History does not tolerate subjunctive mood? He still endures so much. Especially here in Russia. We list the cities that could be the capital of our Motherland (and even those that have enjoyed informal capital status). If not for the circumstances...
Velikiy Novgorod
Of course, this is the first thing that comes to mind. The richest Russian city-state until the 16th century, the place of Rurik’s vocation. It was here that “the Russians, the Chuds, the Slovenians, the Krivichis and everyone said: “Our land is great and abundant, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us." Actually, this would be more than enough to claim all-Russian capital status. However, Veliky Novgorod had other plans: the city basked in its own self-sufficiency and independence and shunned any geopolitical games aimed at dominating the territory of the former Kievan Rus. As a result, John III came in 1478 and closed down the “feudal republic.” From that moment on, the city began to dive down: from a subject of world politics, Veliky Novgorod turned into a regional center and a museum city, where there is something to show foreigners.
In terms of age, this city could easily compete with Novgorod the Great. Rurik also ruled here, the residents of the city actively participated in Oleg’s campaigns against Constantinople, and it was here that the seed of the future of Muscovite Rus' was sown. For a long time Rostov was the main city in North-Eastern Rus' and the largest spiritual center. However, he could not withstand the pressure of Moscow and the Danilovich dynasty. At first, Rostov at the beginning of the 14th century was divided into two parts: Borisoglebskaya and Sretenskaya (which ended up under Moscow protectorate). The entire disloyal elite was expelled from the Moscow part. The author of “The Life of Sergius of Radonezh,” who, by the way, came from a Rostov boyar family, laments: “alas for Rostov and his princes, they took power, reign, property and glory from them.” And already John III in 1474 finally bought out the second, Borisoglebskaya, half of the city. And Rostov unhinderedly began its descent to the state of a quiet provincial town.
Vladimir
Founded at the end of the 10th century on the site of a small village of the Merya tribe, Vladimir received the status of the capital city of North-Eastern Rus' within a century and a half. Thanks to Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who in 1157 moved the capital of “the entire Suzdal land” here. But the Mongol-Tatar invasion undermined the promising development of Vladimir. Despite the conditional status of the capital, the city quickly lost its primacy. The last prince who reigned directly in Vladimir was Alexander Nevsky.
At the dawn of Russian statehood, Suzdal was a very influential city. Despite the adoption of Orthodoxy, it remained one of the centers of paganism until the 12th century. It was here that the famous revolt of the Magi broke out in 1024. A little over 100 years have passed; the Magi cooled down a little and scattered into the nearest thickets, and Yuri Dolgoruky made Suzdal the center of the North-Eastern land. But not for long. And already in 1392, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, having absorbed this city, finally buried the “metropolitan” ambitions of Suzdal. But in the 16th century the city became one of the spiritual centers of the country. But also not for long. At first, Suzdal resigned itself to the status of a provincial town, but in our era it took on the burden of “historical Disneyland.”
Many lovers of antiquity dream of the capital status of this city (today, in fact, villages). However, Ladoga gave up its claim to the capital city even before the Baptism of Rus'. This city was founded by the Varangians. It was from here that the Norman colonization of the future territory of Russia began. According to one version, it was here (and not in Novgorod) that Rurik sat down to rule. In those days, Ladoga was a port city, where merchant caravans gathered, fur trade was brisk, jewelry, weapons and slaves. Actually, that’s all the claims to capital status. Already in the 10th century, Ladoga became completely dependent on Veliky Novgorod, and in 1703, the “ancient capital of Northern Rus'” lost its status as a city.
Alexandrovskaya Sloboda
This small town breathed life into the capital under Ivan the Terrible, who made it the center of his oprichnina. For more than a decade and a half, life was in full swing here: the most important political decisions were made in Sloboda, embassies of the most influential states of that time were opened, negotiations were held at the very top level. The best icon painters and architects worked in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda; The first conservatory in Russia was founded, where, by order of the Tsar, the best musicians and singers were brought from all over the country. The country's first provincial printing house was opened here, and in 1576 the Slobodskaya Psalter, printed by Andronik Nevezha, was published. It is in Sloboda that traces of the legendary Grozny library are lost.
But one day it all ended at once. In 1581, the tsar left for Moscow and never returned. And the city fell asleep for several centuries.
