Belgorod Oblast, Russia

The Belgorod Region is located in the Central Black Earth Region. It borders in the north and northwest on the Kursk region, in the east on the Voronezh region, in the south and west on the Ukrainian Sloboda region: Luhansk, Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

The youngest region of the Soviet times was created in 1954 by separating some districts from the Kursk and Voronezh regions. Probably the main goal of creating the region is the convenience of developing the Kursk magnetic anomaly from the point of view of the Soviet economy. That is why the anomaly is also "Kurskaya", although it is located in the Belgorod region. Similarly, with the largest tank battle, which became a turning point in the Great Patriotic War, it is called the "Kursk Bulge", although the main battles were near Prokhorovka on the territory of the modern Belgorod region.

The region is famous for its good roads, stability, relative prosperity, and a large number of individual housing developments around cities. It also has a very peculiar ethnography: there is no such diversity in folk costumes in any region.

The locals poetically call their area "Belogorye", meaning a large number of chalk hills and limestone deposits.

The state reserve "Belogorye" is the custodian of the gene pool of the Central Russian oak (pedunculate oak).

 

Cities

Belgorod is the administrative center of the region, a city that is famous for its well-being and many interesting monuments (an honest traffic cop, a janitor, the first teacher, "shuttle traders", etc.), color and musical fountains.
Biryuch
Alexeyevka
Novy Oskol
Valuyki
Grayvoron
Korocha
Stary Oskol is the industrial center of the region, the largest iron ore quarry in the world is Lebedinsky, 50 kilometers away is the famous cave Kholkovsky monastery.
Shebekino - three ancient settlements are concentrated around the city (from the Scythians and northerners, to the time of the Belgorod border line), a 550-year-old oak and other natural attractions, the best hunting farms in the region.
Gubkin

 

Other destinations

Town of Rovenki
Village of Ivnya
Prokhorovka and the Military Historical Museum-Reserve "Prokhorovskoe Pole" - the third Military Field of Russia, where the main battle of the "Kursk Bulge" took place in August 1943.
Borisovka
town Chernyanka
Reserve "Belogorye"
Memorial complex "Kursk Bulge"
Kholkovsky cave monastery

Les na Vorskle Nature Reserve

Chalk mountain on the street. Studencheskaya is the site of an ancient wooden fortress built in 1596.
Monument to Prince Vladimir - according to one version, the founder of Belgorod.
Monument to the incorruptible traffic cop
Sundial
Belgorod Art Museum
Belgorod Museum of Folk Culture
The house of the merchant Selivanov (XVIII century), is located at the address: st. Preobrazhenskaya, 38, next to the Belgorodenergo building. Now it houses the Literary Museum and the Energy Museum.
Krapivensky settlement (City of northerners, Busara), Shebekinsky district, with. Nettle. ☎ +7 (47248) 2-73-30 (Shebekinsky History and Art Museum).
Pansky oak (Dmitrievsky oak)

 

Language

Russian. In the Rovno region, Ukrainian and surzhik are also used in everyday life.

 

Getting here

Trains
Road to the South (South of Russia, South of Ukraine). The main transport artery is Moscow-South (Donbass, Crimea, South of Russia). Route: (Moscow) - Tula - Orel - Kursk - Belgorod - Kharkov (Ukraine).
The road to Voronezh can pass through Pristen or Volokonovka.
Commuter trains from Belgorod in three directions: to Kursk (via Prokhorovka, 5 times a day), to Kharkov (to the border with Ukraine, 1 time per day), to Gotnya (via Tomarovka, 1 time per day), diesel to Volchansk ( Ukraine, 1 time per day). There is a high-speed comfortable electric train "Prince Vladimir".
Suburban trains from Valuyki: to Topoli, to Liski, to Rogovoe.
Suburban train from Stary Oskol: to Valuiki (3 times a day).

 

History

History of the Belgorod Region — research and description of the history of the territory where the Belgorod Region is located.

The Belgorod land has absorbed the culture of many ancient peoples: from the Iron Age to the present day. The most striking episodes are associated with the Scythians and Sarmatians, the Alans and Kievan Rus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the times of the Belgorod abatis line, as well as the largest tank battle on the Prokhorov field.

