city, Chelyabinsk oblast (region), west central Russia, in the southern Urals. Founded in 1920, it became a city in 1933. It is one of the centres of lignite (brown coal) mining in the Chelyabinsk coal basin. The population has been declining since the late 1960s because of mechanization of the mines. Mining and industrial colleges are in the city. Pop. (2006 est.) 137,813.