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 Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug. The okrug is rich in coal, gypsum, and clay. Oil and gas fields have been discovered but remain unexplored. Major regional industries are gypsum and coal extraction and forestry and timber working. Investing in the okrug has become more dangerous as of late. Regional investment risk increased by 14 points in 1997. The main campaign issues in the okrug election were stopping the fall in living standards and further developing the okrug’s relationships with the federal government and Irkutsk Oblast. Ust-Orda Buryat and Agin-Buryat autonomous okrugs were separated from the Buryat-Mongol ASSR in 1937 when the Soviet federal leadership reduced the Buryat-Mongol titular territory in an attempt to suppress supposed nationalist sentiment.
