Significant progress: Putin linked Russia's future to the development of the Far East

The boom in housing construction, large—scale infrastructure renovation and the influx of young people - the Far East is no longer catching up, but is ahead of the national average. Vladimir Putin drew attention to this on September 2 during a meeting on the development of this macro-region. The first day of his visit to the Far East turned out to be eventful — it included communication with the sailors of a modern fishing trawler, negotiations with the prime ministers of China and Mongolia, the start of production at new giant plants and immersion in local culture. The final chord of the day will set the vector of the region's development for years to come: at a meeting with government members, it was announced that the practice of creating point—based special economic zones would be shifted to granting the entire Far East and the Arctic the status of a priority development territory with unprecedented measures to support business and investment - this will happen on January 1, 2027.

"Captain Yunak" and "Pyotr Stolypin"

A large freezing trawler "Captain Yunak" moored to the Vladivostok Sea Station for the duration of the WEF. It was launched this year, and named after Vladimir Yunak, who worked as a captain on fishing vessels for 23 years. On September 2, Vladimir also appeared on the captain's bridge, only now the president of Russia. The day before, as soon as he completed a late-night press conference in Bishkek, he immediately flew to the capital of Primorye.

The Eastern Economic Forum is already in full swing there, but Vladimir Putin did not begin the program of the visit with loud statements, protocol meetings and negotiations. After examining the "stuffing" of the super trawler — from the dining room and medical room to the living quarters — the president tested the speakerphone with the crew.

— Hello, fellow sailors, can you hear me? — it was heard on the ship.

The officers hurried to clarify that the ship's broadcast works in one direction, so there will be no response from the cabins. Then Putin went on deck, where the sailors shared with him their impressions of the conditions on the Captain: There is a sauna, a solarium, and a high—quality buffet - after all, the flagship of the Russian fishing fleet. But the most important thing is, of course, the technical specifications. The vessel surpasses standard fishing trawlers by 2.5 times.: It is designed for the annual catch and processing of up to 60 thousand tons of fish.

Wishing the crew rich catches, the head of state signed the ship's log, blew a loud horn and headed to the next point of his route — the Zvezda shipbuilding complex in Bolshoy Kamen. Here, the president boarded the newly built Pyotr Stolypin gas tanker. On his bridge, Putin recalled how the history of this shipyard began.:

— I remember how it started. I came to a neighboring enterprise, everything was in such a difficult situation there. I say, "We will make a different production here, a modern one." But it didn't work out right away. I didn't expect it to be so great, both in terms of technology and organization.

Captain Alexander Gavris said that the size of the vessel is 300 meters, or "three football fields." "There is a place to play," the president joked.

There is a real production feat behind the appearance of "Peter Stolypin". Previously, Russia had not built Arctic gas carriers at all, Alexander Spiridonov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade, explained to Izvestia. The first technologies on Zvezda were worked out together with foreign partners, but after the imposition of sanctions, Western companies abandoned the project. The shipbuilders had to complete the construction of the most complex vessels alone.

Nevertheless, the project survived, and now the Pyotr Stolypin is able to independently break the two-meter ice of the Northern Sea Route without wiring nuclear icebreakers. This provides huge savings on logistics and opens a direct path to the development of Arctic deposits.

From diplomacy to economics

Vladimir Putin's work program at the WEF has become a direct continuation of the Bishkek SCO summit: the president is converting new political agreements with Asian leaders into concrete mechanisms of work. Back in Bishkek, Putin held intense talks with Mongolian President Uhnaagiin Khurelsukh and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and today in Vladivostok he met with Mongolian Prime Minister Nyam-Osoryn Uchral and Deputy Chairman of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Ding Xuexiang. Both interlocutors stressed that immediately after the meeting in Bishkek, the heads of state gave instructions to move from diplomatic theory to practice.

Recalling the 105th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Mongolia, "sealed with blood on Khalkhin Gol," Putin turned the conversation to logistics and trade. The agreement between the EAEU and Mongolia that entered into force in July (which Uchral, by the way, personally signed when he was deputy Prime Minister) is already producing results: trade turnover with the Russian Federation jumped by 18.1% in the first half of the year, exceeding $1.5 billion. Vladimir Putin also discussed with the representative of the People's Republic of China a record $240 billion trade turnover and the deep localization of Chinese automakers in Russian factories. The parties went directly to the WEF to discuss the joint development and operation of the Northern Sea Route.

How is the Far East developing today

Vladimir Putin was presented with an interactive presentation of the results of the development of the Far Eastern Federal District in recent years. The results were impressive: from the growth of gas processing from 24 to 40 billion cubic meters to the housing market, where for the first time in history a square meter became 22% cheaper than the average Russian one. In addition, the number of applicants enrolled in the institutes of the Far Eastern Federal District has increased fivefold.

"Indeed, the development of the Far East is largely the future of our entire country,— Vladimir Putin stressed.

Via video link, the president launched production at several new industrial facilities in the macroregion. Among them, in particular, is Russia's first full-cycle complex for the production of cathode copper at Udokan. The Pharmasynthesis pharmaceutical plant has been launched in Ussuriysk, 90% of whose products will be included in the list of vital medicines, and in Buryatia, the sinking of the Second Severomuisk Tunnel on BAM with a length of 15 km has begun — an investment project worth 340.7 billion rubles. The work of the Artem shopping center, the infrastructure of the Russian Shopping Center and the new Warrior patriotic education centers were also launched.

A respite in the president's busy schedule was the presentation of the Khabarovsk animation studio "Dreamlet". The creators presented the cartoon "Captain Nevelskoy", an adventure fantasy about the First Amur Expedition, where the legendary admiral and the girl Nadia explore the Far Eastern lands and protect the Amur Region and Sakhalin from poachers. They gave the president a copy of the painting for family viewing and immediately announced a new fantasy project about the construction of BAM.

At a traditional meeting on the development of the Far East, Vladimir Putin drew attention to the main thing — the macroregion is no longer catching up, but is ahead of the average Russian pace of development. And now the authorities must not only maintain this result, but build on the success. To do this, starting from January 1, 2027, preferential treatment with reduced taxes and simplified rules for investors will be extended to the entire territory of the Far East and the Arctic instead of separate economic zones.

The details of the bill, which will be submitted to the State Duma this fall, were revealed by the head of the Ministry of Regional Development Alexei Chekunkov. Over the past 10 years, residents of priority development territories and special economic zones have brought 723 billion rubles in taxes to the budget with benefits of 373 billion, a net gain of 350 billion rubles. To remove the bureaucratic burden with the growth of applications, a single TOP will combine the existing mechanisms on the principle of "one window and two keys" — regional and federal.

Investors will be offered a flexible range: projects starting from 100 million rubles will receive basic benefits, and giants starting from 1 billion rubles will be able to choose between the usual preferences and a powerful federal investment fund. The insurance premium benefit will be fixed at 15%, but with an important social condition — it will be extended only to permanent residents of the region with salaries above the average for the region. In addition, the governors will have the right to directly introduce experimental legal regimes for testing unmanned dump trucks, aircraft systems, AI and telemedicine, turning the entire Far East into the country's main technological testing ground.