Svobodny, Amur Oblast
| Svobodny (English) Свободный (Russian) |
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 Svobodny
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| Administrative status (as of November 2013) | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Amur Oblast |
| Administratively subordinated to | Svobodny Urban Okrug |
| Administrative center of | Svobodny Urban Okrug,Svobodnensky District |
| Municipal status (as of December 2004) | |
| Urban okrug | Svobodny Urban Okrug |
| Administrative center of | Svobodny Urban Okrug, Svobodnensky Municipal District |
| Statistics | |
| Population (2010 Census) | 58,778 inhabitants |
| - Rank in 2010 | 281st |
| Time zone | YAKT (UTC+09:00) |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Previous names | Alexeyevsk (until 1917) |
| Postal code(s) | 676450 |
| Dialing code(s) | +7 41643 |
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Svobodny (Russian: Свобо́дный) is a town in Amur Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Zeya River, 167 kilometers (104 mi) north of Blagoveshchensk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 58,778 (2010 Census); 63,889 (2002 Census);80,006 (1989 Census).
It was founded in 1912 in conjunction with the construction of the Amur Railway (the Trans-Siberian Railway's "bypass" route, which was to provide a railway connection from European Russia to the Pacific entirely over the Russian soil, without crossing the north-eastern China). It was originally named Alexeyevsk (Алексе́евск), in honor of the then crown prince Alexey. In 1917, the town was renamed Svobodny,Russian for free.
During the Stalin era, the BAMLag prison camp was built in Svobodny, with the intention of providing forced labor for the planned construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The camp became one of the largest in the gulag system, with ca. 190,300 convicts in October 1935. The camp claimed the lives of thousands of political and clerical prisoners.
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Svodobny serves as the administrative center of Svobodnensky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as Svobodny Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.
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