ULYANOVSK OBLAST

An administrative region of the Russian Federation. The birthplace ofVladimir Ilyich Lenin, born in Ulyanov, after whom it is named, Ulyanovsk is situated in the Volga Highlands. The capital, Ulyanovsk (pop. 635,000), formerly Simbirsk, sits on the bank of theVolga Riverjust downstream from the Kuybyshev Reservoir; the region’s second city is Dimitrovgrad. TheoblastbordersSamara,Saratov,Penza, and theethnic republicsofMordoviya,Chuvashiya, andTatarstan. Ulyanovsk covers a territory of 37,300 square kilometers and has a population of more than 1.3 million. Whileethnic Russiansare a majority (72 percent), the region is ethnically diverse, includingTatars(12 percent),Chuvash(4 percent),Mordvins(4 percent), and others. Approximately 15 percent of the population is ofMuslimorigin.

The topography includes large tracts of deciduous forests, and the soil is predominantlychernozem. The region is rich in minerals (chalk, limestone, quartz, and glassmaking sand) and has a major mineral water bottling plant.In terms of localindustry, the leading sectors include aircraft (Avistar) and automotive manufacturing (UAZ), textiles, construction,foodprocessing, and woodworking.Agricultureand animal husbandry are important to the regionaleconomy. A small number ofoilfields are also under development in the area.

Not surprising given its association with Lenin, the region was a bastion of theCommunist Party of the Russian Federation(KPRF) during the 1990s. In 1995, the KPRF won more than onethird of theState Dumaelections in the region and gained the governorship for its candidate, Yury Goryachev, in 1996. Turning the oblast into a “socialist preserve,” Goryachev maintained strictmediacontrols, railed against foreign economic control of Russia, worked againstprivatization, and maintained food subsidies. After losing to Vladimir Shamanov in the 2000 elections, Goryachev took up a role as leader of the regional opposition and formed a nongovernmental organization dedicated to the less fortunate citizens of Ulyanovsk. Shamanov, a retired army general who lacked a strong local base of support, suffered withering attacks fromSimbirskiie Izvestiia, the localnewspaper, during his first term as he confronted an environment of political nihilism in the region. He was defeated in 2004 by Sergey Morozov, who quickly moved to slash jobs in the regional administration; Morozov was reappointed byVladimir Putinin 2006. The governor made national headlines when he demanded his top officials go back to the classroom to improve their English-language skills in an effort to make the region more attractive toforeign investment; he had previously ordered administrators to retake high school–level exams in theRussian languageto prove their proficiency. Morozov also moved to expand his region’s relations withAzerbaijan, including the erection of a monument to the late president, Heydar Aliyev.

SeeMilitary.