Assessment of Prospects for Sustainable Cross‐Border Cooperation of the Russian Post‐Virgin Regions of the Urals and Siberia with the Republic of Kazakhstan

Aim. Comprehensive assessment of the stability of cross‐border cooperation between the Russian steppe regions of the Urals and Siberia and the Republic of Kazakhstan in the fields of foreign trade and migration. To achieve the goal, a model has been developed to assess the prospects for sustainable cross‐border interaction of the Russian steppe regions of the Urals and Siberia with the Republic of Kazakhstan.The research conducted using the methodology developed made it possible to identify the problems of cross‐border interaction of Russian steppe regions with the Republic of Kazakhstan. Against the background of a decrease in general mobility of the population of the Russian steppe regions, the share of those who left for the Republic of Kazakhstan among the total number of those who left abroad had a positive trend during the period analysed in the vast majority of steppe regions of the Russian Federation. In five of the eight regions considered, the interaction is characterized as "stable" and "steady", "unstable" interaction in the field of migration only in the Altai Territory.The Tyumen Region was the leader in terms of the share in the country's export‐import operations among the steppe regions of the Russian Federation for 2015–2021. In the period under review, foreign trade turnover had a stimulating effect on the economy of the Chelyabinsk region, the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Novosibirsk region. At the same time, the most active foreign trade activity with the Republic of Kazakhstan was observed in the Altai Territory and Omsk and Kurgan regions. Stable cross‐border cooperation in the field of foreign trade with the Republic of Kazakhstan is only in place in the Kurgan region.