#6304
#3
BBC Monitoring
Over 50 per cent of Russia's scientific, industrial
potential is in closed towns
Source: Ren TV, Moscow, in Russian 1730 gmt 10 Jun 02
[Presenter] According to the Russian VTSIOM [centre for studying people's opinion] about 20 per cent of Russians say that they can't endure the poor economic situation any more, 25 per cent of population think that the economic situation is bearable. However, about 50 per cent say that life is difficult but bearable and they do not expect it to change to the better in the next few years. Only 19 per cent of Russians are ready to fight for their rights at barricades.
It is highly unlikely that residents of the Russian westernmost closed town of Zarechnyy [Penza Region] will join them though their discontent in the coming changes is growing.
The thing is that the Start enterprise where nuclear warheads are disassembled is in this town. With every coming year a defence order is decreasing and prospects for the town to be open to public become more and more real. This scares the town residents as thanks to the special status apart from the barbed wire they have a golden flow of money from Moscow [state] budget. Correspondent Aleksandr Zhestkov gives the details.
[Correspondent] People of this town do not need garages for their cars, they can leave cars anywhere and not even lock them. The crime rate here is almost the lowest in Russia.
[Viktor Gvozdev, the deputy head of Zarechnyy administration, captioned] Our people are not used to see homeless and other similar things. We don't have this and if the town is open all sort of people will start coming here.
[Correspondent] The status of the closed town implies not only a barbed wire and a special regime but a separate line in the federal budget which gives the town money to live on.
[omitted: about low mortgage rates]
The mayor of the town is a former FSB colonel, his deputies - former lieutenant-colonels. Their main concern now is to set up a market infrastructure and to create new jobs for people if the town becomes open.
[omitted: about producing sacks for sugar]
It has been calculated that this [sack making] workshop will bring the town's budget as much money as Zarechnyy's nuclear enterprise is bringing.
However, staff of this plant is also cautious when speaking about the possible openness of Zarechnyy.
[Dmitriy Yevstigneyev, chief engineer of the Politron enterprise] We will have to have more security as after a 12-hour shift people will start leaving the plant at 2000 local time and we will need to protect them.
The town's mayor office is working out plans to keep the barbed wire and security regime after Zarechnyy is open. But the residents will have to pay for it themselves as the money flow from the federal budget will stop.
[Presenter] There are 60 closed towns in Russia at present. Zarechnyy is one of them. About three million people live in these towns where 50 per cent of the country's scientific and industrial potential is concentrated.
[Video shows a new flat, the Politron plant, streets of the town, officials commenting]
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