The 101st kilometre (, ''sto pervyy kilometr'') is a

colloquial Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...

phrase for restrictions on

freedom of movement Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country,Jérémiee Gilbert, ''Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights'' ...

in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Practice

The 101st kilometre became a colloquial phrase for limits on

under '' propiska'', the Soviet system of controlling

internal migration Internal migration or domestic migration is human migration within a country. Internal migration tends to be travel for education and for economic improvement or because of a natural disaster or civil disturbance, though a study based on the full ...

. During most of the Soviet era, criminals and other "undesirables" including the ones released from the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

s were often restricted from settling in larger

urban center Urban Center may refer to: * Urban center, human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment * Urban Center Plaza, plaza on the Portland State University campus in Portland, Oregon, United States * Urban Cen ...

s such as Moscow. The ''propiska'' laws were intended in part to keep undesirable elements away from foreigners, who were usually restricted to areas within of city centers, in a similar fashion to the 1980 Olympics. The rights of an ex-inmate to move freely about the country after release from a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

would be restricted for a long period of time. Instead of regular documents, former inmates would receive a temporary substitute, a " wolf ticket" (), confining them to

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

without the right to settle closer than to large urban centres where they would be refused the residency permit under the ''propiska'' system. In post-Stalin Soviet Union a notable purge of undesirables beyond the 101st km was in preparations to the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games as an effort of the authorities to improve the image of Moscow in the eyes of foreigners. In modern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, this 100 km restriction has been abolished — although a version of ''propiska'' still remains.

References

Law of the Soviet Union Soviet phraseology Crime in the Soviet Union History of human rights 1980 in the Soviet Union Human rights in the Soviet Union Freedom of movement {{criminal-law-stub

Practice

See also

References