Tsiolkovsky, Amur Oblast

Tsiolkovsky (English) Циолковский (Russian)
-  Rural locality[1]  - Settlement[1]
Construction of residential buildings in summer 2015
Tsiolkovsky Location of Tsiolkovsky in Amur Oblast
Coordinates: 51°45′37″N 128°07′16″E / 51.76028°N 128.12111°ECoordinates: 51°45′37″N 128°07′16″E / 51.76028°N 128.12111°E
Rural locality Day	October 27[2]
Administrative status (as of November 2013)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Amur Oblast[1]
Administratively subordinated to	Tsiolkovsky Urban Okrug[1]
Administrative center of	Tsiolkovsky Urban Okrug[1]
Municipal status (as of November 2013)
Urban okrug	Tsiolkovsky Urban Okrug[3]
Administrative center of	Tsiolkovsky Urban Okrug[3]
Head	Marina Zenina
Representative body	Council of People's Deputies
Statistics
Population (2010 Census)	5,892 inhabitants[4]
Time zone	YAKT (UTC+09:00)[5]
Founded	1961[2]
Previous names	Svobodny-18 (until 1994), Uglegorsk (until 2015)
Postal code(s)[6]	676470
Dialing code(s)	+7 41643
Official website
Tsiolkovsky on Wikimedia Commons

Tsiolkovsky (Russian: Циолковский) is a closed Town in Amur Oblast, Russia, located on the Bolshaya Pyora River (a tributary of the Zeya), 110 kilometers (68 mi) from the border with China and 180 kilometers (110 mi) north of Blagoveshchensk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 5,892 (2010 Census);^[4] 5,050 (2002 Census).^[7] The town serves the nearby spaceport, Vostochny Cosmodrome.

History

The town was founded in 1961.^[2] From 1969 to 1994, it was called Uglegorsk and was established in order to serve the nearby ICBM base of the Soviet Armed Forces which was code-named Svobodny-18. The name was given after another settlement called Svobodny which lies 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of it. The closed status was assigned by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of October 19, 1965. In 1994 the entire complex was renamed to Uglegorsk (Russian: Углего́рск).

In April 2013, President Vladimir Putin proposed to rename a town nearer to the Cosmodrome in honor of the founder of theoretical astronautics Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Later it was decided to assign this name to Uglegorsk. In March 2014 the settlement held a public hearing where the majority of participants were in favor of the renaming.^[8] On June 2014 the Council of People's Deputies of Uglegorsk approved the name change. In September 2015 the deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Amur Oblast adopted a law to change the status of the settlement of Uglegorsk and transform it into a city without changing the established administrative borders.^[9] The official documents to rename the city were sent for examination to the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr). On December 23 the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament voted in favour of a federal law on the renaming of the town,^[10] and on December 30 President Putin signed it into law, thus formalizing the name changing.^[11]

On November 30, 2015 one of the streets of the town was renamed "3rd street of the Builders" (Russian: 3-я улица Строителей) as a tribute to the creativity of Eldar Ryazanov.^[12]

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Uglegorsk Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.^[3]

Economy and infrastructure

The settlement contains thirty-three blocks of residential homes and a boiler room. There is a secondary school, a children's arts school, two kindergartens, and a hospital. The settlement has a sports complex. Its construction began in 2005 and was planned to be finished by 2009 but due to lack of funding opening was postponed two years later to 2011.^[13]

Transportation

Ledyanaya railway station serves the town and is located 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) from it on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Amur Highway (M58) also passes there.

Vostochny cosmodrome

In July 2010, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the area would be the site of a new Vostochny cosmodrome ("Eastern Spaceport"), to reduce Russian dependence on the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.^[14]

On early December 2011, a public debate held in Tsiolkovsky with the participation of officials from the Russian space industry in which the settlement's future in the context of the construction of the new cosmodrome was discussed. It was announced the south-eastern district will be expanded with six-, nine-, and twelve-story buildings designed for the settlement of 12,000 people. The buildings will be built using solid blocks which will be produced in a factory located at Svobodny south of Tsiolkovsky. The south-east neighborhood will be located on 140 acres near the old part of the settlement.^[15]

In late March 2012, it was reported that settlement residents are concerned with increase in crime, a situation the local population associates with a massive influx of temporary workers involved in the construction of infrastructure for the Cosmodrome. Many of the construction workers live in former military barracks, converted into a hostel.^[16]

References

Notes

1. Law #127-OZ
2. Official website of Uglegorsk. Historical and Geographical Reference (Russian)
3. Law #127-OZ stipulates that the municipal formations of the oblast are its administrative-territorial divisions.
4. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1" [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
5. Правительство Российской Федерации. Федеральный закон №107-ФЗ от 3 июня 2011 г. «Об исчислении времени», в ред. Федерального закона №271-ФЗ от 03 июля 2016 г. «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об исчислении времени"». Вступил в силу по истечении шестидесяти дней после дня официального опубликования (6 августа 2011 г.). Опубликован: "Российская газета", №120, 6 июня 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #107-FZ of June 31, 2011 On Calculating Time, as amended by the Federal Law #271-FZ of July 03, 2016 On Amending Federal Law "On Calculating Time". Effective as of after sixty days following the day of the official publication.).
6. Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (Russian)
7. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек" [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian). Retrieved August 9, 2014.
8. "Жители Углегорска не против переименования города в Циолковский". portamur.ru. 2014-03-14. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
9. Закон Амурской области об изменении статуса посёлка Углегорск
10. "Сотрудники космодрома Восточный получили первые ордера на жилье в городе Циолковский". TASS. 2015-12-29. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
11. "Путин присвоил городу у космодрома Восточный имя Циолковский". TASS. 2015-12-30. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
12. "В городе Циолковский появится "3-я улица Строителей"". TASS. 2015-11-30. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
13. "В Углегорске откроется спорткомплекс", March 2011.
14. BBC News July 20, 2010
15. "Космодром Восточный может лишить Углегорск названия", Amur Port, December 2, 2011.
16. "Жители Углегорска жалуются на строителей амурского космодрома Восточный", Port Amur, March 27, 2012.

Sources

• Амурский областной Совет народных депутатов. Закон №127-ОЗ от 23 декабря 2005 г. «О порядке решения вопросов административно-территориального устройства Амурской области», в ред. Закона №272-ОЗ от 11 ноября 2013 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Амурской области "О порядке решения вопросов административно-территориального устройства Амурской области"». Вступил в силу со дня первого официального опубликования, за исключением подпункта "б" пункта 2 статьи 7, вступающего в силу с 1 января 2006 г. Опубликован: "Амурская правда", №11, 24 января 2006 г. (Amur Oblast Council of People's Deputies. Law #127-OZ of December 23, 2005 On the Procedures of Handling the Issues of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Amur Oblast, as amended by the Law #272-OZ of November 11, 2013 On Amending the Law of Amur Oblast "On the Procedures of Handling the Issues of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Amur Oblast". Effective as of the day of the first official publication, with the exception of subitem "b" of item 2 of Article 7, which is effective January 1, 2006.).