 

Ancient history

Flint tools from the Tikhaya Sosna River near the city of Alekseyevka, from dune sites in the vicinity of the village of Shelayevo, a fragment of a knife-shaped plate of transparent flint from the village of Dmitrievka, a workshop near the village of Sabynino, locations of split flints Kiseleva 1 and 2, flint workshops along the bank of the Urazovaya River: Demino-Aleksandrovka I, XII, Gerasimovka belong to the Paleolithic era. Mesolithic and Neolithic sites have been discovered on Shurovaya Gora near the town of Grayvoron, on Shchuchya Gora near the Vorskla River, and near the villages of Bely Ples, Shelayevo, and Gerasimovka in the Oskol basin.

From the Bronze Age, burial mounds of Indo-European tribes of the Catacomb culture (Valuysky District) remained on the territory of the Belgorod Region.

In the Early Iron Age, the Scythians lived here, and they also left burial mounds. The only ground burial ground of the Scythian period was found in the Chernyansky District. The "Scythian" settlement of the Iron Age is located on the territory of the Krasnogvardeisky District (Verkhnyaya Pokrovka).

In the early Middle Ages, sedentary tribes of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture lived on the territory of the Belgorod Region. Archaeologists have found a number of Alanian fortresses whose walls were made of bricks, for example, near the village of Dmitrievka in the Shebekinsky District (Dmitrievskoye Settlement). A significant Alanian fortification also existed on the site of the later Belgorod Fortress. In the 8th-10th centuries, local Alans recognized the authority of the Khazar Khaganate.

The sample DA189 (600-1000) from the Belgorod Region was identified as having the Y-chromosomal haplogroup R1b1a1a2-M269 and the mitochondrial haplogroup J1b4. The DA190 sample from the Dmitrievskoe burial ground (Cat.171-p.1, 733) was identified as having the mitochondrial haplogroup U1a1c1 and the Y-chromosomal haplogroup G2a1a1-Z6653>G2a-FT61413.

The first Slavs of the Belgorod region were the northerners, the bearers of the Romensko-Borshevo culture, who left behind a number of monuments, for example, the Khotmyzhskoe and Krapivinskoe settlements. They settled next to the Alans, bringing their traditions of building dugouts, farming and weaving to the local culture. Before the campaign of the Russian prince Oleg, the northerners, like the Alans, paid tribute to the Khazars.

The Posemya region was conquered by Rus' in the late 10th - early 11th centuries, most likely in the 990s, during the eastern campaigns of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. All the Roman settlements of Posemya perished in fires.

In ancient Russian times, this territory was part of the Chernigov land. The fortress settlement of Kholki (Chernyansky district) was located here, which, in addition to the Rus', was inhabited by the Alano-Bulgars. Christian burials were found on the territory of the settlement. At the same time, the city of Khotmysl was located in the upper reaches of the Vorskla. The Krapivinskoye settlement also flourished. Everything changed in the 13th century, when the Mongol-Tatar invasion led to the relative desolation of the region. However, the remains of the Golden Horde settlement were also found on the territory of the modern region.

Written sources of the 14th-15th centuries (List of Russian cities far and near, List of cities of Svidrigaila of 1432 and the labels of the Crimean khans) report the existence of the cities of Khotmyshl, Milolyubl and Oskol on the territory of the modern region, which were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In the 15th century, the Tatars of Yegolday settled on the territory of the future Belgorod region. Subsequently, the region became part of the so-called Wild Field.

 

Tsarist times

Since 1500, the territory of the Belgorod region was finally (except for May-December 1918 and November 1941 - August 1943) part of Russia. The Muravsky Shlyakh passed through this territory, along which the Crimean Tatars and Nogais raided the lands of central Russia.

In the 16th century, the construction of the Belgorod Line began here, on which the fortress cities of Valuyki and Oskol (1593), as well as Belgorod (1596) were founded. The population of this line were the so-called Oskol Cossacks, who were classified as Don Cossacks.

