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Russia’s Rustbelt: The Decline of Monotowns

September 12, 2015 | All Grades
By Susan Ikenberry

A local band practice in Asbest, Russia. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2013.

Baikalsk pulp and paper mill, the only town's major employer shut down leaving hundreds of people without jobs. Image by Brendan Hoffman. Russia, 2013.

Model Maria Klimova and her mother prepare to emigrate from their hometown. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Model and police investigator Maria Klimova, 25, is packing her suitcase as she prepares to emigrate from Russia's Far East. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Yuriy Druzhinin, a public figure in a monotown of Asbest believes his city is on the verge of an ecological and social crisis. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2013.

A protest at Moscow's Pushkin Square on Saturday, March 18 drew several hundred people who were upset with NTV's coverage of the opposition and planned to gather at the station's headquarters the next day. Image by Joshua Yaffa. Russia, 2012.

A woman inside the Botkin Infectious Disease Hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia. Image by Misha Friedman. Russia, 2013.

Image by Brendan Hoffman. Russia, 2013.

Image by Brendan Hoffman. Russia, 2013.

Maria Klimova decided to emigrate: “First China, then Italy,” she says. “I would never fit the Russian system anyway.” Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Maria Klimova and her mother have made plans to emigrate from their hometown. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Model Anastasia Shelest, 21, is moving away from Russia's Far East to St. Petersburg, as she says, "to have good education and better life." Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Anastasia Shelest, 21, is eager to escape: "As soon as I return to our gray Khabarovsk from my trips abroad, I immediately feel depressed," she says. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Vika and Aleksy, a young family in Khabarovsk, hope that Aleksey's employer Coca Cola will transfer him to Moscow soon. "There are more prospects in the capital than in Far East," he says. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Last year 6,000 Russians emigrated from Blagoveschensk, a city on the Amur River with a population of 200,000 people. Many of them moved to Heihe, a Chinese city on the other bank of the river. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Russians in Heihe, a Chinese city across the Amur River. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Two years ago Vika and Konstia emigrated from Russian Blagoveschensk to China's Heihe. "I feel more at home in this foreign country than I did in Blagoveschensk where I had to deal with corruption every day," Konstia says. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Vika and Konstia, who emigrated from Russian Blagoveschensk to China's Heihe two years ago, are happy about their children's new corruption-free kindergarden. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Schoolchildren in Heihe, a Chinese city across the Amur River. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Vika and Konstia emigrated from Russian Blagoveschensk to China's Heihe. "I feel more at home in this foreign country than I did in Blagoveschensk, where I had to deal with corruption every day," Kostia says. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

High prices, lack of opportunities and corruption push thousands of young Russians away from the Far East to China. It takes only 7 minutes to cross the Amur River from Blagoveschensk to Heihe. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Yekaterina Malyutik, a Russian professor, teaches Russian language at a university in Heihe. "Here we are respected and well paid, unlike back home in Khabarovsk," she says. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Yekaterina Malyutik at a university in Heihe. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Officials ordered Vladislav Solovyev to paint the outside wall of his house so as not to shock important guests coming to the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit in September 2012. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Vladislav Solovyev wrote letters to Vladivostok and Moscow authorities asking them for help in fixing his ceiling and roof, but he never heard back. "My house is a real Potemkin village," he said. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

The $1 billion bridge did not help people living on Russky Island: Residents still rely on ferries to cross the bay on their way to Vladivostok. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

The glitz of the APEC Summit 2012 in Vladivostok cannot mask the slow death of the Pimorye region. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

Tears ran down Nadezhda Voronstova's face as she recounted her story: Moscow authorities have decided to demolish her house along with her entire village on Russky Island. Image by Anna Nemtsova. Russia, 2012.

“Russia’s Rustbelt”:  The decline of Monotowns.

Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9

Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a 

coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

Objective:  This lesson is designed to help students understand the effect of the fall of 

the USSR from the practical perspective of the ordinary citizen of the former USSR.    

Essential Question; were ordinary people in the former USSR better off under 

Communism?

Warm up

Have students watch this film: https://vimeo.com/91698920

And study this background: http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/europe-russia-monotown-

single-industry-olympic-WTO, the map of Russian monotowns

Introduction:  This lesson will give students a chance to examine Russian monotowns  

(monogoroda).  Most of these 340 towns are products of Stalinist industrialization, so the 

architecture is of that era, especially the 

1930s. (Indeed, they  were often built by 

GULAG labor.)   Monotowns were 

organized around a single plant or factory 

and, in true Soviet spirit, the towns 

provided all social services-- clinics and 

schools, heat, water and electricity, for 

populations of 5,000 to 700,000.   As the 

articles below indicate monotowns have 

not fared well since the fall of the USSR.

Divide students into two groups:

Group 1:should read these carefully: Russia's Monotown of Asbest: The Town Asbestos 

Built, the “People of the Pit”,  

Group 2 Will study two towns:  Baikalsk, which was once a thriving pulp and paper 

mill, responsible for a good deal of pollution and Vydrino, a former timber town, 

also on the shore of Lake Baikal.

Examine the slide show.

Questions for Discussion:  Have students compare the experiences of contemporary 

Russians in these “monotowns”.   What is the history of these towns?  Why are economic 

circumstances so bleak?   Why don’t people leave?   What other issues, such as health 

and safety are there?  One of these articles is called “Russia’s Detroit”.  What similarities 

and differences are there between cities in the US that have declining industries and cities 

in the former USSR?

Have there been efforts to revitalize these towns?  What has come of these efforts?

What else is notable?

For 

homework students should examine at least three  of the following stories 

Shrinking Siberia plus slideshow 

Putin’s Knack for Surprise

The Only Ballerinas in All of Abkhazia 

Reading Putin: The Mind and the State of Russia’s President

Russia: Putin’s Propaganda Machine still going strong.

Russia:  Death by Indifference

Marina Rikhvanova’s Quest to Save Russia’s Lake Baikal

Introduction to David Satter’s It was a Long time Ago ….  Read the introduction

Explain in an essay of 250 words how at least two of the articles relate to the larger issues 

of the Monotowns.  Why isn’t more being done about this problem in the former USSR?

Educator Notes: 

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