a city in the Cheliabinsk Oblast of the RSFSR, situated on the eastern slope of the Urals. There is a Kopeisk railroad station 18 km southeast of Cheliabinsk, with which it is also connected by highway and tramway. Kopeisk had a population of 155,000 in 1972 (60,000 in 1939).

Kopeisk arose from a workers’ settlement founded at the site of the Cheliabinsk coal mines, from which the mining of coal of industrial importance began in 1907. Soviet power was established on Oct. 26 (Nov. 8), 1917. Kopeisk is one of the coal-mining centers of the Cheliabinsk coal basin. Located there are machinery-construction plants (mining and other kinds of equipment), a coal-washing plant, a clothing factory, and a furniture combine. The city has evening divisions of the Cheliabinsk Polytechnic Institute and Sverdlovsk Mining Institute, technicums of mining and light industry, and a medical school. There is also a museum of local lore. For active support of the Red Army during the Civil War of 1918–20 during the taking of Cheliabinsk station and selfless struggle on the economic front, the Cheliabinsk coal mines were awarded the Order of the Red Banner on Jan. 2, 1925. In 1933 the workers’ settlement of Cheliabkopi was made the city of Kopeisk.