The Soviet Weekly was a propagandistic newspaper , published from 1942 until 1991, that gave news of the Soviet Union in English. Its stated aim was "to assist in the development of British-Soviet friendship by providing an objective picture of Soviet life and opinion."
64-863: Published by Sovinformburo , the Press Department of the Soviet Union, at the Soviet Embassy in Britain , its first edition (as the Soviet War News Weekly ) appeared in 1942 (the year after the German invasion led to the USSR becoming an ally of the UK). The final issue was that of 5 December 1991, three weeks before the Soviet Union was dissolved . Issued on Thursdays and offering "an up-to-the-minute and authentic picture of
128-564: A delegation led by mining specialist Johann Blüher and statesman Vasily Tatishchev was sent to the Urals . They were entrusted with managing the mining industry, identifying the causes of the collapse and reduction of production at state-owned factories. On 29 December 1720, Tatishchev and Blüher arrive at the Uktus plant, which became their main residence in the Urals. As a result of familiarizing himself with
192-672: A four-link system for the organisation of local authorities, which includes: the Head of Yekaterinburg, who serves as the chairman of the Yekaterinburg City Duma, the Yekaterinburg City Duma, the Administration of the City of Yekaterinburg, and the Chamber of Accounts. According to the charter of Yekaterinburg, the highest official of the municipal formation is the mayor of Yekaterinburg. The mayor
256-547: A municipal division, the City of Yekaterinburg is incorporated as Yekaterinburg Urban Okrug. (2019) (2019) Each district is not a municipal formation, and the historical centre of the city is divided into five inner-city districts (except Chkalovsky and Ordzhonikidzevsky). A district named Akademicheskiy was formed from the parts of Leninsky and Verkh-Isetsky districts on 3 January 2020. On 1 October 2021, more settlements were transferred from Verkh-Isetsky to Akademicheskiy district. The Charter of Yekaterinburg establishes
320-740: A result, the Central Urals are open to the invasion of cold arctic air and continental air from the West Siberian Plain. Equally, warm air masses from the Caspian Sea and the deserts of Central Asia can freely penetrate from the south. Therefore, the weather in Yekaterinburg is characterised by sharp temperature fluctuations and weather anomalies: in winter, from frost at −40 °C to thaw and rain; in summer, from frosts to temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F). The distribution of precipitation
384-646: A working settlement 2 versts from Yekaterinburg upstream ('verkh' in Russian) the Iset River. The plant's dam formed the Verkh-Isetsky pond. Colloquially called by the Russian acronym VIZ, it was a satellite town until in 1926, with a population of over 20,000 people by this time, it was incorporated into Yekaterinburg as the core of the Verkh-Isetsky district. Yekaterinburg was one of the industrial cities of Russia prompted at
448-613: Is determined by the circulation of air masses, relief, and air temperatures. The main part of the precipitation is brought by cyclones with a western air mass transfer, that is, from the European part of Russia, while their average annual amount is 601 mm. The maximum falls on a warm season, during which about 60–70% of the annual amount falls. For the winter period is characterized by snow cover with an average capacity of 40–50 cm. The coefficient of moistening(the ratio of yearly precipitation and potential evaporation ) – 1. According to
512-496: Is elected by universal suffrage, but since 3 April 2018, the procedure for direct elections of the mayor of the City of Yekaterinburg was abolished. The mayor of the city is endowed with representative powers and powers to organize activities and guide the activities of the City Duma. In addition, the mayor of the city exercises other powers such as concluding a contract with the head of the city administration and ensuring compliance with
576-432: Is endowed with its own powers to resolve issues of local importance, but it is under the control and accountable to the Yekaterinburg City Duma. The building of the Administration of Yekaterinburg is located on 1905 Square . The Chamber of Accounts is a permanently operating body of external municipal financial control. The Chamber is formed by the apparatus of the City Duma and is accountable to it. The Chamber consists of
640-574: Is exercised by the governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast, the legislative power by the legislative assembly of Sverdlovsk Oblast, and the judicial power by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, located in the building of the Palace of Justice. The building serving the regional government is the White House and the building serving the legislative assembly is located next to it on October Square. The ministries of
