23:30, 5 May 2003

Ipatovo

Rayon (sector) centre in Stavropol kray (region), 120 km north-east of Stavropol. Located in Ciscaucasia, on the Kulaus River. Railway station in the Stavropol - Elista line. The town is crossed by the Stavropol - Elista motorway. Population (1992 est.) 27.2 thousand, (1979 est.) 23.9 thousand.

Founded in I1860 as the of village Chemrek (after a Nogay prince; later referred to as Vinodelnoye) by migrants from Voronezh, Poltava and Kharkov governments (provinces). The village was a constituent of the Novogrigoryevsky junction of Astrakhan government. In the late 19th century, the village had a wooden church, a one-class school, 9 manufactory and grocery shops, etc. In 1935, the village was given the name of Ipatovo after the hero of the Civil war of 1918-1920 P.М. Ipatov, who perished here in 1918. Town since 1979.

Present Ipatovo is an agricultural centre. At the beginning of the 1990s, the town had enterprises of food and clothes industry.

Ipatovo has a branch of the G.K. Prave Stavropol joint museum of local lore.