Ust'-Koksa

Ust-Koksa lies in the Uymon valley of the Altai, where the Koksa joins the Katun. Its Altai name, Kök-Suu Oozy, means the mouth of the blue river. The village dates from the early nineteenth century, amid a wider movement of Russian Old Believers into the mountain valleys. In 1824 the inhabitants of Ust-Koksa were included in the Uymon indigenous administration based at Verkh-Uymon, alongside other communities of the upper Katun.