With the construction of the Belgorod Line in the 1640s, the need arose to govern a large territory that was important militarily. In 1658, the Belgorod Division (more often called the Belgorod Regiment) was established as a military-administrative unit uniting several counties. A district chancellery was created in Belgorod — the Belgorod discharge order hut. The governor of the Belgorod discharge also headed the Belgorod regiment. In case of military danger, the governors of Orel, Tula, and Yelets were also supposed to come under his command with their detachments. Thus, the Belgorod discharge territorially and administratively covered the entire Slobozhanshchina, that is, in whole or in part, the current Oryol, Kursk, Belgorod, Sumy, Kharkov, and Voronezh regions. The total number of the Belgorod discharge regiment at times fluctuated from 19,000 to 30,000 soldiers. In the late 1650s, the Sevsky discharge or Seversky discharge was separated from the Belgorod discharge — a military-administrative territorial entity (discharge) of the Russian kingdom with a military-administrative center in the city of Sevsk.

The centralization of the state contributed to the reorganization of the life of the local population, the disappearance of Cossack self-government and the transfer of local power into the hands of Moscow governors and boyar children. In 1667, the Belgorod diocese was established. In 1680, the Belgorod region experienced a raid by a Crimean-Nogai cavalry detachment, as a result of which about 1,000 people were killed or went missing. For their exploits in the Battle of Poltava, Peter I granted the soldiers of the Great Belgorod Regiment a banner.

In 1708-1727, the territory of today's Belgorod Oblast was part of the Kyiv and Azov Governorates. In 1727, the Belgorod Governorate was formed, which existed until 1779. It occupied the lands of not only today's Belgorod Oblast, but also the territories of today's Kursk, Oryol, and partially Bryansk and Kharkov Oblasts (in particular, Chuguev). The province also had its own coat of arms, which is now the coat of arms of the Belgorod region. In 1775-1779, the territory of the Belgorod province was divided between the newly formed provinces and viceroyalties, and the province itself was abolished. The Belgorod region, including the city of Belgorod, became part of the Kursk viceroyalty, and then the Kursk province.

With the weakening of the Crimean Khanate, the territory of the Belgorod region turned into an agrarian province of Russia. Landownership developed here. The Sheremetevs (Graivoronsky district), as well as the Golitsyns (Novooskolsky district), Trubetskoy, Vyazemsky, Yusupov and Raevsky (Gubkinsky urban district) owned huge latifundia. On their lands, peasants grew grain, mined chalk, and worked in oil mills.

In 1869, the first Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway was built through the territory of the region.

 

Revolution and Civil War

Until 1918, the territory of the modern Belgorod region was part of the Voronezh and Kursk provinces. After the signing of the Brest Peace, from April 1918 (de facto from May 1918) to January 1919 (de facto - until December 1918), most of the Belgorod region was occupied by the Kaiser's troops and became an integral part of the Ukrainian State of Hetman P. P. Skoropadsky, part of the Kharkov province. Within a month and a half after the abdication of the Kaiser of Germany, in connection with the annulment of the Brest Peace Treaty and the withdrawal of German occupation troops, the territory of the Belgorod region was returned to the RSFSR and occupied by the Red Army. In June - early July 1919, the entire territory of the Belgorod region was occupied by the Volunteer Army of Vladimir Mai-Maevsky (Belgorod - June 22-23) and became part of the South of Russia, in the Kharkov region of the Armed Forces of South Russia, formed on June 25. In December 1919, the First Cavalry Army of S. Budyonny established Soviet power in the Belgorod region (in Belgorod - December 7).

In the 1930s, collectivization was carried out in the Belgorod region. In the 1930s, 40,000 residents of the Belgorod region were repressed, of which 15,000 were executed.

 

The Great Patriotic War

In October - mid-November 1941, the current Belgorod region was partially, and in July 1942 completely captured by German troops. In January-February 1943, it was partially liberated.

On March 14, 1943, the Germans occupied Borisovka. By March 18, German Pz IV tanks and Tigers of the Peiper group approached Belgorod. In the morning, the Wisliceny battle group from the Deutschland regiment was already in the suburbs. At 11:35 a.m., the "cleansing" of the city began, which was completed by evening. Belgorod became the last large Soviet city captured by the Germans during the Third Battle of Kharkov.

