Chelyabinsk, city, southwestern Siberian Russia, on the Miass River, in the foothills of the Ural Mountains. Situated on the Trans-Siberian Railroad in a rich coal-mining region, it is one of the chief industrial centers of Russia. Manufactures include iron and steel, tractors and other agricultural machinery, aircraft, and chemicals. Chelyabinsk was founded (1736) as a fortress on the Russian frontier. Large-scale industrialization began in the 1890s. Population (1999 estimate) 1,085,800.
