ABSTRACT
This chapter presents all basic political, economic, and demographic data on a territorial unit of the Russian Federation, the Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug, which is located in the southern part of East Siberia about 6,200 km from Moscow. It is situated within the territory of Chita Oblast. Bair Zhamsuev was elected governor of the Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug on 23 February 1997. Zhamsuev spent most of his career climbing the Komsomol and Communist party ladders. Zhamsuev’s Duma campaign platform stressed federalism as the basis for Russian unity. Zhamsuev was elected governor of Agin-Buryatia after the okrug’s first attempt to elect a leader via popular mandate in October 1996 was unsuccessful since no candidate managed to win 50 percent of the vote. Political activity in the okrug is essentially limited to the Agrarian Party and the Communist Party.
