Znamensk, Astrakhan Oblast division, the closed administrative-territorial formation of Znamensk is incorporated as Znamensk Urban Okrug. The town has twenty-one kindergartens, four middle schools, two gymnasium schools, a sports facility, and a branch of the Astrakhan State Institute. Railway station "Razyezd 85 km" on the Volgograd-Astrakhan railway branch is located in the town. Znamensk, Astrakhan Oblast Znamensk () is a closed town in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Population: It was founded in 1948 as Kapustin Yar-1 to serve a missile test range known as Kapustin Yar. Town status was granted in 1962. The closed town was renamed Znamensk in 1992. The military testing range
Astrakhan Khanate including most of what is now Astrakhan Oblast and the steppeland on the right bank of Volga in present-day Kalmykia. To the south was the Caspian sea, to the east the Nogai Horde, and to the west Nogais who were theoretically subjects of the Crimean Khanate. The area was a natural center since it was the intersection of the north-south trade route down the Volga to Persia and the east-west trade route north of the Caspian. From the 6th century it was populated by various Turkic-speaking tribes. They formed two states: Old Great Bulgaria (c632-668) and the Khazars (c650-969). Following