Closed administrative-territorial formations (ZATO) began to appear in our country during the work on the creation of nuclear weapons in 1946-1953. In Soviet times, they were strictly classified. They did not exist on the maps, it was impossible to talk about them (the residents signed a non-disclosure agreement). Letters for ZATO residents came to the mailbox. For the sake of conspiracy, closed cities were considered microdistricts of regional centers (they were called, for example, Chelyabinsk-40, Sverdlovsk-45). Along the perimeter, such settlements are surrounded by fences with barbed wire and guards; you can get inside only through a checkpoint.
In Soviet times, the inhabitants of the bans lived quite freely. There was no such deficit as in the whole country. But in which case there were problems with power structures.
The list of closed cities became known after the collapse of the USSR, it was approved by a separate law adopted in 1992 and changed several times. At the same time, the "mailboxes" had their own names.
Now closed cities have appeared on the maps, but they can still only be entered with passes. Most ZATO residents like to live behind barbed wire and every time they get home through security posts, after inspection. The advantages include the absence of strangers and a low crime rate.
Russian ZATOs have different departmental affiliations: some belong to Rosatom, others to the Ministry of Defense, and others to Roskosmos.
There are currently 44 closed cities in Russia.
According to statistics, almost every hundredth inhabitant of Russia lives in ZATOs (ordinary military camps do not belong to ZATOs).
Now about each closed city of the Urals in more detail.
Closed cities of the Sverdlovsk region
Lesnoy (Sverdlovsk-45)
Year of foundation - 1947.
The population is 50 thousand people.
Specialization - disposal, assembly of nuclear weapons, production of stable isotopes. Subordinate to Rosatom.
It was created as Plant No. 418 (or Base No. 9) for electromagnetic isotope separation. It was built by prisoners of the Gulag. Started work in 1950. In 1951, the construction of the second plant in the USSR for the mass production of atomic bombs with a capacity of 60 units per year (plant No. 418) began here.
It received its modern name (the city of Lesnoy) in 1994. Now the main plant of Lesnoy is called the Elektrokhimpribor plant. Of the ZATOs of the Sverdlovsk region, it is guarded most strictly: several fences nearby, towers with guards, well-equipped checkpoints.
Novouralsk (Sverdlovsk-44)
Year of foundation - 1941.
The population is 83 thousand people.
Specialization - separation production of uranium isotopes. Subordinate to Rosatom.
It began in 1941 with a light alloy plant. In 1946, construction began on "Combine No. 813" for the production of highly enriched uranium. The highly enriched uranium produced here was used to create the first Soviet uranium atomic bomb. Now the leading enterprise of the closed city is called the Ural Electrochemical Combine.
Rosatom is considering the opening of the city of Novouralsk.
Svobodny Settlement (Nizhny Tagil-39)
Year of foundation - 1960.
The population is 8 thousand people.
The 42nd Tagil Missile Division of the Strategic Missile Forces is located here.
Uralsky settlement (Kosulino-1)
Year of foundation - 1960.
The population is 2.4 thousand people.
Here is the 21st arsenal. The current name was given in 1994.
Closed cities of the Chelyabinsk region
Ozersk (Chelyabinsk-65, formerly Chelyabinsk-40)
Year of foundation - 1945.
The population is 80.5 thousand people.
Specialization - storage and processing of spent nuclear fuel, production and processing of military nuclear materials. Subordinate to Rosatom.
Ozersk is considered the firstborn of the country's nuclear industry, since the plutonium charge for the atomic bomb was created here. Created by I.V. Kurchatov. The enterprise is PA "Mayak".
On September 29, 1957, a tank with high-level waste exploded at the Mayak plant. As a result, a significant area turned out to be contaminated, which was called the East Ural radioactive trace (EURS). At the head of the trail, the East Ural Radiation Reserve was established.
The name is given for the abundance around the lakes. Ozersk received city status in 1954. Since 1994, it has been officially listed with a declassified name, which it received in 1954 (minutes of the Presidium of the RSFSR Supreme Council dated March 17, 1954).
Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-50, Chelyabinsk-70)
Year of foundation - 1957.
