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Siberia's Most Depressing Town Is Full of Beautiful Women

By Christian Belgaux

Semipalatinsk, or “Semey”, as it was recently renamed, is a town in Kazakh Siberia so desolate that being exiled there in the early 20th century used to be considered one of the cruellest penalties the Soviet Union could dole out to you. Several decades century later, the town became the main testing site for the regime's nuclear weapons. Doesn't it sound lovely?

Turns out that, nowadays, it sort of is; this sleepy stopover on the Trans-Siberian railway now boasts an art museum, a 4D mini-cinema, a Lenin sculpture park and tons of vodka and beautiful girls. Check out the holiday snaps I got while I was hanging out there of my own volition.

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