Shikhany

Shikhany, also spelled Shikhansky () is a closed town in Saratov Oblast, Russia, north of Saratov on the right bank of the Volga River Population: . It has been a closed town since 1997, but lost this status on 1 January 2019. The town is 2 kilometres from the major chemical weapons base Shikhany-2 (previously known as Vol'sk-18).

==History== The original settlement at Shikhany was founded in 1820 as part of the estate of Count Vasily Vasil'evich Orlov-Denisov. The first school was opened at the site in 1876. By 1917, there were still only five inhabitants resident in two houses. The subsequent expansion of the settlement was presumably a consequence of the opening of the adjacent chemical warfare establishment. On 30 June 1997, the town was transformed by an edict of President Yeltsin into a Closed Administrative-Territorial Formation (ZATO). Under the terms of this edict, travel to Shikhany was restricted and special police, procuracy and courts operated directly under Moscow jurisdiction. This status was revoked on 1 January 2019.