The population is 49 thousand people.
Specialization - the development of nuclear weapons. Subordinate to Rosatom.
Of all the ten cities of Rosatom, Snezhinsk is considered the most beautiful due to its lakes and picturesque views. Originated on the shores of Lake Sinara.
The enterprise "Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics named after academician E.I. Zababakhin"
Trekhgorny (Zlatoust-20, Zlatoust-36)
Year of foundation - 1952.
The population is 33 thousand people.
Specialization - development of instruments and systems for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. Subordinate to Rosatom.
It originated in 1952 from plant No. 933 for the production of atomic bombs. The first aviation atomic bombs were produced here in 1955. Now this enterprise "Instrument-Making Plant" produces devices for nuclear power plants.
In 1993, Zlatoust-36 was named the city of Trekhgorny.
Settlement Lokomotivny (formerly Solnechny, Kartaly-6)
Year of foundation - 1965.
The population is 8.5 thousand people.
The 59th Kartalinsky division of the Strategic Missile Forces, disbanded in 2005, was stationed here. The current name of the village was given in 1992.
Closed cities of the Perm region
Settlement Zvezdny (Perm-76)
Year of foundation - 1961.
The population is 9 thousand people.
The 52nd Tarnopol-Berlin missile division of the Strategic Missile Forces, created on the basis of the Bershetsky military camp, was located here. Refers to the Ministry of Defense.
On December 2, 2002, the 52nd Missile Division was reduced, and on its basis, the 1328th base for reloading and storing elements of the BZHRK (combat railway missile systems) of the Strategic Missile Forces was created. There is a museum of the division. The village has now been opened.
Closed cities of the Republic of Bashkortostan
Mezhgorye (Beloretsk-15, Beloretsk-16)
Year of foundation - 1979.
The population is 16 thousand people.
The closed city of Mezhgorye consists of two parts, 20 kilometers apart. The 9th TSUMO, the 129th Department of Orders and Logistics of Special Objects (Mezhgorye-1) and the 1110th OUESO (Beloretsk-16) are located here. It is believed that here, on the territory of the South Ural Reserve, in Mount Yamantau, a bunker for the state elite was built.
Closed cities of the Orenburg region
Komarovsky village (Dombarovsky-3)
The population is 9.6 thousand people.
The 13th Red Banner Missile Division of the Strategic Missile Forces is located in the village. Refers to the Ministry of Defense.
The village is named after cosmonaut V.M. Komarov, who tragically died on the territory of the Orenburg region.
Chelyabinsk-40, Tomsk-7, Krasnoyarsk-26, Salsk-7. What do these figures, assigned to the regional centers of the USSR, mean? Cities of the closed type in the USSR are classified places that are not marked on any map. How these cities lived in Soviet times, and what has changed for them now.
ZATO in the USSR
Why some cities in the USSR had a unique status is easily explained: there were objects of national importance from the energy, space or military industries. Only those who had the right to access classified information could know about the existence of ZATO (closed administrative-territorial formation). Under the strictest secrecy, everything happened there - from scientific tests with the Ebola virus to the birth of the first Soviet nuclear bomb. It sounds scary, but in fact, the life of the population of closed cities in the USSR could only be envied.
Just like that, it was impossible to enter the closed city - only if you had a one-time pass or a travel order, which were checked at the checkpoint. Only persons registered in a closed city or village had permanent passes. The numbering of bus routes, houses and institutions in ZATOs was not carried out from the beginning, but continued to be introduced in the regional cities, which included ZATOs. The population of cities with security patrols at the entrance, behind barbed wires and walls, the height of which depended on the degree of secrecy of the city, was forced to conspire, being assigned to the nearest regional centers.
Residents of ZATOs also could not spread information about their place of residence - they gave a non-disclosure agreement, and its violation could lead to liability, up to criminal liability. Outside the city, residents were encouraged to slightly distort reality in communication with other citizens with the help of their own "legend". For example, if a person lived in the secret Chelyabinsk-70 (now Snezhinsk), in response to a question about the place of residence, he discarded the number that carried secrets and, one might say, practically did not lie.
