Mayor calls for toxic town’s closure

A Russian mayor whose town was built upon the back of toxic weapons factories has called for the settlement to be abandoned and the entire population relocated.


At the height of the Cold War, Chapayevsk, a town of 70,000, was home to four factories which churned out chemical weapons and other toxic munitions.

The town has triple the region’s average rate of reported cancers and tuberculosis, a statistic the mayor attributes to the legacy of toxic waste produced by the factories.

This week in an interview with a local paper, he said the ideal solution would be the closure of the town and relocation of all its inhabitants.

Sam Bond

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