Moskva

Moskva (məskvä`), river, c.310 mi (500 km) long, rising in the hills W of Moscow, in central European Russia, and meandering generally E past Mozhaisk and Moscow to join the Oka River near Kolomna. It is connected with the upper Volga River at Dubna by the Moscow-Volga Canal (80 mi/130 km long).

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Moscow

 Russian Moskva

Capital and largest city (pop., 2006 est.: 10,425,075) of Russia. It is located on both sides of the Moskva River in western Russia, about 400 mi (640 km) southeast of St. Petersburg and about 600 mi (970 km) east of Poland. Inhabited since Neolithic times, the site was first mentioned as a village in 1147 and became the capital of the principality of Moscow (Muscovy) in the late 13th century. It expanded in the 15th and 16th centuries under its grand dukes Ivan III and Ivan IV and became the capital of a united Russia (1547–1712). In 1812 it was occupied by the French under Napoleon and was almost entirely destroyed by fire. In 1918 it became the capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and expanded greatly. It suffered much damage from German bombing in World War II. In 1993 it was the scene of armed conflict between opposing government factions after the dissolution of parliament by Boris Yeltsin. The spiritual home of the Russian Orthodox church for more than 600 years, it is a political, industrial, transportation, and cultural centre. Its most notable structure is the Kremlin, a medieval fortress on the Moskva with Red Square along its eastern wall. The Lenin Mausoleum is nearby, and the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed is at the southern end of the square. Moscow is also home to the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow State University, and many other institutions of higher education.

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Moskva

1. transliteration of the Russian name for Moscow

2. a river in W central Russia, rising in the Smolensk-Moscow upland, and flowing southeast through Moscow to the Oka River: linked with the River Volga by the Moscow Canal. Length: about 500 km (310 miles)

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Moskva 

a river flowing through Moscow Oblast and part of Smolensk Oblast in the RSFSR, a left tributary of the Oka River in the Volga basin. It is 502 km long and drains an area of 17, 600 sq km.

Rising in the Moscow Upland, the river is fed by snow (61 percent), groundwater (27 percent), and rain (12 percent). About 65 percent of the annual flow occurs during spring high water. The average discharge is 109 cu m per sec. The river freezes in November or December and thaws at the end of March or April. Because heated water is emptied into the river within the Moscow city limits, the ice cover is unstable. Its principal left tributaries are the Ruza, Istra, and Iauza and its main right tributaries are the Pakhra and Severka. The river’s flow is regulated by reservoirs (the Mozhaisk, Ruza, Ozery, and Istra) and dams (at Petrovo-Dal’nee and Rublevo).

The river is an important source of Moscow’s water supply. The Moscow Canal, linking Moscow with the Ivan’kovskii Reservoir on the Volga, carries 1.8 cu km of water to the city annually. The Vazuza system for conveying water at a rate of 22 cu m per sec was under construction in 1974. The Karamyshevskaia and Perervinskaia dams have been built to facilitate navigation within the Moscow city limits; below Moscow there are a number of dams with locks: the Labor Commune, Andreevskaia, Sof’inskaia, Faustovskaia, and Severskaia. Major cities along the river include Mozhaisk, Zvenigorod, Moscow, Zhukovskii, Bronnitsy, Voskresensk, and Kolomna.

REFERENCES

Nesteruk, F. Ia. Vodnoe stroitel’stvo Moskvy. Moscow, 1950.
Bykov, V. D. Moskva-reka. Moscow, 1951.
Smirnova, E. Reki i ozera Moskovskoi oblasti. Moscow, 1958.

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Moskva 

(Moscow), a monthly literary and sociopolitical journal; a publication of the Writers’ Union of the RSFSR and the Moscow Division of the Writers’ Union. The journal has been published since 1957 in Moscow.

Moskva prints works by Soviet prose writers, poets, and playwrights, works by writers of the peoples of the USSR and foreign authors, and materials on the history of Moscow and its presentday life. An important feature of the journal is its section on publications. Circulation, more than 275, 000 (1975).

REFERENCE

Popovkin, E. “Imenem stolitsy nazvannyi.” Nedelia. July 12–18, 1964.