Considering the widespread of Covid-19 and its impact on the population health in Russian regions, it is necessary to examine the impact of the pandemic (as excess mortality) on the regional socio-economic development in 2020. Based on a quantitative and qualitative model, the study explains the process of coronavirus diffusion at the regional level, using information from foreign publications, Russian regional statistics and a database of legal documents «Consultant +». The concept of spatial diffusion, developed in the 1950s-1980s, was chosen as the research methodology. The study methods include a cartographic analysis of the monthly dynamics of coronavirus spread in Russian regions and regression analysis of regional differences in excess mortality regarding the most significant explanatory variables. The developed regression model explains the spread of Covid-19 across Russian regions in 2020, while the proposed qualitative model «network-place-scaling» describes the spatial diffusion of the virus. The conducted analysis confirmed the relationship between the spread of the virus and economic specialisation of regions. Simultaneously, such widely discussed factors as physical density, urbanisation level and per capita income did not show significant correlation with excess mortality. The study revealed the following results. There is a significant discrepancy between the actual situation in Russian regions and expected developments according to the simplified centre-periphery model. The important regression variables, explaining the interregional differences in excess mortality in 2020, include the share of employed in contact-intensive wholesale and retail trade and manufacturing (large production teams); proportion of the population over 65; the number of retail facilities per 1000 people. The qualitative model «network-place-scaling» was deemed suitable for explaining the mechanisms of the spread of coronavirus in Russian regions. Future studies should focus on examining the mechanisms and socio-economic consequences of the pandemic at the municipal level of large cities and urban agglomerations in Russia.

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The paper shows the inseparable connection between the topics of the main centres of Russian regional science and the properties of the space that they are studying. The diversity of the thematic structure of research centres is derived from differences in economic geographical and geopolitical position, sectoral structure of the economy, age of economic development of the studied areas of the Russian space. However, the most important factor differentiating Russian space is the density of economic activity, which determines the level of development of the territory. Within the Russian space, significant undeveloped territories of the North, the Arctic, Siberia, and the Far East are of particular interest, in which extensive buffer zones are distinguished between the main settlement zone and low-density periphery. They constitute the essential specificity of the Russian space. Another feature is the presence of colossal "ownerless" spaces that are outside the influence of any nearby major centre and therefore are forced to focus on the federal capital, Moscow.

T he problem of single-industry towns has become increasingly relevant recently in light of the crises in the Russian and global economy. The present article attempts to examine this issue by using methodological approaches adopted internationally to analyse singleindustry towns. At the heart of these approaches is the concept of path dependence, coupled with a method to identify the factors blocking innovative search in the so-called new industrial policy. The authors critically reevaluate the situation in single-industry towns, in contrast to the existing assessments that are widespread in Russian language research. Rather than analysing industrial sectoral specialization, they suggest studying the core of economic Keywords: single-industry towns; lock-in in innovative development; innovative search; local community; new industrial policy; entrepreneurship; path dependence development i.e. a city's capacity to upgrade its local production system and to initiate innovative search.The article describes the main principles of new industrial policy, which is vulnerable not so much to a narrow specialization but primarily to a package of technological, political, and cognitive lock-ins. These lock-ins prevent the growth of an innovative sector in single-industry towns and stop local communities from being able to adapt to changing economic conditions. The authors show the possibilities and concrete directions of innovative search in various singleindustry towns in Russia. They give recommendations on the key policy instruments that can help overcome the existing lock-ins in monoprofile Russian towns.