Russian Far East
The easternmost part of Russia and Asia, coextensive with the Far Eastern Federal District.
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The Russian Far East is a resource-rich region occupying one-third of Russia's landmass but is sparsely populated.[1] It has been historically categorized separately from Siberia in Russian regional and cultural schemes.[2]
Geography and history
In 2000, Russia's federal subjects were grouped into larger federal districts, one of which was the Far Eastern Federal District.[3] Since the 16th-century reign of Ivan the Terrible, Russian rulers have sought to settle the Far East.[1] The eastward spread of the gulag labor-camp system under Josef Stalin accelerated this expansion.[1] The Far East Hectare program made 220 million hectares of land available, but only around 80,000 Russians have taken advantage.[1]
After 2000, the term "Far East" has been applied by Russians more frequently to designate the federal district, although it is also used in a broader sense.[3] A land-grant initiative called the Russian Homestead Act was proposed by President Vladimir Putin in 2016 to encourage settlement in the Russian Far East.[4]
What the cited sources add
A 2020 RFE/RL article by Matthew Luxmoore profiles Mikhail Utrobin, a native who acquired land free under the Far East Hectare program.[1] Utrobin was a traveling executive before becoming a celebrated entrepreneur with a dairy business on his acquired land.[1] Chinese workers lease land from Russian landowners, turning fallow tracts into soybean fields.[1] The Far Eastern Federal District is two-thirds the size of China but has a population of just 6 million.[1]
According to the RFE/RL article, an estimated 300,000 Chinese citizens have taken up residence in Russia's Far East, while few Russians migrate eastward.[1] In the region, 73% of automobiles have right-hand drive, a unique situation for Russia, yet traffic still flows on the right side of the road.[5]
References
- "On Russia's Far Eastern Frontier, Vast Stretches Of Free Land, But Little Interest", RFE/RL, 20 September 2020. facts only, no text reused. rferl.org
- Wikipedia, "Russian Far East" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mieczowski, "The Soviet Far East: Problem Region of the USSR", Pacific Affairs, 1968, p. 214–229 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Russian Far East" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: publication.pravo.gov.ru (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Russian Far East" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "On Russia's Far Eastern Frontier, Vast Stretches Of Free Land, But Little Interest", RFE/RL, 20 September 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Russian Far East" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "В России посчитали всех "праворуких"", auto.vesti.ru (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Russian Far East (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Russian Regions
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Russian Far East (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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