On July 12, 1943, the famous Prokhorovka tank battle took place here during the defensive phase of the Battle of Kursk. In memory of it, 40 km from the southern face of the Fiery Arc on the Third Battlefield of Russia, Prokhorovka, the Victory Monument - the Belfry was erected, and in the village itself, the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was built with public donations. These and a number of other objects are united in the State Military-Historical Museum-Reserve "Prokhorovskoye Pole"

The region was completely liberated in August 1943.

During the Great Patriotic War, 408 military hospitals were located on the territory of the current region.

 

1950s - 1980s

Within its current administrative-territorial borders, the Belgorod Region was formed by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 6, 1954. The region included: from the Kursk region - the cities of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, Belgorodsky, Belenikhinsky, Bobrovo-Dvorsky, Bolshe-Troitsky, Borisovsky, Velikomikhailovsky, Volokonovsky, Grayvoronsky, Ivnyansky, Korochansky, Krasnoyarsk, Mikoyanovsky, Novo-Oskolsky, Prokhorovsky, Rakityansky, Sazhensky, Skorodnyansky, Staro-Oskolsky, Tomarovsky, Urazovsky, Chernyansky and Shebekinsky districts; from the Voronezh region - Alekseevsky, Budenovsky, Valuysky, Veydelevsky, Ladomirovsky, Nikitovsky, Rovensky, Ukolovsky and Shatalovsky districts.

In 1986, the city of Belgorod region was exposed to radiation due to the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP). (The current List of settlements located within the boundaries of radioactive contamination zones due to the Chernobyl disaster has changed since October 21, 2015).

 

After 1991

From 1993 to 2020, the Belgorod Region was headed by Yevgeny Savchenko, known for his extremely conservative position. Among his high-profile decrees was an attempt to cancel Valentine's Day in 2010.

In 2011, the first experimental solar power plant in Russia appeared on the Krapivinskiye Dvory farm in the Yakovlevsky District of the Belgorod Region.

 

After February 24, 2022

2022 — Mass murder at a training ground in the Belgorod Region.

The shelling of the city of Shebekino began in October 2022.
Explosion in Belgorod on April 20, 2023

In 2023, the war with Ukraine spread to the Belgorod region. In May-June, the region is subjected to massive shelling, in particular the Shebekinsky district. On May 22, 2023, hostilities began in the Belgorod region, and on the same day, a counter-terrorism operation was introduced. The Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion report raids in the region and the capture of prisoners. The authorities are confused and act incoherently.

Raid in Belgorod Oblast (May 2023)
Raid in Belgorod Oblast (June 2023)
Belgorod shelling on July 3, 2022
Belgorod shelling on December 30, 2023
Belgorod shelling on February 15, 2024
Il-76 destruction in Belgorod Oblast
Raid in Belgorod and Kursk Oblasts (March 2024)
Collapse of entrance in Belgorod on May 12, 2024

The authorities purchased armored film for windows for schools and kindergartens. Medics were given helmets and bulletproof vests. Public transport stops in Belgorod are fenced with foundation blocks and sandbags.

 

Physical and geographical characteristics

Geography

The Belgorod Region is part of the Central Black Earth Economic Region and the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation. In the south and west it borders on Luhansk
, Kharkov and Sumy regions of Ukraine, in the north and north-west - with the Kursk region, in the east - with the Voronezh region. The total length of its borders is about 1150 km, of which with Ukraine - 540 km.

The area of ​​the region is 27.1 thousand km², the length from north to south is about 190 km, from west to east - about 270 km.

 

Climate

The climate is temperate, temperate continental, with rather mild winters with snowfalls and thaws and long summers. The average annual air temperature varies from +5.4 degrees in the north to +6.8 degrees in the southeast. The coldest month is January. The eastern and southeastern regions of the region are crossed in their average value by the Voeikov axis, which has a certain effect on the climate, especially in these regions. The frost-free period is 155-160 days, the duration of solar time is 1800 hours.

 

Minerals

More than 40 percent of the explored iron ore reserves of the country are concentrated in the region. The deposits belong to the Kursk magnetic anomaly.

