The authors focus on the Northern sea route of Russia, which is considered as a transcontinental Euro-Asian sea transport corridor. It is emphasized that the Arctic is not only a reliable source of energy security of Russia, but also an important geostrategic region. In this regard, the Northern sea route will be modernized even if the Chinese idea of the “Polar silk road” is not implemented at all. The role of China in the development of the transit highway project, which remains a reserve of the international transport system, is analyzed. There are some high expectations of Russia from the project, as the neighboring country is extremely cautious in its implementation, investing capital mainly in mining. In addition, there is a fear that the declared principles of the project implementation will lead, if not to the complete displacement of Russian business, then to a sharp weakening of its positions. This point of view is confirmed by the policy of Chinese investors to exercise strict control over the emerging transport arteries. Among the vulnerable points of the silk road project implementation are severe natural conditions, restrictions of the navigation season, insufficient capacity of the icebreaker fleet, economic sanctions of the United States and Western Europe, as well as the difficulties of creating a modern transport infrastructure along the sea route.

Attention is focused on the historical transformation of regional food systems. The latter are interpreted as diversified, regionally defined systems of production, transportation, consumption, as well as aesthetic and spiritual perception of food products based on the use of resources, both of local origin and those attracted from outside. The general approaches to understanding the evolution of regional food systems are considered without specifying the past and present pictures of the differentiated food space. An attempt is made to find the connection of spatial food systems with the "pyramid of needs" by A. Maslow. A special role in the spatial transformation of the food sector is assigned to the process of globalization and, in particular, the strengthening of the hegemony of agrarian transnational corporations, strengthening their influence on the dynamics and structure of production, as well as on food consumption. The connection of the global expansion of food trade networks with the evolution of national cuisines, which are a specific subsystem of the world's food systems, as well as with the so-called "cultural sovereignty" of countries, is noted. It is concluded that it is important to study the sustainable dependencies of regional food systems, manifested in various socio-economic conditions.

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В работе представлена демографическая дифференциация субъектов Российской Федерации посредством выделения кластеров, включающих в себя регионы, схожие по ряду демографических показателей: общие коэффициенты рождаемости и смертности, естественный прирост, средняя ожидаемая продолжительность жизни при рождении, доля городского населения. The article examines the demographic differentiation of the subjects of the Russian Federation through the selection of clusters, which include regions that are similar in a number of demographic indicators.

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