The article examines the current scientific problem of implementing state agrarian resettlement to the Far East in the 1850–1980s. The use of a systematic approach made it possible to determine, on the one hand, the influence on the resettlement process of a subjective factor – political, and on the other – demographic, objective. Taking into account these factors it is possible to highlight the similarities and differences of state resettlement within the studied chronological framework on the following grounds: state tasks, conditions for providing land, tax and other preferences, organization of transportation, loans and cash benefits, geography of resettlement places. The study found that during the time under study, resettlement traditionally remained a way to solve militarypolitical and socio-economic problems. The relationship was also evident in migration incentive measures – benefits (loans, benefits, housing, travel), and the geography of new settlers. The uniqueness of the Soviet period lay in the planning and mobilization nature of the implementation of the resettlement policy. Significant differences include differences in the use of land and the size of land plots.