Segezha (; ; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and the

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 ...

of Segezhsky District of the

Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia, or simply Karelia or Karjala (; ) is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the Northwest Russia, northwest of the country. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of ...

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 ...

, located north of

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022. ...

on the Segezha River and on the western shore of

Lake Vygozero Lake Vygozero (; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Republic of Karelia, in the northwestern part of Russia. It has an area of , and is part of the Vyg drainage in the White Sea basin. From 1933 it has been a part of the White Sea–Baltic C ...

. Population:

History

The town was founded as a railway station on Murmansk Railway in 1915. A small settlement grew around the station; it was granted town status in 1943. The area around Segezha held many of the early camps within 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 ...

gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

system and was known as Segezhlag. Segezha is still where Penal Colony 7 is located (). In June 2011,

Mikhail Khodorkovsky Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman, Russian oligarchs, oligarch, and Russian opposition, opposition activist, now residing in London. In 2003, Khodork ...

was moved here to serve his sentence. Russian activist Ildar Dadin writes that he was tortured in this prison in September 2016.Ildar Dadin: deadly torture in Karelian prison
The Independent Barents Observer AS, 2016

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Segezha serves as the

of Segezhsky District, to which it is directly subordinated.Law #871-RZK As a municipal division, the

of Segezha is incorporated within Segezhsky Municipal District as Segezhskoye Urban Settlement.Law #813-RZK

Economy

Segezha is the location of the Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill, one of the largest pulp and paper companies in Russia.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Authority control Cities and towns in the Republic of Karelia Povenetsky Uyezd Populated places in Segezhsky District Populated places established in 1914