Consular District
The U.S. Consulate General in Yekaterinburg is responsible for providing
services to American and Russian residents of the area in central Russia
shown on the map above. This area has been formally designated as the
Consulate's Consular District. It includes 12 subjects of the Russian
Federation (the equivalents of American states) listed below. Together
they make up the Urals and Western Siberia.
- Chelyabinsk Oblast
- Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug
- Komi-Permyatsk Autonomous Okrug
- Kurgan Oblast
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- Omsk Oblast
- Orenburg Oblast
- Perm Oblast
- Republic of Bashkortostan
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- Republic of Udmurtiya
- Sverdlovsk Oblast
- Tyumen Oblast
- Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous Okrug
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The territory of this Consular District is larger than the 23 states
east of the Mississippi River. It is home to 25 million people.
The mineral wealth, including oil and gas, and industrial capacity of
the Urals and Western Siberia make this Consular District an attractive
region for American trade and investment.
The Consular District of the U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg is one of
four U.S. Consular Districts in the Russian Federation. The U.S. Consulate
in St. Petersburg covers the Northwest, the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok
covers the Far East, and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow is responsible for
the rest of the country. American
Consular Districts in Russia - usembassy.ru.
The Russian Federation has a very similar arrangement in the United States,
dividing geographical coverage among its Embassy in Washington and its
four Consulates in New York, San Francisco, Houston and Seattle. |
Facts about the Urals and Western
Siberia
The area surrounding the Urals Mountains is one of Russia's richest regions
in natural resources, including vast forests and mineral deposits (iron,
chrome, bauxite, gold and platinum).
Western Siberia is rich in oil and gas deposits. Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets
Autonomous Okrugs alone produce over 90% of Russia's natural gas and 75%
of its crude oil.
The Urals region is sometimes referred to as the Stone Belt due to large
deposits of precious and semi-precious stones, including diamonds, emeralds,
malachite, amethyst, topaz and tourmaline. The largest emerald in the
world, which weighs nearly five pounds, was discovered in the Urals.
Development of the Urals really began in the 17th century when Russian
settlers began to move east, in much the same way that settlers in America
moved west nearly a century later.
Many of the towns in the Urals grew up around copper mines and smelters.
By the end of the 18th century, 80% of all Russian copper coins were minted
in Yekaterinburg.
By the middle of the 18th century, more than 30 metallurgical plants were
in production in the Urals, making cannons and shot from local iron ore
deposits.
During the 19th century, the region's iron and steel works were among
the most advanced in the world. The Statue of Liberty was assembled from
iron produced at Nizhniy Tagil, north of Yekaterinburg. The roof of the
British Parliament building is made from iron produced in the Urals.
After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Urals developed rapidly during Stalin's
push to industrialize the Soviet Union.
During World War II, the region's industrial base was strengthened through
the addition of factories disassembled and moved to the Urals from the
war-torn western part of the country.
Today, Urals' largest industries remain machine building and metallurgy.
Much of the equipment, pipelines and drilling rigs for Western Siberia's
gas and oil industries are produced in the nearby Urals region.
Commercial Services. The promotion of U.S. trade and investment
in the Urals and Western Siberia is a key U.S. policy objective. To
help American companies, the Commercial Section provides a full range
of services, including market research and visitor support. The Commercial
Section also works to identify Russian firms looking for American business
partners.
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