Abstract: The subject of this article (conducted on the basis of the results of research work on the topic "Economic and legal aspects of Russia’s foreign trade activities since the early XX century: past, present, and prospects") is the foreign trade of Russia for the period from the early XX century to the present day. The article analyzes the dynamics of export in value and weight terms (based on the primary statistical data). The author describes the moments of imbalance in commodity structure of the Russian (Soviet) foreign trade during the reporting period. The main conclusion consists in the substantiation of thesis on the imbalance in the structure of the Russian foreign trade based upon the analysis of statistical data. It is demonstrated that at various historical periods, the country always featured a product (or a certain group of products) that accounted for a “lion’s share” in the total export value. Unfortunately, since the beginning of the XX century up to the present, this refers only to the raw materials. The author provides a brief analysis on the existing programs aimed at structural changes in commodity composition of the Russian export.

Abstract: In her article Moreeva presents an analysis of the hierarchy of strategic planning documents aimed at the regulation of the Arctic zone development. The article is based on the research devoted to the development of methodological and legal approaches to further construction of the contour of strategic planning and its integraton with the contours of programming and budgetary management carried out by The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (The Presidential Academy, RANEPA) in 2017. The Arctic macro-region has been selected due to its specfic features such as geographical location, climatic conditions and strategic importance. In the course of the research the author has applied both general research methods such as dialectics, systems approach, comparative anlaysis, synthesis, analogy and deduction and traditional law methods such as formal law, comparative law, etc. Based on the results of the research the author states that today there has been a number of strategic planning documents adopted, however, this sphere still lacks a systems approach: not all documents that are necessary have been issued, and current acts do not always correspond to the strategic planning laws. The conceptual analysis of the acts allows to make the following conclusions: so far, the borders of the Arctic zone have not been defined either geogrpahically or cocneptually, thus leaving the problem of the Russian Arctic zone unresolved. There are certain inconsistencies between Arctic zone strategic planning documents of the goal-setting and programming levels, existing documents do not focus on the development of the macro-region and territories within the Arctic Zone equally. In addition, there is insufficient legal regulation which does not take into account specific features of aforesaid territories.