704-567: Is in North Asia, close to the Ural Mountains (which divide Europe from Asia), 1,667 km (1,036 mi) east of the nation's capital Moscow. The city has a total area of 1,111 km (429 sq mi). Yekaterinburg is on the eastern side of the Urals. The city is surrounded by wooded hills, partially cultivated for agricultural purposes. Yekaterinburg is located on a natural watershed, so there would be many bodies of water close and in
SECTION 10
#1733317782467768-533: Is one of Russia's most important economic centres and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup . The city is currently experiencing an economic and population boom, which resulted in some of the tallest skyscrapers of Russia being located in the city. Yekaterinburg is home to the headquarters of the Central Military District of the Russian Armed Forces , as well as the presidium of
832-629: The Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant in Chelyabinsk oblast , and Uralmash in Sverdlovsk. During this time, the population of Sverdlovsk tripled in size, and it became one of the fastest-growing cities of the Soviet Union. At that time, very large powers were given to the regional authorities. By the end of the 1930s, there were 140 industrial enterprises, 25 research institutes, and 12 higher education institutions in Sverdlovsk. During World War II,
896-467: The Holy Trinity Cathedral in the city. Other religions practised in Yekaterinburg include Islam , Old Believers , Catholicism , Protestantism , and Judaism . Yekaterinburg has a significant Muslim community, but it suffers from a lack of worship space: there are only two small mosques . Another mosque was built in the nearby city of Verkhnyaya Pyshma . On 24 November 2007, the first stone
960-504: The SCO and BRIC summits were held in Yekaterinburg, which greatly improved the economic, cultural, and tourist situation in the city. On 13–16 July 2010, a meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel took place in the city. In 2018, Yekaterinburg hosted four matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and hosted the inaugural University International Sports Festival in 2023. Geographically, Yekaterinburg
1024-641: The Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore , at the Hermitage , at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences, and at other museums. The first Russian settlements within the boundaries of modern Yekaterinburg appeared in the second half of the 17th century — in 1672, an Old Believers village arose in the area of Shartash lake (this fact is disputed by historians, since no evidence of
1088-568: The fall of Kiev in 1941. Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District , Russia. The city is located on the Iset River between the Volga-Ural region and Siberia , with a population of roughly 1.5 million residents, up to 2.2 million residents in the urban agglomeration. Yekaterinburg is
1152-588: The fourth-largest city in Russia, the largest city in the Ural Federal District, and one of Russia's main cultural and industrial centres. Yekaterinburg has been dubbed the "Third capital of Russia", as it is ranked third by the size of its economy, culture, transportation and tourism. Yekaterinburg was founded on 18 November 1723 and named after the Orthodox name of Catherine I (born Marta Helena Skowrońska),
1216-563: The 1960s, under the direction of Nikita Khrushchev 's government. In 1977, Ipatiev House was demolished by order of Boris Yeltsin in accordance to a resolution from the Politburo in order to prevent it from being used as a rallying location for monarchists . Yeltsin later became the first President of Russia and represented the people at the funeral of the former Tsar in 1998. There was an anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk in April and May 1979, which
1280-616: The Collegium decree of 10 December 1721, he was removed from the leadership of mining affairs in the Urals. In 1722, by decree of Peter the Great, a mining engineer, Major General Georg Wilhelm de Gennin , was sent to the Urals in place of Tatishchev. Having studied all the circumstances, de Gennin fully supported Tatishchev’s project, and on 12 March 1723, construction of the plant on Iset resumed. Russian historian Vasily Tatishchev and Russian engineer Georg Wilhelm de Gennin founded Yekaterinburg with
1344-479: The Duma is 36 deputies (18 deputies were elected in single-mandate constituencies and 18 in a single electoral district). Residents of the city elect deputies on the basis of universal suffrage for a period of 5 years. The executive and administrative body of the municipal formation is the Administration of the City of Yekaterinburg, led by the head of the Administration, currently held by Aleksandr Yacob. The administration
