city, Stavropol kray (territory), western Russia, on the Kuban River at the mouth of the Bolshoy (Great) Zelenchuk River. Until the mid-1950s it was an agricultural market town, but in 1962 a chemical complex utilizing nearby natural gas reserves was constructed. A fertilizer plant was opened in 1962, and enlarged in 1965. Since 1968 plastics and chemical fibres have been manufactured. Nevinnomyssk is a rail centre, with freight yards and workshops; it is also the starting point of the Nevinnomyssk Canal, which provides irrigation to Stavropol and Krasnodar territories and Rostov oblast. Pop. (2005 est.) 130,732.