Skovorodino is a town and the administrative center of Skovorodinsky District of Amur Oblast, Russia, located in the upper stream of the Bolshoy Never River 669 km northwest of Blagoveshchensk, the administrative center of the oblast. Skovorodino is located 54 km from the border with Heilongjiang, China. Population:

Geography

The nearest significant town is Tynda, about 140 km to the north on the Baikal-Amur Mainline.

History

It was founded in 1908 as the settlement of Zmeiny (Змеи́ный) during the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was then renamed Never-1 (Невер-1) after the nearby river. In 1911, it was once again renamed and became Rukhlovo (Рухлово). It was granted town status in 1927. In 1938, it was renamed Skovorodino in honor of A. N. Skovorodin (1890–1920), chairman of a local soviet, who had been killed here during the Russian Civil War. There is a myth that it was named after a frying pan factory ordered by Stalin (in Russian, "frying pan" is "сковорода" (skovoroda)), which is not correct.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Skovorodino serves as the administrative center of Skovorodinsky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with the settlement of Lesnoy, incorporated within Skovorodinsky District as Skovorodino Urban Settlement. As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban settlement status and is a part of Skovorodinsky Municipal District.

Economy

An oil pipeline is currently under construction from Tayshet north of Lake Baikal to Skovorodino; it is intended for oil to be transported from here by rail to the port of Nakhodka on the Pacific, as well as to China. This is planned as the first section of a pipeline bringing natural gas directly to the Pacific ports, managed by Transneft. It was opened on December 27, 2009 by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Climate

Skovorodino has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dwc). Winters are severely cold with average temperatures from -33.4 to -18.9 C in January, while summers are warm but short, with average temperatures from +11.5 to +24.9 C in July. Precipitation is moderate and is much higher in summer than at other times of the year. Winters are generally dry.

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