(until 1920, Aleksandrovsk-Grushevskii), a city under oblast jurisdiction in Rostov Oblast, RSFSR. Railroad station 75 km northeast of Rostov-on-Don; highway junction. Population, 223,000 (1977; 135,000 in 1939, 196,000 in 1959, 205,000 in 1970). Shakhty consists of three raions.
Shakhty’s economy is dominated by light industry, with a cotton textile combine, two footwear factories, a flax mill, a garment factory, and a ceramics combine. The coal mined in the area is processed at two enrichment plants. The Gidroprivod Plant is located in Shakhty, which also has a machine-building plant. Food-processing enterprises include a meat-packing plant, a brewery, and a milk plant. The building-materials industry in the city comprises a building-materials combine and two plants producing reinforced-concrete structural components. The city has a research and development institute of coal mining, a technological institute of consumer services, a branch of the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute, a mining technicum, an energy technicum, a medical school, and a music school. A drama theater and a museum of local lore are also located in Shakhty.