Svobodny, Amur Oblast

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For other uses, see Svobodny.

Svobodny (Russian: Свобо́дный) is a town in Amur Oblast, Russia, located 167 km north of Blagoveshchensk on the right bank of the Zeya River at 51°23′60″N, 128°7′60″E. Population: 63,889 (2002 Census).

Founded in 1912 as Alexeyevsk; renamed Svobodny in 1917. It is the birthplace of the director Leonid Gaiday, whose memorial was unveiled in September 2006.

It is served by Svobodny Airport and is near the Orlovka interceptor air base.

In Stalin times there was one of the largest concentration camps of slave labour known as BamLAG (run by NKVD´s GULAG) situated in Svobodny, with ca. 190.300 convicts as for October, 1935. The camp claimed lives of thousands of political, clerical convicts.

v • d • e Cities and towns in Amur Oblast

Administrative center: Blagoveshchensk

	Belogorsk · Progress · Raychikhinsk · Shimanovsk · Skovorodino · Svobodny · Tynda · Zavitinsk · Zeya