I do not know whether you will consider publishing this information but I want very much to share my impressions of the location to which Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been sent to serve his sentence.

From 1986 – 1988 I was lucky enough to do my military service at Field Unit No. 52519 which was located at the time in the suburbs of the town of Borzja about 65 kilometers to the east of Krasnokamensk. I was doing my service at headquarters and, in addition to other things, I was involved in statistical matters.

That period of time was characterized by the following figures per 1200 regular soldiers:

8 to 12 deaths caused by meningitis per annum.

3,600 to 4,500 registered cases of food poisoning per annum, including a few that were fatal.

600 to 900 cases of pneumonia per annum. I had pneumonia in the right lung twice myself. About 40 individuals were transferred to the reserves every year after having pneumonia three times.

1,000 to 1,200 case of “zabaikalka” – a special disease that manifested itself most of all in wintertime as festering and blue spots appearing in the place of even the smallest abrasion or scar in anyone who had not been born in the surrounding region. A few individuals were dying annually from gangrene as a result of this disease and about twenty soldiers per year were transferred to the reserves because of amputation of fingers and/or even limbs.

Insignificant cases such as acute respiratory diseases (ARD) and acute respiratory viral diseases, dental care for constantly decaying teeth and alopecia [hair loss] were neither really registered, nor entered in the principal statistics.

Therefore, this region – and here I would disagree with the media’s opinion of it – is even more of a health hazard then the notorious Kharp settlement of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District due to the following causes, specifically:

1. In winter it takes a long time before the snow cover settles. During this period, a layer of dust 2 to 5 centimeters deep covers the territory. With an air temperature that in winter may be as low as minus 50 or even minus 60 degrees centigrade, this dust raised by a group of people marching penetrates deep into the bronchia and the lungs. Throughout the entire cold period of the year, people are coughing all night long in the barracks as everyone is suffering because of this.

2. In addition, the air temperature in summer during the day may easily exceed 40 degrees centigrade and is accompanied by a strong, steady wind which adversely affected those officers who were susceptible to hypertension.

3. Everyday the staff was prohibited from going outdoors from 12:00 to 14:00 because that was the time when the special train from Krasnokamensk was passing by, carrying the uranium ore produced out there. At that time, and I witnessed this myself, the Geiger counter placed 200 meters away from the railway was going mad. I can only imagine what was going on in Krasnokamensk itself then.

4. From the middle of April and until the middle of May, as well as from mid-September to mid-October, an interesting phenomenon could be observed: the night temperature was falling to minus 10 – minus 20 degrees centigrade, though during the day it was rising to plus 15 – plus 25 degrees centigrade, all accompanied by a strong, steady wind. This means that in the morning it was extremely cold and during the day it was possible to lie in the afternoon sun getting a suntan. During that period of the year, the number of colds reached their peak.

5. This place is located high above sea level (over 800 meters and more) and it is also a semi-desert area, so the oxygen content in the air is 20%-30% lower than normal.

6. Even migrating birds avoid the many dead lakes that are located nearby. There are also many cattle burial grounds among the hills from the time of the Second World War when cattle were driven from the People's Republic of Mongolia and destroyed by Japanese bombing. So in that region there is a risk of catching some unknown, infectious diseases.

7. Officially – and I used to issue these certificates myself – one year of service in that region was equal to two years even for soldiers doing a fixed-term service, enabling them to apply for benefits in the places of their permanent residence. As for the city of Krasnokamensk, reliable sources were informing us that one year of service there was equal to three years, due to the high radiation level under the same climatic conditions.

In view of the above and based on many other impressions, let me say just one thing: any individual over 25 years old that is used to living in the moderate climatic areas of Russia may be sent to that region for one purpose only – to have him die within 2 – 3 years.

Sincere regards,

Dmitry