ufa (the first Russian city in the Southern Urals) were founded. Advancement to the south into the steppe regions was carried out with the help of notched lines (lines of forts connected by rows of fallen trees), under the protection of which from the raids of nomads the agricultural development of the most fertile black soil territories took place. In the east, by 1639 Russian settlers (Cossacks) had reached the coast Pacific Ocean(Sea of ​​Okhotsk), having built the fort of Okhotsk in 1646. The Cossacks moved along the rivers of the taiga zone, building forts in the most advantageous places for control over the surrounding territories (Krasnoyarsk, Yakutsk, Turukhansk, etc.). The main incentive for their movement was the procurement of furs - the main product Russian exports to Europe at that time. Furs were harvested both by the settlers themselves and local residents, who gave it to the Cossacks in the form of tribute (yasak). Moreover, in general (with the exception of some cases), the annexation of Siberia occurred peacefully. By the end of the period, the area of ​​the state reached 7 million km 2.

The fourth period is the formation of the Russian Empire (XVIII - early XIX centuries). Already with mid-17th century V. the vector of Russian geopolitics again began to unfold in a western direction. In 1654, by decision Pereyaslavl Rada unification with Russia took place Left Bank Ukraine(territories along the Dnieper and to the east of it), which, as a result of the military actions of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, came out of the subordination of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

But Peter I made especially great efforts to recognize Russia as a European state. At the beginning of the 18th century. As a result of the many years of the Northern War with Sweden, Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea, taking possession of the mouth of the Neva and the territories of modern Estonia and Latvia. In 1712, the capital of Russia became the city founded on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. Baltic Sea St. Petersburg, which greatly facilitated Russia’s ties with European countries. In 1721, Russia declared itself an empire. In the second half of the 18th century, after three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the lands of Lithuania, Belarus and Right Bank Ukraine. During the same period, as a result of victories over the Ottoman Empire, the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas (Novorossiya) became part of the state. IN early XIX V. Finland, part of Poland and the territory between the Dniester and Prut rivers (Bessarabia) joined the Russian Empire. By the end of the period, the area of ​​the Russian Empire exceeded 16 million km 2.

The fifth period is the development and collapse of the Russian Empire (mid-19th - early 20th centuries). Further territorial expansion in a western direction became increasingly difficult, as it encountered resistance from developed European states. Therefore, gradually the vector of Russian geopolitics again became southern, southeastern and eastern. In 1800, at the request of the Georgian kings, Georgia became part of the Russian Empire. Also, the territory of Armenia peacefully became part of Russia, since Christian Armenians were threatened with complete destruction from attacks from the neighboring Ottoman Empire and Persia. At the beginning of the 19th century. As a result of the war with Persia (Iran), the territory of modern Azerbaijan was included in Russia. The most difficult thing in the Caucasus turned out to be annexing the lands of the North Caucasian peoples, who resisted joining the Russian Empire for more than 50 years. The mountainous regions of the North Caucasus finally became part of Russia only at the end of the 19th century.

The main vector of expansion of the state’s territorial possessions in the 19th century. became Central Asian. Since the 18th century. The process of Kazakh tribes joining Russia began, united in the Senior, Middle and Small Zhuzes, which at that time did not have a single state. First, the territory of the Junior Zhuz (Western and Northern Kazakhstan) was annexed, then the Middle Zhuz (Central Kazakhstan) and finally the Senior Zhuz (Southern Kazakhstan). The main Russian center on the territory of Kazakhstan was the Vernaya fortress founded in 1854 (later - the city of Alma-Ata). In the presence of individual local conflicts, in general, the Kazakhs voluntarily became part of Russia.

Annexation of Central Asia: Bukhara, Khiva Khanates and other Central Asian lands to Russia - occurred at the end of the 19th century. and already had the character of a conquest. Numerous local population didn't want to admit new government, resisted the aliens. The exception is the peaceful entry into Russia of the Kyrgyz. As a result, the borders of the Russian Empire in this region were expanded to the borders of Persia and Afghanistan.

The third vector of the country's expansion during this period is eastern. First, at the beginning of the 18th century. The territories of Alaska, located on the North American continent, were annexed. In the second half of the 19th century. The Russian Empire annexed the lands of the Amur and Primorye regions, taking advantage of the weakness of China, weakened by civil strife and defeats from the British and French. Before this, the Chinese Empire objected to the annexation of these territories to Russia, although it did not develop them itself. Thus, in order to avoid new exclusion in the future, these lands needed to be populated and developed. But the military, economic and demographic potential of the country was no longer enough to develop all Russian lands. And in 1867, Russia had to sell Alaska to the United States, which became the first major territorial loss of the Russian Empire. The area of ​​the state began to shrink, reaching 24 million km 2 .

New confirmation of the state’s weakness was the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, after which Russia lost Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands and was forced to stop further territorial expansion in China. The final collapse of the Russian Empire came in 1917, when the hardest external war developed with internal contradictions that led to revolutions and civil war. Independence treaties were signed with Finland and Poland. In fact, the territories occupied by German and Romanian troops were separated from the state - Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, Bessarabia. In the remaining territory, centralized government administration was disrupted.

The sixth period is Soviet (1917-1991). At the end of 1917, the formation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was proclaimed over most of the territory of the Russian Empire, the capital of which moved to Moscow. Later, as a result of the military successes of the Soviet Red Army, Soviet socialist republics were proclaimed in Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia. In 1922, these four republics united to form single state- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In the 1920s, the USSR carried out administrative reforms, as a result of which the Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Turkmen and Tajik republics were separated from the RSFSR, and the Transcaucasian Republic was divided into Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani.

During the Second World War and following its results (1939-1947), the USSR first included Bessarabia (on whose territory the Moldavian SSR was formed), the Baltic states (Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian SSR), Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, as well as south-eastern part Finland (Vyborg and surroundings), and then Tuva. After the war, Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands became part of the USSR, the Kaliningrad region and the northeastern part of Finland (Pechenga) became part of the RSFSR, and Transcarpathia became part of the Ukrainian SSR. After this, there were only changes in the borders between individual union republics, the most significant of which was the transfer of Crimea from the RSFSR to Ukraine in 1954. At the end of the period, the area of ​​the state was 22.4 million km 2.

The seventh period is the modern development of the country (since 1992). At the end of 1991, the USSR collapsed into 15 new independent states, the largest of which was the Russian Federation. Moreover, the territory and borders of the country actually returned to the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. But this confirms the fact that modern Russia is not an empire that forcibly subjugated many surrounding territories, but a historically formed multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state that has prospects for its further socio-economic and cultural development.

The area of ​​modern Russia is about 17.1 million km2. At the same time, initially many neighboring states had territorial claims against the Russian Federation, the presence of which in itself indicates instability and the illegality of including certain territories into the country. The most serious were claims from China and Japan, which could not be resolved during the Soviet era. At the same time, disagreements with China have been completely resolved over the past 10 years. And today the entire Russian-Chinese border is confirmed by interstate treaties and delimited - for the first time in several centuries political relations between Russia and China. Disagreements between Russia and Japan over the southern Kuril Islands remain unresolved, which hinders the development of economic, social and other ties between our countries.

The claims of the newly independent states were of a completely different nature. During the existence of the USSR, the borders between the RSFSR and other republics were purely administrative in nature. More than 85% of the borders were not demarcated. Even during documented periods of the country's development, these borders changed repeatedly in one direction or another and often without observing the necessary legal formalities. Thus, the claims of Estonia and Latvia to part of the territories of the Leningrad and Pskov regions are justified by treaties of the 20s. But before this, Estonia and Latvia never existed as independent states. And back in the 12th century. The territories of modern Estonia and Latvia were dependent on the Russian principalities. It with historical point view allows Russia to lay claim to all territories of Estonia and Latvia.

Already from the end of the 18th century. Western and Northern Kazakhstan were part of the Russian state. And until the end of the 20s of the XX century. Kazakhstan and Central Asia were part of the RSFSR. Naturally, in such conditions, Russia has more historical grounds for annexing part of the territory of Central Asia than Kazakhstan has for annexing part of Russian territory. Moreover, in the northern part of Kazakhstan, the majority of the population is Russians and other peoples close to them in culture, and not Kazakhs.

The situation is similar with borders in the Caucasus, where they often changed depending on specific historical conditions. As a result, today the population of some parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan (Abkhazia, etc.) wants to join Russia, while these states, in turn, make territorial claims to the Russian Federation and support separatists on the territory of our country.

The most difficult is the establishment of the border between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, where in many cases ties were cut not only between regions and enterprises, but also between individual families, whose representatives found themselves living on opposite sides of the new state borders. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 21st century. Most of the territorial claims against Russia at the state level were lifted. And today they are put forward only by extreme groups of citizens of neighboring states.

Territorial organization of the population is the spatial organization of people’s lives that developed at a certain stage of socio-economic development. It includes:
1) population distribution
2) industries of the production and non-production spheres
3) environmental management
4) territorial division of labor
5) economic or national-ethnic zoning
6) territorial-political and administrative-territorial organization states

Population distribution is the distribution and redistribution of the population over the surface of the earth, resulting in a network of settlements or settlements.

Location of production - geographical distribution of the process of creating wealth, industry, construction, agriculture and transport. The location of production is determined by the dominant method of production (manual and automatic), the form of ownership of the means of production (state, municipal, etc.), the characteristics of the territorial division of labor, natural, economic and social conditions individual regions, as well as factors for the location of specific industries and industries.