For patience and endurance, the keepers of state secrets were entitled to certain bonuses in the form of benefits and privileges. Sounds good for that time: scarce goods, inaccessible to the rest of the country's citizens, a 20% increase in salary regardless of the field of activity, a flourishing social sphere, medicine and education. The improvement in the standard of living compensated for the inconvenience.
ZATO in Russia
After the collapse of the USSR, the fog of secrecy dissipated a little: the list of ZATOs was declassified, and their list was approved by a special law of Russia. Cities received separate names (previously they were only numbered). Many of ZATOs are open to the public today, despite the special protection regime. You just need to get an invitation from a local resident, who at the same time must also be your relative (which naturally needs to be proven).
Today, there are 23 closed-type cities in Russia: 10 "atomic" (Rosatom), 13 belong to the Ministry of Defense, which is in charge of another 32 ZATOs with settlements. The secret cities of Russia are concentrated mainly in the Ural region, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Moscow region.
The total population of ZATOs is more than a million people: almost every 100th citizen of the Russian Federation today lives in a closed city or village and can openly declare this. Only the activity of industrial enterprises and military installations in an isolated territory remains a state secret - it is better for residents to keep silent about this.
Zagorsk-6 and Zagorsk-7
The well-known Sergiev Posad near Moscow, which is more associated with pilgrimage than with science, was called Zagorsk until 1991 and included several small closed towns. The Virological Center of the Research Institute of Microbiology was located in Zagorsk-6, and the Central Institute of Physics and Technology of the USSR Ministry of Defense was located in Zagorsk-7. In Zagorsk-6, bacteriological weapons were manufactured, and in Zagorsk-7, open since 2001, radioactive weapons were made.
It was in Zagorsk-6 that weapons were created based on the variola virus, which was brought to the USSR by tourists from India in 1959. In addition, deadly weapons based on South American and South African viruses were developed here, and the famous Ebola virus was also tested. Not surprisingly, the city is closed to this day. Interestingly, only people with the most crystal biography - not only personal, but also all their relatives - could work at Zagorsk enterprises.
Now in Zagorsk-6, which is popularly called the "six", there are more than 6,000 inhabitants. For the most part, the former military and members of their families, who are actually cut off from the world, live quite hard. They complain about their status as "hostages", the lack of food and unstable cellular communications. Roads are rarely cleaned, housing and communal services problems are practically not dealt with. Travel units independently decide which entrepreneurs to let into the territory and which not. The choice of food products is quite limited, in connection with which the inhabitants of the village overcome ten kilometers to shops with a wide range of goods.
The birthplace of the atomic bomb: Arzamas-16 (now the closed nuclear center Sarov)
In this city, on the site of the village of Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod region, the first developments of the Soviet atomic bomb under the secret name KB-11 were going on. The nuclear center was one of the most closed cities and turned into a nuclear prison for the local population: until the mid-1950s, it was impossible to leave the city even during vacations, an exception was made only for business trips. He was under serious protection: rows of barbed wire, a control strip, modern tracking equipment, vehicle inspection.
The imprisonment was compensated by an average salary of 200 rubles and an abundance on the commodity shelves: sausage and cheese, red and black caviar. Residents of regional centers never dreamed of such a thing. Today, the first Soviet nuclear bomb can be viewed at the Museum of Nuclear Weapons. Today, the population of the city is almost 90 thousand people. The scientific achievements of the city are reminded in the museum, where you can see copies of equipment and nuclear weapons.
Sarov is a city of contrasts. Scientific institutes coexist here with the famous shrine - the Diveevsky Monastery, which was founded by St. Seraphim of Sarov. Closeness was characteristic of these places long before the activities of Soviet scientists: under the monastery there are entire underground cities - catacombs and corridors, where the monks found peace and solitude.
Sverdlovsk-45 (now - Lesnoy)
The city was located around the plant, which was engaged in the enrichment of uranium, where, according to some sources, prisoners of the Gulag worked at the foot of Mount Shaitan. They say that it could not do without tragic incidents: the construction of the city claimed the lives of several dozen people who died during blasting.
