Veliky Novgorod | |
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State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 216200 |
Veliky Novgorod (Russian: Великий Новгород, IPA: [vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət]), also known as Novgorod the Great, or Novgorod Veliky, or just Novgorod (meaning "newtown"), is one of the oldest historic cities of Russia, with more than 1,000 years of history. The city serves as the administrative center of Novgorod Oblast. The city lies along the Volkhov River just downstream from its outflow from Lake Ilmen and is situated on the M10 federal highway connecting Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Almaty | |
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State | |
Country | Kazakhstan |
Capital | |
Population | 1475400 |
Almaty (; Kazakh pronunciation: [ɑlmɑˈtə]; Cyrillic: Алматы), formerly known as Alma-Ata and Verny (Russian: Верный), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2,000,000 people, about 11% of the country's total population, and more than 2.7 million in its built-up area that encompasses Talgar, Boraldai, Otegen Batyr and many other suburbs. It served as capital of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and later independent Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1997. In 1997, the government relocated the capital to Astana (renamed Nur-Sultan in 2019) in the north of the country.
Almaty is still the major commercial and cultural centre of Kazakhstan, as well as its most populous and most cosmopolitan city.