City of Kitezh
According to legend, the city was founded by Prince Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich on the shore of Lake Svetloyar. The city stood for 75 years before the invasion of Batu Khan. When Batu’s troops approached him, then, at the prayer of the residents, Kitezh disappeared. According to one version, he disappeared under the water of the lake, according to another, he simply became invisible. In Russian tradition, it was believed that the city would become visible again only with the second coming of Christ. True, there are legends that true righteous people can still see the city (and even live there!). For them it is already the capital...
“Anatolyich’s Bulbs”, the agitation of Russians for physical education and Russian round dances - will the president finally decide on some more serious reforms instead of cosmetic innovations? Members of the Stolypin Club and Business Russia, led by Federation Council Senator Yevgeny Tarlo, proposed to Medvedev one of the ways to truly modernize the country - to move the capital of Russia from Moscow.
The fact that Moscow has outlived its usefulness as the center of government of the country, none of the participants round table I had no doubt about it. Evgeny Tarlo recalled that Russia changed the location of its capital many times: Staraya Ladoga under Rurik, then Kyiv and Vladimir, under the Mongols - Tver and Moscow, St. Petersburg and again Moscow, for a short time during the Second World War Kuibyshev (Samara).
The choice of a new capital city caused a lively discussion. Executive Director of Business Russia Nikolai Ostarkov referred to the experience of Germany, where power is dispersed along the Berlin-Bonn axis. He proposes to build the same axis in Russia - Moscow - St. Petersburg. That is, some government institutions will be left in the current capital, and some will be moved to the banks of the Neva.
It is worth recalling that a number of government institutions are already located in St. Petersburg: the Constitutional Court, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, the EurAsEC.
Director of the Institute of Demography, Migration and Regional Development Yuri Krupnov is confident that the new capital should be founded in the Amur region. The best option is about 50 km from the border with China. According to him, the Asia-Pacific region is becoming an economic and political center world, and the new capital of Russia will be able to integrate into this process. In addition, the capital on the Amur will symbolically show China that Russia does not intend to quietly cede these territories to its powerful neighbor.
Another advantage of this transfer of the capital to Far East Krupnov sees an inevitable “weeding out” of the elite, which will not want to leave their homes in Moscow: “There will be a partial change of the elite by replacing aging personnel tied to convenience, tied into clans and groups - with personnel focused on work and transformation.”
Former State Duma deputy from Gaidar's party Grigory Tomchin expressed confidence that moving the capital would mean a change in the paradigm of governing the country. The current absolutism will be replaced by democratic methods of governance. Tomchin also believes that the future of Russia is a transit area between China and Europe. Therefore, the capital of Russia should be a place somewhere in the center of Northern Eurasia.
Russia could earn tens of billions of dollars for transporting and handling cargo from China to Europe. Tomchin gave the following example as a terrifying example: the average speed of movement of a container on Russian railways from the Far East to the border with the European Union is... 9.5 km/h. By increasing this average speed to just 22 km/h, transporting cargo from Southeast Asian countries to the EU becomes more profitable and faster. railway through Russia than by sea through the Suez Canal.
The new capital of Russia is somewhere in Western Siberia will connect regions and people more closely with each other. Tomchin referred to research by sociologists, which showed that only 11% of Muscovites have been beyond the Urals at least once in their lives, 2% to Karyakia and 20% to the Volga. The nation becomes “immobile,” and this is the first sign of a possible collapse of the state.
Tomchin focused on the thesis of opponents of moving the capital - the supposedly high cost of such an event. According to him, in order to avoid a transport collapse, Moscow needs to make 22 normal exits from the city, whereas now there are only 3 (St. Petersburg is doing even worse - 1 normal exit from the city when the required 16). Tens of billions of dollars will be required for road construction, but the construction of new outbound routes does not guarantee that in a few years they too will be stuck in traffic jams. So wouldn’t it be better to “unload” Moscow in another way - by leaving millions of people, one way or another connected with the government, to another region?
State Duma deputy from United Russia, a native of Krasnoyarsk, Viktor Zubarev also mentioned the desirability of creating a “geographical axis of power” - but he proposed a Novosibirsk-Krasnoyarsk axis. Both cities are the geographical center of the country. In addition, Siberia is a historically freedom-loving region. There was no serfdom here; it was in Siberia that the most effective Russian workers settled - Old Believers and ethnic Germans. There is not and has not been chauvinism and nationalism in the region - unlike Moscow, which is stricken by these ailments. Zubarev considers Omsk another option for a new capital.
