Samara

Samara, known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev, is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 million residents, up to 1,22 million residents in the urban agglomeration not including Novokubyshevsk actually not conurbated. The city covers an area of 541.382 square kilometers, and is the eighth-largest city in Russia and tenth agglomeration, the third-most populous city on the Volga, as well as the Volga Federal District.

Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural centre in Russia and hosted the European Union—Russia Summit in May 2007. It has a continental climate characterised by hot summers and cold winters.