Please read my comments at the end of this item! Martin H
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
Max de Haldevang July 18, 2018
Russian president Vladimir Putin issued an order yesterday to end the special research status of Shikhany, the secretive town believed by British intelligence to have produced Novichok, a lethal nerve agent. UK authorities say the poison was recently used by Kremlin agents to try to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.
Shikhany is one of many ZATOs, closed Russian towns dedicated by the government to conducting highly secret scientific research. Putin’s decree orders that the town, which is near Saratov in southwest Russia, be “abolished” by Jan. 1 2019.
A local spokeswoman told the AFP that the order’s effect on a local factory was not clear: “President Putin on Tuesday signed a presidential decree which removes the status of ‘closed territorial administrative entity’ for our town,” said Yulia Ershova. “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.
The order gives no reason for the town’s change of status, and does not mention Novichok. Russia’s federal government will pay the Saratov region 63.8 million rubles (around $1m) to close down the town…
The following correction is appended to the article:
Correction July 18, 2018, 3:20pm EST: This article was corrected to reflect that Putin’s order was issued on July 17, not 18. An earlier version of this article and headline stated that Putin’s order would “close” the town of Shikhany; in fact, the order will end its ZATO status.
Here is the original heading from my MSN Feed:
Putin ‘closing’ Russian town believed to produce Novichok
The article, even in it’s corrected form, is written to give the impression that Putin is attempting to hide something. It even still says “close down the town” in the text. The opposite is true: The town is having it’s classification removed to open it up to scrutiny.
This is why we spend time scrutinising and checking articles and analysing what’s between the lines. Spin and propaganda is rife!
