Closed city

A closed city or closed town is a settlement in the former Soviet Union with travel and residency restrictions. Such places are known in Russian as closed administrative-territorial formations (Закрытые административно-территориальные образования, Zakrytye Administrativno-Territorial'nye Obrazovaniya, ZATO).

History

Closed cities were established from the late 1940s onwards under the euphemistic name of “mail boxes” (referring to the practice of addressing post to them via mail boxes in other cities). They fell into two distinct categories. The first category comprised communities with sensitive military, industrial or scientific facilities, such as arms plants or nuclear research sites. These included the cities of Perm, a centre for Soviet tank production; Gorky, where the dissident Andrei Sakharov was exiled to limit his contacts with foreigners; and Vladivostok, the base of the Soviet Pacific Fleet.

The second category consisted of border cities (and some whole border areas, such as the Kaliningrad Oblast) which were closed for security purposes. Comparable closed areas existed elsewhere in the Soviet bloc; a substantial area along the inner German border and the border between West Germany and Czechoslovakia was placed under similar restrictions.

The locations of many of the closed cities were chosen for their geographical characteristics. They were often established in remote places situated deep in the Urals and Siberia, out of reach of enemy bombers. They were built close to rivers and lakes which were used to provide the large amounts of water needed for heavy industry and nuclear technology. Existing civilian settlements in the vicinity were often used as sources of construction labour. Although the closure of cities originated as a strictly temporary measure which was to be normalised under more favourable conditions, in practice the closed cities took on a life of their own and became a notable institutional feature of the Soviet system.

Movement to and from closed areas was tightly controlled. Foreigners were prohibited from entering them and local citizens were under stringent restrictions. They had to have special permission to travel there or leave, and anyone seeking residency was required to undergo vetting by the NKVD and its successor agencies. Access to some closed cities was physically enforced by surrounding them with barbed wire fences monitored by armed guards.

Closed cities today

The policy of closing cities underwent major changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some cities, such as Perm, were opened well before the fall of the Soviet Union; others, such as Kaliningrad and Vladivostok, remained closed until as late as 1992. The adoption of a new constitution for the Russian Federation in 1993 prompted significant reforms to the status of closed cities, which were renamed "closed administrative-territorial formations" (or ZATO, after the Russian acronym).

Russia

There are currently 42 publicly acknowledged closed cities in Russia with a total population of about 1.5 million people. 75% are administered by the Russian Ministry of Defence, with the rest being administered by the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, formerly the Ministry for Atomic Energy (Minatom). Another 15 or so closed cities are believed to exist, but their names and locations have not been publicly disclosed by the Russian government.

The number of closed cities in Russia is defined by government decree (see links below). They include the following cities:

• Arkhangelsk Oblast—Mirny;
• Astrakhan Oblast—Znamensk;
• Republic of Bashkortostan—Mezhgorye;
• Chelyabinsk Oblast—Ozyorsk, Snezhinsk, and Tryokhgorny;
• Kamchatka Krai—Vilyuchinsk;
• Krasnoyarsk Krai—Zelenogorsk, Norilsk and Zheleznogorsk;
• Moscow Oblast—Krasnoznamensk;
• Murmansk Oblast—Gadzhiyevo, Ostrovnoy, Polyarny, Severomorsk, Snezhnogorsk, and Zaozyorsk;
• Nizhny Novgorod Oblast—Sarov;
• Penza Oblast—Zarechny;
• Primorsky Krai—Bolshoy Kamen and Fokino;
• Saratov Oblast—Shikhany;
• Sverdlovsk Oblast—Lesnoy and Novouralsk;
• Tomsk Oblast—Seversk;
• Vladimir Oblast—Raduzhny.

Some of them are open for foreign investment, but foreigners may only enter with a permit. An example is the Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI), a joint effort of the United States National Nuclear Security Administration and Minatom, which involves in part the cities of Sarov, Snezhinsk, and Zheleznogorsk.

The number of closed cities has been significantly reduced since the mid-1990s. However, on October 30 2001, foreign travel (except for Belarusian citizens) was restricted in the northern cities of Norilsk, Talnakh, Kayerkan, Dudinka, and Igarka. Russian citizens visiting these cities are also required to have travel permits.

Kazakhstan

Two closed cities under Russian administration exist in Kazakhstan. They are Baikonur (formerly Leninsk), a city constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and the Kurchatov township at the Semipalatinsk Test Site.

Ukraine

Ukraine had two closed cities: the Crimean port of Sevastopol and the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk. Travel restrictions were lifted in the mid-1990s.

Estonia

There were two closed cities in Estonia: Sillamäe and Paldiski. As all the other industrial cities, the population of them was mainly Russian-speaking. Sillamäe was the site for a chemical factory that produced fuel rods and nuclear materials for the Soviet nuclear power plants and weapon facilities. Sillamäe was closed until Estonia regained its independence in 1991. In Paldiski, there was a Soviet Navy nuclear submarine training centre and the city was closed until 1994 when the last Soviet warship left.

See also

• Propiska
• Internal passport
• Gated community
• Naukograd

External links

• Current list of (acknowledged) closed cities/areas from the Russian Federation Administration website (in Russian)
• Russia’s closed cities are open and shut case - article from Russia Journal. (original source requires paid subscription [1])
• NCI website
• Global Security article on ZATO