Zaozyorny, Krasnoyarsk Krai

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Zaozyorny is a town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is the administrative center of Rybinsky District and is part of Zaozyorny Urban Settlement. The town lies on the Barga River in the Yenisei basin, about 166 kilometers east of Krasnoyarsk, along the Trans-Siberian Railway (Zaozyornaya station). It sits roughly 210 meters above sea level.

Founded in 1776 as Troitsko-Zaozyornaya sloboda on land owned by a monastery, it began with mica mining and placer mining. It was later renamed Zaozyorny and, in 1948, became a town. The name means “beyond the lakes” because of nearby lakes.

In the Soviet era, Zaozyorny had several factories—electronics parts, brick, a large grain elevator, milk processing, furniture, and sewing. After the Soviet Union collapsed, many plants closed, though some furniture and sewing factories were restarted in the 2000s with local investment; the mica mill remains in crisis. The town faced central heating problems in 2002 and 2006 due to financial difficulties of the local government.

Population has declined over the years: about 15,700 in 1989, 12,476 in 2002, 10,681 in 2010, and about 9,954 in 2021.