26 May 2003, 23:50
Belorechensk
Town in Krasnodar kray (region), kray subordination , rayon (sector) centre, 311 km south-east of Krasnodar. Located on the Belaya River (left tributary of the Kuban), at its exit from mountains of the Greater Caucasus to the Kuban-Priazov (Prikuban) Lowland. Station of Belorechenskaya is a junction of railway lines (to Tuapse, Armavir and Hadzhokh via Maykop). Highway (Ust-Labinsk - Maykop). Population (1992 est.) 52.3 thousand, (1979 est.) 41.4 thousand.
Arose in 1862 as a Cossack fortress, and later became the stanitsa (Cossack village) of Belorechenskaya. Town since 1958. Modern Belorechensk is an industrial and agricultural centre (grain and feed crops, vegetables, melons and gourds, sugar-beet, sunflower; fruit-farming; dairy farming and beef raising, pig-breeding, aviculture). The town has Krasnodar chemicals plant, enterprises of flavouring industry (an oil-extraction plant, etc.), woodworking industry (a furniture factory, an integrated forest mill), production of building materials. One of hydroelectric stations of Belerechensk cascade is in the area of Belerechensk.
Belorechensk burial mounds of local nobility and soldiers with their families, dating back to the 14th century, are near the town.
