Kirov

Kirov (Ки́ров) is a city in eastern European Russia, on the Vyatka River, capital of Kirov Oblast. Geographical location 58°36′ N 49°39′ E Kirov is a station on the Trans-Siberian railway west of the Ural Mountains. A major transportation hub (rail and highways; Trans-Siberian main) and river port; airport. Large center of machine building; metallurgy, light, printing trade. Kirov has several museums, universities and theaters, as well as an opera and a ballet stage. According to a report in Pravda dated 4 January 2005, Kirov is known as the "city of twins" for the unusually high number of multiple births there.

Population (1999): 465,000.

Former names of the city:

• before 1934 : Vyatka (Вя́тка)
• before 1781 : Khlynov or Hlynov (Хлы́нов)

The city was renamed in December 1934 in honor of the assassinated Soviet politician Sergei Kirov. The city was renamed back to Vyatka in 1991, the oblast of which it is the capital still bears the name Kirov.

Kirov was also the name of two Soviet cruiser and battlecruiser classes.