RUSSIA - Kemerovo Oblast / Кемеровская область

Kemerovo Oblast (Russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть, Kemerovskaya oblast,  also known as Kuzbass (Кузба́сс) after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian mountains. The oblast, which covers an area of 95,500 square kilometers (36,900 sq mi),  shares a border with Tomsk Oblast in the north, Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia in the east, the Altai Republic in the south, and with Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai in the west. Kemerovo is the administrative center of the oblast, though Novokuznetsk is the largest city in the oblast, in terms of size. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most urbanized regions, with over 70% of the population living in its nine principal cities. Its ethnic composition is predominantly Russian, but Ukrainians, Tatars, and Chuvash also live in the oblast.