Letter From the Editors

Media coverage of the Eastern Economic Forum tossed around some impressive figures about the development of the Russian Far East. Investments totaling over 8 trillion rubles through 2030, spread out over 3,500 projects. Plans to build 10,000 new apartments in 25 cities. Cargo transport of 36 million metric tons via the Northern Sea Route, five times higher than the Soviet record. Enticing monetary incentives for young professionals to live, work and raise families in this part of the country.

So, what’s wrong with this picture? According to a 2021-2023 audit by the Russian Accounting Office, the implementation of 60% of Far East development programs was “not entirely effective”; quality of life indicators for these Federation members are among the lowest in the country; and, despite all the incentives to settle in the Far East, the population continues to decline. Tatyana Rybakova argues that the region’s lack of success stems from the Kremlin’s “colonial policy”: Instead of letting the Far East control the wealth of its natural resources and engage in autonomous trade, the federal center controls that money, spending it on administration and attractive-looking projects that benefit itself.

This allegation must set the Moscow authorities’ teeth on edge, as they have traditionally portrayed colonialism as a vice of the inimical West, and during the post-Soviet period they have even come to see themselves as colonial targets.

So, what should we make of Vladimir Putin’s visit this week to Ulan Bator? Is sparsely populated Mongolia, once home to the biggest global empire ever, trying to acquire a new colony, or is Russia – its larger, more industrialized neighbor – trying to colonize Mongolia? Or are they both trying to appease China? According to Rossiiskaya gazeta, several important energy agreements were signed or renewed in Ulan Bator, reinforcing Mongolia’s almost total dependence on Russian oil. On the other hand, Aleksandr Zhelenin sees Putin’s Mongolian visit as a desperate attempt to solve pressing economic problems: “The fact is that, after a series of hot-button, primarily military news, some news from about two weeks ago went unnoticed: Mongolia blocked the construction of the Sila Sibiri 2 gas pipeline, which was supposed to run through its territory from Russia to China.” In order to convince Mongolian President Khurelsukh to keep energy flowing to Russia’s top-priority consumer, Putin had to travel several thousand kilometers to make his case. As Zhelenin puts it, “the Mongolians, contrary to the views of Russian chauvinists, are a very self-sufficient people.”

In Kazakhstan, too, the issues of colonialism and self-sufficiency have come to the fore, in connection with an announced referendum on whether to build a nuclear power plant there. The vote, scheduled for Oct. 6, will ostensibly put the country’s economic future in the hands of Kazakhs themselves. However, Central Asia expert Serdar Aitakov says that the proposed alternatives of “green energy” don’t answer the more fundamental question of how Kazakhstan’s economy should develop: Should it remain a “semicolony” of foreign corporations, or try to find a balance between raw materials, technology and industry as drivers for growth? According to Aitakov, social media pages in Kazakhstan are already proposing that the nuclear power referendum include three options – yes, no, and “yes, but without Rosatom.”

Clearly, something is going wrong with Q&A formats when the topic of Russia comes up. Izvestia reports that despite the widespread use of large language models to seek information and gain knowledge, Russian-speaking users often encounter incorrect answers to their queries. According to experts consulted by Izvestia, “the problem is largely due to the fact that most machine learning is based on English-language data, which often do not correspond to the system of knowledge and values accepted in our country.” We expect that Russian scientists’ solution will be to fill in the LLMs’ memory gaps with plenty of correct, culturally appropriate information. Maybe then the Kremlin will start getting the answers it needs.