Ryazan Oblast

   An administrative region of the Russian Federation. Ryazan Oblast is located in the Central Economic Region and Federal District. It has an area of 39,600 square kilometers and a population of 1.2 million, placing it in the lower midrange of Russia’s federal subjects in both categories. The region shares borders with Moscow Oblast, as well as Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Tambov, Lipetsk, Tula, and Mordoviya. Due to its proximity to Moscow, the region enjoys well-developed transportation links to other parts of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. One of Russia’s oldest towns, Ryazan (pop. 520,000) is home to Russia’s Higher Airborne Command academy, and a strategic air force base is found just outside the city at Dyagilevo.

   The region is well forested; the Oka River and Don tributaries are its major rivers. Much of the region was exposed to radiation during the Chernobyl disaster, though agriculture continues to be an important part of the regional economy, thus sustaining a rural-urban cleavage that has long characterized the oblast’s economic character. The area is heavily industrialized and enjoys a number of institutions of higher education. Principal industries include automotive, oil refining, electronics, agricultural equipment, glass, and petrochemicals. The economy has grown steadily in recent years, and the region has attracted more than 50 foreign investment projects; unemployment is not a major problem in the oblast.

   Reflecting the industrial-agrarian nature of the region, rural interests entered into a junior partnership with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) in the 1990s, placing it squarely within the so-called Red Belt. The KPRF candidate, Gennady Merkulov, won the 1996 gubernatorial elections, after having secured dominance in the regional Duma the year before. Federal authorities, however, removed the KPRF candidate, replacing him with Igor Ivlev; Moscow’s man, however, was not able to fend off Vyacheslav Lyubimov, the KPRF candidate with strong backing from Gennady Zyuganov, who won the ensuing election. Lyubimov emerged as a staunch defender of Serbia in the late 1990s, advocating the country’s admission to the Russia-Belarus Union. In 2004, Lyubimov failed to advance to the runoff in the gubernatorial elections; he was replaced by former CommanderinChief of Russia’s Airborne Troops Georgy Shpak. The former general ran on the Rodina ticket defeating a pro-Kremlin candidate, becoming his party’s first regional governor. In 2008, Vladimir Putin put forth Oleg Kovalev as governor in March 2008. The region is a bastion of the Russian National Unity (RNU) party and other far right-wing organizations, and has been the site of attacks on Jews and other ethnic minorities.