Large deposits of bauxites, apatites, mineral underground waters (radon and medicinal table waters), numerous deposits of building materials (chalk, sand, clay, etc.) have been identified and explored to varying degrees. Manifestations of gold, graphite and rare metals are known. There are geographic prerequisites for the discovery of platinum, hydrocarbons and other minerals.

 

Hydrography

The territory of the Belgorod region belongs to the basins of two seas: the Black (western part of the region) and the Azov (central and eastern part of the region).

The region is classified as low-water. This is due not only to the amount of precipitation, but also to the relief of the region.

About 1% of its territory is occupied by rivers, lakes, swamps. More than 480 small rivers and streams flow here. The largest of them in the north-west are Seversky Donets, Vorskla, Vorsklitsa, Psel, in the eastern regions - Oskol, Silent Pine, Black Kalitva, Valuy. The total length of the river network is 5000 km.

There are 1100 ponds and 4 reservoirs in the region.

 

Animal world

The fauna of the Belgorod region is meadow-steppe. Calcophilic zoocomplexes associated with Cretaceous sediments give the fauna a special uniqueness. The fauna of the Belgorod region has, according to various estimates, from 10 to 15 thousand species. The fauna of mammals of the Belgorod region includes 68 species from 6 orders and 18 families, from the bottom 25 species from the order rodents, 14 species from the order carnivores, 10 species from the order Chiroptera, 9 species from the order Insectivora, 7 species from the order artiodactyls, 2 species from the order lagomorphs. There are about 279 species of birds, including 152 - nesting, the rest - migratory and migrant.

About 10% of animal species are among those in need of special protection; 269 species are included in the Red Book of the Belgorod Region.

 

Vegetation

The vegetation cover of the region reflects the features of the northern forest-steppe, which is characterized by alternation of forests with meadow steppe.

It is represented by two types of vegetation: zonal and extrazonal. Zonal vegetation is upland oak forests (221 species) and steppe meadows (211 species). Extrazonal vegetation is meadows (232 species), species of shrubs and edges (161 species), phytocenoses of chalk outcrops (93 species), and synanthropic communities (192 species). In general, the flora of the region has 1284 species. The forest cover of the region is 8.6%. More than 800 hectares of forests are classified as specially protected areas due to the growth of rare plant species and animal habitats there, which are listed in the Red Book.

According to the results of the All-Russian action of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation "Alley of Russia" in 2014, the feather grass became a symbol of the Belgorod Region.

 

Ground cover

Zonal soils are represented by chernozems (77% of the territory) and gray forest soils (almost 15% of the territory).

The type of chernozems is represented in the region by subtypes of podzolized, leached, typical and ordinary chernozems. The first three subtypes are characteristic of the forest-steppe part of the region.

The type of gray forest soils is represented in the region by subtypes of dark gray forest and light gray forest soils. Unlike chernozems, gray forest soils in the Belgorod region are not distributed evenly, but in the form of five large massifs confined to the places of concentration of large forests and their environs.

 

Awards and achievements

Order of Lenin (January 4, 1967) - for the courage and steadfastness shown by Belgorod residents in the defense of the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War and for the successes achieved in the restoration and development of the national economy;
The most environmentally friendly region of Russia (2010).

 

Holidays

In addition to public holidays of the Russian Federation, in the Belgorod region, the following are celebrated at the official level:

January 6 - Day of formation of the Belgorod region;
January 9 - Gorin's Day: the birthday of twice Hero of Socialist Labor Vasily Yakovlevich Gorin;
July 12 - Day of Peter and Paul - Day of a tank battle near the village of Prokhorovka;
July 17 - Day of Remembrance of the builders of the railway "Stary Oskol - Rzhava";
August 5 - Day of the liberation of Belgorod from Nazi invaders;
August 23 - Victory Day of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Kursk - Day of the liberation of the Belgorod region from Nazi invaders;
September 19 - Memorial Day of Joasaph of Belgorod;
October 14 - Flag Day of the Belgorod Region.

 

Symbols of the Belgorod region

City of military glory and the first salute Belgorod;
City of military and labor glory Stary Oskol;
Prokhorovka field;
Belfry on the Prokhorovsky field;
Kholkovsky Monastery;
Pan oak;
Kursk magnetic anomaly;
Volleyball club "Belogorye"

 

Government departments

State power in the Belgorod Region is exercised by the executive authorities of the region, state bodies of the region, as well as federal courts and federal executive authorities.

