Astrakhan Oblast

   An administrative region of the Russian Federation. Part of the Southern Federal District and Volga Economic Region, Astrakhan lies on the Caspian Sea and is adjacent to Kalmykiya, Volgograd, and western Kazakhstan. With slightly over a million inhabitants, the region covers an area of 44,100 square kilometers, much of which is semidesert lowlands except around the Volga-Akhtuba deltas, where the region’s agricultural base is located. Chief industries include meat and salt production, as well as transport of oil from Azerbaijan and shipping traffic to and from Iran. The region is a transit zone for illicit narcotics and has the second-highest number of drug-trafficking arrests in the country. The region also possesses substantial natural resources such as natural gas, oil, and sulphur.

   The administrative center is Astrakhan (pop. 502,000), formerly known as Khaji-Tarkhan; the city lies 22 meters below sea level. Ethnic Russians account for 70 percent of the population; the remainder are mostly Muslim peoples, including Kazakhs (14 percent) and Tatars (7 percent). Recent in-migration of Tajiks and people from the North Caucasus has increased the ratio of Muslims to non-Muslims in the region and triggered a popular backlash against migrants. The regional governor is Aleksandr Zhilkin, who has made expansion of trade and transport with Turkmenistan a central part of his administration. He assumed the office when his predecessor, Anatoly Guzhvin, died of a heart attack while on vacation in 2004. Zhilkin was popularly elected to the post later that year.