ABSTRACT
Saratov Oblast is situated in the south-east of the Eastern European Plain. It has an international border with Kazakhstan to the south-east, and borders with the Oblasts of Volgograd (to the south), Voronezh and Tambov (to the west), and Penza, Ulyanovsk and Samara (to the north). Ayatskov became the first incumbent Governor not to be reappointed under new arrangements, announced in 2004, whereby regional governors were subject to presidential appointment. The Oblast’s agriculture consists primarily of the production of grain (the Oblast is one of Russia’s major producers of wheat) and sunflower seeds. Animal husbandry is also significant. Agriculture employed 8.1% of the workforce and contributed 14.5% of GRP in 2020. The Oblast’s main industries are mechanical engineering and metal working, the production of electricity, petroleum refining, chemicals and petrochemicals, food processing, and the production of petroleum and natural gas.
