Tula region is situated in the center of the European part of Russia on Srednerussky Hills to the South of Moscow.
The territory of the region is 25,7 thousand square kilometers (1,5% of the territory of Russia),
Administrative division of the region consists of 21 towns and 50 urban type settlements with the population of 1 million 915 thousand people, the urban population makes 81% of the total number.
The administrative center of the region is the city of Tula with the population of 589 thousand people. .
Raw material resources
Tula region is rich with the variety of raw material resources, such as: brown coal and rare and trace elements, sulfuric pyrites, lime stone, fire-resistant clays, gravel, gypsum, rock-salt, phosphorites, strontium ore. All the reserves are well explored and being exploited which triggers development of local industries and construction works.
Industry
Tula region is one of the most developed industrial areas of the Central economic region of Russia. The basic industries are: machine-building, chemical industry, ferrous metallurgy, manufacturing of construction materials, brown coal mining, light and food-processing industries, electric energy production, radioelectronics.
The structure of industry as follows: machine-building - 15,3%; chemical and petrochemical industries - 21,3%; metallurgy - 22,6%; electric power production - 20.4%; food-processing industry - 10,6%; light industry - 1,1%,
Chemical industry plants produce mineral fertilizers, synthetic rubber, plastics and associated products, synthetic fibres and threads, detergens, synthetic vitamins, technical rubber and other products.
The machine-building is presented by large factories manufacturing machine tools, hoister-cranes, equipment for light and food-processing industries, units and main parts for gas pipe-lines, pumps, coal mining combines, agricultural, construction and transport machines, household gas equipment, motorcycles, motor scooters etc. Tula traditionally manufactures guns, samovars, bayons, accordions.
The construction industry of the region is a complex structure of building and contract organizations, construction materials plants and others.
Agricultural sector
The agricultural sector of the region represented by collective farms. Ltd. enterprises, farms associations and individual farmers. Tula agriculture produces mostly grain-crops, potatoes, sugar-beets, milk and meat.
Export-import
Tula region has a significant export potential. About a thousand firms and enterprises run business with foreign partners from 80 countries of the world, including all countries of CIS.
Tula region mainly exports products of metallurgical and chemical industries, such as cast iron and ferroalloys, synthetic rubber, nitric fertilizers, ammonia, methanol and other goods of primary processing.
Machine-building industry exports centrifugal pumps and separators, machine tools and automatic hosiery-knitting units, sanitary engineering equipment, medical devices, motor scooters, motorcycles, hunting and sporting guns. A special line of exports is products of Tula famous defense industry.
Tula region imports coke, machine tools and some special equipment, railway cars, buses, TVs, radios, household appliances, furniture, clothes, cosmetics, foods and others.
Communications
The region has a dense network of automobile roads including two highways of federal significance. The region is connected by railway mainlines with the south of Russia, St.-Petersburg, countries of CIS and other large centers of Russia.
The region has an advanced 7200 km long asphalt-covered road network, including 819 kms of federal roads.
The basis of the railway network are sections of railway mainlines Center-South and East-West. The operational length of railway lines and access roads is 1127 km.
In terms of telephone services Tula region comes 17-th among other Russian regions, Systems of mobile communication, including cellular and paging, operate in Tula region.
Finance and cooperation
More then 20 banks operate on the territory of Tula region. Some of them are branches of major Moscow banks such as: The Central Bank of Russia, Sberbank of RF (RF's largest saving bank), SBS-AGRO, Tokobank, Mosbusinessbank, Agroprombank and others,
The market of securities, insurance, consulting and investment services is being developed at the moment.
Dozens of foreign firms such as "Procter and Gamble", "Cargil", "Knauf", "Gezelschoft" and others have already settled in the region. Joint ventures created with their participation are good examples of highly profitable business.
Land of good outlook for tourism
Life and activity of worldwide known people such as writers Leo Tolstoi, Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Bunin, painters Vasily Polenov and Grigory Myasoyedov, erudite scientist Andrei Bolotov, firearms designer Serguey Mosin was connected with Tula region.
Tula Kremlin, Arms museum. Samovar museum, Yasnaya Polyana Estate museum, Polenovo museum reserve, Fine Arts museum represent the treasures of unique pearls of Russia's cultural heritage.
About history
Tula region, its cities and towns have an interesting history.
Present territory in early middle ages was populated with Slavonic tribes of viatichi. For the first time the town of Tula was mentioned in chronicles in 1146. In fifteenth to sixteenth centuries it was a strategic centre of a well known zone of defensive installations on the southern border of Moscow State the Abbatis Line. In 1380 the historic Kulikovo battle took place to the south of Tula. The city of Tula and towns - Belyov, Odoyev, Alexin, Venyov, Krapivna, Dedilov - stood up to death defending a way to Moscow.
Labor exploits are a match for feat of arms of the land for the sake of Russia. First metallurgical and arms plants, samovar (Russian national appliance for cooking tea) have been founded here. Tula has always been famous for its remarkable artisans.
In 1777 Tula province was formed. Since 1937 Tula city is the center of Tula region . For more than eight and a half centuries the history of Tula and its environs has been closely connected with Moscow.
Area of Tula region is 25,700 square kilometers. Population is 1,8 million people including 568,000 residents of the city of Tula. About 80 per cent of region's population live in urban areas. Administrative division of the region consists of 26 municipal units. There are 21 cities in the region including Novomoskovsk, Shchekino, Uzlovaya, Alexin, Yefremov.
Contacts
Tula Region Administration, 2 Lenin Ave., Tula, 300600, Russia.
Phone 007 4872 278436 Fax:007 4872 20 63 26;
E-mail: admin@region.tula.ru.
