Dzerzhinsk

Dzerzhinsk (Russian: Дзержи́нск) is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, situated along the Oka River, about 400 kilometers (250 mi) east of Moscow. Population: 240,762 (2010 Census preliminary results); 261,334 (2002 Census); 285,071 (1989 Census). The city is named after Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, a Polish Bolshevik leader who was the first head of the Cheka (secret police). Modern-day Dzerzhinsk is a large center of the Russian chemicals production industry. In the past, the city was also among Russia's principal production sites for chemical weapons. Owing to its strategic significance, this city was until recently officially closed to foreign visitors. Manufacture of a number of chemical weapons started in 1941,...