Pskov Oblast

   An administrative region of the Russian Federation. The westernmost contiguous region of the Russian Federation, Pskov Oblast borders the European Union countries of Estonia and Latvia, as well as Belarus, making it the only region to administer three separate international borders. Nearly one-tenth of Russia’s exports travel through the region on their way to Europe and farther afield. Its total international border is more than 600 kilometers in length. Within Russia, its neighbors are the Leningrad, Smolensk, Novgorod, and Tver oblasts. It is part of the Northwestern Economic Region and Federal District. The regional capital, Pskov (pop. 202,000), is one of Russia’s oldest cities and was once part of the Hanseatic League. It covers an area of 55,300 square kilometers and has a population of 760,900.

   Mostly covered by boreal and mixed forests, the region is considered to be Russia’s most ecologically pristine. Along with Estonia, it sits on the shore of one of Europe’s largest lakes, Pskov-Chud (Peipsi-Pihkva) Lake. Major crops include flax, wheat, sunflowers, and sugar beets; livestock and fishing are also a key part of the local economy.

   Important industries include small electronics, engineering, and communications equipment. Private and mixed ownership of enterprises is comparatively high in the region. Due to its location, a vibrant banking sector has grown since 1991. Foreign investment is also robust, and includes a Russian-Italian industrial zone in Velikiye Luki; however, the region trails its neighbors Leningrad and Novgorod in attracting investments from abroad, and unemployment is a perennial problem. Tourism and recreation are also drivers of the regional economy. The region is plagued by demographic challenges, including one of the highest death rates in the Russian Federation.

   Disputes over the border with Latvia were an issue for the region in the 1990s; however, the issue was resolved in 2007. Estonia renounced its territorial claims to the area in the mid-1990s. In the 1990s, the region’s politics tended toward the extreme, and the ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky found ample support in the region during his run for the presidency. The potential encroachment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the region’s borders and the oblast’s function as the first stop for returning Russian soldiers from the Baltic States is seen as the catalyst for right-wing support. In 1996, a member of the Liberal Democrat Party of Russia (LDPR) and representative in the State Duma, Yevgeny Mikhailov, won the governorship by defeating the Yeltsinappointed incumbent, Vladislav Tumanov, of the Our Home—Russia political party.

   In the mid-1990s, Mikhailov secured the border and increased customs revenues; he was also a strong advocate of the union with Belarus. By 2000, however, Mikhailov abandoned the LDPR for the pro-government United Russia party, and won reelection. In 2004, he lost a runoff election to local businessman Mikhail Kuznetsov. During his tenure, he sought to attenuate local conditions in order to increase investment from the Baltic States as well as China. Dmitry Medvyedev appointed Andrey Turkchak in early 2009, following Kuznetsov’s dismissal after a disagreement with the head of the Kremlin administration Sergey Naryshkin. Turkchak is a high-ranking member of the United Russia party and brother of a personal friend of Vladimir Putin.