Ulyanovsk Oblast

   An administrative region of the Russian Federation. The birthplace of Vladimir 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 the Volga River just downstream from the Kuybyshev Reservoir; the region’s second city is Dimitrovgrad. The oblast borders Samara, Saratov, Penza, and the ethnic republics of Mordoviya, Chuvashiya, and Tatarstan. Ulyanovsk covers a territory of 37,300 square kilometers and has a population of more than 1.3 million. While ethnic Russians are a majority (72 percent), the region is ethnically diverse, including Tatars (12 percent), Chuvash (4 percent), Mordvins (4 percent), and others. Approximately 15 percent of the population is of Muslim origin.

   The topography includes large tracts of deciduous forests, and the soil is predominantly chernozem. The region is rich in minerals (chalk, limestone, quartz, and glassmaking sand) and has a major mineral water bottling plant. In terms of local industry, the leading sectors include aircraft (Avistar) and automotive manufacturing (UAZ), textiles, construction, food processing, and woodworking. Agriculture and animal husbandry are important to the regional economy. A small number of oil fields are also under development in the area.

   Not surprising given its association with Lenin, the region was a bastion of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) during the 1990s. In 1995, the KPRF won more than onethird of the State Duma elections in the region and gained the governorship for its candidate, Yury Goryachev, in 1996. Turning the oblast into a “socialist preserve,” Goryachev maintained strict media controls, railed against foreign economic control of Russia, worked against privatization, 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 from Simbirskiie Izvestiia, the local newspaper, 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 by Vladimir Putin in 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 to foreign investment; he had previously ordered administrators to retake high school–level exams in the Russian language to prove their proficiency. Morozov also moved to expand his region’s relations with Azerbaijan, including the erection of a monument to the late president, Heydar Aliyev.

   See Military.