Russia's spatial development strategy has a geopolitical dimension and aims to streamline it, as well as to accelerate the socioeconomic development of regions and integrate them more closely. Particular attention is paid to the development of cross-border economic ties, including the formation of promising transport and energy frameworks. The mentioned strategy defines a list of macro-regions of the country and their composition, identifies priority geostrategic areas and cross-border geostrategic areas of the Russian Federation. However, the status of these territories lacks real economic and legal content, determining the geostrategic nature, for example, in matters of national security, as a major transport hub and other conditions. On the example of the Astrakhan region we studied the peculiarities and prospects of development of geostrategic territories in modern geopolitical processes of the Greater Caspian Region. The methodological basis of the study involves a comparative analysis of the adopted legislative documents: the Concept of the Strategy for the Socio-Economic Development of the Regions of the Russian Federation (2005), the Strategy for the Spatial Development of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2030 (of 2016) and the Spatial Development of the Russian Federation for the Period until 2025. A number of criteria were referred to as significant signs of comparison: "borderline", focusing efforts on socio-economic development of regions, ensuring national security and interests of Russia in the post-Soviet space (South Caucasus and Central Asian region). In this context, the Astrakhan Region represents the middle priority geostrategic transboundary territory of the Russian Federation and the world at large. In a certain sense, we can also talk about the region as a kind of international "linking" zone between Europe and Asia. Within the framework of the provisions of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea (12.08.2018), the territory can be endowed with certain priority competences arising from these provisions and the status of the Caspian Sea. In modern geopolitical conditions, the Astrakhan Region acts as a kind of buffer of national security in the South of Russia, providing geostrategic and political interests of the country, which allow fully vesting the studied region with a special geostrategic status "a priority geostrategic territory of the Russian Federation".

Russia's spatial development strategy has a geopolitical dimension and aims to streamline it, as well as to accelerate the socioeconomic development of regions and integrate them more closely. Particular attention is paid to the development of cross-border economic ties, including the formation of promising transport and energy frameworks. The mentioned strategy defines a list of macro-regions of the country and their composition, identifies priority geostrategic areas and cross-border geostrategic areas of the Russian Federation. However, the status of these territories lacks real economic and legal content, determining the geostrategic nature, for example, in matters of national security, as a major transport hub and other conditions. On the example of the Astrakhan region we studied the peculiarities and prospects of development of geostrategic territories in modern geopolitical processes of the Greater Caspian Region. The methodological basis of the study involves a comparative analysis of the adopted legislative documents: the Concept of the Strategy for the Socio-Economic Development of the Regions of the Russian Federation (2005), the Strategy for the Spatial Development of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2030 (of 2016) and the Spatial Development of the Russian Federation for the Period until 2025. A number of criteria were referred to as significant signs of comparison: "borderline", focusing efforts on socio-economic development of regions, ensuring national security and interests of Russia in the post-Soviet space (South Caucasus and Central Asian region). In this context, the Astrakhan Region represents the middle priority geostrategic transboundary territory of the Russian Federation and the world at large. In a certain sense, we can also talk about the region as a kind of international "linking" zone between Europe and Asia. Within the framework of the provisions of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea (12.08.2018), the territory can be endowed with certain priority competences arising from these provisions and the status of the Caspian Sea. In modern geopolitical conditions, the Astrakhan Region acts as a kind of buffer of national security in the South of Russia, providing geostrategic and political interests of the country, which allow fully vesting the studied region with a special geostrategic status "a priority geostrategic territory of the Russian Federation".