Volzhsk, Republic of Mari El

Location. Volzhsk was built on the left bank of the Volga (Kuibyshev Reservoir), at the southernmost point of the Mari El Republic, 101 kilometers south of Yoshkar-Ola and only 49 kilometers from the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan. The city is closely connected with Zelenodolsk (it is only 12 kilometers east of it - and also in the Republic of Tatarstan, like Kazan).

Briefly about the city. Volzhsk is an industrial center and the second largest city in the republic. The date of its foundation is considered to be 1940 - it was then that a village arose on the banks of the Volga in connection with the construction of woodworking factories and especially the Mari Pulp and Paper Mill. It was named Lopatino.

In fact, the creation of the plant became a city-forming factor: as a result of the need to accommodate people, housing construction developed, and the construction of public utilities, kindergartens, and schools began. With the development of the enterprise, the village also grew, which in 1940 received the status of a city and the name Volzhsk.

In the 1990s, Volzhsk tried to come under the jurisdiction of the Tatarstan authorities. Then the city was virtually ruined: its debts on utility bills amounted to huge amounts, even on the scale of Mari El. Due to debts, interruptions in the supply of water and heat began in Volzhsk, the mayor was arrested. Then the residents of Volzhsk turned to the authorities with a request to transfer the city to the more prosperous Tatarstan, with which they also constantly maintained contacts. The request was not granted. The Republic of Mari El assumed the city's debts.

To date, just over 53.5 thousand people live in the city (data as of the beginning of 2021). The area of Volzhsk is about 39.47 square kilometers.

Authorities. Volzhsk is the center of the Volzhsky district, but is not part of it. The city forms its own urban district "City of Volzhsk". The acting mayor is Alexey Veselov. In Volzhsk there is a City Assembly, it includes 22 deputies. The acting head of the administration of the urban district "City of Volzhsk" is Nikolai Semenov.

Economy. The city's economy for decades was determined by the construction of a series of factories in the late 1960s and 1970s: a hydrolysis-yeast plant, an electromechanical plant, a components and assemblies plant, a gearmotor plant, and a commercial refrigeration equipment plant. On the basis of the last three, the Volzhskprodmash production association later emerged, producing modern lifting and other similar equipment.

In 1987, it was in Volzhsk that the country's first joint Soviet-Italian production of refrigeration equipment, Sovitalprodmash, was created. Four residential microdistricts with developed infrastructure were built for the builders and workers of these enterprises: “Druzhba”, “Mashinostroitel”, “VDK” and “Severny”.

The city-forming enterprises of Mari Pulp and Paper Mill OJSC, Ariada CJSC, Gran OJSC, Sovitalprodmash Plant CJSC, and Volzhsky Electromechanical Plant OJSC are still operating in Volzhsk. At the same time, pulp and paper production occupies a little less than a third of the total industrial production - 29%, mechanical engineering and the production of refrigeration equipment - exactly a third, 33.2%.

There are three construction divisions in the field of construction and production of building materials; they also carry out industrial construction, construction of residential buildings and social and cultural facilities in the city and neighboring regions.

Volzhsk is connected to the capital of the region and the capital of Tatarstan via the Kazan-Yoshkar-Ola highway; along the highway passing through the Cheboksary hydroelectric station between Kazan and Cheboksary; along the branch of the Gorky railway Kazan - Zeleny Dol - Yoshkar-Ola; and also along the Volga.

Attractions. The city has a Museum of Local Lore; This building itself has significance as an architectural monument. Monuments of the same type include the Rodina cinema (for a long time it has been in a dilapidated state, although there is talk of reconstruction), the building of the secondary school Skoda No. 3, the building of the canteen of the woodworking plant, the House of Culture of the MTSBK, the building of the former city committee of the CPSU. Residential areas of German buildings in the central part of the city are of cultural significance.

The most famous of the city monuments is the “Angel of Goodness and Peace” memorial on Vasiliev Square. It was founded in 2012 at the expense of public figure and head of Ariada CJSC V. G. Vasiliev, including as a sign of memory of the events in Beslan.

Tourists are attracted by the “Heart of the City” square, the Alley of Heroes, Victory Square and Park, where the Eternal Flame burns and there is a monument to those who fell in the Great Patriotic War. There are generally many green corners in the city: there is also a Culture and Recreation Park, Druzhba Park, Mashinostroitel Park, Victory Square MTSBK and Oak Grove. In the vicinity of Volzhsk there is the Mari Chodra National Park (its attractions are Maple Mountain, Green Key, Pugachev Oak), many karst lakes (the most visited is Lake Yalchik) and springs.

In Volzhsk there are the MCBC Palace of Culture, the Youth Center, the Zvezdny Palace of Culture and Culture, and the city Culture Center. There are three stadiums, 44 gyms, 2 swimming pools, 2 sports palaces, a ski base and a ski complex.

Famous people. Andrey Baranov, Russian composer, virtuoso guitarist, multi-instrumentalist. Ivan Valeev (usually written as IVAN_VALEEV), Russian musician and singer, rapper. Kamil Samigullin, Supreme Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan. Marat Khairullin, Russian hockey player who played for clubs in the main Russian hockey leagues.

