Regional flags and emblems
PROFILE
Established 27 September 1937
Capital Smolensk
The Smolensk Region is part of the Central Federal District
Area 49,800 sq km
Population 863 100 (2024)
Ethnic groups
(2020 national census, %)
Russian – 94,71
Other – 5,29
Administrative divisions (2024)
Municipal districts – 25
City districts – 2
Rural towns – 23
Rural districts – 133
Geography and climate
The Smolensk Region is located in the central East European Plain, which includes the Smolensk and Vyazma uplands (up to 319 m altitude).
The region borders on the Pskov, Tver, Moscow, Kaluga, and Bryansk regions; it shares a state border with the Republic of Belarus.
The region has 1,149 rivers, 160 lakes, four reservoirs (Desnogorskoye, Sashnovskoe and Vazuzsko-Yauzskoye), glacial-origin lakes like Kasplya, Svaditskoye, Velisto, and others . The major rivers are the Dnieper and its tributaries: the Sozh, Desna, Vop and Vyazma.
The climate in the region is temperate continental. January temperatures average –3.3°C, July temperatures average +17.2°C.
The region is home place to the Smolenskoye Poozerye National Park, the Khmelita State Historical and Cultural Nature Reserve and Museum, Gagarinsky Nature Park and eight regional nature reserves.
Government
The legislative branch is represented by the Smolensk Region Duma, which is the permanent, representative and only body of legislative authority in the region.
The Smolensk Region Duma has 48 deputies, with 32 of them running in single-mandate constituencies and the other 16 in the single electoral district in proportion to the number of votes cast for lists of candidates nominated by electoral associations.
The current Smolensk Region Duma was elected in September 2023. Its term expires in September 2028.
The executive branch in the Smolensk Region is represented by the highest-ranking official of the Smolensk Region, the supreme executive body – the Administration of the Smolensk Region and other executive agencies in the Smolensk Region.
The Governor of the Smolensk Region is the highest-ranking official of the region who exercises the executive authority in the region and heads the Administration of the Smolensk Region. The Governor is elected for five years by Russian citizens who permanently reside in the region. The term of office of the current incumbent expires in September 2028.
The Administration of the Smolensk Region is the region’s supreme permanent executive authority.
Economy and natural resources
The main sector of the region’s economy is manufacturing, accounting for over 30% of the regional GDP, with about 2,000 industrial facilities.
The major industries are nuclear and thermal power engineering, jewellery production, machine building and instrument engineering, wood processing, chemical, textile and food industries, as well as consumer goods and construction materials production.
There are major food, wood processing, and pulp and paper production facilities, which account for over 70% of the total industrial production in the region.
The region is rich in low-energy brown coals, peat, sapropel, phosphorites, calcareous tuff, sand and gravel, building and glass sands, fireproof clays, cement raw materials, building carbonates, ceramic raw materials, expanded clay, and rock salt.
Agriculture accounts for about 6% of the regional GDP. Agriculture is mainly focused on the development of dairy and beef cattle breeding, meat and dairy processing, small business support, flax production, seed farming, potato growing, etc. Livestock breeding is the backbone of agriculture economy and accounts for about 80% of goods on the market. Dairy cattle breeding is the most developed. Implementing large-scale investment projects in the sphere of livestock breeding is the region’s key priority.
Culture and tourism
The Smolensk Region is rich in historical and architectural monuments, including famous churches, cathedrals and monasteries. The most famous of these are the 17th century Assumption Cathedral, the 12th century Church of Archangel Michael, and the early 13th century Abraham Monastery of the Transfiguration of Our Savior. Smolensk alone has about 30 monuments and memorials, including the Scorched Flower, erected to honour the children perished in Nazi concentration camps.
The Gnezdovo Historical, Archaeological and Nature Reserve, located 12 km from Smolensk is home to famous burial mounds and settlements dating back to Old Rus.
The regional attractions also include: the Smolensk fortress wall, built in the late 16th century; the Talashkino Historical and Artistic Reserve, the Memorial to the 1812 Smolensk Defenders, the monument to Mikhail Kutuzov, the Khmelita Historical, Cultural and Nature Reserve, based at the prominent Russian writer Alexander Griboyedov’s museum-estate, and Mikhail Glinka’s Novospasskoye museum-estate.
The region is also home place to the Smolenskoye Poozerye National Park, which includes 35 exceptionally beautiful lakes of glacial origin. The national park was created to preserve nature and study the local flora and fauna. Many of the plants growing in the park are listed in the Red Data Book.
Around 20,000 tourists annually visit the Smolensk Region. Some of the major events in the region are: the annual Solovyova Pereprava tourist festival, the Lubino military-historical festival, the Golden Phoenix film festival, the Glinka national music festival and the Potyomkinskiye Zabavy youth tourist festival.