Vladivostok
43°08'00"N 131°54'00"E
The city of Vladivostok is the capitol city of the Primorsky Krai (or state), centered on the Golden Horn harbor and Amursky Bay. The harbor consists of the Fishery Port, source of the region’s prime exports of fish and seafood, the naval base, home of Russian Pacific Fleet, and the commercial harbor, base of the Far Eastern Shipping Company. The Vladivostok commercial port, along with the ports of neighboring Nakhodka and Vostochniy, handles most of the sea cargo of the Russian far east and eastern Siberia. Just east of the train station are guided missile cruisers of the Russian Pacific Fleet, which uses Vladivostok as its principal base. The berths of the commercial port, largest in the Far East, stretch along the right bank of the Golden Horn Bay. The Dalzavod shipyard is on the left, the base of the Pacific Navy in the middle, and the Fishery Port on the opposite side.
Vladivostok, a city of over 700,000 and capital of Primorskiy Kray, rests on a rocky peninsula between Amurskiy and Ussiryskiy bays on Russia's Pacific coast. Many of the ornate buildings in the center of the city date from the late nineteenth century when Vladivostok was a growing international trading center. Vladivostok's recently renovated train station, a smaller version of Moscow's elegant Belorusskaya station, is the eastern terminus of the Transiberian Railway. Vladivostok's suburbs, stretching in a thin band along the eastern side of amursky bay, are a mix of old dachas, sanatoriums, Khrushchev-era apartment buildings, and newly-built brick homes for Vladivostok's wealthy. Each morning and evening, long lines of motorists, most in used cars recently imported from nearby japan, fight for space along the single hilly road that goes from the suburbs into the center.
Russia's longstanding desire for a Pacific port was realized with the foundation of Vladivostok in 1860. The city's nomination as the headquarters of the Russian Pacific fleet in the 1870s brought further growth. The lack of adequate transportation links between European Russia and its Far Eastern provinces was an obvious problem. In 1891, Czar Alexander III drew up plans for the Trans-Siberian Railway and initiated its construction. Despite the enormity of the project, a continuous route was completed in 1905, having been rushed to completion by the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War the year before. Vladivostok became Russia's main naval base in the East after Port Arthur (located in Chinese territory and ceded to Russia in 1898) fell in January 1905, during the Russo-Japanese war. Immediately after the Bolshevik revolution, the region enjoyed a brief period of political autonomy as part of a Moscow-puppet Far Eastern Republic.
During the Soviet era, Vladivostok's military role eclipsed its trading function. It has maintained its naval importance as the headquarters of the Russian Pacific Fleet. Home-port of the Russian Pacific Fleet, Vladivostok has a complement of at least 65 major surface combat ships, 50 nuclear and 25 non-nuclear submarines.
In 1921, the Soviet government closed the city to foreigners. The city was only reopened in 1992. Since then a number of foreign naval ships have visited Vladivostok from such countries as Canada, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Mexico.
During Soviet times, Vladivostok existed mainly to serve the Russian Pacific Fleet, with ship repair and other defense industries. Primorskiy Kray industry provided nonferrous metals, timber, and seafood to other parts of the soviet union. With the demise of the Soviet Union and the coming of capitalism, Vladivostok is facing a major economic transition. Many of its older, now privatized, industries have yet to find consistent markets and customers for their products and services, and most new companies are still small. Vladivostok workers often wait months for meager paychecks, and many supplement their incomes with second jobs as drivers, guides, or traders.
Beyond the city is heavily forested Primorskiy Kray, which stretches along the Sea of Japan on the southeastern coast of the Russian Far East. Primorskiy Kray's 165,900 sq. Kilometers has a population of only 2,260,000. Primorskiy Kray is bordered by Khabarovsk Kray to the north, and China and North Korea to the west and southwest, with Japan a few hours by air to the east. Winters are short and cold, with January temperatures averaging -4 degrees fahrenheit (-20 c) and biting winds and dense fogs coming in from the sea. When it is not raining, summer days are magnificent, with bright blue skies lingering until 9 or 10 at night; July temperatures average 68 fahrenheit (20 C).
