Where is it? Kemerovo Oblast is located in the southwestern corner of Siberia. It is bordered by Tomsk oblast, the territories of Krasnoyarsk and Altai, and the republics of Khakassia and Altai. It is in the Krasnoyarsk time zone, which is four hours ahead of Moscow. The region is sometimes known as Kuzbass, after the Kuznetsk coal basin.

What's the biggest city? Novokuznetsk, whose population was about 576,000 as of the 2002 census, out of some 2.9 million inhabitants in the region at large. There is also a city called Kemerovo, with some 480,000 inhabitants.

Who lives here? Mostly ethnic Russians, but there are also Ukrainians, Tatars and Chuvash.

What do they do here? Kemerovo region was a key location for heavy industry during Soviet times, thanks to its rich deposits of coal. But its economic fortunes suffered with Russia's market-driven revolution. Still, much of Russia's coal--some 40% to 60%, depending on the source you choose--continues to come from the region.

Does it have any English-language news sources? None that I have found.

How do I see what it looks like?. Judging by the limited number of photos on Flickr, Kemerovo is not the most photogenic place on the planet.

How do I get here? The Trans-Siberian Railroad stops in Kemerovo, but the fastest way to get here is by air. Aeroflot flies here from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, while KrasAir and S7 Airlines fly from the capital via Domodedovo.

Which adoption agencies work here? Adoption Source, Children's Hope International, Commonwealth Adoptions International and Gift of Life Adoption Services.

Which adoptive parents have been here? Adoption.com member catmele is just back with Scott, who was born in Novokuznetsk and member Caaron has a court date in October. They have a lot of Kemerovo alumni among the Adoption.com forum members: marjo adopted Madelyn Grace in 2005, Ebadge90 and his wife adopted a son in 2006 and single mom Cyndi, a.k.a. MamaChinch adopted daughter Delaney also in 2006 from Novokuznetsk. She blogs about the whole adventure and life back at home. There is a very large Yahoo! group, KemerovoRussia.

Truly trivia: Coal was, and is, a key part of the region's development. So it's perhaps not surprising that Kemerovo recently opened a mining museum.

Need more information? Kemerovo is, at least for now, off the map for "Way To Russia". Kommersant is a much better resource. There is also a Web site for the region's annual industrial fair. The weather is temperate during the summer, but, not surprisingly, Siberian in winter.

Image Credit: A traditional house, by Doc Kozzak

For information on how to subscribe FREE to your favorite Adoption Blogs, please click here