Opening Up the Closed Military Cities of Russia

strategy page ^ | December 31, 2005

[strategofr]

Although the Cold War has been over since 1991, Russia still continues maintaining many Soviet era customs. One of the more troublesome is the “military town.” These are towns, some large enough to be called cities, that are used exclusively by the military, and are off limits to civilians. There are still 952 of these currently in operation, and in most other countries this level of security is not bothered with. It costs extra time (of the troops pulling guard duty) and money (for guard posts, fencing and the like) to maintain a “military town.” As a practical matter, anyone who wants to get into one of these, can do so. You can usually sneak in, or just bribe the guards. The defense ministry wants permission to open up 47 of these towns right away, to show that there would be no adverse effects. Over the last decade, many other “closed towns” (usually containing military research organizations) have been opened up, with no problems. Eventually, most of them would be opened up, freeing up a lot of money for more important things.

[strategofr]

They won't all be opened up. Or perhaps I should say, I'm sure there will be quite a number of Russian cities & towns that will remain sealed against external access for security reasons. I referred specifically to research facilities involved in biological warfare and other capabilities. I don't know if these are classified in this same "military town" group.

[GSlob]

There used to be a difference between "military town" [voennyi gorodok] and "closed town" [zakrytyi gorod]. The first would be a military encampment, pure and simple, while the second would be a more or less isolated [hence separate] town or city with important defense production or research facilities. Sometimes these facilities were sited in "open" cities, like Khrunichev airspace plant in western Moscow.

[alloysteel]

Oh, donno now, no telling if Russia MIGHT need just this sort of fortified cities if things get a little out of control over there sometime.

Communist or not, Russians are still the most frighteningly paranoid people on earth. This sort of "army town" philosophy is right in line with a sort of comfort zone they have established for themselves going back to the days of Genghis Khan.

[strategofr]

"Communist or not, Russians are still the most frighteningly paranoid people on earth. This sort of "army town" philosophy is right in line with a sort of comfort zone they have established for themselves going back to the days of Genghis Khan."

I don't doubt it. Unfortunately, this kind of attitude has spread way beyond defensive measures into offensive measures such as practicing subversion on all Western democracies and aiding Islamic terrorism throughout the world.

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

"Communist or not, Russians are still the most frighteningly paranoid people on earth"

True. Consider their history. They lost over 25 millions in the WWII. They lost many in the purges in the past. They really don't want wars or any more killings!

This sort of feelings will pass some time in the future. In the meantime they will maintain what they consider their "zone of protection" comfort.

[strategofr]

"They lost many in the purges in the past."

Be careful of your pronouns here. The sort of people now ruling Russia did not lose people in the purges of the past so much is kill them to keep themselves in power. They continue to kill to keep themselves in power---though admittedly the numbers murdered are much smaller these days. This is due to the greatly enhanced power of terror inside the Russian population after nearly 90 years of communism and communist-style government.

[GSlob]

The same thing could be expressed with more clarity and brevity: "they are the purger kind, not the purgees".

[maestro]

?.......BIRD-FLU scare.....Opening Up the Closed Military Cities of Russia
......?

[Chode]

ah yes, the CharmSchools...

[WLR]

One of the less ominous reasons these towns are not opened up is the protection of Soldier's and Scientists families. These towns have a Chain of Command, Law and Order at a time a lot of places in Russia are like the Roaring 20's with Capone like Gangsters running wild. Like everyplace there are bad guys but you can bet the farm if some outsider shows up trying to muscle their way around they will find themselves quickly at the unhappy end of more than just a few AKs.

A physician I knew was living just outside a Military Town in a small municipality. She tried to move her clinic. In the middle some local city functionary decided he needed a new girl friend and she was given a choice either go out with this guy or sit in the middle of the move with no permits and therefore no place to practice. She is an educated adult women in her m's and told him to pound sand. Things got pretty nasty. I suggested she contact the Local Base Commander as she was known and had done a lot for Russian soldiers injured in Afghanistan/ She was still treating many of them who lived in her area for free after they were out of the service. She informed me a few days later that the city fellow showed up at her door looking pretty rough around the edges, He brought her the now approved permits and paperwork... and was quite polite.

W

[strategofr]

"the city fellow showed up at her door looking pretty rough around the edges"

LOL! Presumably he did not ask her for any medical treatment. ;)

[RusIvan]

There are still 952 of these currently in operation, ==

It is too much. Probably your number includes military bases as GLob told you already. I never heard that the military bases opened in any countries. But special research towns like Korolev under Moscow already opened.

Some wouldn't be. Like Arzamas-16(Sarov) which is nuclier research town like Los Alamos laboratory.
Some like A-Tomsk or Zheleznogorsk under Kranoyarsk you wouldn't like to open yourself. They had inside so much of radioactive matherials that better to guard them all times.

I referred specifically to research facilities involved in biological warfare and other capabilities.==

Biological warefare? IMHO Russia doesn't have such research except antidot reaserches against biological agents.

[K-oneTexas]

There was an interesting show on History or Discovery a couple of weeks ago that spoke of Stalin and many of these "cities" he created it as a way to conceal things from the US during the 'Cold War'. One such city really sticks our as it was contained within a mountain. Reason being it was his nuclear development city. They developed and enriched their nuclear arsenal here. One good thing about this tricky little city (1,000 or more people) was it could not be seen by satellite since it was inside a mountain.

Interesting show.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Interesting thread-ping.

[RayChuang88]

If I remember correctly, one of the most famous of these "closed" sites was the factory and test stands for Soviet-era rocket engines.

Still in use today, what the Soviets extremely ingeniously did was hide all the production facilities and even rocket test stands so it looked like apartment blocks! The latter was extremely ingenious because they hid all the flame and noise damping systems underground so the test stands could operate without people noticing nearby. That was why the American intelligence agencies scratched their heads for years and years trying to find Soviet rocket engine test stands out in the "boonies" of the Soviet Union; in reality it was done at a Moscow suburb!

[GSlob]

Khrunichev site is too small to include large engine test facilities. I used to live in that vicinity. It is most famous for its employees [in the 70s] siphoning off a whole railroad tank car - 60 tons - of technical alcohol: they lifted a lid just a bit, so that the seals were not torn, inserted a long thin flexible tube, tossed the tube over the fence and hid the dispensing end in a big bush by the fence. By the time it was found, the tank car was empty. That's soviet ingenuity for you!