Rybinsk

City in Yaroslavl oblast (region) of the Russian Federation, on the Volga, 250 km/155 mi northeast of Moscow; population (1996 est) 247,000. Industries include the manufacture of printing machinery, road-building equipment, and ships, and the processing of timber and food. A major hydroelectric plant was sited near the town with the construction of the Rybinsk Reservoir in the 1940s.

Rybinsk is first mentioned in documents in the 12th century. Its commercial development began with shipbuilding in the 16th century, and it became a town in 1777. Before 1917, it was a centre of the grain and caviar trade of the Volga basin, and was visited during the summer months by thousands of merchants. In 1984 it was renamed Andropov, commemorating the death that year of the president of the USSR.