Russian ǀ East European
Photo: Natalia Pogonina, Woman Grandmaster and two- time Russian Women’s Champion of Chess, born in Saratov
Saratov is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River located upstream (north) of Volgograd. As of the 2010 Census, Saratov had a population of 837,900, making it the 17th largest city in Russia by population. The Tsar Feodor I of Russia likely developed Saratov as a fortress to secure Russia’s southeastern border. Saratov developed as a shipping port along the Volga, and it was historically important to the Volga Germans, who settled in large numbers in the city, before they were expelled after World War II.
During January 1915, with World War I dominating the Russian national agenda, Saratov became the destination for deportation convoys of ethnic Germans, Jews, Hungarians, Austrians and Slavs whose presence closer to the western front was perceived as a potential security risk to the state. Until the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet authorities designated Saratov a “closed city”; off-limits to all foreigners due to its military importance as the site of a vital facility manufacturing military aircraft.
Russian – Saratov represents 52 Russians from Saratov City in the Eastern European region of the Russian Federation who were sampled in 2007 by the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Source publication: Developing STR databases on structured populations: The native South Siberian population versus the Russian populations. FSI: Genetics 3 (2009) e111-e116.
[Population 393]
