Modern trade relations between the Republic of South Ossetia and Russian regions: Features, trends, barriers, risks

Touches upon the foreign economic interactions of the partially recognized states - the Republic of South Ossetia. The development of states that have arisen, as a rule, as a result of armed conflicts, and are designated in world practice through variousterms (unrecognized states, secessions, de facto states, etc.), has a constant scientific interest. In recent years, research has been updated in the search for factors and mechanisms of self-development of such states, which does not imply absolute economic and social isolation, therefore, one of the mechanisms is external relations and trade interactions. The purpose of this study is to substantiate the features, trends, barriers and risks of export-import relations of the republic with the regions of the Russian Federation. The study was conducted using methods of empirical analysis of statistical data, as well as normative and cartographic analysis and presentation of results. The main sources of analytical information were the site data ru-stat.com. The period of the analysis is January 2013 - January 2022. The analysis revealed the current features and trends of trade relations between Russia and South Ossetia, including the transition of the customs authorities of South Ossetia to the standards of the Eurasian Economic Union; an increase in import volumes and tax revenues from it. There are three types of barriers to increasing imports to Russia - transport and logistics, institutional, and structural. The emergence of certain risks of the foreign trade relations with Russia is not excluded, in particular, the occurrence of pandemics like COVID-19, exchange rate fluctuations of the Russian currency, sanctions pressure. In general, the republic has long-term trade relations with Russian regions, primarily in terms of imports. Nevertheless, the Government of the Republic faces the strategic task of strengthening and increasing trade interactions.