Krichev

a city (since 1932), the administrative center of Krichev Raion, Mogilev Oblast, Byelorussian SSR. Located on the Sozh River (a left tributary of the Dnieper), on the Moscow-Brest highway. Krichev is a railroad junction, with lines to Mogilev, Orsha, Unecha, and RoslavP. Population, 26,000 (1970). Krichev has a cement and slate combine that uses locally obtained chalk and clay and Urals asbestos. Industries include a rubber-products factory, a creamery, and a poultry-processing combine; a meat combine is under construction (1973). The city has railroad-transport enterprises and a museum of local lore. Krichev was mentioned for the first time in the mid-12th century.