Grozny is a city in the North Caucasus, in the south of Russia; it is the capital of Chechen Republic (Chechnya) and the administrative centre of Grozny Region. It spreads over the Chechen (Groznensky) foothill plain, in the valley of River Sunzha (the right inflow of Terek) and on the adjacent slopes of Sunzhensky Ridge, 2007 km to the South of Moscow.

The population of Grozny is 271.6 thousand people (as of 2009) and its area makes 2996 sq.km.

It is a railway station and a big highway junction.

The climate is continental. Winters are soft, with unstable weather and frequent thaws. The average temperature of January is -4. Summers are hot, with the average temperature of July +22 +24. The precipitation level is 400-600 mm a year, mostly in May - July.

To the southwest of Grozny, in the valley of River Goyta there is an artificial reservoir (aka the Groznensky Sea).

History of Grozny

It was founded 1818 as Grozny (meaning “threatening” or “thundering” in Russian) Fortress by order of General A.P. Yermolov.

Closing the way out from mountains to the plain through the Hankalsky Ravine, it was the most important link of the Sunzhensky fortification line.

Renowned Russian figures, such as poet Mikhail Lermontov (1840) and writer Leo Tolstoy (1851-54), Decembrists Bestuzhev and Puschin, and others did their military service in the Grozny Fortress in the Caucasus.