Energy and Natural Resources

Abstract

Minerals and raw materials¹ today play, have historically played and will continue to play in the foreseeable future, a huge role in the economy of Russia. They will also continue to structure Russian society and influence political and policy decisions on many social and economic problems, and indeed shape the country’s overall system of public administration. The central role of energy and raw materials is explained not only by their exceptional size and concentration within the geographical boundaries of a single country—oil and gas, gold, platinum, polymetallic ores, diamonds and rare earth elements—but also by the history of Russian state formation, which evolved in parallel with the exploration of new sources of raw materials in increasingly distant territories.