Anatoly Leirich from Novosibirsk (that same effective German), chairman of the board of directors of the Himex Group and shareholder of AvtoVAZ, reminded the audience that Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev planned to create the capital of the RSFSR in Novosibirsk. “But he didn’t have time, and since then we have been waiting for the restoration of historical justice,” Leirich added.
Chairman of Business Russia Boris Titov reassured those gathered: “We now have new thinking in Russia and new government, in which such ideas can be discussed." Titov, knowing the world of domestic businessmen well, is sure that it will be difficult for business without closeness to power. “Any medium-sized business, not to mention a large one, is forced to have people deciding issues in government offices. And if the capital is moved, then business will have to follow the authorities. And such moves will cost billions,” he laments.
But at the same time, Titov agreed with the idea of moving the capital. His proposal is Tver. The city is located between the two main cities of the capital, with convenient transport links.
Then the author of these lines received the floor. I proposed to begin with a symbolic act - to finally evict the supreme ruler from the medieval castle. Russia is the only country in the white world where the president still rules from the fortress-Kremlin.
My second idea is that the state must decide on its development strategy. If it happens, then the main state propagandist Vladislav Surkov will quickly justify the need for a new capital in this or that place, and 90% of the country’s population will agree with his arguments after six months of processing. If we set the goal of becoming a great Asia-Pacific power, then why not move the capital to Blagoveshchensk or Vladivostok. If we recognize that Russia has a “third way” and the status of the main state of Eurasia - as Alexander Dugin, who is close to power, advocates, then the capital can be in Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk.
If the monarchical idea is revived with the continuation of the manic aspiration of the last Romanov kings to the Straits (Istanbul), then the capital can be moved to Rostov-on-Don. At the same time, closer to the January isotherm zero temperatures and the warm sea.
If Surkov and Medvedev announce Russia’s return to the European democratic path of development, then the best option is Novgorod. As one of the first democratic republics in the Middle Ages, along with Genoa and Florence. With the option of returning to our own democracy - the Constituent Assembly, once dispersed by the Bolsheviks, the capital can be moved to Samara, as the seat of the last elected government of the KomUCH.
In general, there are many options - and they all have a right to exist.
Professor High school economics, the head of the FBK company, Igor Nikolaev, recalled that the transfer of the capital of Kazakhstan from Almaty to Astana cost only $2 billion. So moving the capital in Russia will also not be too expensive. At the same time, Nikolaev does not exclude the possibility that President Medvedev may well seize on such an idea. “They like to perform symbolic acts, instead of everyday hard work,” Nikolaev added.
The last word was taken by the moderator of the round table, Senator Evgeniy Tarlo. His idea is to create a “distributed capital” in Russia: various parts of state power should be moved to several cities at once. Tarlo proposes to locate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies of foreign states, the Security Council, and the leadership of the Navy in St. Petersburg. The president must replace the medieval Kremlin castle with the Konstantinovsky Palace.
The government must remain in Moscow. The Investigative Committee and the State Drug Control Committee should be moved to Tver, and new pre-trial detention centers should be built there. The legislative power - the State Duma and the Federation Council - should be transferred to the Urals, Yekaterinburg or Novosibirsk. Move the Fisheries Agency to Murmansk or Vladivostok. Academy of Agricultural Sciences - in Michurinsk or Stavropol.
In 2018, it will be 100 years since the government moved from Petrograd to Moscow. The round table participants agreed that at the end of his second presidential term, Dmitry Medvedev could make a gift to all Russians and found a new capital. In some way, the third president of Russia must, in the end, be remembered by posterity.
The chairman of the supervisory board of the Institute of Demography, Migration and Regional Development, Yuri Krupnov, proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to move the capital of Russia from Moscow beyond the Ural ridge. This initiative is part of the draft “Doctrine of De-Moscowhood,” which the publicist recently sent to the head of state.
The public figure pointed out that modern Russia“hypercentralized” - the Moscow region alone has absorbed almost a fifth of the entire population of Russia. At the same time, national development is focused on 15-25 megacities, where more than half of all citizens of the country live.
According to the expert, as a result of ongoing internal migration, Russia may not only lose its geopolitical advantages, but also lose sovereignty over territories remote from large cities.
“Forcibly congregating in narrow, limited point zones, Russian people<...>they will not want to increase the number of their families, to escape the global plague of few children and extinction.<...>Today, on 1/7 of the world’s landmass, we live 7-10 times more crowded, cramped and higher-storied than the British and Germans,” says the draft doctrine.
