KALUGA OBLAST

An administrative region of the Russian Federation. Part of the CentralFederal DistrictandEconomic Region, Kaluga lies less than 100 kilometers south of the capital,Moscow. It is bordered by theSmolensk,Bryansk,Oryol,Tula, andMoscow oblasts. With just over a million residents, the oblast covers 29,900 square kilometers of plains and forests. Major international highways and railway lines connect European-bound traffic from Moscow to Kiev, Lvov, and Warsaw. Theeconomyis mixed betweenindustry(machine building,foodprocessing, and chemicals) andagriculture. Obninsk, Russia’s “First Science City,” is home to the country’s largest scientific research complex and its oldestnuclear energyplant. The region showed strong support for theCommunist Party of the Russian Federationduring the early 1990s. The regional governor is Anatoly Artamonov; he replaced Valery Sudarenkov, who was the deputy prime minister ofUzbekistanin the 1980s. Artamonov was elected in 2000 with 56.72 percent of the vote; in 2004, he won reelection with a two-thirds majority and was reappointed byVladimir Putinin 2005.