Geographic division of labor is the production specialization of individual economically connected territories of any rank (economic regions, regions, countries), the exchange of products and services between them. This process is determined by the natural, economic, social, national-historical and other characteristics of various territories. International division of labor is the specialization of countries in the production of certain types of goods, for the production of which the country has cheaper labor resources and preferable conditions in comparison with other countries; with such specialization, the needs of these countries are satisfied as own production and through international trade.

Topic 1. Territory and borders as a factor in the development of the Russian state

Features of the formation of the state territory of the Russian Empire

The Russian Empire (Russian doref. Rossiyskaya Imperiya; also the All-Russian Empire, the Russian State or Russia) is a state that existed from 1721 until the February Revolution and the proclamation of the republic in 1917.

The Empire was proclaimed following the Great Northern War by Russian Tsar Peter I the Great.

The capital of the Russian Empire was first St. Petersburg in 1721-1728, then Moscow in 1728-1730, then St. Petersburg again in 1730-1917 (in 1914 the city was renamed Petrograd).

The Russian Empire was the third largest state ever formed (after the Mongol and British empires) - stretching to the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Black Sea in the south, to the Baltic Sea in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east. The head of the empire, the All-Russian Emperor, had unlimited, absolute power until 1905.

Throughout the existence of the Russian Empire, its territory steadily increased. Peter I founded the empire following such an important expansion as the conquest of access to the Baltic Sea. However, expansion was not something new for Russia. In fact, it began during the “gathering of Russian lands” around the Grand Duchy of Moscow under the slogan of national and religious liberation of the Russian people, but already Ivan IV the Terrible annexed the foreign and heterodox Kazan and Astrakhan khanates.

IN XVIII-XIX centuries The territory of the Russian Empire is significantly expanding, which is happening in a fierce struggle with a number of competing empires: Sweden claims dominance in Finland and in general in the Baltic Sea, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Ukraine, the Ottoman Empire claims Crimea, and Turkey and Persia fought for influence in Transcaucasia ( Iran). The expansion of Russian possessions in Central Asia brings the empire into a fight with Britain, which feared for its possessions in India, and the annexation of Kazakhstan takes place in the fight with China.

At least two of these geopolitical competitors were completely defeated with the decisive participation of Russia - in Sweden, after the loss of Finland in 1806, the final collapse of the great power policy occurred, and Poland ceased to exist as a state after three partitions.

Some geopolitical projects of imperial expansion turn out to be unsuccessful. Attempts to achieve dominance over the Christian Slavic peoples of the slowly dying Ottoman Empire lead to the lost Crimean War, and in 1867 the empire sold Alaska.

Other unsuccessful projects included the desire to capture Constantinople and the Black Sea straits. In addition, before the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the empire had a project to create an External, and possibly Inner Manchuria the so-called “Zheltorossiya”, the majority of the population in which the Slavs were supposed to become due to the influx of Cossacks and peasant colonists. Defeat in the war put an end to these plans, which clearly contradicted Japan's plans to create a pro-Japanese puppet state in Manchuria.

Centuries-long expansion is turning Russia into a multinational empire with a complex structure; Russians make up only 44% of the population (together with Ukrainians and Belarusians - 65%). Its core consists of 29 provinces of the European part of Russia with a Russian (“Great Russian”) majority, which are adjacent to 15 provinces with a Belarusian and Ukrainian majority (“Little Russians”). From the east, 10 provinces (also with a Russian majority) in Siberia and the Far East, and 3 in the North Caucasus, developed during economic colonization, adjoined the “metropolis”.

A number of territories enjoyed significant autonomy and were connected with the metropolises through relations of personal union, vassalage or protectorate: the Grand Duchy of Finland (union until the abdication of Nicholas II), the Kingdom of Poland (union until the 1860s), the Emirate of Bukhara (vassalage from 1868), Khanate of Khiva (protectorate since 1873), Uriankhai region (Tuva, protectorate since 1914). 11 territories of the Cossack troops had broad self-government.

During the expansion, the local aristocracy of a number of regions was equated with the Russian nobility. The most numerous were the aristocrats of Georgia and also the Baltic (“Bestsee”) Germans.

Different territories were at completely different levels of development. The percentage of illiterate people according to the 1897 census was 4.85% in the Estonian province, while in the Ufa province (Bashkiria) it was 93.59%. A number of peoples of Central Asia, Siberia, and the Volga region continued to adhere to a nomadic way of life (Kyrgyz, Kalmyks, etc.), and some could migrate from the Russian Empire to China and back. Up to February Revolution Since 1917, among the indigenous non-Russian peoples of Siberia, an archaic tax has been preserved - yasak, levied on furs. At the same time, advanced forms of farming based on the European model are spreading in the Baltic states, Finland and Poland.

Expansion continues even in literally the last years of the empire’s existence: after the victory in China in the 1912 Xinhai Revolution, Mongolia declares independence from China, and in search of a counterbalance to Chinese influence seeks to rely on Russia. Since 1912, Mongolia has actually been under Russian protectorate. Since 1914, a protectorate has been established over Tuva (Uriankhai region).

Russia's territorial growth was viewed with caution by many European powers. These fears are embodied in the forged document “Testament of Peter the Great,” in which Peter I allegedly sets out a program for seizing world domination to his successors. British Prime Minister Disraeli warned of "a huge, gigantic, colossal, growing Russia, sliding like a glacier towards Persia, the borders of Afghanistan and India, as against the greatest danger that the British Empire could ever face."

Karl Marx, in the fourth chapter of his work “Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century,” speaks very negatively about Russia (“Muscovy was educated and raised in the terrible and vile school of Mongol slavery. It strengthened only thanks to the fact that it became virtuoso in the art of slavery”), its diplomacy and expansion policy.

Friedrich Engels, in The Foreign Policy of Russian Tsarism, calls the imperial diplomatic corps a “gang of adventurers” and a “Jesuit order,” commenting on imperial expansion in expressions like: “Never before has Russia achieved such a powerful position. But she also took another step beyond her natural boundaries. If in relation to the conquests of Catherine, Russian chauvinism had some other excuses - I don’t want to say justifying - pretexts, then regarding the conquests of Alexander there can be no question of this. Finland is inhabited by Finns and Swedes, Bessarabia by Romanians, Congress Poland by Poles. Here there is no need to talk about the reunification of scattered related tribes bearing the Russian name, here we are dealing with an openly violent conquest of foreign territory, with simple robbery.” and “when you read Russian newspapers, you might think that all of Russia is carried away by the tsarist policy of conquest; everywhere there is sheer chauvinism and pan-Slavism, calls for the liberation of Christians from the Turkish yoke, and the Slavs from the German-Magyar yoke.”

Geopolitical competition with Sweden. Accession of Finland

During the Northern War, Peter I in 1702 annexed Ingria (Ingria, Izhora land) to Russia, which had previously been torn away by Sweden from Muscovite Rus' in 1583. St. Petersburg was founded in 1703. The so-called “Duchy of Ingermanland” (“Duchy of Izhora”) was founded, headed by Menshikov; already in 1708 it was transformed into the Ingermanland province (from 1710 - the St. Petersburg province).

By the end of the war (1721), Russia also returned Karelia, which had been torn away from Sweden since 1617. Novgorod Rus', and also annexes a number of territories that did not previously belong to Russia: Estland, Livonia (Livonia), southern Finland. In fact, Courland, which was formally a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, comes under Russian control.

The direct result of the disastrous Northern War for Sweden is the advent of the Era of Freedom, which is characterized by a reduction in the power of the king and a sharp strengthening of parliament.

In 1741, revanchists win in Sweden and begin a new war to regain lost territories. This war ended by 1743 with the defeat of the Swedes; Russian acquisitions were confirmed.

Swedish King Gustav III carries out a coup d'état in 1772, ending a half-century experiment with parliamentary democracy. This coup was painfully perceived by the Russian Empress Catherine II, who saw in it the machinations of France. The parliamentary democracy of the “Era of Freedom” allowed Russia to actually manipulate Sweden by bribing politicians. After 1772 this became impossible.

A second attempt at revenge was made in 1788, but by 1790 it also ended in failure.

Last Russian-Swedish war was the war of 1808-1809, which ended for Sweden with the loss of Finland and the Åland Islands. Wanting to attract Napoleonic France to its side, Sweden invites Napoleonic Marshal Bernadotte (see Charles XIV Johan), who reigned in 1810, to his throne. However, he dramatically changes his foreign policy course. In 1812, the new Swedish king came into conflict with his homeland - France, and entered into an alliance with Russia, and in 1813-1814, in the ranks of the anti-Napoleonic coalition, he fought with his own compatriots at the head of Swedish troops.

After the annexation of Finland, the empire receives a country whose economy is completely controlled by the local Swedish minority. The Finns did not have their own aristocracy, the Finnish language did not have the status of a state language, and in addition, there was no literature in Finnish. The majority of the population of Helsingfors (Helsinki) were Swedes. The capital, however, was located in Abo (Turku), but its majority was also Swedish.

Fearing Swedish revenge, the Russian authorities in Finland emphasize the national identity of the Finns and provide the principality with significant benefits that Finland did not have under the Swedes. The Finns enjoyed special respect from Emperor Alexander II, who restored the activities of the Sejm and gave the Finnish language the status of a second state language, after Swedish. The appearance of the first literature in Finnish also occurs during the period of Russian rule. In addition, the empire moves the capital of Finland from Abo to Helsingfors, and encourages Finnish migration to the cities with the goal of making Swedes a minority in the cities.

