The article considers European initiatives and development programs for mountainous areas, and also changes in the approaches to the development of rural areas in the international debates. The author examines the structure and tasks of the EU rural development strategies and programs, the macro-regional and state mountain policies. The author suggests a typology of the national mountain policies’ development in European countries, and provides references on the contemporary development programs for mountainous areas focusing on the main factors of rural transformation. The article also presents a list of projects in mountainous rural areas of the EU by country.

Rural areas, mountainous areas, development programs, strategies, European experience, Europe, mountain policy, rural policy, transformation, sustainable development, rural revitalization.

Ershov Alexey M., Master’s Student, Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Leninskie Gory, 1.
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Based on the results of field studies, the authors consider the post-Soviet transformations of the territorial organization of suburban rural areas in the depressed Far Eastern region (Birofeld and Valdheim rural administrations of the Birobidzhan district in the Jewish Autonomous Region). Transformations of rural areas are considered as determined by multidirectional factors divided into “external” (general) and “internal” (local). The article describes an impact on the countryside of such “external” factors as urbanization, changes in the specialization of agriculture and in the administrative-territorial and municipal structure, optimization of social services, changes in rural infrastructure and external institutional conditions for development. When considering the “internal” (local) factors of transformations, the authors identify differences in the social structure of migrants from Birobidzhan to the suburban countryside. The changes in the structure of the rural population by spheres of employment and prevailing sources of income are presented as a result of the combination of factors. Some changes in the lifestyle of the rural population are described. Based on the assessment of the impact of different factors on the depopulation, the authors suggest some management measures. The authors conclude that the Birobidzhan district is a rare Russian example of the agricultural suburban territory in relation to the regional center, of the countryside with a reducing number of functions.

Rural areas, depopulation, suburban areas, transformation factors, ruralurban migration, rural employment, rural society, rural settlement, Jewish Autonomous Region, Birobidzhan, subsidiary plots, marginalization.

 Chuchkalov Alexander S., Master’s Student, Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia, Lomonosov Moscow State University. 119991, Moscow, Leninskie Gory, 1.
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Mishchuk Svetlana N., PhD (Economics), Senior Researcher, Institute for Demographic Research, Federal Centre for Theoretical and Applied Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333, Moscow, Fotieva St., 6, bldg. 1; Senior Researcher, Institute for Complex Analysis of Regional Problems, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 679016, Birobidzhan, Sholem Aleichem St., 4.
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Grelya Nataliya K., Master’s Student, Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia, Lomonosov Moscow State University. 119991, Moscow, Leninskie Gory, 1.
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Many countries face a shortage of labor resources and try to provide agricultural employment by attracting labor migrants from abroad. A ‘review’ of the role of labor migration in the development of agriculture requires a thorough analysis of migration statistics, since illegal migration is widespread, and there are no statistical records on seasonal workers. Therefore, migrants seem to make up an insignificant part of those employed in agriculture. However, the current global situation —the coronavirus pandemic—revealed a shortage of workplaces for labor migrants. In the pre-pandemic period, millions of foreign workers entered the Russian Federation every year. Under the pandemic, to attract migrants to agriculture and food production system of other countries became difficult, which highlighted their important role in the economic development. Therefore, the impact of the pandemic on the foreign labor market entered the agenda of international politics and measures to combat the covid-19 that limited migration, thus, determining a shortage of workers in agriculture and the underestimation of their contribution to national economies of other countries.

Migration processes, migration policy, pandemic, covid-19, agriculture, national economy, labor migrants, foreign labor force, labor migration.