In terms of commodity abundance, the city was inferior to Arzamas-16, but it was famous for its comfort and well-being, which was envied by the inhabitants of nearby cities. According to rumors, the inhabitants of the secret city were even attacked at the border by envious neighbors. In 1960, it was near Sverdlovsk-45 that an American U-2 spy plane was shot down, and its pilot, Powers, was captured.
Now the city of Lesnoy is under the auspices of Rosatom and is also open to prying eyes. You can get to it by bus from Yekaterinburg, which goes to the neighboring town of Nizhnyaya Tura.
Novouralsk (Sverdlovsk-44)
Highly enriched uranium is produced at the city enterprise OAO "Ural Electrochemical Combine". The city is also famous for its natural wealth: the Hanging Stone Rock and the Seven Brothers Mountain. This mountain owes its name to either Ermak or the persecuted Old Believers. According to legend, Yermak turned seven sorcerers into stone idols, who prevented him from conquering Siberia. The second legend says that in Soviet times a raid was announced on the Old Believers who were hiding in the Ural forests. Seven of them, in an attempt to escape from persecution, fled to the mountains, where fear chained them to stone.
True, in order to admire the legendary beauty, you will have to overcome many difficulties: you can get into the city only through the forest near the village of Belorechka.
Peaceful. "Pram City"
The military camp in the Arkhangelsk region became closed only in 1966 thanks to the Plesetsk test cosmodrome. The inhabitants of a well-maintained and comfortable city for life were lucky - they could breathe freely and not feel incarcerated. Mirny was not fenced with barbed wire, and documents were checked only on travel roads. The city did not pay for its openness, except that unexpected mushroom pickers and illegal immigrants ran for scarce goods.
It is interesting that Mirny got the name "the city of strollers", due to the fact that graduates of military academies sought to quickly start a family and children in this prosperous place in order to settle down for a long time.
Chelyabinsk-65 (now - Ozersk)
Despite all the privileges, life in some closed cities was a big risk due to the proximity of dangerous objects. In 1957, in Chelyabinsk-65, whose secrecy is due to an enterprise for the production of radioactive isotopes, there was a large leak of radioactive waste that endangered the lives of 270,000 people.
At the Mayak production association, where a plutonium charge for atomic bombs was created for the first time in the USSR, one of the containers in which high-level waste was stored exploded. After the explosion, a column of smoke and dust rose up to a kilometer high. The dust shimmered an orange-red light and settled on buildings and people.
The radiation accident in the Urals posed a number of completely new tasks for science and practice: it was necessary to develop measures for the radiation protection of the population. The specialists of this enterprise underwent the strictest multi-stage selection, and in the event of a successful arrival at a secret object, for several years they could not even correspond with relatives, not to mention meetings.
Today, over 85 thousand people live in Ozersk. The city still contributes to the domestic industry: more than 750 enterprises operate on its territory.
Severomorsk
The city of Severomorsk, formerly the village of Vaenga, in the Murmansk region, is a large Russian naval base located on the shores of the Kola Bay in the Barents Sea. The construction of the naval base began in the mid-30s, and the city became closed after the collapse of the USSR, in 1996.
Fans of sailors and the history of the fleet will especially like it here: a giant sailor from the North Sea Alyosha on the main square, a monument to the torpedo boat TK-12, which sank four enemy ships during the Second World War, the K-21 Submarine Museum.
In winter, from early December to mid-January, in Severomorsk, beyond the Arctic Circle, you can admire the real polar night. However, you should be wary of the local climate: it is not so easy to adapt to the icy wind and high humidity.
Snezhinsk - the birthplace of the hydrogen bomb
On the territory of the youngest closed city in the USSR, Snezhinsk, is the Russian Nuclear Center - the Institute of Technical Physics named after E.I. Zababakhin.
US Secretary of State Baker became the first visitor to the Snezhinsk Nuclear Center with the rank of Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1992, and in 2000 it was here that Vladimir Putin made his first trip as President.
