Fly into Chelyabinsk and its defining feature is factory chimneys. This was one of the great workshops of the Soviet Union and – barely credible though it would have seemed a few years ago – it is retaking its place as an industrial powerhouse of Russia.

The factories in the city and 3.6m-strong region of which it is the capital are working. Gross regional product grew 8.5 per cent last year, outstripping the national figure. Industrial output growth was 10.2 per cent, more than twice the level of Russia as a whole.