The first stop of Putin's visit to the country in 2024 is to choose a place that will surprise everyone - the far east of Russia.
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently flew to Anadyr, the capital of Chukotka, by special plane. This is Putin's first visit to the region in more than 20 years in power, and it is also his first work visit this year.
[The current temperature in Anadyr, the capital of Chukotka, is only minus 30 degrees]
Located in the Far East, Chukotka Autonomous Region is the easternmost region of Russia and the only region in Russia that is partially located in the Western Longitude Zone. Chukotka is across the sea from the United States across the Bering Strait, and the city of Anadyr, where Putin is visiting, is less than 100 kilometers away from the US state of Alaska.
Overall, Chukotka has a harsh natural environment and is uninhabitable for human habitation, with a population of less than 48,000 people, but the area of the autonomous region is the size of China's Qinghai Province, making Chukotka the least densely populated region in Russia.
[Location of Chukotka, it is the easternmost region of Russia]
Russian media said that the current local temperature in Chukotka is about minus 30 degrees, and Putin will take an all-terrain vehicle equipped with ultra-low-pressure tires during his visit, and the tire size will be many times larger than that of an ordinary SUV, so that the car can move freely in the snow.
Even after 20 years as president, Mr. Putin has never been here, but he admits that in all the regions he has not visited, he would most like to go to Chukotka. In an interview in September 2022, he said that Russia is not so much the "land of the rising sun" as Russia, because the easternmost point of Chukotka is located east of Japan.
[Locals can basically only rely on this kind of all-terrain vehicle to travel]
Little was known about Chukotka before the Russian conquest in the 18th century. China was the first country to record the Chukchi people, but we didn't see it with our own eyes, but the Tang people only learned about it through the accounts of the Kamchatka people in the north. According to the accounts of the Kamchatka, the Chukchi people had a fierce face, were covered in animal skins, and had long tusks like wild boars.
After hearing this narrative, the ancients thought that it was very similar to the legendary "Yaksha", so they called Chukotka the "Yaksha Country".
[Little was known about Chukotka before the Russians conquered it in the 18th century]
In the 18th century, Russian conquerors fought the resilient Chukchi for nearly half a century to bring them to their knees, but the independence of the locals remained high. During the Soviet period, because Chukotka was close to Alaska in the United States and belonged to the front line, a large number of Soviet troops also came to Chukotka. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the population of the Chukotka region exceeded 160,000 people.
However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the collapse of state-owned enterprises that exploited a large number of minerals in the region, and the disarmament of Russia, many ethnic Russians living in the area left the area. At that time, Moscow could not even manage the economy of the developed regions, and it did not have the energy to manage Chukotka at all, and the population of Chukotka fell to 50,000, and there were even cases of starvation to death at that time.
When Putin came to power, he sent his close oligarch Abramovich, the former Chelsea owner we know as Abu, to Chukocka as governor. Although Abu is an oligarch, he has indeed done a lot of practical things for Chukotka. During his eight years as governor, he invested a lot of money in the Chukotka region through his resources and connections, renovated and built a large number of infrastructures, and restored Chukotka logistics links with the developed regions of western Russia. As a result, Chukotka got out of the predicament of economic collapse, and the locals basically solved the problem of food and clothing.
【Anadyr, the capital of Chukotka in summer】
After solving the problem of food and clothing, the next step is how to develop further. With Abu stepping down as chief executive in 2008 and no successor with the same resources as Abu, Chukotka's development has stalled again. What's more, at that time, Russia did not pay attention to the development of the Far East, and Chukotka naturally did not drink soup - Putin has been president for 20 years and prime minister for 4 years, but he has never been to Chukotka, which is already very telling.
Time flies. When the time comes to 2024, Putin will visit Chukotka for the first stop of this year, on the one hand, to fulfill his own wish and come to this "far east" that he has always wanted to come to, on the other hand, this also reflects the eastward shift of Russia's current national development strategic center of gravity, reflecting Moscow's determination to adhere to "looking east".
[Putin has never been to Chukotka before]
In fact, Chukotka itself has a good "look to the east" base. China has long been Chukotka's largest trading partner. As early as 2011, Chinese companies signed agreements with local governments to cooperate in the exploitation of mineral resources, and data for 2021 show that exports to China account for 94.6% of all Chukotka exports, most of which are mineral resources.
In addition, Chukotka is also an important part of the "Ice Silk Road" or "Arctic Route" between China and Russia. During this visit, Putin stressed that with the development of the Arctic route, the Chukotka region will become a key node in international trade.
As for whether Putin's coming to this place, which is only 100 kilometers away from the United States, is sending some kind of signal to the United States, it should be unlikely. In November, Putin instructed the Ministry of Defense to hand over their "unused land" in Chukotka to the local government. For Russia, although Chukotka is across the sea from Alaska, it is not currently the center of gravity for national defense, and the local focus is still on economic development.
For Chukotka, Russia's current national strategy of "looking east" has brought them new opportunities for development. Chukotka has developed rapidly twice in history, once by the east wind of the Cold War, and once by the personal resources of the oligarchs, but this time the situation is different, the development of Chukotka will be integrated into the development strategy of the Far East, and the whole region will play a game of chess.