Krasny (Russian: Кра́сный) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Krasninsky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Svinaya and the Mereyka Rivers 67 kilometers (42 mi)[7] southwest of Smolensk.

The battle in August 1812 was a lesser action of Murat's advance guard against the small retreating Russian rearguard of Dmitry Neverovsky.

In his Napoleonic history, de Ségur wrote that Neverovsky retreated "like a lion".

At the Battle of Krasnoi in November 1812, the Russian army inflicted heavy losses on the remnants of the French Grande Armée.

In 1897, the ethnic make-up, by mother tongue, was 46.3% Russian, 46.2% Belarusian, 5.7% Jewish and 1.0% Polish.

[13] On 12 July 1929, governorates and uyezds were abolished, and Krasninsky District with the administrative center in Krasny was established.