Ust-Kut
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Ust-Kut (Russian: Усть-Кут) is a town in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, situated on the river Lena. Population: 54,600 (2003 est.); 49,951 (2002 Census). The town was founded in 1631 by cossack ataman Ivan Galkin, who built a fort there. The place received the official status of a town in 1954. It is served by Ust-Kut Airport.
Leon Trotsky was exiled here for a few years.
In 1951, the railway from Taishet reached Ust-Kut. The town thus became the first and only river port on the Lena served by the railway, and an important railhead through which cargoes could travel to and from the locations along the Lena, such as most of Yakutia. Ust-Kut remained the end of the line until 1974, when construction work started to extend the railway, now known as the Baikal Amur Mainline, east toward the Lake Baikal and beyond. The city became the headquarters of the construction of the western section of the BAM.
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