Where is it? Altai Krai, or territory, is located in Siberia, to the west of Krasnoyarsk. It is bordered by Kazahkstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, and is separate from the Altai Republic. It is in the Novosibirsk time zone, which is three hours ahead of Moscow. You can find the current local time here.

What's the biggest city? Barnaul, which has a population of 600,749 as of the 2002 census, out of some 2.7 million inhabitants in the region at large. Other major cities are Biysk and Zmeinogorsk, both known for alpine skiing.

Who lives here? Mostly ethnic Russians, but there are also pockets of Germans, Ukrainians and Cossacks thanks to earlier migrations. The Altay ethnic group lives mostly in the neighboring Altai Republic.

What do they do here? Mining, for copper, silver, lead and iron ores, and manganese, tungsten, molybdenum, bauxite and gold. There is a strong manufacturing base, and tourism is becoming a big industry, as visitors from Russia and around the world come to explore its mountains, rivers and lakes. Its extensive farming sector also makes it something of a bread basket for the rest of Russia.

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

How do I see what it looks like? The Altai pages on Flickr contain a mix of pictures from both the territory and the republic, but you can get an idea of the area's many natural resources. There are also quite a few shots of Barnaul.

How do I get here? The region is about 52 hours from Moscow by train, but only about four hours flying time from either Moscow or Vladivostok. Aeroflot, Moskovia, S7 Airlines and VIM Airlines all fly from Moscow; Dalavia and Sibaviatrans fly regionally from Barnaul airport.

Which adoption agencies work here? The World Association for Children & Parents, WACAP. Also, a Rotary club from Hawaii is working with local Rotarians in Barnaul to improve conditions in the orphanages. You can read about their efforts here.

Which Russian adoption bloggers have been here? Nobody that I can find and the small Yahoo! group, KazakhstanRussiaAltayRegionFriends, is not focused just on adoption.

Truly trivia: According to "Way To Russia", Barnaul has a Mexican restaurant.

Need more information? "Way To Russia" mostly focuses on the neighboring Altai Republic, but it does have some nice detail on Barnaul. Kommersant's profile covers the entire region and is much more detailed. You can check Barnaul's Web site, in Russian, here. Here's the current weather in Altai.

Image Credit: Liloca Safatino