Balashikha - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Balashikha Балашиха
City[1]
Clockwise: Lenina Avenue, Balashikha-Arena, Balashikha railway station. Balashikha cotton mill #1
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Balashikha
Balashikha Location of Balashikha Show map of Russia Balashikha Balashikha (Moscow Oblast) Show map of Moscow Oblast
Coordinates: 55°49′N 37°58′E / 55.817°N 37.967°E / 55.817; 37.967
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Moscow Oblast[1]
Founded	1830[2]
City status since	1939
Government
• Body	Council of Deputies
• Head	Sergey Yurov
Area [3]
• Total	244.18 km2 (94.28 sq mi)
Elevation	150 m (490 ft)
Population  (2010 Census)[4]
• Total	215,494
• Rank	86th in 2010
• Density	880/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Administrative status
• Subordinated to	Balashikha City Under Oblast Jurisdiction[1]
• Capital of	Balashikha City Under Oblast Jurisdiction[1]
Municipal status
• Urban okrug	Balashikha Urban Okrug[3]
• Capital of	Balashikha Urban Okrug[3]
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK [5])
Postal code(s)[6]	143xxx
Dialing code(s)	+7 495
OKTMO ID	46704000001
Twin towns	Pernik, Martin, Yangzhou
Website	www.balashiha.ru

Balashikha (Russian: Балашиха, IPA: [bəlɐˈʂɨxə]) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is on the Pekhorka River 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) east of the Moscow Ring Road.

In Finno-Ugric languages, Bala-shika means land of celebrations, land of laughter and fun.^[7] Finnic peoples lived in this area before Slavs.

The city is known for its unique river and waterway system. The Pekhorka River system covers an area of 40 kilometers (25 mi) from north to south and 20 kilometers (12 mi) from east to west. Many small lakes and ponds were created by damming to provide water power for the cotton mills in the 19th century.

Balashikha was established in 1830.^[2] It was given town status in 1939.^[8]

The city is on the famous Vladimir Highway. This was the route that convicted criminals were forced to take to get to labor camps in Siberia.

Balashikha is the site of a large Russian Army base. It was closed to foreigners during the Soviet era. It was the headquarters of the 1st Corps of the Soviet Air Defense Forces and is now to become the headquarters of the Operational-Strategic Command for Missile-Space Defense. Balashikha is also a base for ODON (Internal security division). Balashikha is home to Military Unit 35690, which is a training facility used by the Federal Security Service.^[9]

• Yuri Lyapkin (born 1945), ice hockey player
• Nikolay Baskov, tenor singer
• Dmitry Klokov, Honored Master of Sports in weightlifting
• Andrey Kuznetsov, tennis player
• Artyom Avanesyan, Armenian footballer

Balashikha is twinned with:^[10][11]

• Martin, Slovakia
• Pernik, Bulgaria
• Yangzhou, China

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Law #11/2013-OZ
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Энциклопедия Города России. Moscow: Большая Российская Энциклопедия. 2003. p. 35. ISBN 5-7107-7399-9.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Law #208/2014-OZ
4. ↑ Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1 [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
5. ↑ "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). 3 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
6. ↑ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (in Russian)
7. ↑ "Топонимия Балашихи". Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
8. ↑ Balashikha. Official page. History.
9. ↑ Bellingcat Investigation Team (February 17, 2020). ""V" For "Vympel": FSB's Secretive Department "V" Behind Assassination of Georgian Asylum Seeker in Germany". bellingcat. Most frequent were Krasikov's visits to FSB's highly secure Special Operations Center in Balashiha, a suburb just outside Moscow. This heavily guarded facility, known as Military Unit 35690, was the original military base for the KGB's Vympel Spetsnaz unit, and now serves as headquarters for the FSB's CSO, as well the home-base of the elite and secretive Departments V and A.
10. ↑ "Сергей Юров предложил создать группу по работе с городами-побратимами". balashiha.ru (in Russian). Balashikha. 2017-09-09. Archived from the original on 2019-03-14. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
11. ↑ "Балашиха и китайский Янчжоу будут сотрудничать в экономике и культуре". balashiha.ru (in Russian). Balashikha. 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2020-02-04.^{[permanent dead link]}

• Official website of Balashikha Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
• Directory of organizations in Balashikha (in Russian)