Russia's Secret "Closed Cities"?

[tim 360]

Anyone been to or near any of Russia's "Closed cities"?  Most are involved with nuclear energy and weapons etc.  A couple are near Krasnoyarsk about 26 and 45 kilometers away.  A couple near Sverdlovsk-26 & 45 kilometres and Arzamas-16 kilometers.  There are more.

Also a number of cities in the Urals in the Beloresk,  Yamantan, and Mezhgorye area. 

[Jet]

My wife has been to Arzamas-16 quite a few times, but inside the nuclear training facility only once. We wanted to go to the monastary there, but have not made it yet. Going alone may be difficult but to visit with a group of other russians is not such a big deal as long as you're not trying to get into the sensitive facilities themselves (according to her)

Also, Nizhniy Novgorod, the major city very near where my wife grew up, was closed to westerners until just a few years ago due to the vast number of military factories in and around it. IIRC it was opened in '98 or '99 but don't quote me on that. Before it was opened up though, any river cruises known to have westerners aboard would only pass by the city at night, without stopping.

[tim 360]

Thanks Jet.  Recently,  I was a bit surprised to learn there were still so many "closed" cities in Russia.  I had surmised that almost all except the most sensitive) were now open.  Appear to be many.

[Todd]

I know that I talked to someone last year from a closed city.  It was actually about 30 minutes outside of larger town and is a closed city due to a very large chemical plant in the vicinity.  I think this town remains closed for safety/security reasons.  Whereas in the 80's towns were closed for espionage reasons, I take it this town continues to be closed because it could be a likely target for internal terrorist threats. 

[2tallbill]

10 closed Russian cities Russia is hiding from the World
http://passportsymphony.com/closed-russian-cities/

[Faux Pas]

10 closed Russian cities Russia is hiding from the World
http://passportsymphony.com/closed-russian-cities/

One of my wife's best friends live in Seversk. My wife has been many times and we were invited and cleared to visit when I was there on a visit once then denied (wife and I) when we tried to enter. No explanation was given, just no, leave. The friend had a big spread and entertainment as well as other guests. She was beside herself with embarrassment but, we kind of expected it. Don't know to this day why we were denied

[I/O]

Don't know to this day why we were denied

You didn't put your hand far enough in your pocket - in my experience, there's no security zone in Russia that you can't buy your way into....

[GenMish]

There are a lot more than 10

Yekaterinburg was a closed city till 92 or so, and there are some still closed cities nearby. During WW2 the Russians moved their defense industries to the Urals, because Moscow almost fell to the Germans. If you are traveling with Russians, no problem. the only rule was, dont smile because they will know you arent Russian. I also noticed, if you dont shave, that helps too

[Faux Pas]

You didn't put your hand far enough in your pocket - in my experience, there's no security zone in Russia that you can't buy your way into....

Could have been. As far as I could tell there wasn't an opportunity to even try. I couldn't follow the conversation though and was only told what was said. I do know even Russians that do not live or work there have to have prior permission to enter.

[ML]

Sevastopol was a closed city for many years.

When my now wife was a young college student, she went to Crimea for a visit with a young couple who were family friends. They lived outside Sevastopol but had passes to enter because the husband worked inside.

One day, she took the wife's pass and went into Sevastopol with the husband.

I was surprised when she told me this, because she is not much of a risk taker