https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7805-1607
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Abstract
The article explores Russia's ‘turn to the East’ and examines different and often conflicting visions of development that emerged in the process of reconstructing the Russian Far Eastern development strategy at regional and federal levels. It draws on a ‘thick’ case study of the special investment regime, Free Port Vladivostok, which exemplifies simultaneously a new approach to regional development and the contradictions spawned by it. Analysis of Free Port Vladivostok represents an entry point into a discussion of Russian neoliberalisation and ‘actually (non-)existent neoliberalism’.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Fund of Innovations in Education of the National Research University Higher School of Economics under the ‘Rediscovering Russia’ project.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 N212-FZ, ‘Federal’nyi zakon “O Svobodnom porte Vladivostok”’, Konsul'tantPlyus, 13 July 2015, available at http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_182596/, accessed 1 September 2020.
2 In 2019, the Ministry acquired responsibility for the development of the Russian Arctic and was renamed the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic.
3 Here and elsewhere in the article we provide approximate equivalents in US dollars at the exchange rate of the Bank of Russia for 1 January 2020 (R63.3490 = US$1).
4 ‘Medvedev: Vladivostok dolzhen voiti v chislo vedushchikh tsentrov ATR’, RIA Novosti, 4 June 2015, available at: https://ria.ru/20150604/1068168944.html, accessed 1 September 2020.
5 In the nineteenth century, the introduction of duty-free trade on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan significantly enhanced the development of the Russian Far East. The customs border at that time passed through the Irkutsk region. In 1828, a free-trade regime started to operate in Kamchatka. In the mid-1850s, it spread to the ports of the Amur region. In 1860, it covered the entire territory of today's Primorskii Krai, including Vladivostok, which was created in the same year as a military fort post. In 1902, the Tsarist statesman Sergei Witte described the Russian Far East as ‘the kingdom of free trade’. For more details about free trade in the Russian Far East in the nineteenth century see Belyaeva (Citation2003) and Turbin (Citation2019).
6 Interview with Yuri Ryabko, a Vladivostok-based private entrepreneur and the vice-president of Primorskii Krai's regional branch of the public organisation ‘Opora Russia’ (Opora Rossii), Vladivostok, 28 October 2019.
7 In the 1950s, the Soviet government made Vladivostok the home of the Pacific Fleet. In 1958, the city was closed to foreigners and even Soviet citizens required authorisation to visit it until 1988. Vladivostok was opened only in 1992.
8 See, for example, Avchenko (Citation2014); ‘Dmitry Alekseev—o svobodnom porte Vladivostok: eto shag vpered, no many ne zhdite’, PrimaMedia.ru, 14 July 2015, available at: https://primamedia.ru/news/449510/?from=7, accessed 1 September 2020.
9 Interview with an anonymous local entrepreneur and a member of the Public Council of the Free Port, Vladivostok, 28 October 2019.
10 The records for meetings are available at the official website of Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation. Nablyudatel’nyi sovet SPV, 2022, available at: https://erdc.ru/about-spv/spv-supervisory-board/#, accessed 7 April 2022.
11 Interview with Denis Garin, the executive director of the Association of Residents of the Free Port Vladivostok, Vladivostok, 24 August 2020.
12 Interview with Boris Chernov, the CEO of Primorye Industrial Park, Vladivostok, 1 November 2019.
13 Interview with an anonymous local entrepreneur and resident of the Free Port, Artem, 29 October 2019.
14 Interview with an anonymous local entrepreneur and resident of the Free Port, Vladivostok, 1 November 2019.
15 Interview with representatives of the Commercial Port of Vladivostok, Vladivostok, 29 October 2019.
16 Interview with Denis Garin, executive director of the Association of Residents of the Free Port Vladivostok, Vladivostok, 24 August 2020.
