The purpose of the study is a comprehensive analysis of state support measures for medium and small businesses in the Moscow region during the COVID-19 pandemic, conducted through the prism of such indicators as: the tax system, financial and other measures to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The statistical analysis method was used to track the dynamics of the structure and quantitative composition of SME entities from 2018 to 2020. At the same time, the SWOT analysis method was used to identify the weaknesses and strengths of state support measures for SMEs (both at the federal and regional levels), challenges, and threats. The positive results of state support measures include: reduction of insurance premium rates, preferential loans for system-forming enterprises, provision of zero-interest salary loans, simplification of requirements for securing state contracts, extension of licenses and permits that expired from March to the end of December 2020, introduction of a moratorium on initiating legal entities ' insolvency cases for six months, postponement of accounting and tax reporting for three months, as well as a number of other economic measures. Among the weaknesses of state support measures are: insufficient monitoring of SMEs that received state support, weak development of regional and municipal infrastructure to support SMEs, and measures aimed at promoting investment in this area.

An important condition for sustainable regional development is the revitalization of investment activity, which aims at attracting financial and material resources of domestic and foreign investors, and their sustainable use in priority sectors of economy. The investments involved in the economy of a region, is one of the criteria of efficiency of its functioning. However there is a huge gap between the achieved level of investments into economy of Russian regions and the level that is necessary to ensure their sustainable development. In modern terms both Russian and foreign investors are more and more interested in the most important sectors of the economy of the cities of southern suburbs. It is connected with that the city´s southern suburbs have an advantageous geographical position, developed economy, research, employment and recreational potential. The economic structure of the cities in Southern Moscow region, revenues, employment, improvement of the business environment depend on their investment attractiveness. This means that the income of additional financial resources to the city budget will allow to accelerate its development, and, ultimately, to improve the quality of life of the population. Attracting investors under the modern conditions of comfortable creative climate is more attainable objective than the search for industrial solutions to the development of depressed areas. In this regard, the city´s of Southern Moscow region strive to create a favorable investment environment for capital allocation by the major players of the investment market.

According to the EU Eurostat data, for a long period of time, the Baltic countries have been leading the list of countries with high unemployment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these indicators have become critical in their scale, so the national governments of these countries, with the help of the EU, are trying to change the situation for the better with the help of various measures of state support in the field of employment, stabilize these indicators and bring them to the level of pre-crisis 2019. The purpose of the study is a comprehensive analysis of state support measures of the Governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia aimed at providing employment and combating unemployment as one of the factors affecting their socio-economic development. The methodology of the study includes a method of statistical analysis, with the help of which statistical data on the number of unemployed citizens in these countries (for the period 2014-2021) are compared, the dynamics of the population in the period under review is considered. Along with the statistical method, a SWOT analysis was used, on the basis of which the strengths and weaknesses of state support measures of the governments of the Baltic countries in order to support employment, potential threats from their application and new opportunities for supporting unemployed persons were identified. The authors of the study made proposals on the need for structural reforms aimed at improving the labor market in the Baltic states, such as: retraining citizens who lost their jobs during the pandemic, for state account, the introduction of stricter quotas for the entry of citizens from the territory of the former Soviet Union and obtaining a work visa, the provision of additional subsidies to small and medium-sized businesses, the release of their from paying taxes for the period of emerging pandemics.