Borzya

Geography

The town is located on the Borzya River—a right-hand tributary of the Onon—about 40 kilometers (25 mi) from the border with Mongolia in the south and 70 kilometers (43 mi) from the border with China in the southeast.

Climate

Borzya has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dwc) bordering on humid continental (Köppen climate classification Dwb) and semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk), with severely cold winters and warm summers. Precipitation is quite low but is somewhat higher from June to September than at other times of the year.

History

Although there had been human settlement on the present site of the town since the 18th century, the modern town began with the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1899. The settlement around the Borzya railway station was officially opened in 1900, named Suvorovsky in honor of Alexander Suvorov. This name, however, was not widely used by the residents, who continued to use the same name as the railway station and the river. The name Borzya was eventually made official when the settlement was granted town status in 1950.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Borzya serves as the administrative center of Borzinsky District, to which it is directly subordinated. As a municipal division, the town of Borzya, together with one rural locality (the crossing loop of Zun-Torey), is incorporated within Borzinsky Municipal District as Borzinskoye Urban Settlement.

Economy

Besides the railway workshops, employers in the town include food production enterprised, particularly meat production from the livestock industry in the surrounding area.

The Kharanor brown coal open-pit mine is located northwest of the town, providing fuel for power generation.

Transportation

The town is on the original stretch of the Trans-Siberian Railway which crossed Manchuria on its way to Vladivostok and was known as the Chinese Eastern Railway. This route was later bypassed by the current Trans-Siberian, which is entirely on the Russian territory, but the original line passing through Borzya is still used for passenger and freight traffic to and from China.

Military

The town is the headquarters of the 36th Army of the Russian Ground Forces.