ABSTRACT
This chapter presents all basic political, economic, and demographic data on a territorial unit of the Russian Federation, Chelyabinsk Oblast, which is situated in the southern Urals bordering Kazakhstan; Bashkortostan; Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, and Orenburg oblasts. The city of Chelyabinsk, the oblast’s administrative center, was founded as a fortress in 1736. Major industrial centers are Magnitogorsk, with iron and steel plants, and Chelyabinsk, on the Miass River. The oblast also houses large nuclear industry centers in the cities of Snezhinsk and Ozersk and important manufacturers of space equipment and rockets. Petr Sumin has been prominent in Ural politics since the early 1990s when he became the chairman of the Chelyabinsk Oblast Council of People’s Deputies. In 1993 Sumin formed his own regional political movement, the Revival of the Urals, which exhibits a rather Communist coloring. In spite of the region’s economic difficulties, Sumin enjoys strong support in Chelyabinsk.