Another important step of the empire was the annexation of the so-called “Old Finland” to the Grand Duchy of Finland already in 1812, which became part of Russia partly through the Treaty of Nystadt in 1721, partly under the Peace of Abo in 1743. This territory included the cities of Savonlinna, Lappeenranta, Hamina, Sortavala, Vyborg.

This soft policy ended in the 1890s, when the empire adopted a policy of forced Russification of a number of national outskirts, including Finland. Attempts are being made to introduce Russian as the third state language (after Swedish and Finnish), to synchronize the political systems of Finland and the Russian regions proper (which, unlike Finland, did not have either a parliament or a constitution), to synchronize the armed forces, including Finnish army(which the empire considered unfit for combat) into the Russian one. All these steps caused extreme discontent among the population, and the energetic attempts of Governor General Bobrikov to implement them ended in his murder in 1904.

The sharp dissatisfaction of the Finnish population with the Russification policy of 1898-1914 leads to the fact that after the abdication of Nicholas II, Finland already proclaimed a Constitution in March 1917. By July, Finland came into armed conflict with the troops of the Russian Provisional Government; in November - December 1917 it proclaimed independence, recognized by the Bolsheviks on December 22, 1917.

Sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Kingdom of Poland

Decree on dethronization of Nicholas I, Polish uprising (1863), Russification of Poland

Russia's geopolitical competition with Lithuania and Poland begins long before the formation of the Russian Empire; back in the 14th-15th centuries, these powers captured a number of western principalities of the disintegrated Kievan Rus. The unification of Poland and Lithuania in 1569 into a single state becomes a fatal blow to Russia's first attempt to gain access to the Baltic Sea - the troops of Ivan IV the Terrible are defeated in the Livonian War by the Polish king Stefan Batory.

By the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was in decline, caused by ethnic strife and unsuccessful wars. The political system, which combined the election of the king with the right of veto for any deputy (see Liberum veto), increasingly led to the paralysis of the state, and created the ground for active manipulation of Polish domestic politics by Russia and Prussia. In 1764, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth tried to abolish the Liberum veto, but these attempts were buried as a result of active Russian intervention. The steadily increasing pressure on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Russia and Prussia ends in three sections 1772-1795.

As a result of the divisions, Russia includes Belarus, part of Lithuania, part of Ukraine and part of the Baltic states.

During the Napoleonic wars, Russia already occupied the territory of Poland itself. According to the results Congress of Vienna In 1815, the Kingdom of Poland was formed, concluding a union with the Russian Empire. Not all of Poland was included in it; Thus, Poznan went to Prussia, and Krakow to Austria.

The Poles are becoming one of the most “unreliable” national minorities of the empire. After 1831, the Poles practically became part of the Russian troops in the Caucasus, which was called “warm Siberia.” It is very characteristic that Tsar Alexander II, after the assassination attempt on him on April 4, 1866, asked the terrorist Dmitry Karakozov, who was captured on the spot, “Are you a Pole?”

The Poles raised a series of uprisings against the tsarist government: the Kościuszko Uprising (1794), the Polish Uprising of 1830, the uprising of 1863.

These uprisings only lead to the gradual collapse of Polish autonomy within the Russian Empire. After the uprising of 1830, the Polish Constitution was replaced by the Organic Statute of the Kingdom of Poland. The personal union is thus replaced by the entry of Poland into Russia. The Polish Sejm and army are dissolved, the Polish zloty is replaced by the ruble, the metric system is replaced by the traditional Russian one.

After the uprising of 1863, Poland was divided into provinces, all-Polish departments ceased to exist, and their affairs were transferred to the imperial government. Poland is also subject to the imperial educational system and judicial organization, the mandatory use of the Russian language in education and office work has been introduced, and the designation of Poland as the “Vistula region” has been extended.

Since the end of 1915, Poland has been occupied by German-Austrian troops. Shortly after the fall of the Russian Empire, on March 29, 1917, the Russian Provisional Government recognized the independence of Poland.

Accession of Georgia

Georgia reaches its greatest prosperity in the 11th-13th centuries, especially during the reign of King David IV the Builder, but by the 1460s it fell into decline and collapsed into several independent states, the main ones being: Kartli, Kakheti, Imereti, Samtskhe-Javakheti ; they enter into a fight with Turkey and Persia. In 1555 these two powers divided the Georgian kingdoms into their spheres of influence.

The first contacts between Russians and Georgians date back to 1588-1589. Over time, Georgia begins to be perceived in Russia as a Christian country of the same faith, “vegetating” surrounded by powerful empires of other faiths - Turkey and Persia. However, Russia begins to play an active role in Georgia only during the reign of Catherine II, with the beginning of the Russian-Turkish wars. In 1783, the king of the united kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, Irakli II (unification occurred in 1762), signed the Treaty of Georgievsk on a Russian protectorate in exchange for military protection, but in 1795 Russian troops did not provide any assistance against Iranian troops invading Georgia.

In 1799-1800, Paul I renewed the treaty and sent troops to Kartli-Kakheti at the request of King George XII. On November 7, 1800, these troops repelled the invasion of Kakheti by the Avar Khan, but already in December 1800 George XII dies, and Kartli-Kakheti is plunged into a power struggle. In March 1801, Paul I himself died.

The new emperor, Alexander I, with his manifesto “for the sake of the peace and security of the Georgian people,” abolishes the autonomy of the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and introduces Russian rule in it. General Lazarev is appointed “Governor of Georgia”. A government is established, consisting of four “expeditions” led by Russian officials and Georgian assistants (“assessors”): executive, civil, criminal and state property expeditions. A local government of five districts is formed, headed by Russians and deputies - Georgians. The police and the court are established according to the same scheme.

All the privileges of the Georgian aristocracy are preserved; it is equated to the Russian nobility. In 1802, a Georgian was appointed “governor of Georgia”, Russian general Tsitsianov (Tsitsishvili).

In 1802 - 1805, the empire forced the aristocracy of the principality to take an oath of allegiance to the Russian throne, and sent a number of representatives of the highest nobility to Russia, who were assigned an imperial pension. Office work is translated into Russian, a language unfamiliar to the local population, and traditional hereditary posts of the highest nobility are abolished. The Georgian population is not subject to conscription; taxes collected in Georgia remain locally.

In 1805, Russian troops in Georgia encounter Iranian army, and put her to flight.

In 1811, the empire abolished the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church and also abolished the title of Catholicos. The church is transformed into the exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by an exarch. Georgian clergy begin to receive salaries from the Russian Holy Synod.

Beginning in the 1820s, non-Georgians were appointed exarchs. Autocephaly and the title of Catholicos were restored only after the February Revolution of 1917.

The Empire encourages Russians, as well as Armenians, Greeks and German colonists, to move to Georgia.

Another Georgian principality, Imereti, repeatedly turned to Russia for help against Turkey in the 18th century. In 1769, a Russian corps arrived in this principality. According to one of the conditions of the peace treaty of 1774, Imereti gets rid of paying tribute to Turkey. In 1784-1798 Imereti plunged into an armed struggle for power; King Solomon II, who won it, is trying to avoid Russian protectorate. In 1804 he was forced by force to sign a protectorate treaty, finally losing by 1810 after unsuccessful attempts to raise an uprising against Russia. In 1811, Imereti became part of Russia, and the power of the Tsar of Imeretia was abolished. Russian rule is introduced in the principality on the model of Kartli-Kakheti.

In 1803, the Principality of Megrelia, seeking to free itself from vassal dependence on Imereti, accepted the Russian protectorate. In 1866, the empire abolished the Megrelian principality; for refusing him, the last prince of Megrel, Nikolai Dadiani, is paid 1,000,00 rubles.

Another principality, Svaneti, was also subordinate to Imereti, but only on paper. In the middle of the 16th century, Svaneti was divided into parts; “Princely Svaneti” annexed Russia in 1833, “Free Svaneti” in 1840. In 1859 the principality was abolished.

The Principality of Guria, which was also formally subordinate to Imereti, was accepted into Russia in 1804 as an integral part of Imereti; in 1810 a separate agreement was concluded.

Abkhazia joins Russia in 1810. In 1866, the Principality of Abkhazia was abolished; its last owner, Mikhail Shervashidze, receives an annual pension of 10 thousand rubles, and is promoted to adjutant general.0

Russian-Turkish wars. Annexation of Crimea, Novorossiya, Moldova and Wallachia

By the time the Russian Empire was founded, one of its main geopolitical competitors was the powerful Ottoman Empire. The constant raids of its vassal, the Crimean Khanate (in 1571, Khan Devlet I Gerey even reached Moscow and burned it) forced Muscovite Rus' to constantly maintain defensive lines (“barn lines”) on its southern borders. The very first of them was the “Big Serif Line”, built in the middle of the 16th century from Ryazan to Tula. The unblocked Muravsky Way becomes the favorite route for Crimean invasions. In 1644-1645, Khan Bogadur Girey captured up to 15 thousand prisoners. In 1659, after the Battle of Konotop, Khan Mukhamed Gerey plundered twenty districts, killing and capturing about thirty thousand people. Overall for the first half XVII centuries, Crimeans have driven up to 200 thousand Russians into slavery.

In the 17th century, the Moscow state kept up to 50 thousand border guards on the southern border (Cossacks, local cavalry, then also “regiments of a foreign system”), to end of XVII century - up to one hundred thousand. Belgorod becomes the center of defense of the south, in which the “Belgorod discharge” (in fact, a military district) is formed. In general, by the end of the 17th century, large Crimean raids were already becoming extremely difficult. In 1679-1690, the “Izyum Line” was built, 400 km long, between Poltava and Kharkov.

