Zavidovo

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For other uses of "Zavidovo", see Zavidovo (disambiguation).

Zavidovo (Russian: Завидово) is a village (selo) in Konakovsky District of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is used as an official residence place for the President of Russia, and was also used by the Soviet leaders. The residence is situated in the Zavidovo nature reserve. According to UNESCO, Zavidovo is one of the most environmentally safe places on the planet. The nature reserve is situated 150 kilometres away from Moscow in both Moscow and Tver Oblasts, on the banks of the Shosha River (a tributary of the Volga) and Lama River, and on the shore of the Ivankovo Reservoir.

The nature reserve occupies 1,250 km². It is rich in various species of fauna. There are 41 species of mammals, including weasel, ermine, brown bear, lynx and fox there. Ninety villages with a total of 20,000 residents are situated within the reserve.

The first military-hunting societies emerged in Zavidovo after the Civil War. They were set up by Red Army commissars and commanders. In 1931, the nature reserve was given the official status of a military-hunting ground.

On August 1, 1951, the military-hunting ground was broken up. In the early 1960s, a decision was made to reestablish a hunting ground in Zavidovo. The nature reserve was visited by Josip Broz Tito, Fidel Castro, Erich Honecker, Urho Kekkonen, and Janos Kadar when they visited the Soviet Union.

In 1971, a state research-experimental reserve was formed on the basis of the Zavidovo hunting ground of the USSR Defence Ministry. On August 18, 1996, following a decree of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the Zavidovo state complex was given the status of a presidential residence.

The Rus residence includes a hotel, a hunting base, basins, saunas, a boating station, and economic facilities.