This article is devoted to an assessment of the influence of infrastructure on social and economic development of the Russian regions. Various approaches to the treatment of concept of infrastructure are considered, especially chosen are industrial and functional approaches. According to the first of them, the infrastructure is considered as the set of the industries and kinds of activity that are providing activity conditions on an area of the country or the region. According to the second, it is considered as the set of the certain functions that are directed to the solution of organizational, economic and social challenges. Types of infrastructuresocial, economic and financial-are theorized. Authors formed the list of the indicators representing financial, social, economic infrastructures and the real sector of economy. The relation has been investigated between the elements of infrastructures and the social and economic development of the Russian regions. The results of the econometric analysis were defined the elements which influenced the social and economic development of the regions. There are investments into fixed capital, resources mining, public catering, deposits of the population, the number of hospital beds. Five defined groups of the regions with typical problems were identified in the cluster analysis.

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Infrastructure is one of the main determinants of consistent and sustainable development in different countries and regions. Considering the Russian Federation, where there are 85 regions, not counting the federal cities, the problem of regional development and factors that can promote it, is currently of high importance. Different levels of regional development lead to higher economic differentiation between regions and cause serious damage to the Russian economy. Our main hypothesis suggests that a higher level of infrastructure development in a region positively affects economic development in the areas. Therefore, the main aim of our research is to estimate the impact of infrastructure on economic development in Russian regions using econometric analysis. In addition, cluster analysis was implemented to reveal the difference in infrastructural development levels in the regions. To provide a precise estimation, a database was constructed on Russian regions for the period of 2012 to 2016. The main method used in the research is econometric analysis and cluster analysis by using k-means method based on three main indicators: social, industrial and financial. The results of the analysis reveal 5 different clusters with highly differentiated levels of infrastructural development. Econometric analysis has shown that the most significant infrastructural factors are industrial factors and social factors. The results of the research could be taken into consideration as recommendations for development in order to improve government policy towards less developed Russian regions.