Transbaikalia as a Communications Node with the Outside World: Potential and Risks

The article assesses the role of Transbaikalia in Russia’s economic space and shows its development potential in new geopolitical conditions. Transbaikalia, one of the priority geostrategic territories, is a connecting link between the Far East and the rest of Russia, as well as the gateway to the main land corridor deep into the Asian continent. The author discusses the nature of Transbaikalia’s trade and financial interaction with China and Mongolia in the China–Mongolia–Russia economic corridor, as well as its own development potential in the context of expanding business from neighboring countries. The study is based on customs and banking information and business statistics. The following have been noted: low-level economic activity of local communities in Transbaikalia compared with partners in the economic corridor, the peripherality of the region in federal strategies for the development of macroregions, and the predominance of interaction in the northern direction, i.e., from China to Russia. The question is raised about the priority of development of this territory at the federal level, which will ensure economic security in the context of intensification of the Asian direction of Russia’s interaction with the outside world.