Verkhnedvinsk district lies in the north-west of Vitebsk region where the borders of Belarus, Russia, and Latvia meet. The distance from the borough of Verkhnedvinsk to Vitebsk is 175 km and 270 km to Minsk.

According to the manuscripts, from 1386 Verkhnedvinsk was called Drissa up to 1962. It was named after the Drissa River on which it was built.

The district was created in 1924 and it was called Drissa district. In 1962 the District was renamed to Verkhnedvinsk district following the renaming of its centre. The District administratively includes the borough of Verkhnedvinsk, the town of Osveya, and 262 other rural localities divided into 10 rural councils. The area of the district is 2.1 thousand square kilometers where 28 thousand people reside (two thirds of them are rural dwellers).

The basis of the District’s economy is agriculture with its 10 agricultural production cooperatives, 6 communal unitary agricultural enterprises, and 15 farms; they specialize in milk and meat production.

In accordance with the state program of Rural Revival and Development, 10 agro-towns will be created in the District by 2010; last year, the village of Sheiterovo became an agro-town, and this year 2 more villages will become agro-towns.

9 industrial enterprises of the District produce garments, carpentry and plastic products, milk, bread, and pastry products.

There are plenty rivers in the District. The Sar’yanka River with its main tributary, the Osounets, comprises a part of the water tourist route of the 2nd category, which is unique to Belarus. 

There are about 30 lakes in the District with Osvejskoje Lake being second large in Belarus. One fourth of the District’s territory is covered with forests. A landscape nature reservation and 2 oaks that are believed to be older than 400 years are protected under national law.

In the northern part of the Dsitrict, in the point where the 3 states meet, the Mound of Friendship was created to commemorate the international friendship and heroic struggle of the 3 nations during the Great Patriotic War.

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