Adygeia

Area - 7,600 sq km.

Population - 449,300 (01 January 1999, est.), including: urban - 53.9%; rural - 46.1%.

Administrative divisions - 7 districts, 2 republican cities - Maikop and Adygeisk, 5 urban communities, 50 rural administrative units. Maikop is the capital.

Largest cities (number of residents on January 01, 1998, thousand): Maikop (178), Adygeisk (12.5).

Adygeia is situated on the picturesque slopes of the Northwest Caucasus and in the valleys of the Kuban and Laba. Its population numbers about 450,000 people (more than 80 ethnic groups) in an area of 7,600 sq km. The biggest ethnic groups are Russians and Adygeis. The population density is 57 people per 1 sq km - one of the highest in the Russian Federation.

The republic includes 2 cities, 7 districts, 5 urban communities, 55 rural and village districts. Able-bodied population exceeds 250,000; pensioners number 125,000. The Adygei Republic is situated inside the Krasnodar territory and has no borders with other subjects of the federation. The capital of Adygeia, Maikop, is 1,670 km from Moscow and 160 km from Krasnodar. The nearest sea ports of Tuapse and Novorossiysk are 150 and 270 km from the republican centre.

Rail, bus and air communication exists with Moscow and other large Russian cities and foreign states. The Khansky airport that with an international status has air routes from Maikop to Moscow, Armenia, Turkey and Syria. Local trains deliver passengers to Belorechenskaya, a junction of the North Caucasus Railway; to the Black Sea coast - Tuapse, Sochi, Adler; and to the foothills of the Caucasus - the Khajokh station. In summer a passenger train runs between Maikop and Moscow.