Kurgan Oblast () is a

federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(an

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

). Its

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

is the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

. According to the 2021 Census, the population was 776,661, down from 910,807 recorded in the 2010 Census.

History

Formed by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 6, 1943. The region included 32 districts of the eastern part of the Chelyabinsk region and 4 districts of the Omsk region with a total population of 975,000. Recipient of the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(1959).

Geography

Kurgan Oblast is located in Southern Russia and is part of the Urals Federal District. It shares borders with

Chelyabinsk Oblast Chelyabinsk Oblast; , is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chel ...

to the west,

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...

to the north-west,

Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is located in Western Siberia, and is administratively part of the Ural Federal District. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous ...

to the north-east, and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

( Kostanay and

North Kazakhstan Region North Kazakhstan Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan, with a population of 522,171. Its capital is Petropavl, with a population of 221,907 people. It is the only region of Kazakhstan in which ethnic Kazakhs don't make up a majority. History ...

) to the south. Lakes Medvezhye and Filatovo are located in the district.

Climate

The oblast has a severe continental climate with long cold winters and warm summers with regular droughts. The average January temperature is , and the average temperature in the warmest month (July) is . Annual precipitation is about .Kurgan Region

Politics

During the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Kurgan CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament. The Charter of Kurgan Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Kurgan Oblast Duma is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Oblast Duma consists of 34 members and exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the

Constitution of Russia The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993 and enacted on 25 December 1993. The latest significant reform occurred in 2020, marked by extensive amendments that altered various sections ...

. After the last elections held in 2015 the United Russia Party currently holds the majority of seats in the Oblast Duma. Elections of deputies of the Kurgan Regional Duma of the VII convocation are scheduled for 2020.

Administrative divisions

Economy

Kurgan Oblast borders on the oil- and gas-bearing districts of

and is also close to similar districts in

Tomsk Oblast Tomsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited loca ...

. Large oil and gas pipelines pass through its territory, and Ural and Siberian oil refineries are fairly close. The main industrial centers are

, and

Shadrinsk Shadrinsk () is a town in Kurgan Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Iset River ( Ob's basin) northwest of Kurgan. Population: History Shadrinsk was founded in 1662 as an agricultural and trade settlement. Shadrinsk hosted th ...

. The oblast does not have large economic mineral reserves; therefore, it has developed mainly on the basis of subindustries associated with processing of agricultural production and assembly and packaging of finished products. The

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

is well developed here, with

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

-packing plants,

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

s, creameries, and powdered milk factories. Modern large-scale industry began developing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when sixteen enterprises from western regions of the country were evacuated here in 1941–1942.

Demographics

Population:

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

(823,722) are the largest ethnic group in the Kurgan Oblast, making up 92.5% of the population. Other prominent ethnic groups in the oblast include

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

(17,017) at 1.9%,

Bashkirs The Bashkirs ( , ) or Bashkorts (, ; , ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Russia. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a Republics of Russia, republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of B ...

(12,257) at 1.4%,

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (Kazakh language, Kazakh: , , , ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They share a common Culture of Kazakhstan, culture, Kazakh language, language and History of Kazakhstan, history ...

(11,939) 1.3%, and

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

(7,080) at 0.8%. Other ethnicities are 2.1%. Additionally, 20,017 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group. Vital statistics for 2024: *Births: 5,508 (7.4 per 1,000) *Deaths: 12,871 (17.2 per 1,000) Total fertility rate (2024):
1.55 children per woman Life expectancy (2021):
Total — 68.29 years (male — 63.29, female — 73.48)

Settlements

Religion

According to a 2012 survey 28.4% of the population of Kurgan Oblast adheres to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

, 6% are nondenominational Christians (with the exclusion of such-defined Protestant churches), 2% are adherents of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, 1% are adherents of the

Slavic native faith The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...

