About Izhevsk

Izhevsk is a city in Russia of about 632,000 people as of 2002. Izhevsk is the capital of Udmurtia, in west-central Russia, lying along the Izh River. Izhevsk was founded in 1760 as a centre of ironworking and later of armaments, and the city remains a major producer of steel, armaments, machine tools, building machinery, and motorcycles. Izhevsk is the site of one of the most famous arsenals in Russia, at which Mikhail Kalashnikov designed his famous AK-47 assault rifle. There are also automobile and motorcycle production plants - the vehicles bear the brandname IZH.