THE CLOSED CITIES OF THE KOLA-PENINSULA - FROM AUTONOMY TOWARDS INTEGRATION

Murmansk oblast' is the region in Russia with the highest concentratio n of closed cities. The main objective of the article is to investigat e whether the six closed cities in the area are to be considered auton omous entities - small ''states within the state'' - or whether and to what extent they have become more integrated in the surrounding civil ian society in recent years. In 1992, they were ''opened'' or subject to ''civilianisation'' in the sense that they were given ordinary civi lian names, they were placed on civilian maps, and some information ab out them was declassified. They were also accorded separate, civilian governing bodies. Second, it seems largely to be economic rather than military-strategic concerns that today define these cities' relations with the outside world. Third, there are considerable differences betw een the six closed cities on the Kola Peninsula. Fourth, the concept o f integration with the civilian society is not unequivocal. It may, fo r instance, be argued that the closed cities were integrated with Mosc ow - and segregated from Murmansk! - when they became a federal respon sibility in 1992/1996. It seems reasonable, then, to conclude that the closed cities on the Kola Peninsula rather than being an ''archipelag o of federal islands'' in the north, stand forth as an ever more heter ogeneous group of small towns in tension between traditional autonomy on the one hand, and on the other, integration with non-military areas of own region as well as with other parts of the Russian Federation.