In Snezhinsk, the world's largest thermonuclear bomb, known as "Kuz'kina Mat" or "Tsar Bomba", was created. The tests of the Soviet superbomb took place on October 30, 1961. "Kuzkina Mother" worked at an altitude of 4 kilometers above the ground, and the flash from the explosion was 1% of the "power" of the sun. The blast wave circled the globe three times. The charge of the Tsar Bomba, to which a separate chapter of the Guinness Book of Records is dedicated, was 51.5 megatons. For comparison: the largest American hydrogen bomb, which wiped out the island of Bikini in March 1954, had a yield of "only" 25 megatons.
Some believe that there is an underground city or even an underground metro in Snezhinsk. The most daring take underground digger walks, and for those who love a more traditional holiday, there is a sanatorium not far from the city where you can ski on the slopes of the Cherry Mountains, and in summer you can swim in the lakes and sunbathe.
Are under protection. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they ceased to be invisible, thanks to which we can learn a lot of interesting information about them.
Secret cities of Russia
As of today, there are 23 closed cities on the territory of the Russian Federation. However, their true role in the state is still a mystery.
An interesting fact is that in Soviet times, cities of the closed type (ZG) were not marked on any map in the world. Residents of such cities were assigned to nearby regional centers.
The numbering of transport routes, administrative and private buildings was not carried out at first, but continued from the regional cities, to which ZATOs were included.
To get there, visitors were carefully examined by government officials. It was also necessary to have a one-time pass and the corresponding permission to enter.
When entering the territory of ZATO of Russia, a person signed a non-disclosure agreement for any information.
Privileges for residents of ZG
For obvious reasons, living in closed cities was not very convenient. That is why the state compensated for various inconveniences with benefits and increased comfort of life for those who became part of the secret mechanism of the powerful Soviet empire.
The stores sold scarce goods, and the level of medicine and education here was much higher than in ordinary cities.
In addition to this, residents of the closed cities received a 20% salary increase.
In order to get into any ZATO today, a person must be a relative of one of the local residents, who must first write a request for his entry.
Nevertheless, there are such closed cities around which there are neither walls nor numerous guards. It all depends on the level of privacy.
At the same time, it should be understood that getting to some closed cities in Russia is much more difficult than illegally crossing the state border.
An interesting fact is that in total about 1 million live in ZATOs.
List of secret cities in Russia worth visiting
Now we give a list of secret cities that almost anyone can visit.
Seversk
Seversk is considered one of the largest cities of the closed type. The reason for its appearance was the extraction of uranium and plutonium. For this, special chemical enterprises were built in Seversk.
Also here is the Siberian nuclear power plant. In 1993, a serious accident occurred in the city, as a result of which about 2,000 people received a huge dose of radiation.
Sarov
The city of Sarov in 1966 was named Arzamas-16. He held this title until 1991. Sarov became closed in 1947, when nuclear tests began to be carried out here under the leadership of I.V. Kurchatov. For these purposes, a unique complex was built.
It was in Arzamas-16 that Soviet scientists first created an atomic bomb, thanks to which the USSR managed to demonstrate its military and intellectual power to Western countries, while maintaining the global parity of forces.
About 90 thousand people live in Sarov. Here you can visit museums that contain copies of various nuclear weapons.
Near the city is the famous Sarov Desert. Once upon a time, Seraphim of Sarov, revered in Orthodoxy, lived in this place. Interestingly, underground cities are located under the desert, in which monks used to live, trying to hide from the bustle of the world.
Ozersk
This closed city, located in the Chelyabinsk region, is one of the first where they began to develop plutonium charges for atomic bombs. In the fall of 1945, plutonium processing plants began to be built here.
This project was listed under the name "Program No. 1", and was strictly classified. Many construction crews were sent here to erect the necessary buildings and install the appropriate equipment as quickly as possible.
For the workers, houses, medical and cultural institutions were built in an accelerated mode.
In 1954, at the chemical plant named after Mendeleev, the 6th reactor was successfully launched. Since that time, the village began to be called Chelyabinsk-40. In 1966, the number 40 was changed to 65.
Currently, Ozersk covers an area exceeding 200 km², with a population of about 85,000 people. It houses 750 different businesses.
Snezhinsk
During the Soviet period, Snezhinsk was classified in order to secure the Russian nuclear center. It is this closed city that is the birthplace of the hydrogen bomb.
