Ust Stanovykh Ryas

Ust Stanovykh Ryas was founded in 1638 near the mouth of the Stanovaya Ryasa, during the construction of the Belgorod defensive line. Its first settlers were service gentry, including members of the Chaplygin family, whose landholdings were recorded in the Kozlov district's survey. The village became the centre of a district containing several neighbouring settlements and later bore the name Slobodskoye.

In Peter I's reign Alexander Menshikov built a small fortress here on the high bank near the meeting of the rivers. The settlement came to be known as Ranenburg, and in 1778 Catherine II granted it the status of a district town. Its successive names recall both the river mouth where the first settlers were established and the fortified residence that followed them.