Kisliy Oleg A., PhD (Pedagogy), Assistant Professor, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82 Moscow, 119571.
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Isaeva Maria A., Officer, Division for Control in the Field of Migration, Main Directorate, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Moscow 115035, Sadovnicheskaya St., 63, bldg. 7.
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On the example of Chuvashia (Batyrevsky district), the author considers the stages and factors of the transformation of rural settlements in general and of particular rural settlements in the pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The author identifies a relationship of various transformation factors at different stages of the rural settlement development. In the pre-revolutionary period, this development was determined by the ecology of the territory and demographic resources, in the Soviet period—by the administrative-territorial transformations and “external shocks” (wars, famine, etc.), in the post-Soviet period—by the scale of the population outflow to large cities, institutional conditions and ethnic structure. The survey in rural areas of Chuvashia revealed the differentiation of villages on the basis of their ethnic structure and other features. Based on the analysis of the statistical data and field observations, the author presents a typology of rural settlements in the multiethnic region, taking into account a set of characteristics of the village as determined by the prevailing ethnos (the time of the settlement’s foundation, its administrative status, population dynamics in different periods, economic well-being, the development of social infrastructure, the scale of migration outflow, etc.). Examples of the selected types of settlements: Chuvash central villages, Chuvash villages—‘local centers’, Chuvash ‘ordinary villages’, Tatar central villages, Russian villages with former industrial specialization, etc. In the post-Soviet period, transformations of different types of rural settlements were influenced by factors of internal and external nature in different proportions. Thus, the social-economic situation in the Chuvash settlements is determined by a relatively high birth rate and employment opportunities in agriculture due to the preservation of the share distribution of land. In Tatar villages, the social-economic situation depends rather on the manifestation of ethnic-psychological features of the population —the most regulated, closed and cohesive societies are economically more successful and sustainable concerning external factors.

Geography of rural areas, factors of rural transformation, ethnic structure of the population.

Imangulov Linar R., Master’s Student, Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia, Lomonosov Moscow State University. 119991, Moscow, Leninskie Gory, 1.
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Many works consider the state of agriculture and the settlement system, especially the post-Soviet transformation of the countryside. The main patterns of its contemporary development are well-known—they are the center-peripheral and transport-geographical differences in the stability of rural settlements and the efficiency of agriculture. The article aims at identifying the relationship of two indicators —population density and agricultural area—on the example of the Bezhetsk district in the Tver Region. The authors describe the settlement system of the district, analyze its spatial changes during the last 160 years, compare the indicators of population density and the area of cultivated land. Based on the research results, the authors make conclusions about the evolution of the settlement system and the transformation of the territorial agricultural development, about the relationship between the population density and the area of agricultural land used, and about the factors of sustainability of rural settlements’ features on the Bezhetsk district.

Settlement system, agricultural land, population density, factors of settlements sustainability, Bezhetsk district of the Tver Region.

Lebedev Pavel S., PhD Student, Faculty of Geography and Geoecology, Tver State University, Proshina St., 3, bldg 2, 170021 Tver.
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Alekseev Alexander I., DSc (Geography), Professor, Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia, Moscow State University. Leninskie Gory, 1, 119991 Moscow.
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On the example of the Samara Region, the author considers the impact of the optimization of the rural educational network on disparities in the quality of education in rural areas. The article presents the results of the comparative analysis of teachers’ work in urban and rural schools and in teaching different subjects (including not corresponding to the teacher’s specialty). The author analyzes the possible ways to assess the impact of optimization of the rural educational network structure on the quality of children’s education based on the results of the main state exam and the single state exam by type of optimization: reorganization of small schools (independent legal entities) into branches of another school, changes in the level of educational program (when high school turns into secondary one, and secondary school turns into primary one), transportation of children to a larger school, etc.

Optimization of the rural educational network, quality of education, educational center, Samara Region.

Eremin Sergey V., Deputy Head of the Institute of Secondary Vocational Education named after K.D. Ushinsky, Moscow City University, 115230 Moscow, Varshavskoe Sh., 44A.
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The Kuzreka village was founded in the 1580s on the shores of the White Sea as a ‘fishing place’ of the Solovetsky Monastery (salmon and herring), and had performed this function for over 350 years. In the 1930s, the economic growth of the village began: a timber industry enterprise and a fishing collective farm were established, school and other social facilities were built. In the late 1960s, both enterprises were closed, the village was named ‘unpromising’, and in the late 1970s, it lost the status of settlement, i.e., legally ‘does not exist’. However (due to the inertia), since the 2000s, the village has turned into a seasonally inhabited settlement (up to 1000 people gathered for the Pomor Roe Holiday before the pandemic). The authors consider the factors of the Kuzreka village transformations in different periods: first, natural resources and geographical location were the main factors, then industrial enterprises became the factor of growth (and decline). Today, the initial factors (nature and geographical location) again play the major role in attracting urban residents from the Murmansk Region and other regions of Russia for summer.