Since 1695, Peter I has been trying to conquer access to the Black Sea, and in 1696 he founded the city of Taganrog. According to the peace treaty of 1699, the payment of tribute to the Crimean Khan, which had been paid since 1571 and amounted to 90,000 chervonets per year, was stopped. By 1711, the attempt to gain access to the Black Sea finally fails when Russia is forced to abandon Azov. In 1717, the Crimean Tatars carried out further raids, reaching Tambov and Simbirsk.

In 1731-1733, the “Ukrainian Line” was built from the Dnieper to the Northern Donets.

In 1736, a fifty-thousand-strong Russian army led by Minich invaded Crimea, breaking through the Perekop defensive line. In June of this year, Russian troops burned the Crimean capital, Bakhchisarai, along with the Khan's palace. In July 1737, Minikh occupied Ochakov, repelled the Turkish-Tatar counter-offensive in October, but in 1738, due to a pestilence, he left Ochakov and Kinburn.

In peace negotiations with Turkey, Russia unsuccessfully demands all the lands of the Crimean Khanate and the granting of independence to Moldavia and Wallachia. Having failed to achieve a result, in 1739 Minich’s 65,000-strong army marched into Wallachia, occupied Iasi, but then returned to Ukraine. According to the peace treaty of 1739, Russia receives back Azov with a ban on building fortifications and having its own fleet on the Black Sea.

The terrible defeat carried out in the Crimea by Minich's troops finally stopped major raids Crimean Tatars to Ukrainian and Russian lands, the bulk of the Crimeans began to switch to agriculture. WITH mid-18th century century, the Crimeans restore Bakhchisarai, the fortresses of Perekop and Arabat, the population of Crimea by the end of the century reaches 500,000 people.

In an effort to create a reliable barrier to Crimean raids, Russia is embarking on active colonization. wild field" In 1752, the colony of New Serbia was founded from Serbian and Hungarian settlers, in 1753 - the colony of Slavic-Serbia. In 1764, both colonies were transformed into the Novorossiysk province. In 1760-1763, the fortress of St. Demetrius of Rostov was built, which actually gave rise to Rostov-on-Don. The increased activity of the empire begins to greatly irritate Crimea, and leads to a clash with the Ottoman Empire in the war of 1768-1774.

As a result of the war (see Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty), Russia receives the strategically important Kerch and Yenikale, blocking access to the Sea of ​​Azov and the lands from the Bug and the Kinburn fortress at the mouth of the Dnieper to Azov with the Kuban and Azov regions, and receives permission to have a fleet in the Black Sea. Türkiye recognizes the independence of Crimea and pays Russia an indemnity of four and a half million rubles; however, the Turkish Sultan retains spiritual authority over Crimea as the Caliph - the head of the Muslims. In fact, he also retains the right to remove the Crimean khans. Türkiye immediately begins to prepare for revenge.

Crimean Tatars are not particularly delighted with the peace terms. They refuse to give up territory to Russia according to the peace treaty, and start several uprisings. Russia is also in no hurry to withdraw its troops from Crimea. In fact, both the Turks and the Russians continue to actively interfere in the internal affairs of Crimea, in violation of the peace treaty. Some Turkish troops do not leave Crimea for several years after the signing of the agreement.

Russia places its protege on the throne, Khan Shagin Gerey, but he quickly begins to cause strong irritation among the local nobility by destroying the independence of aristocratic estates, confiscating Muslim church lands (waqfs), and attempting to organize a European-style army. Turkey appoints a new khan, Selim Gerey III, which sparks a civil war in Crimea, in which Shagin Gerey's opponents are defeated by Russian troops.

On March 23, 1778, Suvorov arrived in Crimea. Under him, Russian troops settled thoroughly on the peninsula, forming four territorial districts with a line of posts along the coast. From May to September 1778, Suvorov resettled 31,000 Christians - Armenians and Greeks - from Crimea to Novorossiya and the Azov region, which caused extreme irritation to the Crimean authorities.

In July and then in September 1778, the Turkish navy appeared in Feodosia, demanding that Russian ships stop sailing along the Crimean coast. However, thanks to the line of fortifications built by Suvorov and the demonstrative maneuvers of the Russian troops following the Turkish ships, a collision did not occur.

March 10, 1779 Russia and Turkey sign the Anaily-Kavak Convention, in which they undertake to withdraw troops and not interfere in the internal affairs of Crimea. Türkiye recognizes Shagin Gerey as the Crimean Khan, confirms the independence of Crimea and the right of Russian ships to pass through the Black Sea straits. In 1779, Russian troops left, leaving a 6 thousand garrison in Kerch and Yenikal.

In 1781, another uprising of the Crimean Tatars, provoked by Turkey, broke out, Shagin Gerey fled under the protection of the Russian garrison to Kerch. Trying to strengthen his power, he carries out mass executions, which only causes new uprisings. Catherine II advises him to renounce the Khanate and transfer Crimea to Russia. In February 1783, Shagin Gerey abdicated the throne; on April 8, 1783, according to the tsar’s manifesto, Crimea became part of the empire. Russian troops occupy Taman, Kuban and Crimea. In June 1783, Prince Potemkin took the oath of allegiance to the Crimean population. On February 10, 1784, Sevastopol was founded. Thus, the terms of the peace treaty of 1774, which was not respected by either side, are finally buried.

Russia's annexation of Crimea in 1783, and the establishment of a protectorate over Georgia by Treaty of Georgievsk becomes a serious attack on the great power interests of Turkey. This results in the war of 1787-1792, but the attempt at Turkish revenge fails; Russia confirms its acquisitions, the border between empires is pushed back to the Dniester.

Features of the formation of the state territory of the USSR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a state that existed from 1922 to 1991 in Europe and Asia. The USSR occupied 1/6 of the inhabited landmass and was the largest country in the world by area on the territory that by 1917 was occupied by the Russian Empire without Finland, part of the Polish Kingdom and some other territories (the land of Kars, now Turkey), but with Galicia and Transcarpathia , part of Prussia, Northern Bukovina, Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

According to the Constitution of 1977, the USSR was proclaimed a single union multinational and socialist state.

After World War II, the USSR had land borders with Afghanistan, Hungary, Iran, China, North Korea (since September 9, 1948), Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Finland, Czechoslovakia and only sea borders with the USA, Sweden and Japan.

Consisted of union republics (in different years from 4 to 16), according to the Constitution, which were sovereign states; Each union republic retained the right to freely secede from the Union. The Union Republic had the right to enter into relations with foreign states, conclude treaties with them and exchange diplomatic and consular representatives, participate in activities international organizations. Among the 50 founding countries of the UN, along with the USSR, there were also two of its union republics: the BSSR and the Ukrainian SSR.

Some of the republics included autonomous Soviet socialist republics (ASSR), territories, regions, autonomous regions (AO) and autonomous (until 1977 - national) okrugs.

After World War II, the USSR, along with the United States, was a superpower. The Soviet Union dominated the world socialist system and was also a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Geopolitical position of Russia at different stages of the country's development

Meanwhile, geopolitics is simply a science, the same as, for example, mathematics. She has her own subject of research - the interaction and mutual relationship of geographical spaces. Geopolitics also has a method - a systematic analysis of the spatial position of geographical factors, understood quite broadly. Science arose at the intersection of several hundred social and natural scientific disciplines. Ontologically, geopolitics is the science of the influence of geographical factors on politics. Well, ultimately, geopolitics is a philosophical doctrine and a section of general philosophy, such as ethics or logic.

One of the main problems of geopolitics is the study of the sphere of relations between states regarding control over territory. And since Russia is a country that occupies 1/6 of the entire landmass, that is, 17,075.4 thousand square kilometers, it simply cannot remain aloof from international relations.

For Russia at the end of the twentieth century, a remarkable phenomenon was the advancement of many geopolitical concepts that differently depicted the position of our country in the world. Difficult transition period after the breakup Soviet Union- a powerful superpower - is characterized by an abundance of projects for the “development of Russia”, often too ideological and even completely fantastic. “Westerners” and “Slavophiles” began arguing again, and Eurasians loudly declared themselves. But during heated debates about the fate and future of Russia, academic research on the modern geopolitical situation and real, not imaginary relations with other countries by projectors and ideologists, were actually lost.

In other words, a normal, objective geopolitical analysis accepted in Western science has not yet emerged. In this regard, it seems relevant to study the geographical configuration of the country’s modern external relations and its foreign policy to determine how realities differ from geopolitical projects and what are Russia’s actual geopolitical positions.

Modern geopolitics dates back to the end of World War II and the post-war reconstruction of the world. These historical events not only served as a radical restructuring of the world and the geopolitical paradigm, but also coincided with the invention of a weapon of enormous destructive power - the atomic bomb, which, together with the rocket launcher created somewhat later, began to play not only a military-strategic, but also a geostrategic role. Modern political scientists do not deny the connection between politics and a wide variety of spatial factors. It's about first of all, about the natural-physical, geographical space, which, as Ratzel noted, consists of three spheres: the geosphere (land), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air). These spheres on the inhabited surface of the Earth (ecumene) intersect and interact in the most diverse and bizarre ways. Indeed, dry land different ways connects with water, forming the banks of rivers, lakes, swamps, seas, oceans, as well as islands, peninsulas, capes, bays, bays, straits, continents. Air environment depending on latitude, solar activity, and terrain, it creates a climate favorable or unfavorable for human activity: trade winds and monsoon winds with heavy rains or sultry sirocco from the Sahara, air supersaturation with oxygen in places of lush vegetation and its lack in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, moderate heating or life-threatening temperatures at the equator. In addition, each of the three spheres in which human life occurs must be considered in its entirety and complexity.

