Free Republic

Stalin's Arctic dream left in the cold (Filed: 25/10/2003) Julius Strauss reports from Mulda on how towns are being abandoned and communities destroyed as Russia retreats from the desolate planes of its frozen north. Tatyana Orlova will pile her belongings on to a government lorry next week and shut the front door of her shabby, freezing flat for the last time. The following day the authorities will throw the switch on her electricity supply - the centrally provided hot water and heating were cut off in the spring - and the Arctic settlement of Mulda, once home to more than...