U.S.-European economic sanctions and technological blockades have exposed Russia to industrial chain disruption risks, compelling the adoption of a“defensive”industrial policy that strengthens government intervention in critical sectors to construct industrial security boundaries. As a key component of Russia’s industrial strategy, cluster policy aims to revitalize domestic manufacturing competitiveness and enhance economic autonomy. Unlike China’s industrial cluster model, Russia’s clusters emphasize import substitution through coordinated development between large and medium-sized enterprises. Leveraging industrial cluster theory, this study collects Russian enterprise microdata from 1999 to 2023 and manually constructs an enterprise-cluster matched database. Using a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) approach, we analyze the causal mechanisms between cluster establishment and enterprise labor productivity. Results indicate that Russia’s industrial cluster policy significantly enhances enterprise productivity, with findings robust across multiple tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that “collaborative effects”and“scale effects”are critical transmission channels, while dynamic treatment effects amplify policy impacts over time. Further heterogeneity analysis shows stronger productivity gains for micro-firms, privately-owned enterprises, and non-state-controlled entities, with pronounced effects in strategic bottleneck sectors and science-intensive industries. Single-city clusters outperform cross-regional ones in policy efficacy. This study reflects the evolutionary trajectory of industrial policies for medium-sized economies amid global supply chain restructuring and provides actionable insights for China to navigate external shocks and mitigate sanction risks.