This chapter provides all basic political, economic, and demographic data on a territorial unit of the Russian Federation, the Volgograd Oblast. The oblast is part of the Volga economic region and borders Voronezh, Saratov, Astrakhan, and Rostov oblasts, the Republic of Kalmykia, and Kazakhstan. Industry makes up 75 percent of the region’s GDR Tractors, pipes, and steel are the oblast’s major products. Raw oil, oil products, ferrous metals, aluminum, chemical products, machines, and equipment are the major exports. Nikolai Maksyuta was elected governor of Volgograd Oblast on 29 December 1996, defeating incumbent Governor Ivan Shabunin by a 7 percent margin. The situation in Volzhskii has tarnished Volgograd Oblast’s reputation on the federal level, and Maksyuta has been hoping to find a way to have the mayor legally removed from office.