Vysotsk

Vysotsk (Russian: Высо́цк; Finnish: Uuras; Swedish: Trångsund) is a coastal town and a seaport in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus, on the eastern shore of the Bay of Vyborg, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) southwest of Vyborg and 159 kilometers (99 mi) northwest of St. Petersburg. It hosts a base of the Russian Baltic Fleet and an oil terminal (since 2004). Population: 1,244 (2010 Census preliminary results); 1,673 (2002 Census); 929 (1989 Census).

It was granted town status in 1940 and in terms of population remains one of the smallest towns in Russia.

History

The fortress of Trångsund (literally: "narrow strait") was built to the order of Peter the Great in the beginning of the 18th century after Russia had captured the area from Sweden during the Great Northern War. In 1812, Trongzund was included by Alexander I of Russia into the newly-created Grand Duchy of Finland. Between 1918 and 1940, the town was part of independent Finland under the name Uuras. As a result of the Winter War and subsequent Moscow Peace Treaty, it was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and became part of the Karelo Finnish SSR. In 1941, during Continuation War, it was liberated by Finnish troops and returned to Finland. In June 1944, the town was occupied by the Red Army and was anexed to the Soviet Union according to the Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty. In July 1948, the town was renamed Vysotsk in honour of the Soviet machine gunner Kuzma Demidovich Vysotsky, who was killed in the area on March 4, 1940 during the final days of the Winter War.

Vysotsk may be considered one of the cradles of radio, as it was there that Alexander Stepanovich Popov conducted his pioneering experiments in 1897 and 1902.