SECTION 20
#17333177824671408-476: The Great Zlatoust Church was restored in 2012. On 17 April 2010, the city was visited by Patriarch Kirill . Yekaterinburg is the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast . Within the framework of the administrative divisions , it is, together with twenty-nine rural localities , incorporated as the City of Yekaterinburg, an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts . As
1472-690: The Lutheran Church of Yekaterinburg and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Anne (a new Catholic St. Anne's Church was built in 2000) were demolished as well. Other churches were used as warehouses and industrial sites. The only religious building in Yekaterinburg in the Soviet era was the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Recently, some churches are being rebuilt. Since 2006, according to the surviving drawings,
1536-464: The Russian Constitution, Russian legislation, the city charter, and other normative acts. In the event of a temporary absence of the mayor of Yekaterinburg, his authority under his written order is exercised by the deputy mayor of Yekaterinburg. The representative body of the municipal formation is the Yekaterinburg City Duma, which represents the city's entire population. The membership of
1600-644: The Soviet Union started on 22 June 1941, opening the Eastern Front of World War II . On 24 June 1941 a directive of Sovnarkom and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union established the Sovinformburo "to bring into the limelight international events, military developments, and day-to-day life through printed and broadcast media". During World War II the Sovinformburo directed
1664-515: The Sverdlovsk Region are located in the building of the regional government, as well as in other separate buildings of the city. Yekaterinburg serves as the centre of the Ural Federal District. As a result, it serves as the residence of the presidential envoy , the highest official of the district and part of the administration of the President of Russia. The residence is located the building of
1728-567: The TV adaptation of Diana Gabaldon 's Outlander series, recounts surprise in learning no other child's family had Soviet Weekly delivered. Soviet Information Bureau Soviet Information Bureau ( Russian : Советское информационное бюро , romanized : Sovetskoye informatsionnoye byuro ), commonly known as Sovinformburo ( Совинформбюро ) was a leading Soviet news agency , operating under that name from 1941 to 1961 when its name changed to RIA Novosti . The Axis invasion of
1792-523: The USSR", it had a modest cover price (6d, or two and a half pence, in 1967), but most issues were distributed free. In 1946, the weekly print-run was 75,000. One of its early editors was the screenwriter, novelist and (later) pagan, Stewart Farrar (1916-2000). Mary Rosser-Hicks (1937-2010), the future chief executive of the Peoples Printing Press socialist daily the Morning Star , worked for
1856-817: The Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences . Yekaterinburg is famous for its constructivist architecture and is also considered the "Russian capital of street art ". The area was settled in prehistory. The earliest settlements date to 8000–7000 BC, in the Mesolithic period . The Isetskoe Pravoberezhnoye I archaeological site contains a Neolithic settlement dated to 6000–5000 BC. It includes stone processing workshops with artefacts such as grinding plates, anvils, clumps of rock, tools, and finished products. Over 50 different types of rock and minerals were used in tool making, indicating extensive knowledge of
1920-524: The Yekaterinburg Time, which is five hours ahead of UTC (UTC+5), and two hours ahead of Moscow Time . The city possesses a humid continental climate ( Dfb ) under the Köppen climate classification . It is characterised by sharp variability in weather conditions, with well-marked seasons. The Ural Mountains, despite their insignificant height, block air from the west, from the European part of Russia. As
1984-687: The activity of the All-Slavic Anti-Fascist Committee , the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women , the Anti-Fascist Committee of the Soviet Youth , the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Scientists and the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC). In 1944 a special bureau on propaganda for foreign countries was set up as part of Sovinformburo. In 1961 the Sovinformburo was transformed into Novosti Press Agency which
Soviet Weekly - Misplaced Pages Continue
2048-458: The beginning of the 18th century by decrees of Tsar Peter the Great which demanded the development of the metalworking industry. With extensive use of iron, the city was built to a regular square plan with ironworks and residential buildings at the centre. These were surrounded by fortified walls so that Yekaterinburg was at the same time both a manufacturing centre and a fortress at the frontier between Europe and Asia. It, therefore, found itself at
