Asbest (Russian: Асбе́ст) is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Bolshoy Reft River (right tributary of the Pyshma) on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, 70 kilometers (43 mi) northeast of Yekaterinburg.

The chrysotile (asbestos) mine adjacent to the town is the subject of published, peer-reviewed scientific investigations about its detrimental health impact on the local population, and is said to be the world's largest.

[citation needed] The town is home to the Uralasbest stadium, which seats ten thousand people.

[citation needed] Walter Arnold Rukeyser, an electrical engineer with extensive experience with asbestos in Quebec, worked in Asbest in 1929, and again in 1930.

Inmates had to work for the local asbestos industry; more than 15,000 died due to the conditions, including asbestos-related diseases and lack of clean water.