Safonovo

Safonovo (Russian: Сафо́ново) is a town in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vopets River 102 km north-east of Smolensk. It is the administrative center of Safonovsky District. Population: 46,800 (2005 est.); 48,209 (2002 Census); 56,571 (1989 Census).

The village of Safonovo was first mentioned in 1859. In 1918, the village became the center of Safonovo Volost; since 1929 it is the center of Safonovsky District. In the 1930s, large deposits of brown coal were discovered there. In 1938 the village received urban-type settlement status, and in 1952—town status.

The town is the place for the Safonovo Factory for Electric Machines (Сафоновский электромашиностроительный завод)—a manufacturer of powerful (30 to 2,000 kW) electrical motors and generators, and PO Avangard—a significant producer of parts made out of glass reinforced and carbon fiber reinforced plastics

Modern Safonovsky District was historically the place of the family estates of many Russian aristocratic families; among them Princes Galitzine, Princes Urusov, Ozerovs, Baryshnikovs, Engelgarts. In such an estate as one of these (Alexandrovskoye) future Red Army commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky was born.