Putin on the Move: Nizhny Tagil & Uralvagonzavod, Verkhnyaya Pyshma & Ural Locomotives and Chelyabinsk's Forging and Pressing Plant

Yes, a trip to examine key facilities and talk with workers, planners, executives, and students in the Urals Federal District from 15-17 February, a total of eight different events, some discussions and other tours of industrial facilities and a school. The latter are supported by photo groups but no videos, which is disappointing, as it would be nice to at least watch his tour of Uralvagonzavod, Russia’s famed tank production facility. Putin continues to go on some sort of tour weekly that’s related to his duties and does nothing relative to campaigning for the March election. IMO, he just needs to continue to work as that’s what Russians have come to expect from him. And his talks with workers and students are nothing new either, as they’ve been part of his management style for years. The cities of the region are far older than the USA as this bit from Wikipedia shows:

The history of Nizhny Tagil dates back to the mid-16th century, when the Stroganovs received the right to possess land by the Kama and Chusovaya basins. In 1579 they founded the first settlement, the Utkin sloboda, by the river Utka, the mouth of Chusoya. Fateyevo, the first Russian village in the Tagil region, was founded in 1665.

In 1696, by the order of Tsar Peter the Great, the Vysokogorsky iron ore quarry was opened. Voevode Dmitry Protasyev was elected to search for iron and magnetic ores. The deposits were particularly rich and included lodes of pure magnetic iron. The surrounding landscape provided everything needed for a successful and productive mining and smelting operation — rivers for transport, forests for fuel, and suitable climate. Several years later, the Tsar introduced in Russia a special administration on mining.

Over the following decades, the city developed as one of the early centers of Russian industrialization, and it has been a major producer of cast iron and steel. The town of Nizhny Tagil, home of the factory Uralvagonzavod, is also known for its production of Soviet tanks, including the famous T-34; nearly every other T-34 was manufactured in Nizhny Tagil.

First Russian locomotive

T-72 monument in its production place, Nizhny Tagil

The first Russian steam locomotive was constructed there in 1833, and the father-and-son engineers who developed it, Yefim and Miron Cherepanov (Черепанов), were in 1956 commemorated by an 8-meter (26 ft) bronze statue (executed by sculptor A. S. Kondratyev and architect A. V. Sotnikov) which stands in the center of the Theatrical Square in the heart of downtown.

Putin visited both facilities. Of the eight events, three are facility tours that have a brief description and a collection of photos with captions, all of which are in Russian; however, the Kremlin’s English page has some of them, although the number of photos is less and the amount of text is also cut. Most computer OS now have translation ability inbuilt which works well enough. To get to the photos, click the icon at page bottom: Visit to Uralvagonzavod, 28 pics R, 17 pics E, text description the same; Visit to secondary school No. 32, pics and text essentially the same; Visit to the Chelyabinsk Forging and Pressing Plant, text similar, R 6 pics, E 5.

There’s a difference in some of the discussion transcripts with the Russian ones complete while some in English remain unfinished. I’m somewhat surprised because more events are now being translated than before, which is why I’ve always used the Russian site and translated. Not so long ago barely half the events were listed and translations lagged. As such, unless readers are prevented from accessing the Kremlin website’s English page, there’s really no need for me to continue jamming email inboxes with news of what Putin’s doing, and I can devote time for other efforts. Of course, there are some who need to be force-fed such information, but IMO that’s a small number of subscribers. I know Dr. Hudson would like me to keep feeding him.

So, it seems a poll is in order to discover what readers would like:

The poll will continue for a week, and then I’ll make a decision. Until then, I’ll continue what I’ve been doing.

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