#6
Russian City Is Closed to Foreigners
November 8, 2001
MOSCOW (AP) - The Siberian city of Norilsk, home of one of the world's largest nickel producers, has been declared closed to foreigners by order of the Russian government, news reports said Thursday.
In Soviet times, many of Russia's cities were off-limits to foreigners because of their military or scientific importance, including the major coastal cities of Kaliningrad and Vladivostok. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the closed cities opened up, but about 10 communities where nuclear research takes place remain closed.
Norilsk, north of the Arctic circle 1,800 miles northeast of Moscow, is the headquarters of metals giant Norilsk Nickel, one of Russia's most important industrial complexes.
Relatively high salaries have made the frigid, remote city attractive to people from other former Soviet republics, who go there looking for work. About 10 percent of the city's 200,000 people are foreigners.
The reports included no official account of the reason for the closure order, which was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.
Norilsk's mayor suggested it was aimed to restrict entry of people from the other former republics, whom he blamed for social problems.
``Drug abuse is rampant in Norilsk and the city has the most people affected with HIV'' in the region, the Interfax news agency quoted Mayor Oleg Budarin as saying. Drug abuse and AIDS were uncommon in the Soviet Union, and some Russians blame foreigners for importing them.
The closure will apply only to foreigners trying to enter the city after the order takes effect, but no date was specified, ITAR-Tass said. Foreigners will be allowed into the city if they are invited by industrial enterprises or have relatives there, it said.
The airline serving the city has begun refusing to sell tickets to Norilsk to anyone who is not a citizen of Russia or Belarus, which has a loose union agreement with Russia, Interfax said.
Next Article