THE CONSEQUENCES OF MERGING KAMCHATKA REGION AND KORYAKSKY AUTONOMOUS DISTRICT

As part of the 2000s federal reforms, two constituent units of the Russian Federation were merged: the Kamchatka Region and the Koryaksky Autonomous District. As a result, the Kamchatka Territory was formed. Before the merging, these regions had had a variety of problems, which the federal government attempted to resolve by creating a new territorial unit. The local authorities and residents were highly skeptical as to the prospects of the new region’s further development. From the perspective of the interests of various groups, the unification results were rather ambiguous, as despite the first years’ successful economic and social performance indicators, management problems remained. The consequences of the merging continue to have a great impact on the modern economic, social and political situation in the region. The present study aims to analyze the after-effects of merging the Kamchatka Region with the Koryaksky Autonomous District into the Kamchatka Territory taking into consideration the motives and interests of federal authorities, local governments and the two regions’ population. Document analysis, analysis of statistical data and comparative method are used in this study. There are a few research works about the Kamchatka unification; and this study presents an attempt to assess the objective changes since the formation of the Kamchatka Territory until now, taking into account the perspectives of different political actors.