- Yuri Krupnov
- globallookpress.com
- Alexander Legky/Russian Look
A demography specialist sees a possible solution to the problem in moving the capital of Russia beyond the Urals. At the same time, Krupnov is convinced that priority in development should be given to Siberia and the Far East, and from the economy concentrated in Moscow, it is necessary to move on to the development of the country’s territories.
The expert also proposes to abandon megalopolis urbanization in favor of low-rise landscape-estate urbanization, which will allow “Russians to re-develop their endless spaces, their own land and will contribute to the departure from forced small families and the restoration of demographic growth.”
A public figure proposes that the state allocate to each large family own “family estate” with an area of at least 30 acres, having all the necessary infrastructure.
According to Krupnov, in addition to the proposed measures, Russia should be “de-Moscowed” by a project to build thousands of new cities and accompanying new infrastructure. The expert proposes to provide transport links to all small towns in the country with complete aviation and complete restoration of river navigability.
The head of the LDPR faction, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, in a conversation with RT, expressed the opinion that there is no reason to move the capital of Russia beyond the Urals.
“No need to touch (the capital - RT). The holy city of Moscow, which is already almost a thousand years old, and suddenly take a new capital. This is a lot of money, and most importantly - what is the point? We are leaving the Urals and will be the capital of an Asian state, that is, all symbols will be lost.<...>There are no economic, historical, legal, or moral and ethical reasons to move the capital,” he said.
- View of Yekaterinburg
- RIA News
- Konstantin Chalabov
The politician noted that the authorities should not focus on moving the capital, but on developing the regions. He also drew attention to the fact that too many resources would be spent on developing the new capital.
“There is simply no point in moving the capital. No one is stopping us from directing money to the development of all other regions of the country. Otherwise, it will turn out that we will now develop another capital and tell everyone that now all the money is going to the new capital, so wait ten years,” Zhirinovsky emphasized.
He also stated that his party would under no circumstances support this initiative and would hinder it in every possible way.
In turn, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov expressed confidence that the prerequisites for moving the capital Russian Federation are absent, and they are unlikely to arise in the foreseeable future.
The deputy noted that any relocation of the capital is a “costly matter” that is “hardly worth doing during a crisis.” He recalled that in the history of Russia there had already been cases when the capital was moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg and back, but then, according to him, there were prerequisites for this.
“Then it was a different story. Now I don’t see any prerequisites, so I don’t think that such a need is ripe. Yes, there is an overload in the capital, Muscovites are suffering in many ways, but it seems to me that if this is taken away, we will increase the suffering both for Muscovites and for those cities where, according to this project, the capital is supposed to be moved,” TASS quotes Krasheninnikov.
- View of the center of Vladivostok from the cable-stayed bridge over the Zolotoy Rog Bay
- RIA News
- Vitaly Ankov
The politician called the initiative “an interesting stuff for discussion,” but doubted that it would be implemented in the coming decades.
First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Federal Structure and Local Government Issues Irina Guseva, in a conversation with RT, called the proposal inappropriate.
“This is generally the wrong approach. What's the point of going beyond the Urals, what will it give us? In my opinion, the most important thing in this issue is the need to reconsider, perhaps, inter-budgetary relations, because the regions are very dependent on the federal center. We need to set a little more priorities in the regions, take care of the population, so that people do not run away from their small homeland, but are proud of it, develop enterprises, build businesses,” she said.
The Federation Council also does not believe in the prospects of such a proposal. First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs Stepan Kirichuk, in a conversation with RT, called the initiative far-fetched.
“Nobody needs Moscow either as a capital or as a metropolis if there is work and good living conditions. This is what governors, mayors, people, residents need to do, public organizations. “It is not the transfer of the capital, but the development of the regional economy, the creation of conditions for excellent work, the creation of jobs - this is the main thing, and not far-fetched measures related to such things,” he said.
According to him, the capital can be located in any city, but the situation in the regions will not change: “What difference does it make for Buryatia where the capital will be, if in 1990 they had 2 million rams and sheep on pasture, and today - 200 thousand What difference does it make to them whether the capital will be in Moscow, Yekaterinburg or Novosibirsk? The situation needs to be resolved so that their sheep grow and the meat is sold, rather than imported Mongolian meat.”
- Novosibirsk
- RIA News
- Alexander Kryazhev
Judging by the results, in which more than 5,000 people have already taken part, RT readers support Krupnov’s proposal. More than 50% of respondents voted for this option.
