Kalininsk (Russian: Кали́нинск) is a town and the administrative center of Kalininsky District in Saratov Oblast, Russia, located on the Balanda River (Medveditsa's tributary), 121 kilometers (75 mi) west of Saratov, the administrative center of the oblast.

It was founded in 1680[citation needed] as the village of Balanda (Бала́нда), named so after the Balanda River, whose name in turn is possibly derived from a dialectal word indicating the river's windiness.

[2] In 1962, Balanda was granted town status and renamed Kalininsk after Mikhail Kalinin, a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician.

[2] Within the framework of administrative divisions, Kalininsk serves as the administrative center of Kalininsky District,[4] to which it is directly subordinated.

[1] As a municipal division, the town of Kalininsk is incorporated within Kalininsky Municipal District as Kalininsk Urban Settlement.