One of the important components of a geopolitical position is the ability to control key spaces and geographical points. This ability is derived from the degree of self-sufficiency (viability) of a geopolitical subject. From the point of view of its geopolitical position, Russia, as the direct successor of the USSR and the Russian Empire, found itself in a new situation. This situation has developed as a result of certain geopolitical patterns. Since the second half of the 1980s. The Soviet Union gradually began to lose control, first over the countries of the socialist camp, and then over the union republics.

After the collapse of the USSR, 17 out of 22 million square meters remained in Russia. km of territory. Russia's capabilities are to a large extent determined by the transport and geographical factor. The territorial mass of Russia no longer corresponds to the frame transport infrastructure that existed in the USSR. The main highways of Russia - Yuzhsib and Transsib - pass through the territory of Northern Kazakhstan (Transsib in the Petropavlovsk region), sections of high-voltage power lines, communications, and pipelines also happen to be there. New geopolitical realities have emerged on the western borders. Russia found itself separated from Europe by a belt of independent states and currently has limited access to the Baltic and Black Seas. The largest ports on the Black and Baltic Seas have become foreign to Russia. Of the major ports on the Baltic, St. Petersburg remains, and on the Black Sea - Novorossiysk and Tuapse. On western border Before the collapse of the USSR, there were 25 railway crossings, but modern Russia has only one - from the Kaliningrad region to Poland. The main transshipment railway hubs are located in Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. Geopolitical changes have affected the borders of Russia. Within the USSR, out of 77 Russian administrative-political units, only 13 were border units; today, more than half are border units. The number of foreign countries bordering Russia has also changed: previously there were 8 neighboring countries, now there are 16. No country in the world has such a number of neighboring states. A significant part of the new borders does not have official state status.

The spatial-geographical narrowing due to the Baltic coast, the Black Sea region, and Crimea returned Russia, as geopoliticians note, to “pre-Petrine times.” These territories provided wide access for the former USSR to external world. In the new conditions, Russia in the north-west and south did not retain its previous control over key areas. On the part of the new geopolitical entities - the Baltic countries - there was a tightening of their positions, even to the point of territorial claims; at a number of points the Russian-Ukrainian conflict grew; a complex knot of contradictions between Moldova and Transnistria has emerged. In the early 90s. 180 territorial-ethnic disputes were recorded on the territory of the former USSR.

Ensuring the processes of forming Russian statehood and protecting its territorial integrity is considered a priority in the field of foreign policy. It is important for Russia to complete the process of becoming a modern Russian state within its current borders. At the same time, strengthening the statehood of such republics as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, as well as economic integration with them on the part of Russia should be supported in the most active manner. It is these three states that are most important from the point of view of Russia’s geopolitical interests.

Area of ​​territory, length of borders

Square
total: 17,075,400 km², including:
sushi: 16,995,850 km²
water surface: 79,400 km²

Borders
total length: 60932 km
for individual areas. .

Countries bordering Russia: Abkhazia (245 km); Azerbaijan (350 km); Belarus (1239 km); Georgia (561 km excluding Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with them - 879.9 km); Kazakhstan (7598.6 km); China (4209 km); DPRK (39.4 km); Latvia (270.5 km); Mongolia (3485 km); Norway (219.1 km); Ukraine (2245.8 km); Finland (1325.8 km); Estonia (466.8 km), South Ossetia (74.0 km). The Kaliningrad region, which is an exclave, borders Lithuania (288.5 km) and Poland (236.3 km). Russia has only maritime borders with Japan (193.3 km) and the USA (49 km).

Length coastline 37,653 km

Maritime Dominions
continental shelf: 200 m or operating depth
exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles (370 km) from coastline
territorial waters: 12 nautical miles (22 km) from coastline

1.5. Border states of the “first” and “second” order

Accordingly, countries bordering Russia (having common border) – first order countries

1.6. Delimitation and demarcation of state borders, types of borders with “first” order countries

The lines separating the land territory of one state from the adjacent territory of another state are the state border on land.

The lines separating territorial waters from the waters of the high seas, that is, the lines of the outer limit of territorial waters, as well as the lines delimiting territorial waters between two neighboring states, are maritime state boundaries.

An imaginary surface running along the state border line perpendicular to the earth's surface serves as the border of the airspace of the corresponding state.

The state border is established, as a rule, on the basis of agreements between neighboring states, and where the territorial waters of the state are in contact with open sea, - internal legislative acts of coastal states in accordance with international law.

Territorial delimitation between states is carried out in stages, during the delimitation and demarcation of the border.

In interstate practice, orographic, geometric and geographical state boundaries are known.

Orographic boundary is a line drawn along natural boundaries taking into account the terrain, mainly along a mountain watershed and river beds.

The geometric boundary crosses the area without taking into account its topography (bypassing populated areas).

A geographic line passes through certain geographic coordinates (may coincide with a parallel or meridian). Geographic boundaries drawn along parallels and meridians are found in Africa and America, where they were established by the metropolitan states for the colonies.

According to current Law on the state border of the Russian Federation, the passage of the state border of the Russian Federation is usually established:

on land - along characteristic points, relief lines or clearly visible landmarks;

at sea - along the external border of the territorial sea of ​​the Russian Federation;

on navigable rivers - in the middle of the main fairway or thalweg of the river;

on non-navigable rivers and streams - in their middle or in the middle of the main branch of the river;

on lakes and other bodies of water - along an equidistant, median, straight or other line connecting the exits of the state border to the shores of the lake or other body of water;

on reservoirs of waterworks and other artificial reservoirs - in accordance with the state border line that ran in the area before it was flooded;

on bridges, dams and other structures passing through rivers, streams, lakes and other bodies of water - in the middle of these structures or along their technological axis, regardless of the passage of the state border on water (Article 5 of the Law on the State Border of the Russian Federation).

Border delimitation (Latin delimitatio - establishing boundaries) - determining the general position and direction of the state border between neighboring states through negotiations.

Delimitation decrees are usually part of peace treaties or special agreements on the establishment or modification of state boundaries.

During delimitation, the contracting parties draw up - as a rule, on a map, without carrying out work on the ground - a description of the passage of the border line, which can be an independent article in the agreement itself or in an annex to it.

In accordance with the position of the border line defined in the agreement, it is drawn on geographical map, which, as a rule, is an integral part of the border delimitation agreement and, as such, serves as visual evidence of the position of the border line.

Delimitation materials serve as the basis for the subsequent stage of determining the border - drawing it on the ground (demarcation).

The term "Delimitation" is often used in International Space Law.

Border demarcation (Latin demarcatio - demarcation) - drawing a state border line on the ground with its designation with special border signs.

Border demarcation is carried out on the basis of border delimitation documents (agreement, description of the state border line with the attachment of a special map) by joint commissions created on a parity basis.

During demarcation work, a topographic survey or aerial photograph of the area is taken, on the basis of which a large-scale topographic map of the border strip is compiled, boundary markers are installed (poles, wire fences, etc.) and their topographic coordinates are determined. On all actions to demarcate the border, special documents are drawn up: protocols describing the passage of the border line and border signs (diagrams and photographs of these signs are attached to the protocols).

Border markers are not subject to arbitrary movement, and the parties are obliged to ensure that they are maintained in proper condition.

Reviewing a previously demarcated boundary and restoring or replacing destroyed boundary markers is called re-demarcation.

1.7. Territorial claims to Russia

The state border unites the Russian Federation with 16 countries. By land with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, by sea with Japan and the USA. Many of Russia's neighbors are putting forward various claims with the expectation of obtaining one or another part of the territory beneficial to them. According to some estimates, there are currently about seven to nine direct and indirect claims from foreign governments, and there are no territorial disputes with only six states (Finland, Poland, Mongolia, North Korea, Belarus and Lithuania). Some countries link their claims to various historical events, during which, in their opinion, territories were unfairly rejected in favor of the USSR. Others, in the competition for new territorial increments, are guided rather by geopolitical and geo-economic considerations.

One of the most famous stories is Japan's claim to a group of southern islands of the Kuril archipelago (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan islands and a group of unnamed islands of the Lesser Kuril chain, called "Habomai" in Japan), the total area of ​​which is more than half the area of ​​all the Kuril Islands. Russia and Japan do not have a border agreement. There is no peace treaty either. As a condition for concluding the agreement, the Japanese began to demand the transfer to them of all four South Kuril Islands, including the larger and more populated islands of Kunashir and Iturup.

Russia took a step towards Japan, declaring that it was ready to transfer the islands, but subject to the conclusion of a strategic partnership agreement, which would allow establishing investment cooperation and improving trade and economic relations between the countries. Moreover, it is no secret that the United States officially supports Japan’s territorial claims to Russia, and Japan itself may not limit its claims to only the South Kuril Islands and demand the inclusion of all the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin.

China is also a concern. Just recently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi signed the latest protocol on demarcating the border between Russia and China along the Amur River. According to this document, China received Tarabarov Island and half of the Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island. total area The territories transferred by Russia to the PRC amounted to 174 square meters. km. However, not everyone in China considers the issue of the border with Russia to be finally resolved. On the one hand, at the official level, territorial claims against Russia have been lifted forever. On the other hand, many Chinese citizens believe that Moscow has not yet returned all territories to China. For example, at consultations in Beijing regarding clarification of the border line in 1964, China officially announced that 1,540 thousand square meters. km were torn away by Russia under unequal treaties, including more than 600 thousand under the Aigun Treaty, over 400 thousand under the Beijing Treaty. And this interpretation of history has not changed in China to this day, although officially the leaders of the PRC declare that they have no territorial claims against Russia .

