Belgorod Oblast

   An administrative region of the Russian Federation. Part of the Southern Federal District and the Central Black Earth Economic Region, Belgorod borders Voronezh, Kursk, and northeastern Ukraine. It has a population of 1.5 million and an area of 27,100 square kilometers covering part of the Central Russian Highlands.

   During the 1990s, the region was a reliable part of Russia’s Red Belt, with strong support for the Communist Party as well as the Liberal Democratic Party of Vladimir Zhirinovsky. As a “Black Earth” (chernozem) region, agriculture is highly developed, with grains, sugar beets, and sunflowers being the leading crops. Mining is a key part of the economy, and the region has huge iron-ore deposits, forming part of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly.

   In office since 1993, Yevgeny Savchenko is the region’s governor; he is a member of the Agrarian Party and a strong supporter of Vladimir Putin. He easily defeated his Communist challenger, Vasily Altukhov, in 2003, receiving 61 percent of the vote. Savchenko has led a campaign against delinquency, forbidding swearing in public, imposing a 10:00 p.m. curfew for minors, and limiting the capacity of nightclubs to two persons per square meter. In recent years, he has become embroiled in a conflict over land privatization with the agroconglomerate Inteko. The region’s compact size, fertile soil, well-developed roads, and stable village populations have attracted significant investment from large agrobusinesses.