Head of the Supervisory Board of the Institute of Demography, Migration and Regional Development Yuri Krupnov proposed to the Russian President to move the capital beyond the Urals. This is not the first such proposal to “demoscovite” the country’s capital for last years. According to the expert, the capital region “absorbed almost a fifth of all Russian population". National development also focuses on 15-25 megacities, in which “more than half” of all citizens live. On the occasion of once again considering the issue of moving the capital of Russia, we recall how this issue was approached in different years.
Saint Petersburg
The most frequent candidate to regain the title of the capital of the country. The city on the Neva was originally built as a capital Russian Empire and everything about it is majestic: from buildings to fountains and squares. There was no formal decree according to which St. Petersburg became the capital. The transfer of the capital began in 1710, when senior officials began to move to St. Petersburg, followed by senators. In 1712, the royal court settled in St. Petersburg. Despite the reverse transfer of the capital in 1728, after its transfer in 1730 to St. Petersburg, it remained the capital until 1918. Note that talk about St. Petersburg again becoming the official capital began to arise after the election of the President Vladimir Putin.
The first person to start talking about transferring some of the capital’s functions to St. Petersburg was the State Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev. In his opinion, Moscow does not have enough premises for the fruitful activities of people's representatives, and Mayor Yuri Luzhkov does not want to allocate land for the construction of a modern parliamentary complex. In St. Petersburg, legislators could comfortably accommodate themselves in their “native land” - the Tauride Palace, in which the first Russian Dumas. In 2000, the then ambassador to Belarus also addressed this issue Pavel Borodin.
In January 2002, another attempt was made to raise the topic - Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov said that in the near future he would submit to the State Duma a bill on transferring part of the functions of the capital to the city. The project was prepared by Mironov himself and St. Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev. In February 2003 - the third visit. Valentina Matvienko, then still Deputy Prime Minister, announced that she was in favor of transferring some of the capital’s functions to St. Petersburg. However, it never came to concrete proposals.
Novosibirsk
The capital of Siberia is another option under discussion for the country's capital. They advocated its transfer to Siberia Sergei Shoigu when he was governor of the Moscow region and businessman Oleg Deripaska, whose main production assets are located beyond the Urals.
“In general, in a good way, many people talk about this. I’m probably one of them. I believe that the capital should be moved further away, to Siberia. It seems to me so,” Sergei Shoigu said then.
In addition, in different years, Vladimir Zhirinovsky proposed making Novosibirsk the capital of the country, Eduard Limonov and other public figures.
Then experts agreed that the strengths of this idea are that neighboring regions will receive an impetus for development, and there will be some renewal of power structures in the process of moving. There were also many potential downsides. First of all, these are the costs of moving, which will cost hundreds of billions of rubles. In addition, it will be difficult for the authorities to work during the relocation process. Muscovites are also concerned about the prospects of their city, which is now tailored to the functions of the capital and cannot exist without them.
By the way, Novosibirsk is the third largest city in the country. It is curious that at the peak of conversations and rumors on this topic, the then governor Novosibirsk region Vasily Yurchenko called it inappropriate to move the capital of Russia beyond the Urals and, in particular, to Novosibirsk - in his opinion, this idea is an unrealizable project.
Magadan
Magadan could be the ideal “first city” of Russia, the LDPR leader believes Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Several years ago, he said that moving the capital from Moscow to the Far East would increase Russia's influence over Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia and Australia. At the same time, Zhirinovsky admitted that he is not at all afraid of the potential distance of the new capital from Europe. According to him, Europe is aging and by the middle of the 21st century it will become a “museum”, so there is no need to worry about this. At the same time, the majority of those who advocate moving the capital doubt that the idea will be supported by Moscow officials. In addition, such a large-scale project will require enormous costs.
Krasnoyarsk
After the performance Vladimir Putin At the tenth Seliger forum in 2014, a topic appeared about the possible move of the entire political elite of the country to Krasnoyarsk. The president's statement caused heated discussion among deputies. Later, this issue was approached several more times, but even in this case everything remained at the level of proposals, even if they were said by the president of the country. However, Krasnoyarsk has everything to become one of the centers of the country in the coming years. In terms of its economy, this city is one of the leaders in Siberia, and in 2019 the Winter Universiade will be held there, which will help attract additional investment to the city.