2112-637: The boundaries of modern Yekaterinburg. In 1704, the Shuvakish ironworks was built (now the territory of the Zheleznodorozhny district of the city). With the beginning of active construction of factories in the Urals in the 18th century, relations with their southern neighbors, the Bashkirs , became strained. As a result of the Bashkir raid in 1709, the village of Verkhny Uktus was devastated, all buildings, including
2176-471: The chairman, deputy chairman, auditors and staff. The structure and number of staff of the chamber, including the number of auditors, is determined by the decision of the City Duma. The term of office of the Chamber staff is 5 years. The Chamber of Accounts is a legal entity. In accordance with the regional charter, Yekaterinburg is the administrative centre of the Sverdlovsk Oblast. The executive power
2240-589: The city became the headquarters of the Ural Military District on the basis of which more than 500 different military units and formations were formed, including the 22nd Army and the Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. Uralmash became the main production site for armoured vehicles. Many state technical institutions and whole factories were relocated to Sverdlovsk away from cities affected by war (mostly Moscow), with many of them staying in Sverdlovsk after
2304-486: The city. The city is bisected by the Iset River , which flows from the Urals into the Tobol River . There are two lakes in the city, Lake Shuvakish and Lake Shartash. The city borders Verkh-Isetskiy Pond, through which the Iset River flows. Lake Isetskoye and Lake Baltym are both near the city, with Lake Isetskoye located near Sredneuralsk , and Lake Baltym located near the towns of Sanatornyy and Baltym. Yekaterinburg uses
2368-424: The construction of a massive iron-making plant under the decree of Russian emperor Peter the Great in 1723. They named the city after the emperor's wife, Yekaterina, who later became empress regnant Catherine I . Officially, the city's founding date is 18 November 1723, when the shops carried out a test run of the bloomery for trip hammers. The plant was commissioned 6 days later, on 24 November. 1723 also saw
2432-721: The control of the White movement in which a provisional government was established. The Red Army took back the city and restored Soviet authority on 14 July 1919. In the years following the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War , political authority of the Urals was transferred from Perm to Yekaterinburg. On 19 October 1920, Yekaterinburg established its first university, the Ural State University , as well as polytechnic, pedagogical, and medical institutions under
2496-585: The decree of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin . Enterprises in the city ravaged by the war were nationalised, including: the Metalist (formerly Yates) Plant, the Verkh-Isetsky (formerly Yakovleva) Plant, and the Lenin flax-spinning factory (formerly Makarov). In 1924, the city of Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlovsk after the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov . By the 1934, following a series of administrative reforms carried by
2560-543: The dictates of a fairy tale. They dropped the forest, prepared a place for the dam, laid blast furnaces, raised the rampart, set up barracks and houses for the authorities... ". In 1722–1726 the Verkhne-Uktussky mining plant was built, which was officially called the plant of the princess Elizabeth (the future village of Elizabeth, or Elizavetinskoe) and became a part of modern Yekaterinburg in 1934. In 1726, Wilhelm de Gennin founded an auxiliary Verkh-Isetsky plant with
2624-478: The early Soviet government, the earliest Russian settlements which predated Yekaterinburg and laid the basis of its founding, were incorporated into the city proper. During the reign of Stalin, Sverdlovsk was one of several places developed by the Soviet government as a centre of heavy industry. Old factories were reconstructed and new large factories were built, especially those specialised in machine-building and metalworking. These plants included Magnitogorsk and
Soviet Weekly - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-574: The early hours of the morning of 17 July, the deposed Tsar, his wife Alexandra , and their children Grand Duchesses Olga , Tatiana , Maria , Anastasia , and Tsarevich Alexei were murdered by the Bolsheviks at the Ipatiev House. Other members of the Romanov family were killed at Alapayevsk later the same day. The Legions arrived less than a week later and captured the city. The city remained under
