ABSTRACT
This chapter provides all basic political, economic, and demographic data on every territorial unit of the Russian Federation, its local government structure, regional politics and electoral history through the spring 2000 elections and the summer 2000 reorganization of the Omsk Oblast. Omsk Oblast lies on the West Siberian plain and borders Kazakhstan in the south, Tyumen Oblast in the west and north, and Novosibirsk and Tomsk oblasts in the east. The oblast has ties with companies in over 50 countries, while its main business partners come from Cyprus, Germany, and China. In 1993 the oblast legislature adopted Polezhaev’s initiative to decrease the region’s payments to the federal budget, a decision which was declared illegal by the local procurator. Polezhaev stressed that supplying the oblast with gas was the only way to keep it afloat without hiking rents and utility prices for impoverished consumers.
