ABSTRACT
Located eight time zones away from the Kremlin, at the junction with China, Korea and Japan, Primorskiy kray is one of the focal points of centre–periphery disputes over the internationalisation of local politics, economics and society in post-Soviet Russia. The rise and fall of the principal political actors and institutions in the region since the early 1990s has reflected some of the most intense of these disputes that still continue despite President Vladimir Putin’s efforts since mid-2000 to consolidate control over political leaders in Russia’s constituent regions and republics. Moscow–Vladivostok relations also reveal major economic and geopolitical tensions between the centre and the Russian Far East.