Today in Snezhinsk you can see many tunnels and various incomprehensible buildings. There are rumors that there may be a subway and other similar structures underground.
That is why digger excursions are organized here for tourists, which are in great demand.
Trekhgorny
Previously, this closed city had the name Zlatoust-36. The main enterprise of ZATO is the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Instrument-Making Plant". It produces equipment for Russian nuclear power plants, and also creates ammunition.
Zheleznogorsk
The closed city of Zheleznogorsk is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The city was given a secret status because of the mining chemistry plant operating in it, where plutonium-239 was mined.
Also in Zheleznogorsk there is an enterprise that produces satellites. Prisoners were involved in the construction of this city.
The plant began operating in 1958. In terms of military security, the project was of great importance not only for Russia, but for the entire Soviet Union.
As a result, the reactors were installed in a granite mountain monolith at a depth of 300 m.
The structures and devices of the underground tunnels used for transportation were comparable in scale to the systems of the Moscow Metro.
The height in some underground rooms exceeded 50 m. The plant could easily withstand even a nuclear bombardment.
Zelenogorsk
Previously, ZATO was called Zaozerny-13, and later Krasnoyarsk-45. The city received secret status after the construction of an electrochemical plant for the production of enriched uranium and isotopes.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the company began to produce some household appliances, as well as components for plastic windows.
Today about 70 thousand people live in Zelenogorsk. There is also the operating Krasnoyarskaya GRES.
Zarechny
This closed city was built on the site of a swamp in the wilderness. It was built according to a special project. The leading enterprise of the city is PO "Start", which produces various types of ammunition.
There is also an Institute that produces security technical devices. Today there are more than 600 plants and factories in Zarechny.
Invisible cities now
In connection with the collapse of the USSR, most ZATOs of Russia found themselves in difficult conditions. Due to the cessation of funding and the lack of demand for products, it has become almost impossible to live in closed cities.
Scientists and designers received extremely low salaries for their work, and many were completely unemployed. In 1995, 20% of the population of the secret cities were unemployed.
All this led to a "brain drain". Leading specialists were forced to work in other countries just to feed themselves and their families.
Of course, the closed cities of Russia today have significant differences from ordinary settlements. In them, as before, the systems of education, medicine and culture are well developed.
In the end, it should be added that ZATOs should be distinguished from closed military camps (ZVG), which include military camps located in populated areas.
Liked the post? Press any button:
How to get to the closed city? The task is difficult, but solvable. We will not use espionage methods or look for a hole in the fence, but only list legal ways.
The first way to get into a closed city is to acquire close relatives there (blood or acquired). In this case, relatives will write an entry request in your name, and after certain checks (up to two months), you will be able to visit the city. With foreign guests, of course, it is more difficult. The state, for obvious reasons, carefully guards its developments. So it will take at least six months to get an entry permit in this case.
The second way is scientific. Scientific conferences are held in closed cities, especially those that belong to the Ministry of Atomic Energy. For example, the famous Kharitonov Readings have been held annually in Sarov for 10 years, in memory of the outstanding scientist Yu.B. Khariton. There is an adult and children's program. Those scientists who deal with problems related to the activities of the Sarov nuclear center participate in the adult. Usually these people also have information of a certain degree of secrecy and "belong to the clan." Gifted schoolchildren from any Russian city can come to school readings, strictly without parents, but with a supervisor. So most often one leader carries a group of children at once. Children's readings are held in many disciplines: biology, computer science, literature, mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc. A pass for scientific, sports and cultural events (see below) is issued on average two months in advance.
The next way to the closed space is cultural. Many closed cities hold various music and theater festivals ranging from hard rock and rattling rap to classic folklore chants. Most often, competitions are held either between the "natoshny", for example, such as the All-Russian competition of theaters ZATO "Territory of culture of the nuclear industry", or participants in the competitions from neighboring cities and towns come to the city. But if I contact the organizers in time and promise to weaken something really worthwhile, I can miss the participants who arrived from distant places.