2752-505: The establishment of Yekaterinburg fortress , which would encompass many of the settlement's earliest buildings. Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak very vividly described the beginning of the construction of a mining plant and a fortress: "Imagine completely deserted banks of the Iset river, covered with forest. In the spring of 1723, soldiers from Tobolsk, peasants of the assigned settlements, hired craftsmen appeared, and everything around came to life, as if by
2816-472: The failure of the coup and subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city regained its historical name of Yekaterinburg on 23 September 1991. However, Sverdlovsk Oblast, of which Yekaterinburg is the administrative centre, kept its name. In the 2000s, an intensive growth of trade, business, and tourism began in Yekaterinburg. In 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder negotiated in Yekaterinburg. On 15–17 June 2009,
2880-452: The founding of the village at that time was found in the sources), and in 1680–1682, the villages of Nizhny and Verkhny Uktus appeared on the banks of Uktus River (now the territory of the Chkalovsky district of the city). In 1702, by the initiative of the head of Sibirskiy prikaz Andrew Vinius , the Uktus state ironwork plant was founded near Nizhny Uktus — the first ironworks within
2944-425: The heart of Russia's strategy for further development of the entire Ural region. The so-called Siberian Route became operational in 1763 and placed the city on an increasingly important transit route, which led to its development as a focus of trade and commerce between east and west, and gave rise to the description of the city as the "window to Asia". With the growth in trade and the city's administrative importance,
3008-640: The help of American donations, finished in 2001. A synagogue was opened in 2005, on the same place a 19th-century synagogue was demolished in 1962. Most of the city's religious buildings were destroyed during the Soviet era, in addition to the synagogue, the three largest Orthodox churches in Yekaterinburg were demolished – the Epiphany Cathedral, the Ekaterininsky Cathedral, and the Great Zlatoust Church . Other Christian churches such as
3072-415: The ironworks became less critical, and the more important buildings were increasingly built using expensive stone. Small manufacturing and trading businesses proliferated. In 1781 Russia's empress, Catherine the Great, granted Yekaterinburg town status and nominated it as the administrative centre for the wider region within Perm Governorate . In 1807, the role of the capital of the mining and smelting region
3136-420: The late 19th century, Yekaterinburg became one of the centres of revolutionary movements in the Urals. In 1924, after the Russian SFSR founded the Soviet Union , the city was renamed Sverdlovsk after the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov . During the Soviet era, Sverdlovsk was turned into an industrial and administrative powerhouse. On 23 September 1991 the city returned to its historical name. Yekaterinburg
3200-414: The only Koptyak culture burials discovered in the Ural Mountains . In the Bronze Age , the people of Gamayun culture lived in the area. They left fragments of ceramics, weapons, and ornaments. Archaeological artifacts in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg were first discovered during railway construction, at the end of the 19th century. Excavation and research began in the 20th century. Artifacts are held at
3264-469: The paper until 1975, as did South African anti-apartheid activist Shanthie Naidoo during the early 1970s. Soviet and Russian photographer Yuriy Abramochkin worked in Soviet Weekly for almost 40 years. The comedian and writer Alexei Sayle has described how this was the newspaper his Communist parents read during his upbringing in Liverpool in the 1950s and 1960s. As a child growing up in Glasgow , Graham McTavish , who played Dougal MacKenzie in
SECTION 50
#17333177824673328-417: The region's natural resources. The Gamayun peninsula (left bank of the Verkh-Isetsky Pond) has archaeological findings from the Chalcolithic Period : workshops for producing stone tools (upper area) and two dwellings of the Ayat culture (lower area). There are also traces of the Koptyak culture from 2000 BC: dishes decorated with bird images and evidence of metallurgical production. The Tent I site contains
3392-427: The regional government on October Square near the Iset River embankment. In addition, Yekaterinburg serves as the centre of the Central Military District and more than 30 territorial branches of the federal executive bodies, whose jurisdiction extends not only to Sverdlovsk Oblast, but also to other regions in the Ural Mountains, Siberia, and the Volga Region. According to the results of the September 2013 elections,
