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Upon the release from the Gulag, the former inmate's rights would typically still be restricted for a long period of time. Instead of regular documents, they would receive a temporary substitute, a so-called " wolf ticket" (волчий билет in Russian, or "volchiy bilet"), confining them to an internal exile without the right to settle closer than 100 km from large urban centers. This has resulted in many resident communities established at 101 km away from city borders.

Throughout the former Soviet Union, many such settlements have originated. Some were renamed, while others are still known as "Сто пе́рвый киломе́тр", "Sto pervyi kilometr" (The one hundred and first kilometer).

This limit was introduced in 1933 during the passportisation of the population, during which people without acceptable occupation were banned from Moscow, Leningrad and other significant cities of special regimen ("режимный город").

Sometimes the 101st km communities were used by the state as a "soft" exile. For example, in the summer of 1980, before the Moscow Olympic Games, thousands suspected of belonging to the risk group s, among them dissidents, homeless, criminals, prostitutes, etc, were forced by the KGBFor other meanings, see KGB (disambiguation). The Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (or KGB ( Russian: ; English: Committee for State Security , was the name of the main Soviet Security Agency and intelligence agency, as well as the main secret police out of the capital city during the international event. In some cases they were arrested, in others this was a condition to avoid arrest.

"To send someone to the 101st kilometer" has become a common phrase of threat with respect to the perceived offenders. And this threat was easy to implement, because this could be done " by administrative meansBy administrative means ( , "V administrativnom poryadke") was an expression in use in the Soviet Union applied to the cases when some actions that normally required a collegial decision were left to the decision of certain officials, i. by administration", i.e., extrajudicially.

A curious development of this policing measure has been in use in BelarusThe Republic of Belarus ( Belarusian: #x301 Russian: #x301 (former: #x301 ) is a landlocked nation of Eastern Europe with the capital Minsk. Name Main article: White Russia The spellings Belorussia and Byelorussia are transliterations of the name of the c since perestroikaPerestroika is the Russian word (which passed into English) for the economic reforms during Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's initial period ( 1985- 1986) in power modified central planning without making truly fundamental changes. Gorbachev and his team. Participants of unsanctioned meetings and demonstrations used to be herded into busses, driven some 25 km off city limits and unloaded to walk home or to hitchhike.

See also:

Soviet political repressions Soviet expressions

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