ABSTRACT
This chapter presents all basic political, economic, and demographic data on a territorial unit of the Russian Federation, Altai Krai, which is located in the southern part of Western Siberia in the basin of the upper Ob River. The region’s rolling plains and the foothills of the Altai Mountains, once covered by steppe, are almost entirely under cultivation, producing wheat, corn, oats, sunflower, and beets. However, soils in the region have suffered from nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk in adjacent Kazakhstan, the main nuclear test site for the former Soviet Union. The Siberian governor entered politics in 1985, yet has spent most of his post-Soviet political career trying to rebuild the glory of the country that was lost. Surikov sticks to a protectionist economic platform and maintains close ties to the opposition. Surikov has been active in working with other Siberian leaders to address issues of common interest.