However, the decision to transfer the islands was made by the Russian leadership in 2004, when relations between Russia and the West began to rapidly deteriorate, and as a counterbalance to this, Moscow began to intensify ties with Beijing, which required the final resolution of all territorial disputes. These islands are not very large and are not rich in natural resources, but they are important for Russia. On Bolshoy Ussuriysky there is a special fortified area that is capable of holding the enemy off Khabarovsk for 45 minutes, and the take-off trajectory of aircraft of the 11th Air Force and Air Defense Army lies above Tarabarov.

Estonia and Latvia also laid claim to a part Russian territory. In doing so, they referred to peace treaties from 1920, according to which Estonia demanded the return of the Pechora district, and Latvia the Pytalovo district of the Pskov region. But the conditions for joining NATO are such that members should not have any disputed territories, so the Zstonians and Latvians had to officially renounce their claims.

A significant part of the claims and disputes relate to maritime territories. Russia cannot agree on the status of the Kerch Strait and the Sea of ​​Azov with Ukraine. The Caspian states demand the division of the Caspian Sea and, above all, its shelf, a piece of which not only Kazakhstan, but also Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan want to get. In turn, the Russian side has complaints about the Baker-Shevardnadze agreement on the Bering Strait, which delimited the territorial waters, economic zone and shelf between Russia and the United States. The problems of the Black Sea border with Georgia have not been resolved: territorial waters, an economic zone and a shelf have to be divided here. There are also a lot of problems here on land: border delimitation is complicated by the presence of unrecognized entities - Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

There is an acute problem of delimiting water space in the Arctic, the territory of which is claimed by many European countries (Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Sweden), including Canada and the United States. Heated debates surrounding the Arctic zone flared up after huge reserves of hydrocarbons and other natural resources were discovered at the bottom of the northern seas. The race started after Russia planted a symbolic flag on one of the sections of the underwater sea ridge in August 2007 and declared its territorial claims. In response, Canada announced its readiness to build military training bases in the region and patrol the region from the sea. Denmark and the US have filed international lawsuits.

It is obvious that Russia will firmly defend its right to the continental shelf. In particular, Russian scientists conducted comprehensive geological and geophysical research on the Mendeleev Plateau and Lomonosov Ridge. Acoustic, television and photographic study of the area was carried out from the air and water. From the nuclear icebreaker "Arktika", polar explorers in a bathyscaphe descended to the ocean floor near the North Pole, took soil samples at a depth of more than 4 thousand meters and planted the State Flag of the Russian Federation there. A preliminary analysis of the extracted materials confirmed that the sea ridge and bottom plateau are a continuation of the Russian continental shelf. This means that its borders should be extended.

Thus, it turns out that Russia is in a not entirely favorable position, if we consider that only a few of the 16 countries surrounding it do not have or did not have territorial claims in the past. With all the complexity of the current situation in the country, the Russian authorities seem to be beginning to realize this and, to the extent possible, either defend their rights or make concessions in order to avoid diplomatic or, in the worst case, military conflicts, although it is unlikely that any of Russia’s current neighbors capable of getting involved in a war in order to realize its territorial claims.

1.8. maritime boundaries

By sea, Russia borders on twelve countries. Russia has only a maritime border with the USA and Japan. With Japan, these are narrow straits: La Perouse, Kunashirsky, Izmena and Sovetsky, separating Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands from the Japanese island of Hokkaido. And with the United States, this is the Bering Strait, the border along which separates Ratmanov Island from Kruzenshtern Island. The length of the border with Japan is approximately 194.3 kilometers, with the United States - 49 kilometers. Also along the sea lies a section of the border with Norway (Barents Sea), Finland and Estonia (Gulf of Finland), Lithuania and Poland (Baltic Sea), Ukraine (Azov and Black Seas), Abkhazia - Black Sea, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (Caspian Sea), and North Korea (Sea of ​​Japan).

1.9. Geopolitical position of Russia after the collapse of the USSR

1. Geopolitical implications collapse of the USSR for Russia

The significance of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the system of socialism from the standpoint of today is extremely difficult to assess. The time that has passed since the actual collapse of the USSR is too short by historical standards. Therefore, even the borders of Russia cannot yet be considered finally defined. The geopolitical position of the Russian Federation is even more uncertain: its political system, the nature of international relations, and its position in the geopolitical space of the former USSR are very unstable.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of 15 sovereign states can be considered accomplished in the political and legal sense. And not all independent states are eager to find some form of unification with Russia. The connecting link primarily remains the previously established economic ties. All republics of the former USSR suffer from the disruption of these ties.

For decades, the markets of the republics have been adapted to each other’s goods, the demand for which in the West, Japan, and many Asia-Pacific countries, with the exception of raw materials and some goods, fine technologies, is practically absent or limited. When trying to enter the convertible currency markets with their goods, the CIS republics compete with each other and suffer mutual damage.

Factors that somehow connect the former Soviet republics include: demographic, social, cultural, and psychological.

A very important point in the political, economic and other relations of states in the post-Soviet space is the preservation of a single social space. There are no options for solving this problem yet, but for a start we can take the scheme according to which the European Community is being formed, where the national security of each state is determined by the readiness to act in concert in many spheres of public life and, above all, in the socio-economic sphere.

The destruction of the USSR has more losses than gains:

More than 5 million km 2 of territory were lost (USSR);

The exits to the Baltic (except for St. Petersburg and “enclave” Kaliningrad) and to the Black Sea have been lost;

In terms of resources, the shelves of the seas are lost: the Black, Caspian, Baltic;

- “shift” of our entire territory to the north and east;

Direct land access to Central and Western Europe has been lost;

The emergence of several unviable countries and economically weak neighbors (Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.) on Russia’s new frontiers. As a result, Russia by the end of the 20th century. forced to remain a donor for them in difficult conditions;

The Russian nation became one of the “dissected peoples in the main zone of settlement, on the main West-East highway”;

In the south, Russia practically plays the role of Europe's defender against Islamic fundamentalism. This confrontation includes the Russian Federation in the military confrontation in Tajikistan, and perhaps by the end of the 20th century. and in other republics of Central Asia;

In the east of Russia there is a “vacuum” in terms of population (only 8 million people live in the Far East) despite the economic saturation of the region. In Siberia and the Far East, in Transbaikalia and Primorye, Russia is opposed by the third most powerful state in the world - the PRC. On both sides of the Amur, the regions differ in population density by two orders of magnitude. Experts estimate Chinese and Vietnamese emigration at figures ranging from 150-200 thousand people to 500 thousand, and sometimes up to 2 million (for example, this is what experts from the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences believe);

Russia received undeveloped borders;

Consequences of the collapse of the USSR - attempts to confederalize Russia.

The weakening of the country's scientific and technical potential is associated with a “brain drain” caused by the plight of science and education and the destruction of advanced technologies. The number of scientific workers in Russia has decreased by more than 1/3 and now amounts to about 350 thousand people versus 1.2 million.

The consequences of the geopolitical collapse of the USSR also include increasing regional contrasts: the difference in income of the country's population is approximately 1:14. We can expect an even larger income gap in the future. There are several reasons for this:

Strengthening the export of raw materials (oil, gas, ores, diamonds, precious metals, etc.) from resource areas of the country (this is stimulated by the West, China and Japan, and other Asia-Pacific countries);

The influence of a powerful lobby representing the fuel and energy complex, financial structures in Moscow;

More than 95% of Russia's finances are processed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg.

The collapse of the USSR resulted in a difficult demographic situation in the Russian Federation. During the years of reforms it became catastrophic. According to the State Statistics Committee, the population of Russia (despite the fairly active immigration of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians from the “near abroad” countries - the Baltic states, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and other regions) is declining.

The economic, demographic, scientific, and technical weakening of Russia means a decrease in its international role and a catastrophic decline in the country’s image.

Russia's external problems are closely intertwined with internal ones, which are creepingly developing into external ones (Chechnya, Abkhazia, Georgia, and in the future the destabilization of Dagestan, Ingushetia and the entire Caucasus region). In this regard, the problem of the country’s borders arises: with the Baltic states, China, Japan and other states. The following geopolitical aspects are also associated with the problem of borders: access to the seas, inclusion in world communications and spatial position in relation to the centers of current and future world activity.

The problem of access to the seas can be considered in military, foreign economic and resource terms. The real military significance of the Black and Baltic Seas is regional in nature for the country.

Conclusion: Russia’s geopolitical vulnerability is obvious, moreover, it is increasing, and this is especially dangerous in the context of the “third redistribution of the world,” NATO’s advance towards the borders of Russia, and NATO wars in Europe.

1.10 Russia’s position on world transit routes, the economic consequences of this for the country, narrowing the possibilities for implementing transport and geographical connections, possible options for new seaports and land routes

In the former Soviet Union there was an extensive, unified transport space, with common good or bad means, with a clear technical policy, with a reasonable tax system. Unfortunately, today in Russia there is none of this, since as a result of changes in the geopolitical situation in Russia, its transport has found itself in a particularly difficult situation. In addition to the reasons common to the country, this situation is largely due to a misunderstanding of the role of transport in the economic and social life of the country and its specifics as a special structure in the national economy. First of all, this relates to the shortcomings of the legal framework, tax and tariff policies, i.e. the entire range of issues that determine the economic and political basis of transport. The most important factor is the technical level of all types of transport systems, organization and infrastructure, and industry producing products. A high degree of physical and moral wear and tear of fixed assets, primarily transport equipment, is a defining characteristic for all types of transport. To this can be added a significant lag in the development of transport infrastructure, mainly seaports, roads and railways, terminal points, etc.

