Russia’s machine-building industry provides for most of the country’s needs, including steam boilers and turbines, electric generators, grain combines, automobiles, and electric locomotives, and fills much of its demand for shipbuilding, electric-power-generating and transmitting equipment, consumer durables, machine tools, instruments, and automation components. Russian factories also produce armaments – including tanks, jet fighters, androckets – which are sold to many countries and contribute significantly to Russia’s export income.
Older automobile factories are located in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, with the largest plants being those at Tolyatti (near Samara) and at Naberezhnye Chelny (in Tatarstan). Smaller producers of road vehicles are based in Miass, Ulyanovsk, and Izhevsk. Foreign trade is pivotal to the Russian economy.
Bounded by the 12 seas of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Oceans, Russia’s 17.1 million sq km include one-eighth of the earth’s inhabited surface area. This makes it the world’s largest country, but Russia is about substance as well as size – offering international visitors a dynamic experience which encompasses unique geography and diverse cultures. Dynamism is a hallmark of the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, also known as Ekaterinburg; the country’s leading industrial hub and economic powerhouse. Located east of the Ural Mountains, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it is regarded as Russia’s premier city for business and investment.
Often referred to as the unofficial capital of the Urals – the region, where Russia’s largest metallurgical enterprises are concentrated - Yekaterinburg's plants have, throughout history, been used to build some of the world’s greatest landmarks:
You can learn about the city’s industrial past (and present) on one of many city tours; discover the story behind Yekaterinburg’s first metallurgical plant, built in 1704; and see the legendary Uralmash for yourself. Russia’s third city – 1,036 miles (1,667km) east of the Russian capital – has plenty of culture to offer. It is known for the golden-domed Church on the Blood, built in the early 21st century on the site of the 1918 Romanov executions; the Monument to the Founders by the banks of the Iset River; and the nearby Sverdlovsk Regional Local Lore Museum, where exhibits include the Hall of the Romanovs, with personal items that belonged to Russia’s last royal family.
Village of Shartash, founded by members of the Russian sect of Old Believers.
An ironworks and a fortress was established in the village.
The new settlement was named Yekaterinburg in honour of Catherine I, the wife of Peter I the Great. The town grew as the administrative centre for all the ironworks of the Urals region.
Its importance increased after the Great Siberian Highway was built through it.
The Trans-Siberian Railroad linked the city with Siberia.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Yekaterinburg achieved notoriety as the scene ofthe execution of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in July 1918.
Six years later, it was renamed Sverdlovsk in honour of the Bolshevik leader Yakov M. Sverdlov.
City was reverted to its original name - Yekaterinburg.