The article presents the research results of the network project on “Cross-border clustering in the dynamics of economic and residential systems of coastal areas of European Russia” implemented by the scholars of four leading universities of Russia with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation. The study is focused on geospatial identification, socio-economic parameterization and structuring of the coastal zone of Russia. The detailed characteristics of its most important segments – the Baltic and the Black Sea-Azov coastal zones, are given. The main factors of formation of the long-term, permanent and tactical (i.e. associated with the crisis processes and changes in the geopolitical and geo-economic situation) cross-border clusters in the coastal areas of Russia are analyzed. An inventory of the most important cross-border clusters, localized in the Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Rostov and Krasnodar regions is carried out. Their impact on the regional economy and the dynamics of the settlement syst