After serving as a Yeltsin-appointed governor since November 1991, Vladimir Biryukov was elected to the post on 1 December 1996. He won 61% of the vote. The fact that the communists failed to nominate a candidate helped him win the race as did an endorsement by the local branch of Yabloko, which is traditionally strong among the oblast electorate.
Biryukov has long experience governing the oblast and its largest enterprises. During the Soviet era, he was the general director of the region's main fishing company, Kamchatpybprom, and the general director of Kamchatpishcheprom, the oblast's key food production enterprise. He also served as the chairman of the oblast's executive committee.
Chairman of the Legislative Assembly - Mikhail Mashkovtsev (elected in April 1995) is the leader of the oblast Communist Party organization.
The oblast is located in the extreme north-east of Russia. Its territory includes the Kamchatka peninsula, the neighboring part of the mainland, and the Kommandorskie Islands. It borders Magadan Oblast and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the north, the Okhotsk Sea in the west, and the Barents Sea and the Pacific Ocean in the east. Two thirds of the oblast's territory are mountainous and a significant part is under permafrost.
Half of the oblast population lives in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii, founded in 1730 by the famous explorer Vitautas Bering.
The region is rich with fur, medicinal plants, and berries, the exploitation of which, along with reindeer-breeding, make up the main occupation of the northern indigenous peoples. Key industries include fishing, which accounts for over 70% of the region's output, and forestry. These industries make up all of the oblast's export income. Kamchatka is also rich in gas, coal, and metals, though current levels of extraction are only enough to meet local needs.
The oblast hopes to attract foreign investment to improve local transportation, natural resource extraction, fish-processing plants, and tourism.
1995 Population (est.): 423,600 (0.29% of Russian total) Industrial production as percentage of all Russian production (Jan.-Aug. 1995): 0.43%
Agricultural production as percentage of all Russian production (1994): 0.60%
Average personal income index in July 1995: 216 (Russia as a whole = 100) Price basket index in July 1995: 177 (Russia = 100) Average back wages owed per person (September 1995): 193,200 rubles (Russian average = 37,100)
Urban population: 80.8% (Russia overall: 73.0%) Student population (1993): 84 per 10,000 (Russia overall: 171/10,000); Pensioner population (1994): 14.53% Percent of population with higher education (1989 census): 15.5% (Russia overall: 11.3%)
Percent of population working in (1993): Industry: 30.2% (Russian average: 29.9%); Agriculture: 6.9% (12.8%); Trade: 10.4% (9.1%); Culture: 12.7% (13. 6%); Management: 3.9% (2.3%)
Number of telephones per 100 families (1993): in cities : 50.8 (Russian average: 41.5); in villages: 53 (17.2)
According to a 1995 survey by Bank Austria, the krai is ranked 85th among Russia?s 89 regions in terms of investment climate.