(Rodnovery), and 0.4% are adherents of forms of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

( Vedism,

Krishnaism Krishnaism is a term used in scholarly circles to describe large group of independent Hinduism, Hindu traditions—sampradayas related to Vaishnavism—that center on the devotion to Krishna as ''Svayam Bhagavan'', ''Ishvara'', ''Para Brahman'' ...

Tantrism Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian traditions, also means ...

). In addition, 36% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 14% is

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 12.2% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.

Notable people

* Yuri Balashov (born March 12, 1949), chess grandmaster * Oleg Bogomolov (born October 4, 1950), former Governor of Kurgan Oblast * Fyodor Bronnikov (1827–1902), painter * Dmitri Bushmanov (born September 30, 1978), association football player * Aleksandr Cherepanov (November 21, 1895 – July 6, 1984), lieutenant-general * Dumitru Diacov (born February 10, 1952), Moldovan politician * Viktor Dubynin (February 1, 1943 – November 22, 1992), Army General * Maxim Fadeev (born May 6, 1968), singer-songwriter, composer and producer * Pavel Fitin (December 28, 1907 – December 24, 1971), director of Soviet intelligence * Filipp Golikov (July 30, 1900 – July 29, 1980), Marshal of the Soviet Union * Sergey Gritsevets (July 19, 1909 – September 16, 1939), major, pilot and twice recipient of the honorary title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

. * Gavriil Ilizarov (June 15, 1921 – July 24, 1992), physician * Vyacheslav Kamoltsev (born December 14, 1971), association football player * Svetlana Kapanina (born December 22, 1968), aerobatic pilot * Anatoly Karelin (July 16, 1922 – January 3, 1974), Major General of aviation * Leonid Khabarov (born May 8, 1947), Colonel * Larisa Korobeynikova (born March 26, 1987), fencer * Evgeni Krasilnikov (born April 7, 1965), volleyball player *

Leonid Krasin Leonid Borisovich Krasin (; – 24 November 1926) was a Russians, Russian Soviet Union, Soviet politician, engineer, social entrepreneur, Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet diplomat. In 1924 he became the first List of ambassadors of Russia to ...

(July 3 (15), 1870 – November 24, 1926), politician and diplomat * Ivan Kurpishev (born March 2, 1969), powerlifter * Dmitri Loskov (born February 12, 1974), association football player *

Aleksey Merzlyakov Aleksey Fyodorovich Merzlyakov (; 22 March 1778 – 7 August 1830) was a Russian poet, critic, translator, and professor. Biography Aleksey was born in Dalmatovo, Perm Governorate. He went to Moscow in 1793 to study at Moscow State University, w ...

(March 22, 1778 - August 7, 1830), poet, critic, translator, and professor * Yana Romanova (born May 11, 1983), biathlete * Sergei Rublevsky (born October 15, 1974), chess grandmaster *

Mikhail Ryumin Mikhail Dmitrievich Ryumin Михаил Дмитриевич Рюмин (1 September 1913 – 22 July 1954) was a Soviet security officer and deputy head of the Soviet MGB (Ministry of State Security) who engineered the " Doctors' Plot" in ...

(September 1, 1913 – July 22, 1954), Deputy Head of the Ministry for State Security (Soviet Union) * Yulia Savicheva (born 14 February 1987), singer * Ivan Shadr (February 11, 1887 – April 3, 1941), sculptor and medalist * Alexander Solonik (October 16, 1960 – January 31, 1997), hitman * Elena Temnikova (born April 18, 1985), singer * Alla Vazhenina (born May 29, 1983), weightlifter * Aleksandr Vinogradov (September 9, 1930 – June 14, 2011), journalist and writer * Sergei Vinogradov (April 16, 1958 – December 16, 2010), journalist, translator and writer * Kirill A. Yevstigneyev (February 17, 1917 – August 29, 1996), Major General of aviation

References

Notes

Sources

External links

*
Official website of the Oblast Duma

News portal
{{Use mdy dates, date=August 2012 States and territories established in 1943 Recipients of the Order of Lenin