Russia to open Novichok 'closed town‘

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A Russian "closed town" where the nerve agent Novichok – which the UK says was used to poison a former spy and his daughter earlier this year – was reportedly developed, is due to open its doors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday changing the status of the town of Shikhany, in southwestern Russia. It was unclear, however, what the change would entail.

"President Putin on Tuesday signed a presidential decree which removes the status of 'closed territorial administrative entity' for our town," Yulia Ershova, spokeswoman for the local authorities, said on Wednesday.

"Our factory, a branch of the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, is still functioning but we do not know what will happen once Shikany is opened," she told AFP news agency.

Investigators in protective clothing stand outside the home where two people were believed to have been exposed to the Novichok nerve agent in Amesbury, UK, July 8, 2018. /VCG Photo

Russian scientists have told state and international media that the Soviet Union developed the nerve agent in the closed town of Shikhany from the 1970s.

Britain has said Russian-produced Novichok was used in the attempted murder of ex-spy Sergei Skripal along with his daughter Yulia in an English city in March, while two more Britons were exposed to the chemical last month – leaving one dead and the other in a critical condition.

Published on the official site pravo.gov.ru, Putin's decree gives local government six months to prepare for the change of status of the town, which has a population of 5,500.

There was no suggestion the change of status was linked to the Novichok affair.

Kremlin officials have denied Novichok was stored at exactly this location, but said there was another "facility" in the southern Saratov region.

The Soviet Union created a network of closed towns to house secret military installations and research facilities to which access was hugely restricted.

(Top picture: A sign for the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology is seen at the entrance to the institute in Moscow, Russia, March 13, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP