MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Defense Ministry has proposed that the government reduce the number of closed military towns, a ministry official said Tuesday.
"If the government supports the proposals submitted by the Defense Ministry and introduces relevant amendments, 47 military towns will immediately lose their off-limits status," spokesman for the ministry's housing department Colonel Vasily Lavrenyuk said.
The towns of Vidnoye-4, Sergiyev Posad-14, Solnechnogorsk-7, Naro-Fominsk-10 in the Moscow region, Balabanovo-1 in the Kaluga region and military garrison No. 32 in Yekaterinburg are among the settlements on the proposed list.
At present, the ministry maintains 952 settlements that are off-limits to the general public.
