Speaking at a government session this week, Serdyukov confirmed that he intends to slash the number of military towns from about 8000 to 184. The measure is part of a major ongoing reform in the Russian defence structures.
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The military towns will either be included in nearby civilian municipalities or closed down, newspaper Vedomosti reports.
According to Nataliya Zubarevich from the Institute of Social Policy, the reform could result in the towns being turned into ghost towns. People will have to leave if the Ministry of Defence pulls out, because there is no other job opportunities, she says to Vedomosti.
-This will be a long and painful process, she underlines.
The closing of military town will especially hit on the northern parts of the country. Alone in Murmansk Oblast, there are several tens of military towns and settlements with some few hundred thousand inhabitants in total.
