Three Major Russian Cities East of the Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains divide European Russia from Asian Russia (Siberia). Three major cities lying east of the Urals are key industrial, cultural, and administrative centers:

1. Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk Oblast) – The "Capital of the Urals." Major industrial, scientific, and cultural hub. Site of the Romanov execution (1918). Population ~1.5M.
2. Chelyabinsk (Chelyabinsk Oblast) – Heavy industry powerhouse: metallurgy, machinery, nuclear (Mayak). Known for the 2013 meteor airburst. Population ~1.2M.
3. Tyumen (Tyumen Oblast) – First Russian settlement in Siberia (1586). Gateway to Western Siberia's massive oil/gas fields. Administrative & service center. Population ~800K.

These cities anchor the economic and demographic core of Western Siberia.