Bodies and officials of the state power of the region are:
The Belgorod Regional Duma is a legislative (representative) body of state power, 35 deputies, the term of office of deputies is 5 years, is elected by the population of the region;
The Governor of the Belgorod Region is the highest official, the term of office is 5 years, is elected by the population, is the Chairman of the Government of the Belgorod Region.
From October 11, 1993 to September 17, 2020, Evgeny Savchenko was the governor of the region. He was appointed to this position in 1993, was re-elected in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2012, reappointed in 2007. In 1999, one of the rivals of Yevgeny Savchenko in the elections was Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

From September 17 to November 18, 2020, after the departure of Yevgeny Savchenko from his post, Denis Butsaev was the acting governor of the region (by position).

From November 18, 2020 to September 27, 2021 Vyacheslav Gladkov became the acting governor of the region, on September 27, 2021 he becomes the governor.

The Government of the Belgorod Region is the highest permanent collegial body of executive power;
Executive authorities - departments, commissions, administrations;
Territorial executive bodies of state power.

 

Economy

The Belgorod region is an industrial and agricultural region, the economy of which relies on the large reserves of iron ore of the KMA and rich chernozems.

The price of the minimum set of products in November 2014 in the region amounted to 2648 rubles. According to this indicator, the Belgorod region took the fourth place in Russia. In December 2016, this figure amounted to 3090 rubles - 5th place in terms of cheapness in Russia. In December 2017, the cost of the minimum set of products amounted to 3086.8 rubles - the second place in Russia.

Budget
Regional budget revenues for 2022 amounted to 133.2 billion rubles, expenses - 156.8 billion rubles.

Industry
The most developed industries of the Belgorod region are mechanical engineering, mining, metallurgy, production of building materials, food industry. The industrial production index of the region in 2021 amounted to 103.3% compared to 2020.

Belgorod has an industrial park "Severny" (located in the northern part of the city) with an area of more than 24 hectares. The industrial park is a joint project of the regional government and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. The park has nine residents.

Among the industrial enterprises of the region, the largest are:
Stoilensky GOK;
Lebedinsky GOK;
OEMK;
Oskolsky plant of metallurgical engineering;
Wagon and wheel workshop;
Oskolcement;
Belgorod cement;
OAO SUM TsMM - Specialized Department of Mechanization Tsentrometallurgmontazh;
Starooskolsky plant of metal structures "Stroymetallkom";
Stary Oskol plastics plant "Oskolplast";
Efko is a company that manages several enterprises in the oil and fat industry and is one of the three largest companies in the Russian agro-industrial complex;
Slavyanka is a group of companies that owns a confectionery factory in Stary Oskol.
Belgorodsk Khladokombinat - the company specializes in the production of ice cream under the brand "Bodraya Cow".
Belogorye is a confectionery factory.
CJSC Premix Plant No. 1 of the Prioskolie Group of Companies is the only one in Russia and one of the ten largest lysine production facilities in the world. "Premix Plant No. 1" was established in August 2005 and produces more than 17 thousand tons of premixes per year for all types of animals, birds and fish. In 2012, a lysine production plant began to be built here. The structure of the enterprise includes an elevator with a capacity of 50 thousand tons of grain, a laboratory, a mill, a starch and syrup production, production sites for the production of glucose and lysine by microbiological synthesis. The area of the plant is about 37 hectares. The total investment amounted to 7.5 billion rubles. The high-tech lysine production project won the tender for a subsidy of 275 million rubles. In 2014, the production of 57 thousand tons of lysine per year was launched.
The Lux distillery is one of the largest taxpayers in the region.

 

Agriculture

Land in the region is 2713.4 thousand hectares, more than 70% of which are chernozems; per capita there are 1.43 hectares of agricultural land, including 1.1 hectares of arable land. Natural forests and forest plantations occupy 248.3 thousand hectares - 12.5% of the region's territory. The total timber reserves are 34.3 million m³.

