City 40 Page #4

I thought the problem

had already been resolved.

What does it mean,

"The problem has been resolved?

That everybody has died?"

Anyway, I have nothing good to tell you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'll tell you the situation now,

but, unfortunately,

I have nothing good to tell you.

The situation with the court cases

is at a dead end.

The committee is closed.

From tomorrow, they will not grant

anything to anyone.

People from closed cities

defend their rights in court

very unwillingly.

People are still afraid,

and they'll go...

to court only when they're

in deep despair.

Closed cities still resemble

the Soviet Union.

In the Soviet Union,

legal status of closed cities

was never defined.

The Soviet Union had come a long way

under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev.

He talked of perestroika or reform,

and glasnost, meaning

greater freedom of speech.

Mingling with the rush hour traffic,

Red Army armored personnel carriers

on the streets of Moscow this morning,

the first sign of the coup d'etat

that removed Mikhail Gorbachev from power.

Long live Yeltsin!

In the Yeltsin times,

around 1996,

things started to improve...

and go back to normal.

Order was reintroduced

and it was in those Yeltsin times

that Russia and its closed cities

began to restructure to get rid of

that old Soviet dust.

Let us stand firmly together.

The reactionary forces will not pass!

The closed cities got

their legal status in 1994

when, by governmental decree,

they were given public names.

Ozersk was officially named Ozersk

and these cities were put on the map.

But the state invented a clever way

to keep us in legal limbo.

We didn't think much about it,

but in 1994...

when our town received its legal status,

newborns received birth certificates

that stated Ozersk as their birthplace.

But everybody born in Ozersk before 1994

was officially listed

as born in Chelyabinsk.

They couldn't exclude the possibility

that a disaster

would wipe the town off the earth.

So they registered us in a way

that we could be erased legally

if necessary.

We asked the registry office

in Chelyabinsk to correct our birthplace,

but we weren't even listed

in their archives.

They said, "Sorry, you were not born

in our region."

-Can I come in?

-Yes.

People who registered place of birth

after 2005, they exist,

but hesitate to go to court

because there are no precedents.

You will make history

as the first person to file a lawsuit

in this situation,

and the court decision

in your case will be precedent

in other decisions.

So, I will be in history forever?

Forever, of course.

How else is history made, if not forever?

They may appeal,

but the probability is 70% against it.

I can't guarantee you 100%.

So, we just have to wait.

But, we've come a long way with you.

I've been coming here for a year already.

Let's hope they don't appeal.

Everything seems to be happening the way

I told you.

It's working.

Well, well.

She takes cases

that are difficult to resolve.

She takes to heart

the problems of other people

and volunteers to resolve them.

She's an amazing person

who makes everything her business.

There are only two such people,

myself and her.

Take care of your health.

Okay, lets go.

I have to make him kiss your hand, too.

I remember the wave of accusations,

after a case was opened against her.

That she did things wrongly,

that she went against the opinion

of the Ministry of Health,

against existing norms.

That she was taking cases

above and beyond her abilities.

But she did start to resolve them.

Ever since I began

my human rights activities

and began helping people

who live in the contaminated areas,

the authorities have been

persecuting me and my organization.

It was two years ago that the authorities

started putting pressure

on us at every step.

-Glue.

-We'll glue now. Sit.

Now we'll do cut outs.

There were constant checks

on our organization.

Year after year, they do tax inspections

on us,

just now they did a tax inspection.

The authorities constantly visit my home

and even visit my child in kindergarten.

Even our landlord asked

to terminate our lease.

He said, "I'm not against what you're

doing, and I would like you to stay."

"But I got a phone call asking me

to kick you out."

When someone goes public,

it's much easier to declare him

an enemy and fight him,

instead of trying to change something

in the system.

-I made it first.

-Yes, I heard that.

Today, Mayak produces isotopes

for the medical and space industries.

But they're still doing something

for the country's defense

and that's state secret.

There are 14,000 people working at Mayak.

If we multiply that by three,

counting a wife and a grown-up child,

that's 42,000 people

related to the facilities.

Plus 28,000 pensioners.

So, there are 60,000 people

who are connected with Mayak

and informed about its activities.

Most of those who work at Mayak,

at weapons production,

they work with state secrets.

Each of them has

an FSB officer

who records their private lives.

Where they go, who they meet,

how much money they spend, what they buy.

They check everything.

That means that in fact

it's only about thought control.

The core of their job is

to silence dissidents.

To silence dissidents,

not to care about efficient security.

We have the FSM unit at Mayak.

Our troops...

special troops...

guard the sealed perimeter.

And this setup

is checked annually

by designated inspections

that make sure everything is secure

and kept in proper shape.

If, for example,

you find out...

that the polonium used

in the Litvinenko assassination

in the U.K.

came from Mayak,

you can be almost 100% sure

the material was...

released via the security gates,

and it was sanctioned

by the top management of Mayak. 100% sure.

Former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko

was killed

by radioactive poisoning leading to

a clouding of relations

between London and Moscow.

The polonium trail across London

implies that he was poisoned

by polonium 210

that was slipped into his tea.

Whoever killed Litvinenko

would have expected him to die

in a few days.

It was only because he died

three weeks later

that the doctors had the chance

to discover the truth.

If someone comes here with a suitcase

full of cash,

they will pick up the phone and ask,

"Mr. Putin, can we do this?"

Money would not matter in it.

This is not measured in money anymore.

People need to know what's being done,

what risks are involved.

After the Mayak disaster of 1957

and the Chernobyl disaster of 1986,

Russians have learned

not to trust the state.

In some cases society is right,

because once you lie

nobody will believe you.

Historical memories are

a very important component

of our culture, our history,

our lives. And of course, we should

also consider the future.

I'd like to remind you,

Russia is one of the biggest

nuclear powers.

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