One of the largest settlements in the Far East, Komsomolsk-on-Amur is a relatively young city. People lived here a long time ago, but a giant construction site unfolded here in the era of the Soviet Union, and the city grew rapidly. Now oil and gas transit through it, and ships and planes are also being built here. In general, there is definitely something to see.
Among all the Far Eastern cities, it is the fourth in terms of population. Komsomolsk-on-Amur got its name due to the fact that it was founded by detachments of Komsomol members. Right in the middle of the taiga! Several centuries ago, on the site where the city now stands, there was a camp of Nanais, one of the local peoples. For a long time, from 1959 to 1993, Komsomolsk-on-Amur was a city closed to foreigners. Once upon a time there was a village called Perm-on-Amur. About 70% of the people involved in the large-scale construction of the new city were prisoners. One of the unofficial names of Komsomolsk-on-Amur is the city of Youth. It really stands on the banks of the mighty Amur River, which is the main source of urban water supply. Even now, under the law, foreign citizens require a special permission from the FSB to visit Komsomolsk-on-Amur. But the city is not surrounded by walls, so in practice this law is not enforced by anyone. During spring floods, when the Amur overflows, over 50 square kilometers of the city territory is often flooded. The record for rising water levels in the river is more than 9 meters above the norm.
Records of positive and negative temperatures here are + 35 and -45.5 degrees, respectively. The average annual air temperature in Komsomolsk-on-Amur is slightly above zero. Groundwater in these parts is more polluted than anywhere else in the Khabarovsk Territory. Since the collapse of the USSR, the population of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has been falling year by year. Representatives of more than 105 different nationalities live here. In the 90s, near the Komsomolsk-on-Amur began to build a nuclear power plant. But the construction was interrupted due to the intervention of scientists who proved that the chosen site is a seismic fault, and it’s simply dangerous to build a nuclear power plant there. As a result, the constructed site was abandoned, and the project was abandoned. It is here that the largest ski resort in Russia is located. During the Great Patriotic War, more than 2750 combat aircraft were produced in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. According to the forecasts of seismologists, earthquakes up to 7 points on the Richter scale are possible in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. More than 8 million oil a year passes through a local refinery.