All closed cities are for a healthy lifestyle. Their personnel are indispensable and valuable, so they must live long and not get sick. In this regard, children's and adult tournaments and competitions in numerous sports are regularly held, depending on what kind of sports facilities the city or village has. For example, in the city of Seversk in the Tomsk region, you can come with a team to play basketball, volleyball and hockey, or take part in the Ozersk City Cup in races on radio-controlled yachts. Information about sporting events can usually be found on the ZATO websites, where the contacts of the organizers will also be available.
If you are an outstanding singer, musician or actor, you can come to the closed city with a concert. Of course, the organizers here are not too agile and will not pull expensive stars, and they will doubt the commercial success of the immature ones. But a keen desire to cultivate the nasty inhabitants is able to overcome all sorts of obstacles.
Open, that is, settlements closed during the Soviet period, were not something surprising for Russia. Back in the 18th-19th centuries, there were closed Cossack settlements, cities built on the occupied territories to control the local population and collect taxes, and border fortress cities.
Representatives of the media are allowed into ZATOs without much desire, but in case of urgent need. Just like that - hardly. But if there is a serious reason, an event, or major officials have arrived, then they will allow it. Again, you need to order a pass in advance, and no “we have deadlines for submitting material are on fire” will speed things up.
Recently, secondary and higher educational institutions in ZATO have begun to accept nonresident applicants. According to teachers, visitors often study much better and harder than local children. Many schools and universities in the backwater cities are unique in their kind, because they provide specialized education related to the peculiarities of the city, which, with good study, actually guarantees further work at the enterprise. In Seversk you can enter the Seversk State Technological Academy, in Sarov you can conquer the Sarov Institute of Physics and Technology, in Ozyorsk you can graduate from the Ozersk Institute of Technology, as well as branches of the MEPhI and SUSU.
The last option is to be Artemy Lebedev, who has already visited the closed Sarov, Seversk and Zheleznogorsk. How he did it, science is still unknown ...
ZATO - a city or district in which strategic military enterprises, military installations are located, where a special regime for the protection of state secrets is established. The first closed cities began to appear in connection with the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb in 1946-1953. In those days, the cities in which employees of such enterprises lived were strictly classified, and it was almost impossible for an outsider to get into them. Moreover, an ordinary resident of the USSR knew about their existence only by rumors: they were not on the maps, and all residents of the cities gave a subscription, according to which one could be held criminally liable for disclosing their place of residence.
Life in a mailbox
Residents of closed cities were supposed to answer questions about their place of residence within the framework of the legend. For example, if a person lived in Chelyabinsk-70 (now Snezhinsk), he had to say that he was from Chelyabinsk. Sometimes such cities were called "post boxes" by analogy with the enterprises located in them, which did not have a specific address, but only the number of the mail box, to which all correspondence was sent. Closed cities were not only absent from the maps, they were not in the official statistics: during the census, the inhabitants of the "mailboxes" were attributed to the large cities, not far from which they were located. For the purposes of conspiracy, ZATOs were most often called the same as the areas in which they were located: Chelyabinsk-40, Tomsk-7, Krasnoyarsk-26, Salsk-7, etc.
The degree of "closedness" of cities varied depending on their size and status. In such large ZATOs as Arzamas, Vladivostok, Zelenograd, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Omsk, Perm, Kuibyshev (now Samara), Saratov, Sevastopol, Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Ufa, Chekhov, etc., it was actually possible for an ordinary person to enter , but at the entrance he was still waiting for a check of documents.
Sweet Closed Life
Closed cities were a closed world, and life in them had both minuses and pluses. So, they had a better supply of food: the stores had goods that were considered in short supply in other cities. In addition, the population of closed cities usually received a bonus of 20% of their wages, and this applied to all residents of ZATOs, and not just employees of defense enterprises and military personnel. In addition, closed cities generally had better service industries, and because entry into cities was restricted, crime rates were lower than the national average.
ZATO today
After the collapse of the USSR, closed cities ceased to be secret, but it turned out to be impossible to completely “open” all of them: strategic enterprises continued to function and required increased security measures. As a result, the law of 1992 approved a list of ZATOs, which received the usual names instead of digital designations. At the moment, there are 44 ZATOs in Russia, in which, according to the 2010 census, more than 1.2 million people live.