Feedback from a citizen. The city, to put it mildly, is very poor, but the roads are being improved little by little. And it’s quiet, cozy, a lot of greenery. Leave? Those who wanted to have already left.

Volzhsk

E. Starikov

Where the Volga reach roars freely

On the border of three fraternal republics,

The city of Volzhsk has grown imperceptibly,

Changing your appearance every day.

Elections of the President of the Russian Federation. In the Russian presidential elections in March 2021 in Mari El, 263,725 people, or 73.99% of voters in the region, voted for Vladimir Putin. 51,873 votes were cast for Pavel Grudinin (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), which amounted to 14.55% of the total number of voters in the republic who came to the elections; for Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDPR) - 24,516 votes or 6.88%. Ksenia Sobchak (Civil Initiative) received 4821 votes, which amounted to 1.35%. Grigory Yavlinsky (Yabloko), Boris Titov (Growth Party), Maxim Suraikin (Communists of Russia) and Sergei Baburin (Russian National Union) received less than 1% of the votes.

In the Volga urban district, the Communists' results were higher than the average for Mari El: Putin received 72.13% of the votes (20,456 people supported him), Grudinin - 17.57% (4,984 people), Zhirinovsky - 5.46% ( 1548 people), Sobchak - 1.30% (369 people voted for her). The remaining candidates have less than 1% of the votes.

Governor elections . Elections for the head of Mari El were held on September 10, 2021. They were won by Alexander Evstifeev, who has been acting head of the region since April 2021. Together with Evstifeev, who was nominated from United Russia, Natalia Glushchenko (A Just Russia), Valentina Zlobina (Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice) and Albert Fedorov (LDPR) were vying for the post. In the elections they received: Natalia Glushchenko - 8232 votes, that is, she was supported by 3.48% of the total number of voters who came to the elections; Alexander Evstifeev - 208,855 votes, or 88.27%;

Valentina Zlobina – 4159 votes, or 1.76%; Albert Fedorov - 11,982 votes, or 5.06%.

At the same time, in the Volzhsky urban district the results were as follows: Glushchenko received 540 votes (3.10% of the total number of voters), Evstifeev - 15,459 votes (88.86%), Zlobina - 393 votes (2.26%) and Fedorov – 762 votes (4.38%).

Local elections. In April 2021, the mayor of Volzhsk, Alexey Shishkin, who held the post for about two years, resigned, citing personal circumstances. Alexey Veselov became acting mayor. On September 8, 2021, new deputies were elected to the City Assembly in Volzhsk, and these elections brought significant changes. Instead of 22 mandates, as was the case in the previous assembly, the United Russia members in the new composition only got 8. One seat went to A Just Russia, another to the LDPR, and 11 seats went to the communists. Thus, as some media outlets note, in Volzhsk there has essentially been a change of power, since the head of the municipality is also the head of the city assembly and is elected by deputies.

In September, the first session of the new City Assembly announced a competition among those wishing to head the Volga city administration. In addition to Veselov, five people are vying for the position of mayor: Svetlana Timina, deputy mayor for economic issues since December 2015; Andrey Kalugin, deputy of the State Assembly of the republic of the seventh convocation; Dzheppar Ablyazov, pensioner, chairman of the Council of the branch of the A Just Russia party; Elena Senchenko, lawyer, worked in the guardianship authorities of the education department of the Volzhsk administration; Alexander Merdeev, entrepreneur, member of the Bureau of the Committee of the Zelenodolsk branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The competition commission plans to finalize the names of the candidates on November 7, and then set the election date.

Latest Yandex news

Social and political online publication “Mariskaya Pravda”

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The All-Mari Children's Orchestra of Folk Instruments will perform on Republic Day of Mari El

Internet publication “Volzhskaya Pravda” (Volzhsk)

28 of October

Volzhsk police solved a burglary without delay

Newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets in Mari El"

the 25th of October

Territory development projects for 2019 have been completed in the Mari El districts

Volzhsk on Google maps

Economics and transport

The basis of the city's economy is industry. The total number of different enterprises reaches 100 units. They are not related to the extraction of raw materials or their processing. The emphasis is on obtaining the final product. The most significant share is mechanical engineering. This is followed by paper production and other economic activities.

Transport is represented by buses and trains. A minibus taxi system has been developed, for which as many as 18 companies are responsible.

Population and economic situation

Like many other cities, Volzhsk went through the heyday of the Soviet period and the collapse of the 90s. The crisis of the 90s manifested itself especially acutely in this city. The situation was most critical in 1999. However, it was then brought under control and the socio-economic situation began to improve. The crisis of recent years has apparently bypassed this city. The reason could be the city development program adopted in 2015. Active construction of social and communal facilities is underway. Thus, the city has good prospects for improving its demographic indicators.

Volzhsk employment center vacancies

In the city (as of mid-2021) you can find a large number of vacancies. These are mainly engineering specialties, but there are other types of work. The salary picture is quite mixed and similar to the situation in most medium-sized cities in Russia. The minimum starts from 11,163 rubles per month. This salary level is relatively common. You can also often find vacancies with a salary of 15,000 rubles. Higher payments extend up to 35 thousand rubles, with the greatest frequency from 20 to 25 thousand rubles.

Thus, the population of Volzhsk has enough opportunities to get a job.