At the same time, decisive integration transport processes are taking place in Europe and the world, the most striking manifestation of which is the formation of international transport corridors. And Russia needs to participate in these processes. The concept of “international transport corridor” According to the definition of the UNECE ITC: “A transport corridor is a part of a national or international transport system that provides significant international freight and passenger transportation between individual geographical areas, includes rolling stock and stationary devices of all types of transport operating in this direction, as well as the totality of technological, organizational and legal conditions for the implementation of these transportations."

Trans-Siberian railway line (Trans-Siberian), the Great Siberian Way (historical name) - a railway across Eurasia connecting Moscow and the largest East Siberian and Far Eastern industrial cities of Russia. The length of the highway is 9288.2 km - this is the longest Railway in the world. The highest point of the path is Yablonovy Pass (1019 m above sea level). In 2002, its complete electrification was completed.

Historically, the Trans-Siberian Railway is only the eastern part of the highway, from Chelyabinsk (Southern Urals) to Vladivostok. Its length is about 7 thousand km. This particular site was built from 1891 to 1916.

Currently, the Trans-Siberian Railway reliably connects the European part, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East of Russia, and more broadly, Russian western and southern ports, as well as railway exits to Europe (St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Novorossiysk), on the one hand, with Pacific ports and railway connections to Asia (Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Vanino, Zabaikalsk).

1.11 Military strategic problems

An assessment of new conceptual documents (National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2020 and the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation 2010), defining the main directions of the state’s military policy for the short and medium term, and a comparison of the tasks outlined by these documents with the results of the first stage of the Armed Forces reform Forces in 2008–2009 allow us to draw a number of conclusions about the essence of Russia’s modern military policy and the nature of its influence on the level military security countries.

1. The main factors determining the nature of the state’s military policy in the last two to three years are the financial and economic capabilities of Russia and the state of the global security environment.

A new system of international relations that ensures equal security for all states will not be created in the coming years. In the current system of international security, Russia occupies a special position, therefore, when ensuring its own security, it is forced to take into account the need to fend off threats of any nature and scale. This forces Russia to spend huge amounts of money on ensuring national security.

2. The country’s military potential continues to be the main resource for ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation, and it is supported mainly by the combat potential of the Armed Forces.

That's why military policy Russia as a whole does not go beyond the scope of “national defense”. Indicators of technical, scientific, demographic and spiritual potentials of Russia, which in modern conditions must be used to ensure military security and the importance of which in military conflicts of the future will only increase.

The main component of a modern military conflict is informational and ideological, that is, the struggle for public opinion, for the will to resist after the end of the initial stage of armed struggle at a high technological level. To be stable in this component of confrontation, the “defense consciousness” of the country’s population alone is not enough. There is a need for real unity between the army and the people. The protection of public consciousness should become one of the goals of the state's military policy.

3. The theory and practice of Russian military policy today are not interconnected and complementary.

Military theory does not give practice real answers to the questions:

· what is the possible nature of future military conflicts and scenarios for Russia’s participation in them;

· which states are potential adversaries and which are allies;

· what is the essence of new methods and forms of using groups of the RF Armed Forces;

· what are the modern features of organizing the interaction of all elements of the state’s military organization to counter non-traditional threats to national security;

· which non-state actors in international relations may have the potential for armed violence, etc.

The practice of military development, including the latest reform of the RF Armed Forces, does not yet provide military science with practical examples that require scientific justification and implementation.

4. The results of the first stage of the reform of the Armed Forces did not contribute to increasing the level of military security of the state. It will take several more years before new joint groupings of troops (forces) in strategic directions reach the required level of combat readiness. In peacetime, entrusting the tasks of ensuring the military security of the state to nuclear deterrents is not always justified.

Some problems of military security (increasing the authority of the armed forces as a reliable institution of the state, increasing the authority of the state itself, defining a new status of the Armed Forces in Russian society) cannot be resolved within the framework of the military organization of the state, since today the military organization of the Russian Federation is not a system in its classical sense. It is rather a set of individual elements without effective functional connections.

Improving the military organization of the Russian Federation has not become an effective mechanism for the development of the political and economic system of the state, civil society, and therefore is not yet a factor in the sustainable development of Russia.

1.12. State structure and administrative-territorial division of the country

Article 10 of the Constitution establishes that government in the Russian Federation is carried out on the basis of division into legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative, executive and judicial authorities are independent. Thus, the recognition of the theory of separation of powers is constitutionally enshrined.

Article 11 of the Russian Constitution specifies the following as subjects of the exercise of state power:

President of Russian Federation,

Federal Assembly (Federation Council and State Duma),

Government of the Russian Federation,

Courts of the Russian Federation.

As of 2008, the administrative-territorial structure of Russia included:

21 republics;

• 46 regions;

  2 cities of federal significance (Moscow and St. Petersburg);

  1 autonomous region (Jewish);

  4 autonomous okrugs - subjects of the Federation;

  1866 districts;

  1095 cities;

  329 urban areas;

  1348 urban-type settlements;

  22944 rural administrations;

  154049 rural settlements.

In May 2000, seven federal districts were created in Russia. In January 2010, the North Caucasian Federal District was formed and now there are eight of them:

Central District - Moscow;

Northwestern District - St. Petersburg;

Volga region - Nizhny Novgorod;

Southern District - Rostov-on-Don;

North Caucasus - Pyatigorsk;

Ural District - Yekaterinburg;

Siberian District - Novosibirsk;

Far Eastern District - Khabarovsk.

Each of them is headed by a plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation. These districts do not affect the administrative-territorial division of the country, but serve the purpose of strengthening state power.

Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan

State autonomous educational institution

Higher professional education

"Almetyevsk State Institute of Municipal Service"

ABSTRACT

by discipline:Territorial organization of the population

On the topic: “The formation of the modern territory of Russia, the prevailing vectors of geopolitics at different stages of the country’s development.”

Performed: Akhmitshina E.N.

Checked: Zinnurova A.B

Almetyevsk 2012

Introduction

1. Formation of the modern territory of Russia

2. Formation of geopolitical science

3.Modern geopolitics: status, problems, prospects

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

The modern era of global changes puts on the agenda issues of the world order, key actors in the global political process and the essence of their interaction, requires a revision of the objective picture of the world, etc. This is what makes geopolitical issues extremely relevant today. This allows some researchers to talk about a “renaissance of geopolitics.” At the same time, geopolitics, considering the political process in specific spatial conditions. Today it is necessary to consider not only space in its geographical, but also social, economic, etc. planes. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how modern geopolitics views these planes. An important step towards such an understanding will be to consider the process of formation of geopolitics as a science. An idea of ​​what goal this school of thought set for itself, how the subject of geopolitics evolved, and what methods science used in the process of cognition reveals the essence of what can help in penetrating the essence of modern geopolitics.

At the same time, geopolitics is a fundamentally integrative and interdisciplinary science. Geopolitics is not only based on political science, geography, history, sociology, but also includes, in addition to scientific, a powerful philosophical basis. It is possible to clearly trace the process of mutual integration of various sciences and philosophies into a common geopolitical doctrine only if we consider the history of the formation of geopolitics.

In this work, we will consider the main stages in the process of formation of geopolitics as a science, describe the essence and specificity of each stage, and also highlight the main scientists and thinkers who contributed to the formation of geopolitics in each of the historical periods.

1. Formation of the modern territory of Russia

The history of modern Russia begins in the 14th century, when the small Principality of Moscow began to strengthen on the northeastern periphery of the ancient Russian community. By the end of the reign of Ivan III (1462 - 1505), the process of unifying the northern and eastern Russian lands was almost completed (only the Pskov land was annexed in 1510 and the Ryazan land in 1521, already under his successor), but the basins of the Dnieper and Western Dvina and, partially, the upper Oka remained in the hands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Vast expanses of the North from Finland to the Ob were transferred to the Principality of Moscow. Muscovy went beyond the boundaries of its national area - the state included many Finno-Ugric peoples inhabiting the taiga and the northern Volga region. At the same time, the process of reconquering western Russian lands from Lithuania began - in 1494 Vyazma and most of the upper reaches of the Oka with Belev, in 1503 - the entire Desna basin and the upper reaches of the Western Dvina. Muscovy became the largest European state. If in the 1460s. the area of ​​the state was 430 thousand km 2, then by the 1530s. it was already equal to 2800 thousand km 2. During the same period, the population grew from 5 to 8 million people.

In the 16th century The territory's growth continued. In 1514 Smolensk was recaptured, in the 50s. as a result of the eastern campaigns of Ivan IV, the Russian kingdom included the entire Volga region, the Don basin and the Eastern Ciscaucasia to the Terek. In the 80s The conquest of Siberia begins, by 1604 Tyumen, Tobolsk, Mangazeya, and Tomsk were founded. Acquisitions in the northern Baltic states during the Livonian War were lost by the end of the reign of Ivan IV. By the end of the 16th century. The country's territory reaches 5.5 million km2.

