The Russian Far East wasn't connected to the rest of Russia by roads until early 20th century when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. Until then, you either had to travel by ship around the entire Eurasia or go by horse drawn sleds in winter - either way the journey would take many months. So the distance itself proved a major hindrance to development and settlement of the region.

The Russian's actually a lot of plans and imagination initially. The Amur was sometimes called "the Russian Mississippi" - a river flowing through a fertile valley and riverine traffic connecting the region to the Pacific ocean. In reality, the Amur isn't at all like the Mississippi. It is frozen for at least 5 months of the year, and its delta is very shallow, prohibiting oceangoing ships from entering the river. Even the much more southerly Vladivostok relies on icebreakers to keep its port usable in winter months.

One I might actually be able to contribute something to! Mods let me know if I'm doing it right or if I need to add/remove anything please.

One of the attempts to populate the Far East was under Pyotr Stolypin. Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin (1906-1911) undertook ambitious reforms that touched on all measures of social, political, and economic life during the tumultuous period of late imperial Russia. Many of his actions were never fully realized or given time to succeed due to his (spoiler alert) assassination. Which makes it difficult to judge him and his actions from a historical perspective.

One of his primary objectives was sponsoring agrarian reforms (known today as the Stolypin Reforms) which would affect the large majority of Russia's population, the peasantry. He sought to reduce eliminate/reduce the commune, which was the significant force in most peasant's lives. He blamed the commune for "the ignorance, indolence, and alcoholism of the peasants, as well as for their (inability) to assume the responsibilities of citizenship." There were plenty of issues with the commune, but it was an entrenched system in the Russian countryside that did not fit with Western notions of 'private property.'

Stolypin was a conservative reformer who believed in a market-based agricultural system and private-ownership. Stolypin believed he could incentivize the peasantry to civility by giving them a stake in their own land, a majority of which was East and in Siberia.

"It is necessary to give them the possibility of increasing the fruits of their labor and to present them with an inalienable right to property." This reform process was slow and had lost momentum in the years following Stolypin's death. "The number of applications for secession (from the commune) reached a high point in 1909 and declined sharply thereafter. By 1914, only about 20 percent of the peasants had obtained ownership of their land..."

Stolypin was also against the expropriation of land, for the most part, that was proposed by other reformers of the era. If peasants were expecting to secure lands "where they lived, very few of them would move to other areas of the empire, such as Siberia." There was uninhabited land available in the East and this colonization could: a) give peasants their own land; b) uphold notions of private property; and, c) reduce/eliminate the commune. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad made getting East feasible. Stolypin thought he could have the government help these peasants by providing land, credit, and advice.

Peasants were allowed to scout out their land (in the East) and make formal claims. They could then take "Stolypin Trains" on the long journey East to colonize them. There seems to be little doubt that in the years following the 1905 Revolution, migration was substantial. By 1914 the population was 21.1 million compared with ~10 million in 1897. Stolypin believed that while promise was there, colonizing the East was "often hard and dangerous" and the government needed to intervene to ensure it's success.

Stolypin and Minister of Agriculture, Alexander Krivoshein, published a report in 1911 about their findings colonizing Siberia. However, it did not affect the government's policies on the Far East. Stolypin was assassinated and conditions were no longer as attractive to migrants. Many colonists returned back to European Russia following poor harvests.

However, while the peasants showed some interest in Stolypin's reforms, it was a huge undertaking with immense obstacles. The government struggled with implementing these reforms because they could not accommodate large numbers of land transfers from communal to private ownership. Many peasants did not wish to secede from the communes or leave the lands where they have spent lifetimes (and built relationships). Additionally, the Russian infrastructure also did not make it economically advantageous to leave already established areas. It was a massive undertaking. The Soviets in 1954 would experience similar problems with their attempts to colonize the East as Stolypin did.

The goals of privatization and political stability needed time, something which was not granted considering the political situation in both Europe and Russia. Therefore Stolypin's success with the 'agrarian question' is open to discussion which showed both promise and problems.

I'll leave you with a quote by V.I. Lenin in 1908 about Stolypin's reforms and how it could succeed:

"If Stolypin's policy is continued... then the agrarian structure of Russia will become completely bourgeois, the stronger peasants will acquire almost all the allotments of land, agriculture will become capitalistic, and any 'solution' of the agrarian problem -- radical or otherwise -- will become impossible under capitalism."

Source: P.A. Stolypin: The Search for Stability in Late Imperial Russia by Abraham Ascher.