This chapter presents all basic political, economic, and demographic data on Arkhangelsk Oblast. The city of Arkhangelsk is the oldest sea harbor in Russia, founded in the late 16th century, and is now the major hub in the country’s European North. It processes up to 2,000 ships annually. The oblast’s second largest city, Severodvinsk, hosts construction facilities for Russia’s nuclear fleet. Arkhangelsk Oblast is located in the north of the Eastern European Plain and borders the republics of Komi and Karelia, as well as Vologda, Kirov, and Tyumen oblasts. The main goal of the zone is to develop Arkhangelsk’s transportation infrastructure, in particular by reactivating the Northern Sea Route and the Arkhangelsk seaport. Businesses operating in the zone are freed from property and profit taxes. The Keston Institute reported on 4 June 1997 that Arkhangelsk Oblast had passed a harsh law on religious practices that discriminates against religions other than Russian Orthodoxy, labeling such religions “sects.”.