Shikhany


Shikhany is a town in Saratov Oblast, Russia, located north of Saratov on the right bank of the Volga River Population:. It has been a closed town since 1997, but lost this status on 1 January 2019.

History

was founded in 1928 and the town was granted town status in 1996. It has had closed status since 1997, the year that the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force.
Formerly, it was named after Count Vasily Orlov-Denisov, a hero of the 1812 Patriotic War.
The town comprises Shikhany-1, Shikhany-2, and Shikhany-4.

Shikhany-2

After Volsk-17 became the town of Shikhany, Shikhany-2 officially became Shikhany-1. However, residents still refer to them as Shikhany-1 and Shikhany-2, respectively.
Main organizations include NII RHBZ, the 1st Mobile Brigade of RHBZ, the RHBZ service base, "notch and scout" regiment, the Shikhansky chemical testing ground, the Privolzhskiy Military District Hospital, a polyclinic, school № 24, music school, 3 kindergartens, a hotel, an officer's House with attached cinema theater, and a forestry.
There's additionally a park with a pond located in the city, part of the former Count's Park. The military base garrison keeps ducks and swans in the pond and relocates swans inside the warmer facilities in winter.
The chemical facility was mentioned in the world′s media in the wake of the poisoning incident in Salisbury, England, in 2018, as an alleged source of the chemical substance in question.

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

Shikhansky chemical testing ground

Shikhansky chemical testing ground keeps a large amount of military poison substances, mainly obsolete ones such as yperite. Based upon a report submitted by Russia to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a British chemical weapons expert indicated that Shikhany was the source of the novichok agent used in the 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal 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.

Ecological situation

Shikhany has a better ecology than the nearest big cities. Shikhany is surrounded by the forest and the chemical plant is not in use.
Infrastructure of Shikhany-2 is faintly developed, with only a couple of shops in the 20 km vicinity.