Monographic rural studies, village transformations, unpromising village, village transformation factors, functions of settlement, Tersky Bereg.

Savoskul Maria S., DSc (Geography), Head of the Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia, Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Leninskie gory, 1.
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Alekseev Alexander I., DSc (Geography), Professor, Department of Economic and Social Geography of Russia, Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Leninskie gory, 1.
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The article considers forest settlements—the former centers of timber industry—in the Vologda and Arkhangelsk Regions during the Soviet period. They represent a special type of mono-specialized rural settlements which in a short period turned from the local growth points and centers of attraction into depopulating settlements with shrinking labor markets and social infrastructure. The article is based on field studies conducted in three municipal districts of the Vologda and Arkhangelsk Regions (grassroots statistics and analytical materials, in-depth interviews with local residents, representatives of local governments and municipal authorities). The outflow of population from logging stations is determined, on the one hand, by the collapse of timber industry and institutional restructuring of logging industry; on the other, by modernization of logging which no longer needs permanently inhabited settlements. Due to the higher population density of forest settlements (compared to small rural settlements in the Non-Black Earth Region), their population losses in the past twenty years affect the general migration dynamics of municipal districts. Unlike historical settlements, the geographic location of forest settlements (often remote from transport networks) and the deplorable state of housing do not leave them hopes for at least seasonal redevelopment or new functions. The current state of forest settlements depends on a set of factors: geographical location, type of development, type of community, readiness of residents to self-organize, and so on.

Forest settlement, logging settlement, rural settlement system, logging, NonBlack Earth Region, Vologda Region.

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 119017 Moscow, Staromonetny Per., 29, bldg. 4.
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For centuries, people have been moving from place to place for a variety of reasons, which created both permanent and temporary population of the entire habitable space. Due to these migrations, settlements appear and disappear —auls, villages, towns, cities, megapolises, etc. Moreover, migrations create a settlement system of a certain territory, which is gradually transforming. And since each territory has its own features of the social-economic development, the patterns of settlement systems also differ by region. The article considers the evolution of the settlement system of the Crimean Peninsula under the influence of migrations. The settlement systems are compared and analyzed based on the models of the settlement network for different years, which allows to assess the impact of migrations at different stages of the historical development. Over the past 250 years, the settlement system of the Crimean Peninsula has undergone significant changes: from small settlements with foci of animal husbandry—to the medium-sized and in some places large settlements. The author identifies the main stages in the transformation of the settlement network of the Crimean Peninsula and analyzes the development trajectories of some types of settlements.

Geography of rural areas, migrations, rural areas, resettlement, rural resettlement, settlement network, geo-information systems.

Gusakov Timur Yu., Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies and Center for Prospective Sociological Research, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; PhD Student, Geographical Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp., 82.
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The author presents the main quantitative and qualitative results of the territorial public self-government (TPSG) development in the Republic of Buryatia. In 2020, Buryatia took the second place in the number of TPSG in Russia due to the efforts of regional and municipal authorities and to the grassroot initiatives. In the 2010s, the extensive measures of material, organizational and methodological support for TPSG were implemented. In 2018, the regional law on TPSG support was adopted, the TPSG Support Resource Center has been operating since 2019, the Best TPSG competition has been held annually since 2012, and the number of its participants was more than 1000 in 2020. The total number of TPSGs in Buryatia increased from 18 to 2265 in the 2010s. They implement projects in landscaping, construction and repair of social-cultural and engineering facilities, organize sport, cultural and other events. According to the results of the research conducted in February-March 2021 (interviews, collection and analysis of 420 forms on TPSG practices in municipal and urban districts), Buryatia needs a number of organizational measures for the sustainable development of TPSG system in the near future, a strategy for the mid-term development of TPSGs, measures to ensure the social potential of TPSGs in local settlements, scientific and managerial monitoring of the TPSG system, a data archive, development of TPSGs as NGOs, LLCs and other forms, creation and support of a network of TPSG associations in municipal and urban districts, reduction of disparities in the development of urban and rural TPSGs networks, development of TPSGs and business partnerships, and so on.

Territorial public self-government, Russia, Republic of Buryatia, local selfgovernment, civil initiatives.

Breslavsky Anatoly S., PhD (History), Senior Researcher, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 670047, Ulan-Ude, Sakhyanovoy St., 6.
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