In relation to modern ZATOs, the same rules continue to apply as in Soviet times: you can get into them only with a pass. They are issued on a permissive basis, not on a notification basis. That is, you can get into the city only by indicating the reason why such a visit is necessary. Visiting ZATOs is simplified for relatives of residents of closed cities, but does not apply to their friends and acquaintances.
Holes in the fence and holidays
Getting into many closed cities after the collapse of the USSR became much easier. For example, many of them began to host events during which anyone can visit the city. For example, an athletics race in Star City. It is also worth noting that many closed cities in fact have not been closed for a long time. For example, at the checkpoint ZATO "Rainbow" of the Vladimir region, entrance has long been free, in the village of Bolshoy Kamen there was never a fence, and in 2012 the checkpoint at the entrance to the city was abolished. In Krasnoznamensk, documents are still being checked at the entrance to the city, but at the same time, there are many holes in the fence around the city through which hiking trails are laid.
5 active ZATOs of Russia
But one should not think that such a situation has developed in all Russian closed cities.
The city of Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod region holds the record for changing names. It received its name in 1706, in 1946 it was renamed Arzamas-16, since 1991 it was called the Kremlin, and in 1995 it again received its original name. In the Russian Empire, the city was widely known for the monastery located here, in which the Orthodox Saint Seraphim of Sarov lived. In 1946, a design bureau under the code name "KB-11" was located in Sarov, which was engaged in the development of an atomic bomb. You can enter the city only with a special pass. According to the census, about 88 thousand people live in the city.
ZATO Zheleznogorsk in the Krasnoyarsk Territory has a population of 93,680 people and received its status because of the defense, nuclear and space industries located here. In addition to the city itself, ZATO also includes the villages of Podgorny, Tartat and three villages - Dodonovo, Novy Put and Shivera. ZATO is surrounded by a fence, and access to the city is carried out with special passes through the checkpoint.
Snezhinsk is a city in the Chelyabinsk region, which for a long time was called Chelyabinsk-70. ZATO received city status on July 8, 1993, however, a special regime continues to be provided in the city in connection with the location of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics named after academician E. I. Zababakhin" (RFNC - VNIITF). The special regime implies a closed flight zone over the city, restrictions on entry and business activities in ZATOs, as well as on the right to own land and real estate.
The city of Zarechny in the Penza region has a population of 64 thousand people, and the main enterprises are the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Federal Research and Production Center "PO" Start "im. M. V. Protsenko” and the Research and Design Institute of Radioelectronic Engineering (NIKIRET). At the moment, you can still enter the city only with passes.
On the site of the city of Seversk in the Tomsk region in 1933, the Chekist youth labor commune was created, later renamed into corrective labor colony No. 1. In 1949, a plant for the production of highly enriched uranium-235 and closed. The people called it "5th Postal", because the construction of the plant was called "mailbox number 5". Currently, the city is surrounded by a fence with barbed wire. Access to the territory is through a checkpoint. Three more checkpoints are located within the city for access to the embankment of the Tom River. The population of Seversk is 108 thousand people.
Sevastopol, which became part of Russia along with Crimea, is a city of federal significance. There is an ice-free port, an industrial, scientific, technical, cultural and historical center. Also in Sevastopol is the main naval base of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation. The population of the city at the moment is 343 thousand people.
In 1916, after the explosion of the battleship "Empress Maria" in the Sevastopol Bay, the city received the status of a closed one: foreigners could no longer enter its territory. After the October Revolution, the ban was lifted, but in 1939 it was closed again. Until 1992, Sevastopol was a city that was not easy to get into: there were special posts at the main entrances to the city, and people were allowed into it with passes.
The initiative to assign a closed status to the city caused a controversial reaction from Sevastopol residents. Someone considered this idea good, and someone spoke out against it. Thus, the head of the Agency for Strategic Development of Sevastopol, Alexei Chaly, considered that such a measure would be economically unjustified. In his opinion, the base of the Black Sea Fleet is not able to independently ensure the existence of Sevastopol, and the city needs to attract investment, and its closed status will interfere with this.
