Why the strong focus on Russian/Ex-Soviet cities in the article, though? It seems odd that there is a detailed list of present-day closed cities in Russia but only passing mention of other countries.
Russian is the second most popular language and the majority of top cities are in Russia. I wonder whether it reflects the real situation or the site is somewhat biased towards Russia for some reason.
Have a look at a globe. (or google earth or whatever) The direct line between DC and Moscow is surprisingly shallow. The exact number does seem too low by a factor of 1.5-2 though.
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