In The Shadow Of Russian Rockets: Life On Kazakhstan's Western Borderland

A train passes through Saykhin in the West Kazakhstan region. 

Saykhin, a village of around 3,000 people, is just 80 kilometers from Russia’s military training ground Kapustin Yar. From this test site in the 1950s, dogs were launched into space and at least 29 nuclear tests were carried out.

The site continues to function today as a testing ground for intercontinental missiles and other weaponry. 

A car on the dirt road leading to Saykhin

From the West Kazakhstan regional capital of Oral (known in Russian as Uralsk), to Saykhin, there are 550 kilometers of hard driving. The first half of the road is sealed, the last is a dusty steppe track, which even four-wheel drive cars can’t traverse after rain.

Regional authorities promised to open a new road by 2021, but work on the project has not yet been completed.
 

The unused train station of Saykhin

Russian freight and passenger trains rush through Saykhin, but none stops here. The town’s railway station, built in the early 1900s, seems frozen in time. Locals remember when the station stopped working soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and many villagers were left without work.
 

A house in Saykhin

The railway divides Saykhin into two parts -- old and new. In the new half, there is a hospital, a house of culture, shops, and hairdressers. Residents of the more run-down old part call their area “Shanghai” and consider themselves the original inhabitants of the village.
 

A tethered goat in Saykhin

When Trotsenko visited the “Shanghai” area of the village, three middle-aged men were sitting on a bench drinking vodka, watching the occasional train sweep past. On a yellowed piece of newspaper was a bottle of vodka with a simple rural snack of bread, salt, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The men were eager to chat. Their little party was to celebrate a birthday. The birthday boy introduced himself as Nurlan and immediately offered a drink.

“We Shanghai people don’t let you go without a treat,” the 56-year-old says. 

An aerial view of Saykhin 

Trotsenko politely refused the drink and asked about life in the village in the shadow of the missile testing base.

“Life is normal here. The border is nearby -- 5 kilometers away," Nurlan says, before asking, "Do you see the metal tower there? The military installed it, but it's been inactive for a long time. There are many such towers like it here. If you walk along the line on which they're installed, you'll eventually reach the [Russian] training ground."

“We should sell the towers for scrap metal,” says his friend, a short man with a thoughtful face and gold teeth. He refers to the cottage industry in the region of locals breaking up fallen rocket parts to sell for scrap.

“When rocket stages fall down, people immediately come. Whoever gets there first takes it away,” he says.

A 2018 file photo of an Iskander missile being launched from Russia's Kaspustin Yar test site.

When asked if the rockets fall often, the men drinking vodka in Saykhin respond,
“That’s the thing. It happens rarely and far from here. By the time you find out they've fallen and you get out there, there will be nothing left of the rocket.”

As for the nuclear tests that were carried out at the Russian site, the men believe it may affect their health, but say, "We’re not scientists. We don’t know.”

Birthday boy Nurlan says, “Why do you think we drink? We’re saving ourselves from radiation. I myself am a Chernobyl survivor. In 1986, I served in Ukraine, in Donetsk. Fifteen days after the explosion [at the nuclear power plant], we were sent to cordon off a 30-kilometer zone. Now I have a disability. How can I not drink?”

Local resident Ertargyn Samigullin

“I’ve never seen how the rockets were launched, but during tests our windows were thrown open from blast waves,” Samigullin recalls. “Now they don’t bomb like that anymore, only planes fly. They say it has an effect on life here. Some people complain of headaches, others that their livestock get sick."

Samigullin is 69 years old. He was born and raised in Saykhin and now runs his own small hairdressing salon. He also makes custom-made furniture and sells handmade knives and axes. Despite his relatives being repeatedly imprisoned by the Soviet authorities, he is fiercely pro-Kremlin.

Samigullin shows his late grandfather’s passport. He was imprisoned twice after making the pilgrimage to Mecca. 

When speaking about the nearby Russian military testing ground, Samigullin says, “I’m fine with it. It’s not just that they conduct tests there, but they also think about security. How to repel the enemy -- NATO. You see, I stand with Putin. If I wasn’t so old, I would have gone to fight [in Ukraine]. Maybe some people don’t like it, but I don’t hide my opinion."

A store in Saykhin 

Despite the proximity to Russia, products in Saykhin's shops are mostly made in Kazakhstan. Sellers say that before the pandemic they sourced goods from Volgograd, a Russian city just 250 kilometers away, but when it became more difficult to cross the border, prices for Russian goods rose.

Now they are purchased in the Kazakh city of Oral. Locals travel to the regional capital only when absolutely necessary. Oral is a 550-kilometer drive away along terrible roads.
 

A mural in Saykhin representing Jhahangir Khan, a ruler of the Kazakh Khanate in the 17th century

Saykhin’s villagers cross the border often. Many residents here have relatives and friends in nearby Russian villages. There is a simplified checkpoint for people with local registration so the Kazakh villagers can cross easily. But Saykhin locals are allowed to visit only Russian settlements located near the border, and only for personal matters such as visiting friends and family.

 

 

The road to Khan Ordasy

Less than 50 kilometers from Saykhin is Khan Ordasy. The village is known for a salt lake called Khaki Sor that has turned into a kind of military archaeological site. For decades, rockets launched from the Kapustin Yar firing range have fallen into the lake. 

Marzhan Makhmetova with a cow in Khan Ordasy

“I wouldn’t say that we have serious environmental problems, but when rockets are launched and the wind blows from the lake, my cucumbers immediately wither. I need to spray them with vitamins, otherwise there will be no harvest,” Marzhan Makhmetova, a local of Khan Ordasy, says.

Pensioner Bergen Kazhgaliev with his wife in Khan Ordasy 

The 83-year-old Kazhgaliev was born and raised in Khan Ordasy. He worked almost his entire life as a history teacher at a local school. Kazhgaliev remembers when military tests began in the village and says that explosions were heard day and night.

“Now, no one can confirm it, but I believe that many people died here from the nuclear tests. Many families had disabled children. There were cases when they were born without arms, without legs,” he says. 

“Doctors at the time guessed that these were the consequences of the tests, but no one talked about it publicly. Everyone was afraid to go up against the authorities. In the 1990s, some families received benefits for disabled children, while others received nothing at all. Many of those who were born crippled have already died."

Aiman ​​Bekmambetova (left) and her daughter Ulbike in Khan Ordasy village

​​Ulbike was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and muscle weakness caused by impaired brain function. Aiman believes the poisoned environment could have affected her daughter’s development.

Ulbika is 28 years old but behaves like a child. She plays with toys and wears diapers. Aiman ​​says that neighbors had a daughter with a similar diagnosis, but she died. Earlier, according to the woman, there were “many” such children in the village.

The local museum, housed in a former treasury building in Khan Ordasy

Inside Khan Ordasy's museum, the display starts with a photograph of the former president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who visited the museum twice, in 1990 and 1997. Museum staff remember the visits proudly. 
 

Antique weapons in the Khan Ordasy museum

Inside the museum, ancient knives, daggers, and a traditional battle ax are hung on a patterned carpet. According to an old Kazakh proverb, this ax is the weapon one should always keep close if you are unlucky with your neighbors.