ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the political economy of the two dominant nuclear territories in the Siberian Federal Okrug: Krasnoyarsk Kray and Tomsk Oblast. It begins with an overview of the defining political and economic characteristics of the okrug, including a description of the nuclear assets across the territory. The chapter reviews the nuclear landscape in Krasnoyarsk Kray, and analyzes the specific political conditions that motivated former Governor Aleksandr Lebed to brandish the nuclear card in relations with the federal government. It also reviews the nuclear infrastructure in Tomsk Oblast, and traces the apparent quid pro quo between the local administration and nuclear weapons complex that forms the basis of a distinctively cooperative face of nuclear activism. The chapter develops some of the implications of these two forms of local activity for nuclear regionalism in Russia. Law enforcement authorities have reacted to recent terrorist alerts by increasing the concentration of troops around nuclear facilities.