3456-406: The results of the 2021 Census , the population of Yekaterinburg was 1,544,376 ; up from 1,349,772 recorded in the 2010 Census . As of 2021, the ethnic composition of Yekaterinburg was: Religion in Yekaterinburg (2024) Christianity is the predominant religion in the city, of which most are adherents to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Yekaterinburg and Verkhotursky diocese is located in
3520-423: The state of nearby state-owned factories, Tatishchev came to the conclusion that on the basis of these factories, even if they were reconstructed and expanded, it would not be possible to quickly increase the production of iron, and it would be more profitable to build a new large plant. After inspecting the immediate area, together with the commissary of the Uktus plant, Timofey Burtsev, a place rich in ore and forest
3584-431: The victory. The Hermitage Museum collections were also partly evacuated from Leningrad to Sverdlovsk in July 1941 and remained there until October 1945. In the postwar years, new industrial and agricultural enterprises were put into operation and massive housing construction began. The lookalike five-story apartment blocks that remain today in Kirovsky, Chkalovsky, and other residential areas of Sverdlovsk sprang up in
3648-401: The wife of Russian Emperor Peter the Great . The city served as the mining capital of the Russian Empire as well as a strategic connection between Europe and Asia. In 1781, Catherine the Great gave Yekaterinburg the status of a district town of Perm Province , and built the historical Siberian Route through the city. Yekaterinburg became a key city to Siberia, which had rich resources. In
3712-442: The wooden church and chapel, were burned, the residents fled to the protection of the Uktus plant fortifications. On the night of 5 April 1718, a fire destroyed all the factory buildings of the Uktus plant, except for the dam, and the plant was restored only by 1720 under the supervision of Timofey Burtsev. However, the plant did not receive further development due to the lack of water in Uktus river. In 1720, by decree of Peter I ,
3776-450: The world's gold was mined in Yekaterinburg. This is the first ever "Gold Rush". Until 1876, 80% of the coins in circulation in the Russian Empire were produced at the Yekaterinburg mint. Following the October Revolution , the family of deposed Tsar Nicholas II was sent to internal exile in Yekaterinburg where they were imprisoned in the Ipatiev House in the city. In July 1918, the Czechoslovak Legions were closing on Yekaterinburg. In
3840-447: Was attributed to a release from the Sverdlovsk-19 military facility . During the 1991 coup d'état attempt , Sverdlovsk, the home city of President Boris Yeltsin, was selected by him as a temporary reserve capital for the Russian Federation, in case Moscow became too dangerous for the Russian government. A reserve cabinet headed by Oleg Lobov was sent to the city, where Yeltsin enjoyed strong popular support at that time. Shortly after
3904-452: Was chosen on the banks of the more full-flowing Iset River , 7 versts from Uktus. On 6 February 1721, Tatishchev sent a message to the Collegium of Mining , in which he asked permission to begin construction of the plant, with detailed explanations and justification for this project. On 1 March 1721, without waiting for a response from the Collegium, Tatishchev began construction of the new plant, but he failed to convince Collegium, and by
SECTION 60
#17333177824673968-412: Was confirmed by assigning it the status of the only "mountain city" in Russia. Until 1863, Yekaterinburg remained subordinate to the head of the mining plants of the Ural ridge , the minister of finance and personally to the emperor, and enjoyed considerable freedom from the governor's power. Since the 1830s, mountainous Yekaterinburg has become the center of mechanical engineering. In 1820–1845, 45% of
4032-428: Was laid in the construction of a large Cathedral Mosque with four minarets , and space for 2,500 parishioners in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral and a synagogue , thus forming the "area of the three religions". The mosque was planned to be built for the SCO summit, but due to funding problems, construction did not move from zero and is now frozen. Construction of a Methodist church started in 1992, and with
4096-585: Was succeeded by RIA Novosti in 1991 and, in 2013, by International Information Agency Russia Today . Yuri Levitan made the radio announcements on Radio Moscow (known for its " Wide is My Motherland " call-sign). While Radio Moscow always started its announcements with the words "Moscow is speaking" ( Govorit Moskva ), during the Axis aggression against the Soviet Union in World War II broadcasts came from Sverdlovsk (today Yekaterinburg ) until 1943, when activity moved to Kuibyshev (present-day Samara ) until 1945. The Soviet Information Bureau never announced
#466533