Among the urgent issues in the geography of Siberia and the Far East are the planning and prospective development of the taiga regions, including the geographical aspects of the industrialization of Eastern Siberia, the largest taiga region. The first two articles in this volume are devoted to these questions. In his article Problems of the Economic Geography of Eastern Siberia, V. A. Krotov examines the position of Eastern Siberia within the system of Soviet economic regionalization. The author addresses a number of controversial views related to the regional organization of productive forces, including, in particular, the question of how the boundary between the two major economic regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East should be more appropriately defined. V. A. Krotov advocates assigning the Yakut production complex to the Eastern Siberian region. His discussion of a distinctive “Eastern Siberian” economic type and of the creation of one of the world's largest industrial centers on the basis of local natural resources is especially timely. In such a center, energy-intensive and heat-intensive industries would be located closer to raw-material sources. As technology advances and the overall productive capacity of society grows, the profitability and efficiency of utilizing Eastern Siberia’s natural resources should steadily improve. Eastern Siberia encompasses several physical-geographical regions and is characterized by considerable natural diversity. Although this diversity is somewhat obscured by the pronounced continental climate common to the entire region, it nonetheless determines differing natural-economic conditions and, consequently, differing economic prospects. The vast expanses of Eastern Siberia still require comprehensive investigation, and its economic potential has yet to be fully revealed. At present, the primary task is integrated geographical research, especially in the mountainous taiga regions, where enormous mineral resources are concentrated but where development conditions remain difficult. V. A. Krotov’s work represents a significant contribution to the economic geography of Eastern Siberia, having been written with due consideration of the general trends of modern economic development and its future prospects. Various utilized and potential natural resources are found throughout the taiga zone. The taiga constitutes an important reserve of resources for human society and will benefit many future generations. Geography, as a group of sciences concerned with the geographical environment and its integrated utilization, has an enormous role to play in the development of taiga territories. This was convincingly demonstrated by the conference on urgent problems of taiga research and prospects for its development, held in Irkutsk in September 1963. The article Contemporary and Prospective Problems of Taiga Research by Yu. P. Mikhailov summarizes the results of that conference and concisely yet vividly outlines the content of the most important issues discussed there. The challenge lies in ensuring continuous and phased development of the taiga regions, while maintaining efficiency and profitability in every case and guaranteeing rapid and proportionate capital recovery. Industrial and agricultural development of taiga territories, particularly beyond the southern taiga zone, is likely to remain localized and scattered for a long period of time. At the same time, the water and biological resources of the taiga may be exploited on a very large scale. By presenting the current state of taiga-related issues and focusing on their key aspects, Mikhailov’s article offers valuable reference material for a broad readership. One of the most promising taiga regions is the upper Amur River basin, particularly the Amur-Zeya natural province. This province is of great importance for both industrial and agricultural development. Until recently, information concerning its natural characteristics remained extremely limited. During the past decade, however, the concerted efforts of research teams from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR have substantially expanded our knowledge of the area. The division of the Amur-Zeya province into the southern taiga zone and the broadleaf-coniferous taiga zone (or subtaiga) provides a more solid basis for measures related to population settlement, environmental improvement, and agricultural utilization. Vegetation cover constitutes a particularly important criterion for such a division, and the article by T. I. Isachenko (western section) provides relevant data on this subject. That article contains a typological description of the vegetation of the Amur-Zeya interfluve and an attempt at its geobotanical regionalization. Such regionalization is important not only for understanding the distribution of vegetation resources but also for the comprehensive evaluation of natural conditions in the upper Amur region. The regionalization of the subtaiga belt within the interfluve is of special significance, since this zone offers the greatest prospects for forestry and agriculture and is the most favorable for human settlement. T. I. Isachenko’s work is important not only in a regional context but also in a broader biogeographical sense, as it reveals certain patterns in the dynamics of taiga vegetation. The final two articles in this volume primarily address theoretical questions. In his study Distribution, Morphology, and Origin of Altai Cirques, L. N. Ivanovsky draws upon extensive observations and published sources to examine certain aspects of the formation of high-mountain relief and paleogeography in the Altai. The ancient glaciation of the Altai represents a genuine physical-geographical phenomenon. Its investigation will contribute to clarifying the paleogeography of the western part of northern Asia, a contribution no less significant than that made to European paleogeography through studies of Quaternary glaciation in the Alps. Glacial cirques in the Altai frequently form cirque stairways and complex cirque assemblages, making them particularly useful for reconstructing the structure of mountain landscapes during glacial periods and for addressing certain problems of modern geomorphic dynamics. All these issues are directly related to the broader task of resolving general paleogeographical questions concerning human origins.