Shikhany, also spelled Shikhansky () is a

closed town A closed city or town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied. Historically, the construction of closed cities became increasingly common after the beginning of the Cold War, particularly in the Soviet Union. Since t ...

Saratov Oblast Saratov Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Saratov. As of the 2021 Russian cens ...

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 ...

, north of

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

on the right bank of the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

Population: . It has been a

since 1997, but lost this status on 1 January 2019.Путин упразднил упоминавшееся в «деле Скрипалей» ЗАТО Шиханы
/ref> The town is 2 kilometres from the major chemical weapons base Shikhany-2 (previously known as Vol'sk-18).

History

The original settlement at Shikhany was founded in 1820 as part of the estate of Count Vasily Vasil'evich Orlov-Denisov. The first school was opened at the site in 1876. By 1917, there were still only five inhabitants resident in two houses. The subsequent expansion of the settlement was presumably a consequence of the opening of the adjacent chemical warfare establishment. On 30 June 1997, the town was transformed by an edict of

President Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

into a Closed Administrative-Territorial Formation (''ZATO''). Under the terms of this edict, travel to Shikhany was restricted and special police, procuracy and courts operated directly under Moscow jurisdiction. This status was revoked on 1 January 2019. The town comprises Shikhany-1, the town proper, Shikhany-2, the military chemical base, and Shikhany-4, the arsenal. Shikhany-4 appears to be the location of the 115th Arsenal of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops.

Shikhany-2 (Vol'sk-18)

The military chemical base at Shikany-2 (previously known as Vol'sk-18) has a long history. At the end of 1927, a secret Soviet–German agreement was reached concerning the construction of a joint chemical warfare experimental establishment at the site. Under the

Versailles Treaty The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace of Versailles, exactl ...

, Germany was forbidden from undertaking tests with chemical warfare agents or developing associated delivery systems. Collaboration with the Soviet Union was viewed as a useful means of concealing such activities from the eyes of the Western allies. The Shikhany-2 site was located 15 kilometres from the town of Vol'sk. It had been selected as early as 1924 to become a centre of Soviet chemical warfare activities. Under the terms of the agreement with the Germans, the Tomka project was created with the aim of both producing chemical weapons and operating experimental establishments at the site. The main focus of the Tomka project was on

mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur compound, organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other Chemical species, species. In the wi ...

, the climate at Shikhany being well suited for studying the field behaviours of the gas. Studies were also made of its toxicology. Stores for the joint project, including huts for accommodation, were transferred from Berlin to Shikhany. By the summer of 1928, chemical warfare field trials were fully underway. During the period through to 1931, around thirty German staff were based at Shikhany. The Tomka project was terminated in the spring of 1933. After the departure of the German scientists, the Soviet military remained at the Shikhany-2 site, and the proving grounds and other facilities were now officially designated as the Central Army Chemical Proving Ground (''TsVKhP''). The area of the site increased from its original 100 square kilometres to 600 square kilometres by 1938. A further expansion in size took place in 1941–1942, by which time the site occupied 1,000 square kilometres. By 1940, Shikhany incorporated large laboratories occupying nine to ten buildings, workshops, garages, stalls for animals, barracks, a building for the commander and his subordinates, an airfield with hangars, a gas school with spacious instruction halls, a military hospital and buildings for the production of chemical warfare agents. The staff at this time comprised a Major General, 100 other officers, 850 non-commissioned officers and 250 scientists and related personnel. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Soviet POWs who had been employed at Shikhany revealed to German intelligence that trials had been undertaken during the period 1939–1943 to test the dispersion of various chemical warfare agents in aerial bombs and aircraft sprayers. Beginning in 1934, trials were also conducted in great secrecy of simulants of biological weapons at Shikhany. Soviet POWs revealed to their German captors that these BW trials continued through to at least December 1940. On 6 August 1987, chemical weapons negotiators at the

Conference on Disarmament The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a multilateral disarmament forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Conference meets annually in ...

in Geneva were invited to visit the Soviet military chemical establishment at Shikhany. During the period 3–4 October 1987, Colonel General Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov hosted foreign disarmament negotiators at the proving ground. The guests are reported to have been shown a range of chemical munitions and during their visit a rabbit was injected with

sarin Sarin (NATO designation GB nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic organophosphorus compound.33rd ''TsNII''); the proving ground of the 33rd ''TsNII''; the 16th Central Military Clinical Hospital; Secondary School No. 44 of the Russian Ministry of Defence; School of Music; 2 kindergartens; 2 hotels; and officers quarters including a cinema. In 2004 a branch was opened in Shikhany-2 of Moscow'
Contemporary Humanitarian Academy
The 1st Mobile Brigade ( :ru:1-я мобильная бригада РХБ защиты) of the

Russian NBC Protection Troops __NOTOC__ The Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence of the Russian Armed Forces () are an organisation designed to reduce the losses of the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces and ensuring their combat tasks assigned during ope ...

is based at the site. There is a well-developed infrastructure at the base including access to a cable TV network and the internet, a café, nine grocery stores, three department stores, a post office and a branch of Russia's Sberbank, a sports centre incorporating a gym and swimming pool, a football pitch and ice hockey rink.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the closed administrative-territorial formation of Shikhany—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. As a municipal division, the closed administrative-territorial formation of Shikhany is incorporated as Shikhany Urban Okrug.Law #79-ZSO

Allegations concerning Shikhany-2 as source of novichok agent

Based upon a report submitted by Russia to the

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW; French: ''Organisation pour l'interdiction des armes chimiques'', OIAC) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), ...

(OPCW), a British chemical weapons expert indicated that Shikhany was the source of the

novichok agent Novichok () is a family of nerve agents, some of which are binary chemical weapons. The agents were developed at the GosNIIOKhT state chemical research institute by the Soviet Union and Russia between 1971 and 1993. Some Novichok agents are ...

used in the 2018 poisoning of

Sergei Skripal Sergei Viktorovich Skripal ( rus, Сергей Викторович Скрипаль, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ skrʲɪˈpalʲ; born 23 June 1951) is a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent for t ...

and his daughter. However, a chemical weapons site in Uzbekistan that was dismantled and decontaminated in 1999 may have been used to originally produce and test the agent.

References

{{Closed cities of the former Soviet Union Cities and towns in Saratov Oblast Closed cities Soviet chemical weapons program Military installations of Russia

History

Shikhany-2 (Vol'sk-18)

Administrative and municipal status

Allegations concerning Shikhany-2 as source of novichok agent

See also

References