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 Samara Oblast. Samara Oblast, located in the lower Volga River area, covers a largely level plain on the Volga left bank and a small part of the hilly right bank. Samara borders Orenburg, Saratov, and Ulyanovsk oblasts, and the Republic of Tatarstan. Samara is home to Russia’s largest aluminum processing plant Sameko. After ruling Samara since 1991, Konstantin Titov resigned from the governorship following a devastating defeat in the 2000 presidential election. In June 1999 Titov convinced Khodorkovskii to transfer the registration of Yukos-RM, an oil refining subsidiary of the Yukos oil company, from Moscow to Samara. As a result of Titov’s efforts, Samara has been the target of various foreign development projects.