Ivanovo Oblast

   An administrative region of the Russian Federation. Part of the Central Federal District and Economic Region, Ivanovo covers 21,800 square kilometers and has a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is surrounded by the Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, and Vladimir oblasts. Though swampy in parts, half of its territory is forested and its main river is the Volga. Ivanovo is a major textile producer, and the historic center of Russia’s cotton mill industry. Agriculture, light manufacturing, and handicraft production are also well represented in the regional economy. The region has failed to attract much foreign investment since Russia’s independence. In 2000, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) candidate, Vladimir Tikhonov, defeated the incumbent, Vladimir Golovkov. Tikhonov was elected leader of the All-Russian Communist Party of the Future (VKPB) in 2004, a breakaway party of the KPRF that claims to be the “true” Communist party of Russia. In 2005, Vladimir Putin appointed Mikhail Men, a former deputy mayor of Moscow and ally of Yury Luzkov, to the post of regional governor; he declared his commitment to sustaining the region’s focus on textiles as the major plank of his administration.