Novokuznetsk

Also spelled  Novokuzneck , formerly  Kuznetsk , (1931–32)  Novokuznetsk , or (1932–61)  Stalinsk  city, Kemerovo oblast (province), south-central Russia. The city lies along the Tom River just below its confluence with the Kondoma, in the Kuznetsk Coal Basin. Originally the small village of Kuznetsk, founded in 1617, stood on the river's right bank; it had about 4,000 inhabitants in 1926. In 1929, under the Soviet First Five-Year Plan, an ironworks was founded on the opposite bank; around the