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KRASNODAR TERRITORY: GEM OF RUSSIA’S SOUTH
The Krasnodar Territory is the southernmost border region of Russia. Its area is 76,000 sq km. and it lies on the Kuban-Azov Plain, with its western part including some of the Caucasus Mountain Range. It borders on the Rostov Region in the north and north-east, the Stavropol Territory in the east and Georgia and the Republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia in the south. To the south and west it is washed by the Azov and Black seas, which account for 740 km. of its total 1540 km border.
The Krasnodar Territory is located on the same latitude as Northern Italy and Southern France.
The Krasnodar Territory comprises 48 regions and urban districts, including 26 cities, 21 urban-type settlements and 1717 rural communities. The administrative centre of the Territory is the city of Krasnodar, which marked its 210th anniversary in 2003. Today the city is a major administrative, financial, industrial, scientific, educational and cultural centre, which won the as the titles of Russian City 2002 and Russian City 2003 and has been decorated with the Order of Valour as the most rapidly developing city in the Russian Federation.
The Krasnodar Territory is a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and part of the Southern Federal District.
The Chief Executive (within the powers granted by the Russian Constitution to a constituent entity of the Russian Federation) is the head (Governor) of the Krasnodar Territory Administration, elected by direct ballot for a term of 5 years. On 14 March 2004, Alexander Nikolayevich Tkachev was elected for a second term as the head of the Krasnodar Territory Administration.
The representative body is the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnodar Territory, which is also elected for 5 years. Within the powers of a Russian Federation constituent entity, it passes laws of the Krasnodar Territory that are binding throughout its territory.
The climate in most of the Krasnodar Territory is moderate-continental, though on the Black Sea coast, it is subtropical. The average January temperature is between +5oC in the mountains and 0oC on the lowlands; the respective July temperatures are +13oC and +24oC. The average precipitation is between 400 mm on the plains and 3200 mm or more in the mountains. The average growing period is about 260 days. On the plains is chernozyom (black earth) is the predominant type of soil.
The healthy, Mediterranean-type climate, the warm seas, unique mineral springs and medical muds have earned Kuban the reputation of being one of the environmentally cleanest and most popular holiday and tourist regions in the country.
More than 60 types of mineral are found in the Krasnodar Territory: oil, natural gas, iodine-bromide waters, white clay, marble, limestone, sandstone, iron and apatite ores.
Oil and gas deposits. The Krasnodar Territory is the birthplace of the national oil industry. It has 69 operating oilfields, most of which are located in the western and central foothills (Abinsk, Seversk, Apsheron and Slavyansky Districts). The region produces an annual 1.7-1.8 million metric tons of oil and up to 3 billion cubic metres of natural gas.
The region has the Azov-Kuban fresh groundwater basin, which is the biggest in Europe.
The reserves of ground mineral waters account for 30% of the total reserves in the North Caucasus Region. The region has 42 mineral water springs, 17 of which are currently in operation.
One of the most important natural resources in the Krasnodar Territory is its forests, which cover a total of more than 1.5 million hectares.
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