Plastun was a strange town. Located in the middle section of Primorsky Region facing Japan Sea, it is a small sea port with docking facilities, but without much of shore-based local industries. In fact, unemployment remained a hot political issue until the Russo-Japanese joint venture put in a lumber processing plant in the recent past.

In any case, Plastun is fill of young people and lively children visible on the street and parking lots. As shown by the pictures here, on one side of the straight paved main street running down to the port are rows of relatively new apartment buildings while on the other side are the public facilities like post office, lodges, restaurants, shops and entertainment places. Obviously, it is a fabricated town for a purpose.

Perhaps, it was designed as a forward base for the industrial development of the Maritime province during the era of centrally commanded economy. It must have enjoyed its own booming period when it served Vladivostok as an intermediate transshipment center along the Japan Sea coat.

Even at present, it continues to serve the northern remote areas and their communities like the Agzu village to provide for their winter supplies as well as the long-awaited post-breakup shipment for the summer season. But, it is also true that Prestun seems to have lost its future perspective given the uncertainties accompanying Russia's transition to capitalism.

In the end, however, this small port town will have no option other than depending on the region's future economic development guided by market forces, and at this point in time, the aforementioned lumber mill and the logging operations will continue to be the main existing source of local employment.

It goes without saying that the region cannot totally disregard the pressure of the international environmental movement for protecting the Taiga forests, nor can it launch a major development projects without first securing the consensus of those who live in the local communities.