Pochinok is a town and the administrative center of Pochinkovsky District

Pochinkovsky District, Smolensk Oblast

Pochinkovsky District, Smolensk Oblast is an administrative and municipal district , one of the 25 in Smolensk Oblast, Russia....

 of Smolensk Oblast

Smolensk Oblast

Smolensk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its area is . Population: -Geography:The administrative center of Smolensk Oblast is the city of Smolensk. Other ancient towns include Vyazma and Dorogobuzh....

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, located on the Khmara River (Dnieper basin) 62 kilometres (38.5 mi) southeast of Smolensk

Smolensk

Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...

. Population:

It was founded in 1868 as a railway station on the Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

–Oryol

Oryol

Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...

 railroad. It was named after one of the many pochinok villages in Smolensk Governorate

Smolensk Governorate

Smolensk Governorate , or Government of Smolensk, was an administrative division of the Russian Empire, which existed, with interruptions, between 1708 and 1929....

. The old Russian word pochinok means "a new settlement or village built on a clear spot". Pochinok was granted town status in 1926. Since the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, nearby Shatalovo

Shatalovo

Shatalovo is an air base in Smolensk Oblast, Russia located 8 km south of Pochinok. It is a large hardened air base with pads for 19 bombers and 15 fighters in addition to a small amount of tarmac space...

 air base has been a major training and operations facility for Soviet Air Force

Soviet Air Force

The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...

 and Russian Air Force

Russian Air Force

The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...

 combat crews.

The most famous native of Pochinok is the artist and designer El Lissitsky.