From the roof of his abandoned hotel, Alexei Vereshchagin remained certain that tourists would one day sip cocktails up there as they enjoyed the lakeside view of Priozersk — a former secret city in Kazakhstan.
Due to a lack of investment, Vereshchagin has been renovating the hotel alone — including putting in new windows in each of the 150 rooms, one by one. This mammoth task is likely to take years. The hotel’s former Cyrillic-lettered sign saying “Hotel Russia” has been removed and is now gathering dust on the roof alongside a rusty portrait of Vladimir Lenin.
“I want there to be a beautiful hotel in the center of the city, like in the Soviet era. So I am restoring it, little by little,” said Vereshchagin, a Soviet Army veteran.
Photo: AFP
Once the hotel is renovated, ordinary tourists would be able to stay near Lake Balkhash’s shores with its “magnificent views,” Vereshchagin said.
The development of a thriving tourism sector in Priozersk would mark a dramatic change of fortune for the once-closed city, long unmarked on maps because of secretive military sites.
The Sary-Shagan missile range was built in 1956 to test anti-ballistic weapons systems, and a portion of the range is still leased by the Russian government, Priozersk Mayor Mansur Akhmetov said.
Photo: AFP
Walking around the town of 15,000, reminders of its Cold War heyday are everywhere. Replicas of the S-75 surface-to-air missiles tested in Priozersk have been placed in the city center and at its entrance, along with fading posters praising the “glory of the anti-missile shield of the Fatherland.”
Several sites dotted across the sprawling testing range on an arid steppe have been abandoned, and are now guarded by the likes of resident Ivan Sabitov. Sabitov, a Kazakh civilian, now whiles away the time watching over empty missile silos, dismantled radars and rocket fairings with his dog.
“These Soviet installations are destroyed, but other bases are still active,” the 61-year-old with a weathered face said.
Russian troops from the Strategic Missile Forces — which helps manage the Kremlin’s nuclear arsenal — are still stationed in the area and sometimes swim in Lake Balkhash in the evening with their families.
Russia claims to have “infrastructure developed around Priozersk to test strategic defense equipment,” including intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Despite the presence of Russian bases, Akhmetov is trying to transform the city into a seaside resort.
This project is in line with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s desire to develop the nation’s tourism sector, which represents just 3.2 percent of its GDP.
“We are going to redevelop the entire coastline, so that pedestrians can walk along it. We also plan to build hotels and organize efforts to clean the beaches,” Akhmetov said of his ambitious plans.
Priozersk is already home to a smattering of small hotels that mostly host fishers and a trickle of tourists during the first days of summer.
“Even if the town seems partly abandoned, Lake Balkhash is magnificent. I enjoy the warm water and the sand on the beach,” said Olga Ryapolova, a Russian tourist from Siberia who “hopes to come back” to Priozersk soon.
Upon closer inspection, the picturesque lake contrasts with the desolation elsewhere.
A disused cement factory still stands near the lake’s shores, which Akhmetov hopes to one day demolish. However, on the only road leading to the end of the peninsula, stands a new hotel: “The Golden Sands.” This four-star spa was built in 2016 and has become a welcome source of jobs, with its 120 employees.
“In Priozersk, jobs are scarce, and mainly linked to the army. My mother is a soldier, I was a police officer,” said the spa’s receptionist, Aizhan Musina.
“But my salary [around 250 euros, or US$270] was too small, so I came to work here,” Musina said, adding that she now she makes about 370 euros a month.
Musina was born in Priozersk when the city was still sealed off from the public. She has long been waiting for her hometown to open up to tourists.
“I hope that our city will gain fame, and that people will know that we have such a beautiful spa,” Musina said.
RALLYING CRY: Former US president Donald Trump has raised suspicions about why Chinese migrants are going to the US and advocacy groups worry about his rhetoric The US Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said that it sent 116 Chinese migrants from the US back home in the first “large charter flight” in five years. The flight, which happened over the weekend, comes as Chinese immigration has become the subject of intense political debate in the upcoming US presidential election. “We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. The department said it was working with China to “reduce and deter irregular migration and to disrupt
SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE: The Philippines prefers to handle operations on its own, and would exhaust all possible options before asking for help, the military chief said The Philippines has turned down offers from the US to assist operations in the South China Sea, after a flare-up with China over missions to resupply Filipino troops on a contested shoal, its military chief said. Tensions in the disputed waterway have boiled over into violence in the past year, with a Filipino sailor losing a finger in the latest June 17 clash that Manila described as “intentional high-speed ramming” by the Chinese coast guard. The US, a treaty ally, has offered support, but Manila prefers to handle operations on its own, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief General Romeo Brawner told
Georgian student Elene Deisadze was browsing TikTok in 2022 when she stumbled across the profile of a girl, Anna Panchulidze, who looked exactly like her. Months later, after chatting and becoming friends, they both separately learned they were adopted, and last year decided to take a DNA test. It revealed they were not only related, but identical twins. “I had a happy childhood, but now my entire past felt like a deception,” said Anna, an English student at university. Far from an innocent case of separation at birth, the sisters are among tens of thousands of Georgian children who were
Prominent activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) yesterday asked for a lesser sentence in court after he earlier pleaded guilty in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case. Wong was one of 47 activists charged in 2021 under a Beijing-imposed National Security Law with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary. The activists were accused of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the territory’s leader by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block budgets indiscriminately. Wong and 44 others admitted their liability or were convicted by the court. They could be sentenced to life in