XVII century began unsuccessfully for Russia - first, a three-year famine, then the “time of troubles,” that is, civil wars and the Polish intervention of 1604 - 1611, led to the temporary loss (shading on the map) of a number of western and northwestern territories (Smolensk and Chernigov lands were ceded to Poland, the Baltic and Ladoga regions - to Sweden), the process of development of Siberia was temporarily slowed down. However, the main strategic problem of the time - the restoration of borders with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - was solved by the end of the 30s. Already by the 50s, a turning point had been reached here - left-bank Ukraine went to Russia, and in the 60s. - and the Zaporozhye region. The expansion of the territory of the state that took place during this period in Siberia is perhaps the most powerful in world history. In 1612 - 1615 Russians begin to penetrate the Yenisei basin, and already in the winter of 1639-1640. at the mouth of the Ulya River on the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Okhotsk region), I.Yu. Moskvitin builds the first Russian Pacific fleet. Attempts to gain a foothold in the land of the Chukchi are unsuccessful - all three wars with the Chukchi were lost by Russia - and Chukotka remains outside the borders of the state. By the end of the century, in addition to the land of the Chukchi, Altai, the Amur basin, Sakhalin and Kamchatka remained outside the borders of Russia in Siberia.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries. The growth of the Empire's territory continues. At the beginning of the 18th century. as a result of the Northern War, Russia takes possession of the Baltic states from Vyborg to Riga. Temporarily (in 1723 - 1732) it included all the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea. During the same period, the Russians developed the main part of Altai and the lands along the Yaik (Ural) to the Caspian Sea. In the 20s The land of the Chukchi voluntarily annexed to Russia, in the 30s Kamchatka was developed, then the Kuril Islands. In the second half of the 18th century. Russia, in the course of a series of Russian-Turkish wars, acquires Crimea, the Black Sea region and the Azov region from the mouth of the Dniester to the Taman Peninsula. As a result of the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Courland, Lithuania, Belarus and North-Western Ukraine. By the end of the century, the Empire included Alaska. Southern Altai, parts of the Small and Middle Kazakh hordes.

In the 19th century basically the growth of the territory of the Empire continued, but it was at this time, for the first time since early XVII c., Russia lost part of its territory. At the beginning of the century, Finland, part of Poland (Kingdom of Poland), Western Georgia, Northern Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Bessarabia. A decades-long war began to annex the mountainous Caucasus. In the second quarter of the century, the annexation of all Georgian lands and eastern Armenia ended, and a number of territories of Azerbaijan became part of the empire. The Kazakh Senior Zhuz became part of Russia.

In the second half of the 19th century. Russia reached the maximum size in its history - the Caucasus was finally conquered, in 1864 - 1885. Central Asia conquered. In the 60s Russia temporarily controlled part of Xinjiang. At the same time, a protectorate was established over the Uriankhai region, that is, Tuva. In the 50-60s, Russia gained a foothold in the Amur basin and Primorye, and then on Sakhalin, but the Kuril Islands were ceded to Japan as compensation. Then, in 1867, for the first time the country ceded part of its territory - Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were sold to the United States.

XX century for Russia it became a century of territory reduction. Already the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1904 led to the loss of southern Sakhalin. The First World War and revolution ended for the country with the loss of the Baltic states, Finland, Poland, Bessarabia and a significant part of Ukraine and Belarus. From the now Russian territories, some parts of the Pskov region went to Estonia, parts of Karelia and, especially, the Leningrad region (Vyborg, Priozersk, etc.) went to Finland.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the series of military campaigns it caused in 1939-1940 returned the Baltic states, the western lands of Ukraine and Belarus, the Karelian Isthmus and the Bialystok region of Poland to the country (at that time already the USSR). As a result of the Second World War, Russia received the Kuril Islands, South Sakhalin, East Prussia (Kaliningrad region). The Memmel region was given to Lithuania, Transcarpathia to Ukraine, and the Bialystok region was returned to Poland. During the Second World War, Tuva became part of Russia. After the war, Russia's borders changed mainly in the 50s, when parts of its territory were transferred by the Soviet government to other republics of the Union (Crimea went to Ukraine, a number of lands in southern Siberia went to Kazakhstan). The Bialowieza Agreement (1991) led to the formation of the modern territory of Russia within the borders of the RSFSR at the time of signing.

It should be noted that the interpretation of the events of the twentieth century. considered by many publicists as the “collapse of the empire” does not stand up to criticism. The shedding of peripheral territories is extremely characteristic of true Empires after the phase of breakdown of the main ethnic group - just remember Augustus’s withdrawal of legions across the Rhine; similar processes occurred repeatedly in the history of China. Russia, of course, even after the loss of the western and southern lands continues to remain an empire. It is characteristic that China or Byzantium, even when confining themselves to a national area, remained empires, which is all the more typical for Russia, which clearly has no intention of confining itself to a national area.

2. The formation of geopolitical science

The period from the appearance of the first ideas and concepts, which to one degree or another can be classified as geopolitical, to the establishment of geopolitics as a separate and fairly independent discipline, is extremely long - from Antiquity to mid-19th century. It is important to note that in this period geopolitics does not represent a holistic and unified field of knowledge. Various philosophers, thinkers and scientists have individual ideas related to the geopolitical plane. That is why geopolitics in this period does not have a methodology, a categorical apparatus, an object and a subject. This allows some researchers to call this period “prehistory of geopolitics.” All geopolitical ideas in this period are, to one degree or another, connected with the idea that the life of states and peoples in all its diversity is largely determined by the geographical environment and climate. In other words, the ideas that arose during the prehistory of geopolitics are permeated with geographical determinism.

For the first time, geopolitical ideas appear in the works of thinkers of the era of Antiquity. Philosophers consider the geographical component of social processes. For example, Parmenides (back in the 6th century BC) spoke of five temperature zones, or zones, of the Earth, state and social order(or their combination, since in this era thinkers did not see any special differences between the state and society; between the social and political spheres of life) have their own characteristics. Parmenides' views were clarified by Aristotle, who drew attention to the superiority of the middle zone inhabited by the Greeks. It is important to clarify that the geopolitical ideas of ancient Greek thinkers were mainly practice-oriented in nature and were based on empirical facts known to specific philosophers. In particular, the same Aristotle in his essay “Politics” writes about the geopolitical (they can be called so from the standpoint of modern science) advantages of the island of Crete, which allowed it to occupy a dominant position in the region. Aristotle, who studied this island state, notes an advantageous location that allows, on the one hand, to control transport and trade flows in the Aegean Sea (which puts the Greek colonies in a dependent position), and on the other, separating the sea from powerful enemies.

The importance of geographical conditions for the internal and external life of states was also noted by Polybius, then by the Romans Cicero and especially Strabo.

Plato and Hippocrates left very interesting comments regarding the influence of the geographical environment on political activity people, customs and morals of different nations. They wrote that the climate of the southern countries weakens the characters of people and they easily fall into slavery, while the climate of the north, on the contrary, hardens them, and this leads to the spread of democracy. It must be said that these ideas (naturally in a modified form) have not lost their relevance today. It is the location, size, climate and relationships with neighbors that some researchers explain the successful spread of the democratic political regime in Scandinavian countries, in North America and Western Europe and the difficulties in the process of democratization experienced by the countries of East and Southeast Asia, South America, etc.

In the Middle Ages, ancient ideas were preserved and developed by Arab scientists, among whom the most famous were the works of Ibn Khaldun (who lived in 1332-1406). He proposed the idea of ​​historical cycles, the essence of which was the migration of nomadic peoples and their seizure of countries with a settled population. The historical cycle ends when the nomads who created an empire in the occupied territories lose their physical and moral advantages and finally “settle” in one place.

In the Age of Enlightenment and Modern Times, the geographical paradigm in the field of studying social and political processes became even more entrenched in humanitarian thought, thanks to J.J. Rousseau, J. La Mettrie, C. Montesquieu, D. Diderot and others. Geographical determinism in relation to socio-political reality reaches its apogee in the famous saying of Montesquieu: “The power of climate is the primary power on earth.” However, soon, at the turn of the 18th – 19th centuries. Among geopolitical ideas, fundamentally new ones appear - based on criticism of geographical determinism. For example, G. Hegel, in his work “The Geographical Basis of World History,” insisted on the importance of not only geographical and climatic factors in social reality, but also called for considering the sociocultural (value, identification, mental, moral, etc.) characteristics inherent in different peoples, regardless of the geographical place of their residence.

It is impossible not to note the contribution of Russian thinkers to the prehistory of geopolitics. In the 19th century in Russia, the geographical direction in social thought is represented by the works of B.N. Chicherin (considered that the key factors were not geographical and climatic, but cultural factors. He wrote that the vastness of Russian territory and the constant threat of external attacks determined special meaning strong-willed, spiritual qualities of the people in the course of state construction), A.P. Shchapova (geographer, historian and publicist who examined the interdependence of the historical past and the geographical location of the Russian Empire), S.M. Solovyov (noted the geographical predetermination of the emergence of Russian statehood and the most intensive economic development of lands in the center of the Central Russian Upland). IN. Klyuchevsky was noted for many important geopolitical ideas. He wrote: “...the human personality, human society and the nature of the country - these are the three main historical forces who are building a human hostel. Each of these forces contributes to the structure of the community its own supply of elements and connections in which its activity is manifested and by which human alliances are established and maintained.” In other words, the thinker insists on using a combination of cultural and psychological, social and geographical factors when analyzing social reality.

Short description

The modern era of global changes puts on the agenda issues of the world order, key actors in the global political process and the essence of their interaction, requires a revision of the objective picture of the world, etc. This is what makes geopolitical issues extremely relevant today. This allows some researchers to talk about a “renaissance of geopolitics.” At the same time, geopolitics, considering political process in specific spatial conditions. Today it is necessary to consider not only space in its geographical, but also social, economic, etc. planes.