The volume of agricultural production in 2020 amounted to 266.0 billion rubles, of which livestock - 169.6 billion rubles, crop production - 96.4 billion rubles.

Agricultural organizations provide 85.9% of the volume of production, 95.5% of livestock products and 69% of crop production.

Animal husbandry
In 2020, all farms received 1,753.2 thousand tons of livestock and poultry for slaughter (100%). These are 38.6 thousand tons of cattle (104.3%), 922.4 thousand tons of pigs (102.9%), 789.4 thousand tons of poultry (96.7%); The Belgorod region produces more pigs than any of the Russian federal districts.
As of January 1, 2021, farms of all categories kept 235.5 thousand heads of cattle (99.7%), of which 93.6 thousand cows (96.4%), 4,553.6 thousand pigs (100.2 %), 43,478.8 thousand birds (85.1%). The number of cattle in the agricultural organizations of the region amounted to 176.4 thousand heads (99.9%), including 69.2 thousand cows (96.4%).

In 2020, with a gross production of 685 thousand tons of milk, the Belgorod Region was in the TOP-15 largest milk producers in Russia. The average milk yield per cow in 2020 was estimated at 8,000 kg - the eighth result in Russia.

Crop production
In farms of all categories of the region in 2020, according to the final data of Rosstat, 3,907.6 thousand tons of grain and leguminous crops were received in weight after completion (in 2019 - 3,473.1 thousand tons), with an average yield of 53, 1 c/ha (4,038.5 thousand tons with an average yield of 55.3 c/ha in bunker weight) This is a record gross harvest and yield for the region. The Belgorod region ranks 4th in the Russian Federation in terms of grain and leguminous crops in general and wheat in particular. 462.4 thousand tons of sunflower (475.3 thousand tons), 1,788.4 thousand tons of sugar beet (2,796.5 thousand tons) were grown. 337.7 thousand tons of potatoes (395.0 thousand tons), 264.2 thousand tons of open and protected ground vegetables (250.3 thousand tons) were harvested. 732.5 thousand hectares were allocated for grain and leguminous crops.

The Belgorod Region was in the TOP-5 of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in terms of the yield of most cultivated crops, with the exception of soybeans, the yield of which in 2021 was in sixth place.

The Belgorod region, together with the Bryansk region, has occupied the first or second place in terms of sunflower yield over the past years. With an average yield in Russia in 2020 of only 17.4 c/ha, the yield in the Belgorod region was 31.8 c/ha, in 2019 - 34.55 c/ha.

 

Energy

As of December 2020, 13 power plants with a total capacity of 255.3 MW were operating in the Belgorod Region, including one wind farm, one solar power plant, two biogas power plants and nine thermal power plants. In 2019, they produced 829.2 million kWh of electricity.

In the rating of the Center for Economic Research, the region in the first quarter of 2011 ranked 70th in Russia in terms of energy sufficiency, the electricity deficit exceeded 6 billion kWh.

In October 2014, almost 1.3 billion kWh of electricity was consumed in the Belgorod Region, and over 12 billion kWh of electricity in ten months since the beginning of the year. The growth of energy consumption was recorded in comparison with January-October 2013 and is 0.4%.

In 2014, the Belgorod Region was among the winners of the federal competition and received almost 85 million rubles from the state budget to support and develop the best projects aimed at improving the energy efficiency of enterprises.

In 2014, about a thousand kilometers of power transmission lines were built and reconstructed in the region - in Novy Oskol, Maslova Pristan, Komsomolsky, Wet Orlovka, Afanasovo and other settlements. In cities, towns and villages, more than 15 thousand obsolete lamps were replaced with energy-efficient ones, the number of the first ones was increased to 97% in the power grid complex of the region. Also, two large power supply centers were put into operation - the Kreida and Nezhegol substations. The first one provides electricity to industrial and household consumers of the regional center, and the second one supplies electricity to the plant for the production of lysine sulfate in the Shebekinsky district.

The main suppliers of electricity to the Belgorod region are the Kursk and Voronezh regions, Rosenergoatom Concern JSC.

In 2015, the electricity deficit in the Belgorod Region amounted to 14,148.7 million kWh.

