Vladimir Putin's representative in the country's Far East announced on Thursday. According to state-run news agency Tass, pilot centers are being set up in 12 regions: Buryatia, Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Kalmykia, Tatarstan, Chechen Republic, Khabarovsk Territory, Belgorod, Kemerovo, Pskov, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen regions and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Because of their location between the large Japanese island of Hokkaido and Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands offer a number of military and political benefits