17 Interview with an anonymous local entrepreneur and resident of the Free Port, Vladivostok, 30 October 2019.
18 Interview with Alexander Golutvin, CEO of DNS Development, Vladivostok, 1 November 2019.
19 Interview with Sergey Khodov, CEO of DYUK Avesta, Vladivostok, 1 November 2019.
20 Interview with Dmitry Alekseev, the CEO of DNS Retail, Vladivostok, 6 November 2019.
21 ‘Dmitry Alekseev—o svobodnom porte Vladivostok: eto shag vpered, no many ne zhdite’, PrimaMedia.ru, 14 July 2015, available at: https://primamedia.ru/news/449510/?from=7, accessed 1 September 2020.
22 Interview with Boris Chernov, the CEO of Primorye Industrial Park, Vladivostok, 1 November 2019.
23 Interview with Anastasia Turova, a certified customs law expert, Vladivostok, 12 February 2020.
24 Interview with Yuri Ryabko, a Vladivostok-based private entrepreneur and the Vice-president of Primorskii Krai's regional branch of the public organisation ‘Opora Russia’ (Opora Rossii), Vladivostok, 28 October 2019.
25 Participant observation at a meeting at the headquarters of the Federal Customs Service, Moscow, 30 January 2020.
26 Participant observation at a meeting at the headquarters of the Federal Customs Service, Moscow, 30 January 2020.
27 Participant observation at a meeting at the headquarters of the Federal Customs Service, Moscow, 30 January 2020.
28 For example, interview with Alexey Timchenko, the Chairman of Primorskii Krai's regional branch of the Russian public organisation ‘Business Russia’ (Delovaya Rossiya) and an expert of the Public Council under the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, Vladivostok, 2 November 2019.
29 See for example, ‘Rezidenty svobodnogo porta Vladivostok “zakhvatyvayut” zemel’nye uchastky’, Konkurent.ru, 26 November 2018, available at https://konkurent.ru/article/20679, accessed 1 September 2020; ‘My iskhodili iz togo, chto zemli mnogo, a ee okazalos’ men'she, chem v Moskve’, ZRpress.ru, 4 December 2018, available at: https://www.zrpress.ru/business/primorje_04.12.2018_92233, accessed 1 September 2020.
30 Interview with Denis Garin, Executive Director of the Association of Residents of the Free Port Vladivostok, Vladivostok, 24 August 2020.
31 Participant observations at a town hall meeting in Nakhodka, 12 March 2020.
32 Interview with an anonymous representative of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic, Moscow, 17 April 2020.
33 Interview with an anonymous local entrepreneur and a member of the Public Council of the Free Port, Vladivostok, 18 August 2020.
34 Interview with Dmitry Alekseev, CEO of DNS Retail, Vladivostok, 6 November 2019.
35 Interview with a Vladivostok-based business adviser, Vladivostok, 11 March 2020.
36 Interview with an anonymous representative of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic, Moscow, 17 April 2020.
37 Interview with an anonymous representative of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic, Moscow, 18 April 2020.
38 Personal conversation, Ivan Zuenko, a research fellow at the Department for Chinese Studies of Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Far Eastern Branch), Vladivostok, 30 October 2019.
39 JGC Hokuto Healthcare Service: General Information about the Company, 2022, available at: https://www.jhokuto.ru/o-kompanii/, accessed 8 April 2022.
40 Interview with Yan Wenbin, the first Consul-General of the People's Republic of China in Vladivostok, Vladivostok, 29 October 2019.
41 In 2016 Dobroflot was accused of smuggling fish and evading customs duties. The conflict was widely covered in the media, including searches in the company's headquarters in Vladivostok (see for example, ‘V kholdinge “Dobroflot” v Primor’ye proshli obyski’, Kommersant’’, 27 April 2016, available at: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2974450, accessed 7 April 2022).
42 Interview with representatives of the Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Corporation (KOTRA) office in Vladivostok, Vladivostok, 29 October 2019.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Anna Kuteleva
Anna Kuteleva, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Higher School of Economics, 17 St. Malaya Ordynka, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]
Klavdiya Chernilevskaya
Klavdiya Chernilevskaya, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Higher School of Economics, 17 St. Malaya Ordynka, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]
Polina Salnikova
Polina Salnikova, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Higher School of Economics, 17 St. Malaya Ordynka, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]
Egor Shevchuk
Egor Shevchuk, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, Higher School of Economics, 17 St. Malaya Ordynka, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]