 

Construction

The Department of Construction and Transport of the Belgorod Region within the framework focuses on the following areas of development in terms of construction and improvement:

"New Life" - providing housing for young professionals;
"Proper operation of buildings" - organization of the system of operation of buildings and structures;
"BIM-technologies" - the introduction of a computer-aided design system;
"Clean construction" - an aesthetic view of construction sites in the region;
Comprehensive modernization of entrance groups (entrances) of apartment buildings;
Reforming the system of control and supervision in the field of shared construction;
Introduction of a single standard form of the state (municipal) contract, methodology for its application, expansion of the scope of banking support for contracts;
Bringing advertising structures and signs on the facades of buildings in line with architectural standards;
Overhaul of polyclinics of the central district hospitals of the Belgorod region;
Construction and modernization of cultural facilities in the municipalities of the Belgorod region;
Conducting state examination of project documentation in electronic form;
Creation of local public centers on the basis of pedestrian accessibility stores in the microdistricts of IZHS in the Belgorod Region;
Landscaping microdistricts IZHS Belgorod region.
In January-November 2014, 1.2 million m² of housing was put into operation in the Belgorod region, which amounted to 111.1% of the level of commissioning in the same period last year. Three quarters of all built housing (918.4 thousand m²) falls on individual housing construction. The volume of commissioning of individual housing in January-November increased by 5%. At the same time, almost half of all low-rise housing is being commissioned in the Belgorod region. Every eighth house in the region is built in Belgorod.

 

Transport

The Belgorod region is crossed by railways and highways of international importance connecting Moscow and other Russian regions with Ukraine, including the M-2 Crimea federal highway and the Moscow-Kharkov-Sevastopol railway. The operational length of public railways is 694.6 km, the length of paved roads (including departmental ones) is 8.5 thousand km, or 87.7% of the total length. In 2017, a railway line was built to bypass Ukraine through the territory of the Voronezh and Rostov regions. Also in the Belgorod region there is one of the few suburban trolleybus lines in Russia with a length of 34 km, passing along the federal highway "Crimea" and connecting the administrative center of the region with the village of Maisky, but traffic along it was stopped for economic reasons.

 

Education

The following educational institutions of higher professional education are located in the Belgorod region:

NRU "BelSU", Belgorod;
BSTU named after V. G. Shukhov, Belgorod;
Starooskolsky Technological Institute. A. A. Ugarova (member of NUST MISIS), Stary Oskol;
Belgorod State Agrarian University, Belgorod;
BUKEP, Belgorod;
FGBOU VPO "Moscow State Open University"; Gubkin Institute (branch), Gubkin;
BGIIK, Belgorod.
The Belgorod region is one of 15 regions in which since September 1, 2006 the subject "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" has been introduced as a regional component of education.

 

Attractions

Belfry on the Prokhorovsky field;
Pansky oak - 550-year-old oak in the Shebekinsky district;
State Nature Reserve "Belogorye";
Balka Kamenny Log;
Kholkovsky underground monastery in Chernyansky district;
The village of Vatutino (birthplace of N. F. Vatutin);
The village of Khvorostyanka (the family estate of N. N. Raevsky);
Krapivensky hillfort - the hillfort of one of the largest cities of Kievan Rus;
Dmitrievskoe settlement - settlement of the Alans of the VIII-IX centuries;
Trading rows in Biryucha;
Museum-diorama “Kursk Bulge. Belgorod direction";
Belgorod Museum of Folk Culture;
Shebekinsky Museum of History and Art with a collection of paintings by famous artists of the 19th-20th centuries;
Barkov Mill - a six-story wooden mill in the village. Novoivanovka Volokonovsky district;
Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Gubkin.

 

Famous people

Semyon Ivanovich Chaikin (1919-2005) — geologist, winner of the USSR State Prize and the Lenin Prize, was awarded the Order of Lenin, as well as the medal "For Services to the Belgorod Land" of the 1st degree, a street in the Vostochny microdistrict of Belgorod is named after him;
Sergey Tetyukhin (born 1975) — Russian volleyball player, outside hitter, player of the Russian national team in 1996-2009 and 2011-2012, winner of four Olympic medals, champion of the XXX Olympic Games in London, Honored Master of Sports of Russia.