Sevastopol
Last year, on the anniversary of the referendum on the reunification of Crimea with Russia, the chairman of the board of directors of the Institute for Analysis of Political Infrastructure, Evgeniy Tunik, proposed moving the capital to Sevastopol. He sent a corresponding appeal to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. However, such a decision is unlikely to be reasonable, given the attitude towards the status of the peninsula in the West.
Ekaterinburg
Another option that appears as possible candidates. Just the other day, a member of the Supreme Council of United Russia Dmitry Orlov called Yekaterinburg the best option for moving the capital from Moscow. According to Orlov, Moscow is located far from the geographical center of Russia, and its development leads to hypertrophy of the Moscow agglomeration. By the way, the capital of the Urals is the fourth largest city in the country and one of the fastest growing and modern.
Several cities at once claim to bear the honorary title of the third capital of Russia. It is not clear, to be honest, what exactly is honorable or beneficial in this, because the city automatically recognizes the primacy of Moscow and St. Petersburg in all areas. Yes, this is exactly the reality, but our cities could not follow the two capitals, but immediately adopt, say, the European experience.
Maybe for foreign tourists coming to Russia there is some charm in this label, and it’s all about their wallets? We don’t have any special deductions from the federal budget for this title... Be that as it may, there was a serious struggle for the status of the third capital some time ago, and the disputes do not subside to this day.
Now the Third Capital brand belongs to Kazan. The city wrested it from Nizhny Novgorod and other less successful competitors. But times are changing. In recent years, there have often been proposals to move the capital of Russia somewhere to the Urals or Siberia, so soon the struggle for the right to carry the banner of the third capital may again become relevant.
What do you think about this? Let's vote, because we have so many cool candidates!
Kazan
Everything is clear with Kazan. The capital of Tatarstan, an ancient but modern city, which Putin himself called the third capital! True, sometimes this happens there...
Novosibirsk
The third largest city in Russia, the capital of Siberia (although Krasnoyarsk would argue here), which in 100 years has transformed from a provincial provincial town into a metropolis. True, in 1993 Rutskoi and Khasbulatov wanted to set up their temporary capital here, but the Novosibirsk residents are not to blame for this!
Ekaterinburg
The capital of the Urals with a rich history, a constant contender for the title of third capital, the city in which the first president of Russia matured!
Nizhny Novgorod
The capital of the Volga region... True, this is the only million-plus city in Russia that is losing population, but Nizhny Novgorod residents will still never recognize the primacy of Kazan!
Velikiy Novgorod
One of the oldest cities in Russia, once a rich center of international trade, which remained independent even during the Horde occupation of Rus', has now turned into a backwater (even though it is the capital of the region). Nikita Mikhalkov himself proposed to assign the status of the third capital to Veliky Novgorod.
Samara
During the years of great upheaval, Samara was already (in fact) the temporary capital of Russia and the USSR. Another city whose residents could not help but be offended by the fact that Kazan had leapfrogged them.
Omsk
Ah, Omsk! Once upon a time Kolchak sat here, and now Dvorakovsky was barely kicked out... But maybe the status of the third capital will help this beautiful Siberian city to revive?
Sevastopol
A staple city, which, after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, received a unique status: along with Moscow and St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, from the point of view of legislation, is an independent region - a city of federal significance.
Grozny
Another city on which the center willingly spends money. The city that rose from the ashes after Chechen wars and acquired important political significance, each time guaranteeing the current president and the ruling party an excellent result in the elections.
Great, but we need another option for fans of the Soviet Union!
Maybe Ruzaevka in Mordovia? 
Or Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan? But then the whole of Kazan will be bombed... 
Let it be better Volgograd! Moreover, I have not been there yet and cannot judge biasedly. And especially for fans of the USSR, we will also rename it Stalingrad, don’t mind!
So let's practice choosing!
UPD: There will still be a second round. Kazan residents, with the active support of the Tatarstan media, tried very hard and pushed hard, but still did not make it before midnight, and the voting results turned into a pumpkin!
At 0:05 Moscow time it was like this:
As you may have guessed, Kazan and Yekaterinburg are reaching the finals! I hope that by the second round the residents of Yekaterinburg will also wake up, and an exciting fight will await us.
Which city is worthy of the title of the third capital of Russia? Velikiy Novgorod 83
(2.5
%
)
Volgograd
79 (2.4 % )
70 (2.1 % )
Ekaterinburg
688 (20.6 % )
1576 (47.3 % )
